The year was 2005. The Penguins had just won the draft lottery allowing them to draft Sidney Crosby after the NHL had missed the entire 2004-05 season due to a lockout. With a 40-year-old Mario Lemieux captaining the team and Crosby being the most hyped player since Lemieux, the Penguins took the “all-in” approach and surrounded Crosby and Lemieux with a plethora of past-their-prime veterans in an attempt to get Lemieux one more championship. While all of this was happening in Pittsburgh, a young quarterback named Aaron Rodgers was beginning his rookie season in Green Bay.
Now two decades later, Crosby and Rodgers have ended up in the same city and the Steelers are taking the same “all-in” approach that the Penguins did two decades ago. Unfortunately, the plan failed miserably for the Penguins, finishing the season with the league’s second-worst record at 22-46-14.
Twenty years later, the Steelers are following a similar script, hoping to get their aging defense a championship. We should know by about October if the Steelers plan will have better results, but in the meantime, let’s take a look back at the track the Penguins took 20 years ago and how it parallels what the Steelers did this offseason.
The biggest move of that offseason for the Penguins was to sign former Washington Capitals defenseman Sergei Gonchar to a five-year, $25M contract. While Gonchar went on to be a key cog in the Penguins’ 2009 Championship, the three-time all-star struggled mightily in his first season with the Penguins, finishing with a -13 rating.
Next, the Penguins brought back Marck Recchi, who was now 37. While Recchi had been an all-star seven times since his first stint in Pittsburgh, more than a decade had passed since he had donned a Penguins uniform and things did not go well. He put up a respectable 57 points in 63 games, but was a -28. By the time the trade deadline approached that season, things had unraveled with the team so badly that Recchi was traded to Carolina with whom he went on to win a Stanley Cup that season.
Another big free agent signing that offseason was another former Flyer, John LeClair. The Penguins inked the former five-time all-star to a two-year deal, which would prove to be his last contract in the NHL. LeClair, 36-years-old at the time, put up 51 points in 73 games, but recorded a -24 rating. The -24 rating was, by far, the worst of his career and only his third minus season of his illustrious career.
The next big name that was brought in was Zigmund Palffy. Palffy, who was now 33, had been a very respectable offensive threat for the Islanders and Kings in his career. He played in just 42 games that season, but did put up 42 points. However, things were going so badly that Palffy decided to abruptly retire mid-season. The Penguins cited “personal reasons” for his retirement, but Palffy later revealed it was due to lingering pain from a shoulder injury that had previously required two surgeries. He would never play in the NHL again after his “retirement”, but did play Internationally until 2013 Palffy’s retirement occurred on January 18th, then on January 24th Lemieux announced his retirement due to atrial fibrillation, which caused him to experience irregular heartbeats.
Collecting all-stars didn’t work for the Penguins that season, but let’s review what the Steelers have done this off-season. Chris Adamski of the Trib did a great job in compiling this list. Adamski notes the accomplishments during the 2020 season of the free agents the Steelers brought in this offseason:
- Aarron Rodgers – League MVP
- DK Metcalf – 1303 Rec. Yards, 10TD
- Robert Woods – 90 Catches, 936 Yards
- Jalen Ramsey – First Team All-Pro
- Darius Slay – In the Midst of Six Pro Bowls in Seven Seasons
Now let’s look at the ages of the players brought in:
- Rodgers – 41
- Metcalf – 27
- Woods – 33
- Ramsey – 30
- Slay – 34
- Jonnu Smith – 30 by Week 1
- Juan Thornhill – 30 by Week 7
Will this plan work? Only time will tell, but add in 36-year-old Cam Heyward and 30-year-old T.J. Watt to the ages listed above and time is definitely not on the side of many of the players that populate the Steelers’ roster.
The Penguins’ collection of vintage offensive stars resulted in the team finishing in the bottom-10 in the NHL in scoring and one of the worst finishes in franchise history. However, the historically bad finish allowed the Penguins to draft Jordan Staal with the second overall pick and he proved to be an integral part of the Penguins’ 2009 Stanley Cup Championship.
Again, only time will tell if The Steelers’ collection of vintage defensive stars will yield better results than the Penguins plan did, but if things go significantly south, perhaps, it could lead to a top-ten draft pick that could eventually be a key piece of a future Steelers Super Bowl championship. Let’s be honest though, this is the Steelers, so despite all the new faces, they’ll likely finish 10-7 or 9-8 and lose in embarrassing fashion in the first round of the playoffs.
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