Crazy how the destiny of the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins seems linked.
These two teams endured years of misery between 2002 and 2006. Pittsburgh drafted in the top two four times during this period (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-André Fleury and Jordan Staal), the fate was a bit less favorable for Washington which nevertheless obtained Ovechkin first in 2004, Nicklas Backstrom fourth in 2006 and Karl Alzner fifth in 2007.
The Penguins have not missed the playoffs once between 2007 and 2022, won twenty playoff rounds and won three Stanley Cups. The Capitals, a little less spoiled in the draft, missed the playoffs only once between 2007 and 2022, won ten rounds of the playoffs and won a Stanley Cup.
The decline of these two powers began at the same time. Washington and Pittsburgh haven’t made it past the first round of the playoffs since 2018 and missed the playoffs for the first time in at least a decade at the same time last spring.
These two organizations have nevertheless decided to hang on to their aging core. Over the off-season, new Penguins president and general manager Kyle Dubas acquired Erik Karlsson, Ryan Graves, Reilly Smith and Lars Eller, among others, to support his stars. Only one, Graves, is under 32.
Capitals GM Brian MacLellan also drew from the bank of veterans available to try to resurrect his club: Max Pacioretty, 34, and Joel Edmundson, 30. Both have yet to play a game this season due to injuries.
Unsurprisingly, the Penguins and the Capitals are the two oldest clubs in the National Hockey League, with an average age of 30.8 years for Pittsburgh and 29.5 years in the case of Washington.
Consulting the NHL standings on Wednesday morning, we again find these two teams side by side, but this time in the cellar: they occupy the bottom two ranks in the Eastern Association. Pittsburgh is 2-4 after losing 4-1 to Dallas and Washington is 1-3-1 after losing by an identical score to Toronto.
It would have taken audacity to dare to rebuild, or even reset, with a core of stars with such influence over the organization. The rest promises to be difficult.
The Penguins have drafted just four times in the first round in the last ten drafts, just once before 20th overall last year (Brayden Yager at 14th) and only twelve times in the first two rounds.
The Capitals have drafted eight times in the first round in ten years, only twice before the twentieth overall (Jakub Vrana, 13th in 2014, since traded for Anthony Mantha and Ryan Leonard, 8th in 2023) and sixteen times in the first two rounds.
The short-term future seems a little less troubling in Pittsburgh since Malkin, Crosby, Letang and Karlsson still seem productive offensively. We will have to see in Washington if Ovechkin, Backstrom and Oshie can recover from a worrying start.
But the day is not far away when these two organizations, once fighting for the Stanley Cup, will fight for the first pick in the draft… like almost twenty years ago.
The Bruins lost their top two centers, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, and jettisoned Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to lighten their payroll. Rental players Dmitry Orlov and Tyler Bertuzzi did not stay. We replaced all these beautiful people, including the legendary Bergeron, with James Van Riemsdyk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Milan Lucic and a 19-year-old rookie drafted in the middle of the second round in 2023, Matthew Poitras. Bergeron’s designated runner-up, Pavel Zacha, has just two points after six games and the other center, Charlie Coyle, has four assists, no goals.
The Bruins being the Bruins, they sit in second place overall as of Wednesday morning with a 6-0 record and could join Vegas if they win the one more game they have to play. Boston comes in just 13th in goals scored per game, with an average of 3.17, but is first in goals allowed, with a magnificent 1.17 average. Nothing to add to your honor…
1- Cayden Primeau was good Tuesday against the powerful Devils, but not transcendent. Richard Labbé wonders what fate has been reserved for him.
2- The moment of truth is approaching in the case of the roof of the Olympic Stadium, writes Philippe Cantin.
3- Will Montreal CF/Impact change coaches for the… ninth time in ten years? Jean-François Téotonio attended the team’s assessment on Wednesday.
