Early NHL playoff exits can often prove as damning as missing out on the NHL season's second act altogether.
When a team is built on a base of ample, Stanley Cup-worthy talent, some of which is procured in any number of last-gasp NHL trade deadline deals, and paying dearly for the services of that talent, it's not hard to see the writing on the wall when that team then proceeds to play well below their ability and watch their season end before true postseason glory can be attained.
For the Pittsburgh Penguins, who just snuck into the playoffs this season - thanks in large part to the abject failure that the Boston Bruins 2014-15 campaign became - this may be the precise situation in which they find themselves.
A rookie head coach and rookie GM piloting a team of super stars that barely wedged their way into the postseason and don't seem like a lock to advance beyond the first-round - those New York Rangers look like they just might be the best team in the league right now, don't they - could be facing a dire situation depending on their playoff outcome.
What would come of the Pittsburgh franchise, should the seemingly impossible come to pass and such a talented squad is, in fact, bounced in the first-round? Could one of those super stars - perhaps a super star like Evgeni Malkin in particular - find himself trade bait if the postseason proves a waste?
TSN NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun reported on Friday that an early playoff exit could mean a shake-up of the current Penguins core, potentially including a deal that would see Malkin finish his NHL career elsewhere.
"I'm just spitballing, but what if they shopped him to the Detroit Red Wings, who have scads of good young forwards and defencemen. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, who replaced Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov years back, aren't getting any younger," writes Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal.
"Rick Nash got the Columbus Blue Jackets four pieces and he's not Malkin, 29 in July, who has won a Hart and two Art Ross trophies over his career."
Malkin enters the looming NHL postseason with 28 goals and 42 assists in just 69 games. He's seemingly become increasingly brittle in recent years, managing just 67, 43, 75, 31 and 60 games in the five previous seasons.
Of course, Malkin, like Sidney Crosby, carries a full no-movement clause, making the entire discussion moot unless he - or Crosby, for that matter - is willing to head elsewhere.
Still, the Penguins, like the Bruins, have spent too much money and acquired too much talent not to be vying for a Stanley Cup this and every other season.
It seems a disappointing finish to these playoffs could potentially be a precursor to a new age of Penguins hockey under Mario Lemieux.
