Will next season be a ‘last dance’ for Penguins with Crosby, Malkin, Letang?

The Pittsburgh Penguins had a surprising season, as after many expected them to be one of the few true tanking teams, they found themselves in the playoffs for the first time in four years. It was a season driven by their veteran core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang as well as the depth general manager Kyle Dubas surrounded them with.

After some uncertainty about a return, Malkin signed an extension earlier this week. Does this mean the Penguins are going to pivot their plans and go for one last run with the veterans, or stay the course on a rebuild. David Pagnotta joined Daily Faceoff Live to break down Pittsburgh’s offseason plans in the wake of Malkin’s extension.

David Pagnotta: It sounds like they’re going to stay the course. But I think the course was course-corrected last offseason. So I think they follow a similar pattern to what they did last offseason where they bring in some guys, bring in some free agents to help round out the team while also bringing in younger guys to help grow with this group.

Malkin coming back, as great of a story as that is. Another full season. He had a great year. Can he replicate that or come close to it? But he also impacted Chinakhov’s performance and helped him become a better player by building some chemistry with him.

So we’ll see if that continues and then where else the Pittsburgh Penguins can add some young talent there. They’ve got a deep pool now. Are they going to utilize some of those options to get some NHL-caliber guys into the mix like a Chinakhov or some other young players that have big contracts that some teams are willing to listen on, not necessarily unload.

Pittsburgh’s cap situation certainly gives them flexibility in a variety of different fronts, as well as collecting additional assets if it means taking on a contract because $37 million in cap space, that’s a lot of cash to deal with.

You can watch the full episode here…