from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,
The customary bellowing for scalps is in full roar now that the Pittsburgh Penguins managed the unthinkable, getting swept – swept, for crying in a sink – by the Boston Bruins.
Fire head coach Dan Bylsma and blow up the roster. So it goes in an age when everyone in the media, both conventional and social, tries to yell the loudest in hopes of being heard.
However, given that the Penguins have now come apart in the playoffs every year since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, which includes consecutive first-round exits in 2011 and 2012 plus this year’s embarrassment in the Eastern Conference final, some big decisions lie ahead. Bylsma is one of them, the future of goaltender Marc-André Fleury is another, and the really big one may have to be dealt with sooner rather than later even if they both have one year left on their contracts: Can the Penguins keep both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and stay under the NHL’s salary cap?
But there is still no reason to pull this team apart. It is too deep in talent and its best players are still young. Sidney Crosby is 25, Malkin and Letang are both 26.
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