Why haven't the Penguins' tanked this season?
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ final practice of 2024-25 looked a lot like the previous sessions they have orchestrated for seven months dating to training camp.
It was detailed in its planning and furious in its execution.
During a five-on-five drill Wednesday in Cranberry, a line centered by rookie Vasily Ponomarev prematurely jumped off the defensive blue line to initiate an offensive attack, prompting coach Mike Sullivan to blow a whistle and motion for the players to come back and re-start the repetition properly.
The Penguins have nothing tangible to play for in Thursday’s regular season finale against the rival Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena. But they will be prepared to close out their lost season with precision.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s practice one or practice 101,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “We’re all professionals in here. There’s still a lot of guys in here playing for something. It might not be me. … But there’s definitely guys in here who are fighting for something, whether they’re young guys or (pending) free agents or guys who didn’t have the year that they wanted, guys that want to go into the summer with some confidence.
“Everybody owes it to each other to play hard for each other.”
The Penguins largely have done that since the NHL’s trade deadline March 7 when management primarily sold off veterans with expiring contracts. Over the final six weeks of the regular season, they are 9-5-2 and have offered, arguably, the best prolonged stretch of play, admittedly against the context of a mostly lousy season.
In the eyes of some, that success works against what is best for a franchise looking to the future.
That’s to say, losing as many games in the final weeks of the season would have been more beneficial to the Penguins as it would have increased their chances of landing a better selection in the NHL Draft in June.
In other words, they should have “tanked” in the estimation of some.
“I can understand from that viewpoint,” Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic said. “Yeah, you want to build for the future. Theoretically, it’s better for the long run. But in saying that — I don’t know who the top (draft prospects) are this year, I don’t know what pick we’re going to have — but, realistically, how many first-round picks go on to have immediate star-level success?
“When I see people (state), ‘Oh, (the Penguins) need to lose, they need to lose, they need to lose.’ Well, if we lose now, all that means is you’re still waiting. You’ve still got to wait. Why would you want to follow a losing team? Why would you not want to watch good hockey and appreciate the great players that come through this room and the guys that put on that sweater.”
Given the Penguins’ limited number of wins this season, they are assured a top-10 selection in the upcoming draft regardless of Thursday’s result. And they could, theoretically, land a second pick in that group based on the parameters of trades involving the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers.
But as far as the team’s own original selection, the current members of the rosters have no interest — or motivation — to improve that.
“We’re not playing hockey to lose games on purpose,” Penguins forward Rickard Rakell said. “Everybody who is in this room believes that we put ourselves in this situation. We’re going to be the ones that get ourselves out of it. It’s not going to be ‘take the easy way out to tank hockey games to get draft picks and let somebody else do it for you.’ That means someone else is going to come in and try to take your spot. Everyone wants to play their best hockey and do what’s best for you and what’s best for the team.”
The Penguins have benefited greatly by being among the worst teams in the league throughout their history.
Because of a squalid roster intentionally assembled by management, the 1983-84 Penguins went 16-58-6, allowing the franchise to draft icon Mario Lemieux first overall.
A similar process played out in 2003-04 when the club compiled a league-worst 23-47-8-4 record and seemed to be in position to draft Alex Ovechkin No. 1 overall. But the NHL’s draft lottery — installed to deter teams from intentionally tanking — allowed the Capitals to select Ovechkin.
One year later, thanks to the league’s lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season, the NHL staged a weighted lottery leading to the Penguins landing Crosby with the first overall selection in 2005.
Regardless, there isn’t a franchise-altering star like those three players in this upcoming draft.
Great players who can improve a team? Certainly. But not franchise saviors.
“This first-round pick that comes in that they draft this year, might have zero effect on some guys in this room, myself included,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s a business at the end of the day. We’re playing for ourselves here every single day from Game 1 to Game 82. Whether we’re in the playoffs or out of the playoff picture. That’s our job.
“This first-round pick this upcoming year, I might never meet the kid. Even guys that have longer-term deals, yeah, they might be around when that pick arrives. But even then, how many years down the road is that? That’s three, four, five years of somebody’s career that you’re waiting, per se, on someone else. Nobody wants to wait. Everyone wants to win now.”
A fan of the Cleveland Browns, Nedeljkovic is used to waiting for victories. And he gets the idea of tanking to benefit that team in the draft.
But the idea of losing just doesn’t agree with his constitution. Or seemingly any other NHL player.
“I don’t want to waste my Sundays watching a losing team that doesn’t care,” said Nedeljkovic, a native of Parma, Ohio. “Or if I go to a game, why would I spend money to go to a game to watch guys that are half in it? And I know for (NFL players), it’s even more so. They get a contract and some guys might not even make it to Week 1. Our contracts are at least fully guaranteed. Those guys, tomorrow, you could be out the door. They’re playing for their (professional) lives every day. So are we.
“It’s fun to win. It doesn’t matter if we’re at the top of the standings or the bottom of the standings, it’s always way more fun to win games.”
The Penguins have nothing to gain with a win Thursday. But the players could have quite a bit to lose if they ever tank.
“We aren’t going to accept anything less than our best effort,” Rust said. “Try to get better every day, try to win games because anytime you let that negative mindset creep in, that can be cancerous throughout a room and throughout a career too.
“In theory, it’s nice to say let’s tank, let’s get the best possible draft pick. But we didn’t get to where we are without being the most competitive people out there. That alone, as well as the pride, all those factors go into it, make it impossible to tank.”
Notes: Penguins forward Kevin Hayes missed practice for a second consecutive day because of an undisclosed injury. He has been labeled as “day-to-day.” … Penguins forward Ville Koivunen was selected to the American Hockey League’s All-Rookie team. … Forward prospects Melvin Fernstrom and Tanner Howe were in Cranberry on Wednesday. Fernstrom continued a series of workouts that began last week, and Howe was in town for a medical exam. Currently assigned to the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, Howe recently had his season come to an end because of an undisclosed injury.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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