Williams: Bloated contracts shackle Penguins

What’s surprising about the spectacular implosion the Pittsburgh Penguins have suffered over the past month is that it didn’t happen sooner.

A lot sooner. The Penguins, after a long run of contending (2006-14), are in salary cap hell. And if we’ve learned anything from watching other teams play with fire with regard to salary caps, it takes years to recover from overspending and bad contracts.

The Penguins have both. Cold winter nights are on the horizon if the team can’t shed some of its mistakes. Despite having two of the NHL’s best forwards in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Pens are a long way from being Cup contenders.

Friday’s 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders leaves the Pens clinging to the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference on the final day of the NHL’s regular season. If the Boston Bruins find a way to defeat the Lightning in Tampa Bay tonight, the Pens could miss the playoffs.

The Penguins are paying the price for the gambles former general manager Ray Shero took two years ago when the future appeared bright. Before the trading deadline when the Pens already had the NHL’s best record, Shero couldn’t resist loading up, trading prospects for Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow, Douglas Murray and Jussi Jokinen. The plan was to make certain there would be another Stanley Cup Final in Pittsburgh.

But the top-seeded Penguins were swept in four games by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals, with Crosby and Malkin scoring no goals. None. Zilch.

So what did Shero do? He went crazy doling out huge contracts of questionable merit. He made Malkin the Pens’ highest paid player ($9.5 million a year through 2020-21). Crosby makes $8.7 million a year through the same season. The cap is approximately $69 million.

Shero extended the contracts of forwards Chris Kunitz (age 35, $3.85 million per season through 2016-17) and Pascal Dupuis (36, $3.75 million per season through 2016-17).

During the 2013-14 season, defenseman Kris Letang, 27, was signed for $7.25 million per season through 2020-21.

Last spring, the Penguins struggled to eliminate the Columbus Blue Jackets in six games. They built up a 3-1 lead on the New York Rangers in the second round then collapsed. For the fifth straight season, the Penguins were eliminated by a lower-seeded team.

With those results, somebody is overpaid.

Penguins owner Mario Lemieux responded by cleaning house. First, Shero was fired, replaced by outgoing Carolina Hurricanes executive Jim Rutherford on an interim basis. Head coach Dan Bylsma and his staff were sent packing. After a lengthy search, Mike Johnston, who was coaching in Canadian junior hockey (think USHL except the players get paid and forfeit their NCAA eligibility), was named the head coach.

Rutherford sent forward James Neal to the Nashville Predators for wingers Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling — call that addition by subtraction. But the GM was helpless to stop defensemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen (arguably the team’s most valuable player last season) as well as forwards Jokinen, Tanner Glass and Joe Vitale from leaving as free agents.

With limited cap space available, Rutherford replaced them with spare parts that no other team wanted.

Despite these changes, The Hockey News last summer predicted the Penguins would win the Metropolitan Division and gave them 13-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup. Why? Crosby and Malkin.

But how can a team lose so many key players and overhaul its top management and still be a contender?

For almost three months, the Penguins proved skeptics wrong. Then the losses began to pile up.

Bottom line — Crosby and Malkin get too much money and too much credit. Take the Pens’ last win, a 3-2 shootout victory on March 29 against the San Jose Sharks. Crosby scored the game-winner in the shootout.

Here’s all you need to know about how much faith the coaches have in Crosby and Malkin. In the final 3:49 of overtime, the Sharks had a power play. Guess how much time Crosby and Malkin spent on the ice killing that crucial penalty.

None. Zilch.

The Pens could have clinched a playoff berth Friday. Their goal was scored by defenseman Rob Scuderi, his first in three seasons.

It’s been a wonderful ride since 2006, with two Stanley Cup Final appearances and one championship in 2009. Unless the Pens shed some of their bloated contracts, long winter nights loom.

Tom Williams is a sportswriter at The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Williams_Vindy.