Penguins’ 16-year playoff streak ends as Islanders secure East’s final wild-card

The Pittsburgh Penguins were officially eliminated from postseason contention Wednesday when the Islanders clinched the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card berth with a 4-2 win over Montreal. Here’s what you need to know:

• The Penguins’ streak of 16 consecutive postseasons (2007-22) was the longest of the NHL’s salary-cap era and the longest in any of North America’s four biggest sports leagues.
• Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang — known in Pittsburgh as The Big Three — had never missed the playoffs since becoming teammates in 2006-07.
• The Penguins are 9-10-1 since GM Ron Hextall’s moves in the week leading up to the NHL trade deadline (March 4).
• The Penguins controlled their playoff destiny before losing 5-2 at home to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

What went wrong

Actually, it’s more a case of nothing going right for these Penguins. They were done in by ill-fated personnel decisions dating over the past two seasons. A mix of misguided player evaluation and poorly conceived trades and signings by Hextall took the Penguins from a division winner (2021) to outside the playoffs over his two-year tenure. He made the NHL’s oldest team even older and whiffed badly on depth forwards and defensemen. The Penguins also never received dependable goaltending, with Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith combining for a .898 save percentage this season.

What comes next

Hextall, who has one year remaining on his contract, is no lock to return for a third full season. He and Brian Burke, the team’s president of hockey operations, were hired in February 2021 less than two weeks after the sudden resignation of former GM Jim Rutherford. Hextall and Burke were hired by the team’s previous owners. The Penguins were purchased by Fenway Sports Group (FSG) midway through the 2021-22 season, and FSG might view the end of the franchise’s heralded postseason streak as an opportunity to bring in its own management team. Coach Mike Sullivan, who has two years left on his current contract, received a pricey extension last summer — and it’s tough to envision FSG wanting to pay Sullivan to not coach for five full seasons.

Looking ahead to the offseason

The perennially cap-strapped Penguins are committed to 15 players at a combined $63,291,842 against the 2023-24 salary cap, which projects to be no more than $82.5 million. Notable unrestricted free agents include Jarry, winger Jason Zucker and defenseman Brian Dumoulin. The Penguins have at least three troublesome contracts — forwards Jeff Carter (one year, $3.25 million), Mikael Granlund (two years, $5 million average annual value) and defenseman Jeff Petry (two years, $6.25 million AAV) — that will limit roster flexibility this offseason. Carter is ineligible for a buyout.

Required reading

(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)