Pittsburgh Penguins’ 16-season NHL playoff streak ends: Why it happened

The Pittsburgh Penguins made the playoffs in Sidney Crosby’s second season in 2006-07 and put together a tremendous 16-season run to hold the longest active postseason streak in North American major professional sports. 

They reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2008, won it all in 2009, then won back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017. And they looked to extend their postseason run after getting team-friendly deals to keep the core together this past offseason.

Despite a so-so season, the Penguins controlled their playoff fate this week, needing to beat two of the league’s worst teams to claim a wild-card spot. But they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday and they were eliminated from playoff contention when the New York Islanders beat the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday. 

With the Washington Capitals and Nashville Predators also missing the playoffs, the longest active NHL playoff streaks belong to the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. Both clubs extended their streaks to seven seasons by punching their postseason tickets this year.  

Why did the Pittsburgh Penguins’ playoff streak end?  

Salary cap woes

The Penguins kept the Big 3 together, signing center Evgeni Malkin (four years, $24.6 million) and defenseman Kris Letang (six years, $36.6 million) in the offseason to play alongside Crosby, who has three years left at a $8.7 million cap hit. They also traded for defenseman Jeff Petry ($6.25 million cap hit). 

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second stroke of his career, plus dealt with a lower-body injury and the death of his father. Defensemen Jan Rutta and Petry missed 25 and 21 games, respectively, and Marcus Pettersson hasn’t played since March 18. No. 1 goaltender Tristan Jarry missed 17 games with injuries.

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