PITTSBURGH — The surprise announcement of Sidney Crosby's wrist surgery was the latest in an offseason filled with gut punches. It might have been a reality check, too, as darkness sets in on this golden age of Penguins hockey.
In and of itself, Crosby's left wrist surgery wouldn't necessarily trigger alarm bells as camp approaches. But it would still be worrisome. He underwent a procedure on the same wrist last summer and was bothered by it all this summer, so it seems reasonable to categorize the wrist as a chronic issue.
Then there's the word "minimum" on the club statement that Crosby would be a miss a "minimum of six weeks." How long will he be out and when will he be right again?
But that was only the latest blow.
The offseason began with another surprise downer when the team announced Evgeni Malkin had undergone major knee surgery. Then came Brandon Tanev's unceremonious departure, Mike Lange's retirement and the depressing realization that Brock McGinn really would be the club's big offseason acquisition.
Demoralizing seems like a fair word to describe the vibe.
I can't help but think of another team as the Penguins fade. It's the team that helped shaped this one in its formative years. The one that showed them what high-stakes hockey was all about.
I'm talking about the Detroit Red Wings and how, after losing to the Penguins in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, they began to erode, imperceptibly at first. They still had a couple of 100-point seasons in them. Still a few trips to the conference finals. You always knew they would make the playoffs. They did that for 25 straight years.
By 2016, though, the Red Wings had become garden-variety, first-round flameouts. That is where their season ended three straight years (sound familiar?). They still seemed dangerous — at least to where you could conjure images of one last title run if you tried hard enough.
But by that time, Detroit's Big 3 — their Crosby-Malkin-Letang — was down to one: an aging Henrik Zetterberg. Nicklas Lidstrom had retired in 2012. Pavel Datsyuk was headed back to Russia to finish his career.
Instead of competing for championships, the Wings were competing for playoff spots.
I always wished the Penguins and Red Wings would play a finals rubber match and be linked in history forever.
Instead, more than a decade later, they are linked in another way: These Penguins have become the late-stage Red Wings.
The Penguins won't fade easily. Once-great teams rarely do. They will rage against the dying of the light. No Mike Sullivan team would go down without a fight (except the one in the bubble two years ago).
But let's be honest here. It's getting awfully dark.
Franchise pillars Crosby and Malkin are a combined 69 years old and have more combined surgeries (three) than playoff series wins (none) in the past three years.
The next generational superstar — the one who would follow Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Crosby-Malkin — is nowhere to be found.
Might this team have one more championship run in it?
Sure. It might. But would you want to be a lawyer making the case?
The far easier argument is that the closest the Penguins will get to a Stanley Cup this season is the opener in Tampa Bay, when the Lightning raise a banner.
I honestly felt like this team had a deep run in it last season. The players and coaches felt that way, too. And they still lost in the first round.
Look at the division. It's stacked. And the Penguins will have to survive more than a 56-game season this time. We're back to the 82-game grind.
I've been more optimistic than most about this team as the core ages. I still see some good younger pieces, players with whom Crosby and Malkin could grow old. But Malkin is headed into the last year of his contract. Will he even be here next season? Will Kris Letang, also headed into the final year of a deal that felt like it would last forever?
I could convince myself that all is well. I could point to numbers such as the Penguins' record when both Crosby and Malkin are out of the lineup (31-15-6, according to historian Bob Grove, including 16-4-2 in the past 22).
But this just feels different. It feels like that playoff streak could end at a remarkable 15 years and that the 600-plus sellout streak could be in jeopardy, too.
It feels awfully dark around here.
