3 reasons the Penguins won't win the Stanley Cup in 2024

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Over the last decade-plus, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the best franchises in the National Hockey League. It was truly special to watch at times.

A lot of that success had to do with a couple of generational players surrounded by some great depth, good goaltending, and awesome coaching.

The team building in Pittsburgh always seems to be mostly top-notch as well. That doesn’t appear to be changing with Kyle Dubas in charge.

Unfortunately, there can only be one Stanley Cup champion. It just isn’t a team that is good enough to go all the way. These are the four most obvious reasons that it won’t be the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2024:

1. Goaltending

The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have the goaltending needed to win the Cup.

The Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have Marc-Andre Fleury in his prime anymore. They also don’t have rookie Matt Murray anymore. That means their goaltending is suspect.

Tristan Jarry has been great in the National Hockey League. He has also had some injuries and inconsistencies. This is enough to worry about him coming into the 2023-24 season.

If he can be his All-Star-caliber self all year long, the Penguins will get themselves right back into contention. If he can’t, they are in big trouble.

Goaltending can be very difficult in the NHL. Players go up and down more than at any other position. The Penguins really need an up year from Jarry.

Backing Jarry up this year is Alex Nedeljkovic so they don’t exactly have this elite duo. We’ve seen cup winners with average goalies lately but the Pens need it to be better than that.

Pittsburgh Penguins, Evgeni Malkin #71. (Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images) /

2. Age

The Pittsburgh Penguins might be too old to do much damage this year.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are all in on winning. If they weren’t, they might not be as willing to add older players to their roster to win.

For one, Sidney Crosby is 36 years old and Evgeni Malkin is 37. Now, they were both playing at a very high level in 2022-23 and that is expected to continue.

The team added Erik Karlsson in the off-season and he is 33 years old. He had one of the best offensive seasons for a defenseman in NHL history last year but that doesn’t mean you can expect it again.

Karlsson joins Kris Letang on the defensive side of things. Letang is 36 years old so he is no hockey spring chicken either. That is the core four players on the team all over the age of 33. That usually isn’t a winning recipe in the NHL.

Chad Ruhwedel, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Reilly Smith, Jeff Carter, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, and Matt Nieto are all over 30 as well. It is crazy how old they are as a group.

This is not something that is going to hold up for them. With Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Karlsson, they are going to win some games. They are going to be a pleasure to watch. It will just be hard to lift the Stanley Cup with this old group.

Evgeni Malkin #71, Pittsburgh Penguins (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /

3. The Metropolitan Division

The Pittsburgh Penguins play in an incredibly tough division right now.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are at best the third-best team in the Metropolitan Division. The New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes are both better on paper.

Then, there is the New York Rangers. In all honesty, the Penguins would have to prove that they are a better team than them as well which might not be likely.

At this point, you can probably be more confident in Pittsburgh than the rest of the division but that puts them in fourth place. When you’re the oldest of the bunch with the weakest goaltending, you’re behind.

To even reach the Stanley Cup Final, the Penguins would for sure have to outlast the Devils, Rangers, and Hurricanes which just doesn’t feel likely.

Even if they did pull off a miracle, one of the Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, or Edmonton Oilers will be waiting for them in the Stanley Cup Final. It just isn’t happening for the Penguins this year.

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