Sidney Crosby's Heroics Aren't Enough for Penguins

Despite a phenomenal season from Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins will miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season.

Jon Alfano | Apr 8, 2025

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby looks on at the face-off circle against the Ottawa Senators. / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

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Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby continues to defy age and logic, as at 37 years old, he leads the team with 86 points (30 goals, 56 assists) in 76 games to continue his incredible streak of point-per-game season.

Unfortunately, he's been just about the only good story in the Steel City this season.

Following Sunday's 3-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Penguins will officially miss the playoffs for the third season in a row. After a 16-year playoff streak from 2007-22, during which they won three Stanley Cups, the Penguins' fall from grace over the past few years has been almost shocking to witness.

"Almost" is the key part of that sentence, however. Pittsburgh hasn't won a playoff series since 2018, and the flaws with the roster have only become more apparent. Evgeni Malkin (47 points in 64 games) and Kris Letang (29 points in 71 games) - who are 38 and 37, respectively - have not aged nearly as gracefully as Crosby has.

Pittsburgh's depth also leaves much to be desired. The first line - consisting of Crosby, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust - has scored 92 of the Penguins' 227 goals this season, and having such a top-heavy lineup isn't ideal.

However, that pales in comparison to Pittsburgh's biggest issues this season: defense and goaltending.

The Penguins have allowed 279 goals this season, the second most in the league, and their blue line has been shuffled constantly, with Letang and Erik Karlsson even playing on the left side at times. Their .890 team save percentage is also 28th in the league, and not a single one of their goalies has a save percentage above .900.

At the very least, it seems like the Penguins are starting to embrace the youth movement. Forwards Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen - 20 and 21, respectively - both made their NHL debuts recently and have great promise. They also have a strong goalie prospect developing in 20-year-old Sergei Murashov, who boasts a .911 save percentage and 2.66 goals against average in the AHL this season.

Plus, it helps that Crosby is still playing at an all-world level in his late 30s, and the Penguins have him at an amazing value of $8.7 million through the 2026-27 season.

This is definitely a transition period for the Penguins, but just as they did when they went from the Mario Lemieux era to the Crosby era, they can come out of it strong with the right moves (and some luck).

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Published Apr 8, 2025

JON ALFANO

Jon is a lead writer for Baltimore Ravens On SI and contributes to other sites around the network as well. The Tampa native previously worked with sites such as ClutchPoints and GiveMeSport and earned his journalism degree at the University of Central Florida.