Rebuild but only as options to do so are presented is a weird way to go about it. I think it'll work out due to the nature of accruing draft capital and prospects has for other teams in recent years. The other teams that have tried and successfully done that as the rangers and bruins have, had pieces in place that were young enough to tie over both iterations of competitive teams. Penguins do not have that especially with losing Jake. Jake was the guy you put young pieces around and let them struggle for 2-3 years. We'll see how it goes :/
Agreed. Losing Jake hurts the “in-between” era that was bound to happen, might even be here now. It’ll be two-three more years of challenging for a spot and then a complete 180 to a basement team for the better part of a decade if I had to guess. Hoping the culture and expectations in Pittsburgh helps the rebuild, it’s a weird, unmeasurable factor but one I do think matters. See teams like Columbus, Calgary, Winnipeg. All have had turns with okay teams but never really accomplished anything recently. Will be interesting to see how Dubas handles his first rebuild as well, will be a defining moment for his career going forward.
