The Penguins have advanced to the Stanley Cup final and if we have learned anything from sports — especially the NHL — they need to go win it.
The time is now and it has to be now and the reason is because there is no guarantee they will ever be back here and this team will never again be the same.
Yes, there are plenty of players coming back and very few, if any, tough decisions will need to be made this offseason.
So I hear all the people saying “this has been a special season and even if they can’t beat San Jose, that’s OK because they will be back again and be even better than this year because the rookies will have more experience!”
No, no, no, no, no.
Have we learned anything at all from the Penguins post-2009?
Yes, in theory, the bulk of this team will be back and there are lots of young players who are only going to get better so there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the future.
But we said the same thing when a core of stars who were all around 21 years old hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2009, that it would be the first of several that group would lift.
That never actually happened, and for a lot of reasons.
Injuries wiped out a few postseasons, the goaltender had a horrible run in one postseason, the team’s stars disappeared a few times in the postseasons, and that’s why here we sit in 2016 still waiting for that next Stanley Cup to come back to Pittsburgh.
And that’s why I say this team needs to win it now — I’m not saying they CAN’T win one or two more, I’m saying it isn’t likely — because this season has a feel of (pardon the pun) “catching lightning in a bottle.”
The chemistry in that locker room will never be better than it is right now.
Mike Sullivan’s message will never be louder than it is right now.
And as we have seen in the past, this team, or more specifically, the stars of this team, might not ever be healthier than right now.
If the Penguins lose to San Jose, there will be plenty of “well it was a great season but they’ll be back” — but that won’t be the correct approach, as they need to seize the moment and win it this year.
It is so hard to win championships in professional sports and I have often said the Stanley Cup trophy is the hardest of all of them to win.
The playoffs are a grind, there are so many variables, teams seem to come out of nowhere and put it all together and find the right mix of goaltending and goal-scoring to pull upsets.
If the Penguins lose to the Sharks, a team they are better than, it will be a disappointment.
It won’t be a “choke job,” it won’t take away all that they have accomplished this year, it won’t mean the season was all for nothing — but it certainly will be a missed opportunity.
And I hate to say it — but maybe a missed opportunity that is the last and best opportunity for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to add a second Stanley Cup to their legacy.
Like I said, this has the feel of a “seize the moment” kind of season for the Penguins, where everything seemed to work, every move worked out, every player seemed to find his maximum potential, at least at key times.
I can’t imagine Sullivan will ever have as much command of this locker room as he does right now; his message is still fresh, his message is still resonating with the players.
But as we have seen in professional sports (especially the NHL), that window is usually short before players start to tune guys out.
That’s not to say Sullivan won’t be an effective, maybe even excellent, coach for the next few years, but it is to say that the fire and brimstone edge he has brought generally has a short shelf life.
I look at the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that last year got to the Stanley Cup final, as another example of how hard it is to get to and stay at the top and how quickly things can change.
Last year, it stormed to the final with a roster that included something like 12 or 13 players who were 25 years old and younger.
It seemed like a team that might rule the Eastern Conference for a few years; it had star power, a great goaltender and an excellent young coach.
But it missed its opportunity to win it last year and then this year it lost its best player right before the playoffs and its top goaltender went down a period into the first game of the Eastern Conference final.
And now it will likely proceed without both Steven Stamkos and Ben Bishop, as both are likely to be gone before next season and the team’s dynamics will change dramatically.
It happens to the best teams, it happens to most teams, and that’s why when a team gets this close to winning a championship, it needs to go finish the job.
Win or lose, the Penguins have had a tremendous season, but if they want this to be the “magical” or “special” season that people keep trying to label it, they need to go beat the Sharks.
This is a great opportunity that is right there for the taking, but it is an opportunity that this group may never again have.
