Mark Madden: After another early playoff exit, changes are needed within Penguins organization

It’s time for refreshing Pittsburgh Penguins notes, playoff edition: one-and-done for a third straight year, just like the Penguins.

• The Penguins’ championship window closed after the 2018 playoffs. Do you believe me yet? They organically disintegrated. Just like Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles before them.

• Goalie Tristan Jarry should never play for the Penguins again. The fans won’t forgive him. His teammates won’t trust him. He was responsible for three of the four losses in the series vs. the New York Islanders. Jarry was so bad, it’s difficult to judge others. Jake Guentzel was minus-4 on Wednesday. Sidney Crosby was minus-3. But what if Jarry stops the pucks he should?

Who plays goal instead? That’s simple: somebody else. The Penguins went from 3-2 up to 4-3 down within a 13-second span of the second period. Maxime Lagace should have replaced Jarry then. I don’t care if Lagace is a minor leaguer or if he lost his skates and was doing bong hits. The Islanders made it 5-3 166 seconds later. Make a damn save. Don’t be so visibly rattled.

• Goaltending coach Mike Buckley should be terminated. Matt Murray got worse on his watch. Jarry got no better, then imploded in these playoffs. More disturbingly, each developed the same weaknesses: bad glove, too deep in the blue paint, etc. Are they being taught to stink?

• Coach Mike Sullivan likely won’t be fired. But Sullivan needs a come-to-Jesus meeting with GM Ron Hextall and president of hockey ops Brian Burke, because he’s got to adjust to the NHL being heavier and his roster getting heavier. Sullivan must also cease coaching by rote. He made no changes against the Islanders till it was too late. The Crosby-Guentzel-Bryan Rust line kept getting sent out there to be physically overwhelmed. Try Jeff Carter or Brandon Tanev on Crosby’s wing.

After three straight first-round eliminations, the bloom is off Sullivan’s rose. He did well coping with injuries this season, but winning the division doesn’t matter. Every coach has an expiration date. Sullivan might be nearing his in Pittsburgh.

• Defenseman Kris Letang was the Penguins’ best player in these playoffs. He averaged more than 24 minutes per game in the regular season, more than 28 in the series vs. the Islanders. He had 45 points and a team-best mark of plus-19 in the regular season. He had six points in six playoff games. Letang shouldn’t be untouchable. But what’s the plan for replacing all that?

• The Penguins went 17-6-4 without center Evgeni Malkin this year. That doesn’t mean anything unless Hextall and Burke think it means something. No one on the roster can do what Letang does. But, precluding retirement, Carter is a serviceable second-line center.

• The trade for Carter officially became a bad one when the clock hit three zeroes at the end of the third period. Carter produced wonderfully, scoring 13 goals in 20 games. But you don’t deal for stats. The Penguins gave up third- and fourth-round draft picks to lose in the first round.

• Guentzel is 26, a gifted offensive talent and affordable at a cap hit of $6 million. But after seeing Guentzel get battered and bullied in the playoffs, it’s not hard to imagine him being swapped for a different kind of forward, like when the Penguins traded smooth, skilled James Neal for burly, rugged Patric Hornqvist in 2014. If the Penguins do make a deal like that, it begs the question: Why did they trade Hornqvist?

• Should Hextall and Burke burn it down? Well, every boom period in franchise history has been set up by doing exactly that.

• Here’s a probable scenario: Letang and Malkin are entering the last year of their contracts. They play them out, then leave — unless either gives the Penguins a big discount on a short-term extension or the Penguins have a rotten 2021-22 and one or both gets traded at the deadline.

That slows the rebuilding process, but neither would fetch much in a trade given their ages. (Both are 34.) The primary value to their departure is clearing salary cap space. So, wait a year to do that. The Penguins lost a lot of revenue during the pandemic, and it would be more difficult to peddle tickets if Letang and (especially) Malkin get ditched.

• Whether or not the Penguins change their roster, they must get more buttoned-up. Start by not having the defenseman pinch constantly. How often did that backfire? It’s not 2017. The Penguins need to see themselves as they really are.

When the postseason rolls around, the Penguins are no longer an offensive juggernaut — as shown by 30 goals in their last three playoff series (an average of 2.1 per game) and confirmed by Crosby and Malkin combining for a mere five goals in those 14 games. Crosby and Malkin have aged out of dominating playoff games.

The Penguins looked more systemic this season. But, in the playoffs, the Islanders showed them what system is all about. The Islanders make so very few mistakes.

• Crosby on the potential breakup of the Penguins’ core three: “They’ve been saying that for four years, right?” Yep. And look what’s happened the last four years. All options should be on the table. The Penguins’ window is closed. There’s no concluding otherwise.

Crosby is still one of the NHL’s most dominant players and will continue to be. But to win, he needs a different context. That seems obvious, but not to him. Crosby hates change.