The narrative is intoxicating. It is marketable. 

 

Make sports your life’s work. Enjoy collective and individual success and reap the financial rewards. Bask in unadulterated praise.  

 

All you and your team have to do is consistently win while building a championship contender for tomorrow. 

 

Left unsaid is what happens when you don’t win. When you don’t have young, exciting talent waiting in the wings. When you confront adversity and do not have the kind of answers to soothe the braying masses.

 

Then the saccharine-coated narrative changes.

 

And this is where the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves.

 

For a franchise that has grown accustomed to residing in the NHL’s penthouse with its elite brethren, the 2022-23 Penguins are in a strange and uncomfortable place. The Penguins are 29-21-9 and are engaged in a daily battle with the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, and Washington Capitals for the two Eastern Conference Wild Card slots. 

 

There is a real possibility that the Penguins streak of 16straight playoff seasons could come to an end. The last time Pittsburgh was not among the 16 franchises playing Stanley Cup Playoff games? The 2005-06 season. Sidney Crosby’s rookie season.

 

“Our team has been very inconsistent this year,” general manager Ron Hextall said during a recent press conference at the team’s practice facility. The night prior, Hextall watched as his team was outclassed by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the Edmonton Oilers, 7-2, which prompted the 18,400 inside PPG Paints Arena to demand the executive’s dismissal.

 

“I think we have had moments where we’ve been very good,” Hextall continued. “I think we have had moments where we haven’t been very good.”

 

Heretofore the calendar year 2023 falls into the latter category. The Penguins are 10-10-3 and in the process have found all manner of ways to lose games. 

 

Against the Bruins in the Jan. 2 Winter Classic extravaganza at Fenway Park, they only managed one goal in a 2-1 loss. Against the New York Islanders on Feb. 17 at UBS Arena, their defensive structure and goaltending collapsed in a 5-4 loss. And we previously mentioned what took place on Feb. 23 at home against the explosive Oilers.

 

All of which has left players and coaches and executives searching for answers.

 

“I thought we were playing with the right intentions out there. It was unfortunate we couldn’t hold the lead or gain the lead because we had a fair amount of scoring chances the first two periods,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said outside of the visitors’ dressing room at UBS Arena after the loss to the Islanders. “Results are important this time of year. We want to get results. I’m disappointed we didn’t get it because I thought we played well enough to. But that’s hockey, right? We have to regroup.”

 

The Penguins are learning a painful truth: Eventually dynasties develop fissures. Eventually dynasties crumble. Eventually dynasties collapse. Eventually dynasties are no more. 

 

The factors do not fit into a pre-packaged narrative. Rome fell because its leaders grew complacent. For the British Empire, managing colonies spanning the planet became an impossibility.

 

But history does reveal some universal truths about fallen dynasties: Mistakes were made. Arrogance bloomed. Eventually what was once young becomes old.

 

And perhaps age is catching up with this iteration of the Penguins. Entering the 2022-23 season, Pittsburgh was the second-oldest team in the NHL -- behind Washington -- with an average age of 29.91 according to data culled by the website eliteprospects.com.

 

In a sport that is getting progressively younger by the day, it’s not just that these Penguins are an older team. It is also a matter of which players are older. Crosby is 35. Evgeni Malkin is 36. Kris Letang is 35. Jeff Carter is 38. Jeff Petry is 35. Jason Zucker is 31. Brian Dumoulin is 31. 

 

These Penguins are also an expensive bunch. 

 

According to the vital industry website capfriendly.com, the Penguins have a payroll of $83.144 million. The website projects the Penguins to have $2.090 million in available salary cap space on the Mar. 3 NHL trade deadline. Which in theory should give Hextall some flexibility to reconfigure the roster. He has already made one move, placing Kasperi Kapanen on waivers, where the winger was promptly picked up by the rebuilding St. Louis Blues. And Hextall has eight picks in the 2023 draft and 22 overall in the next three drafts to package in deals.

 

But like most things, there are catches. 

 

Crosby has a no-move clause in his contract. Malkin has a 35-plus contract with a no-move clause. Jake Guentzel has a modified no-trade clause. Bryan Rust has a no-move clause. Rickard Rakell has a modified no-trade clause. Carter has a 35-plus contract with a no-move clause. Petry has a modified no-trade clause and a no-move clause. Letang has a 35-plus contract with a no-move clause. Dumoulin has a modified no-trade clause. 

 

Essentially, those players control whether or not they are traded and, similar to Chicago winger Patrick Kane, which destination they will go to. And in the cases of the players with the 35-plus contracts, the Penguins do not receive any salary cap relief even with the player plying his trade elsewhere.

 

Allow Sullivan to put it more concisely:

 

“Our roster is our roster,” Sullivan said after the loss to the Oilers, “so we have what we have.”