Then this year Sidney Crosby and company bounced back with a return to the playoffs.

However, that is just more of a testament to the quality of players Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Erik Karlsson are. Avoiding a sweep against the Philadelphia Flyers and falling in six games does not dispel the idea Pittsburgh is heading towards a rebuild.

Pittsburgh does not have the draft capital like last year, but with picks at No. 22, 39 and 54, Dubas will be able to add some great pieces to go along with Ben Kindel, Will Horcoff and Bill Zonnon from last year.

Next season will be the final year on both Crosby and Karlsson’s contracts and Malkin signed for just one more season, pushing back rock bottom another year. Building a good foundation before being a dumpster fire will help the road back to success be much shorter.

AP File Photo Penn State forward Gavin McKenna (72) leaps in the air over Minnesota Duluth forward Scout Truman during an NCAA hockey regional game, Friday, March 27 in Albany, N.Y. McKenna will likely hear his name first on Friday night at the NHL Draft.

Pittsburgh will miss out on the top-tier talent of this draft, but in the region of their picks in the first two rounds the prospects available have boom-bust potential or very solid floors. Having hit on three centers in last year’s draft and needing promising talent on the blue line it is more likely the Penguins add there in Buffalo this weekend.

It would be unwise for Pittsburgh to make any crazy moves to jump higher than No. 22, but if Dubas falls in love with any of the defenders, like Keaton Verhoeff or Daxon Rudolph and they fall past 10 teams, he might be jockeying to jump up and grab them. Before that, Chase Reid and Carson Carels are locks for the top 10 and it is highly probable Alberts Smits is selected there, too.

The defenders more in the wheelhouse of the Penguins at No. 22 are Ryan Lin and Malte Gustafsson, but both very likely could be taken earlier if a run on defensemen happens. With Lin, the Penguins would be getting an extremely skilled, highly mobile, 5-foot-11.25 right-handed defenseman who projects as a top 4 with some offensive pop to his game. Whereas Gustafsson is a great skating, 6-foot-4.5 left-hander who projects as one of the top defensive defensemen in the class.

Where the Penguins stand as an organization it would be foolish to trade up and grab one of these guys just for the sake of taking a defender. Instead, it would be better asset management if they stayed put at No. 22 and grabbed one of the forwards that could land in that range.

Adding on the wing is also an organizational need if one of the centers last year is not moved to the side in the future and there should be some great talent available near No. 22.

Three of the best wing options in the draft could be on the board when Pittsburgh picks and they are Kamloops’ J.P. Hurlbert, Saginaw’s Nikita Klepov and MoDo’s Elton Hermansson.

Hurlbert was the Western Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year this season with 42 goals and 55 assists for 97 points in 68 games and will be headed to the University of Michigan next year to play with Horcoff and company. The dynamic 6-foot forward had a similar season to Kindel last year and is a cerebral player in the same way with a great scoring touch, which is why I think he is least likely to make it to 22.

Hermansson has caught a lot of steam heading towards the draft as he continues drawing comparisons to Boston’s David Pastrnak who saw similar success in Sweden’s second tier in Allsvenskan. Hermansson displayed great skills on the perimeter with a lethal shot as he amassed 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 38 games against the pros.

Both would be great choices if they are available at 22, but in case they are gone, Pittsburgh could take a swing on Ontario Hockey League Rookie of the Year and top scorer Klepov who is for whatever reason supposed to fall that far in the draft.

The Michigan State-commit scored 37 goals and 60 assists for 97 points in 67 games on one of the best lines in the OHL. He is another highly skilled winger who is more of a playmaker who can connect plays in the offensive zone together and has the ability to finish. The question with his game is whether or not he drives his own production and is in the shadow of 2027 prospect Dima Zhilkin.

I find that to be a poor argument against him as he will certainly have talented players with him as he builds his game going forward and eventually in the NHL.

If Pittsburgh decides to keep taking centers, a few of the options in that range are Alexander Command, Jack Hextall, Ilia Morozov and Oliver Suvanto.

Command has the best chance of becoming a second-line center, which is why he probably is picked before then, Morozov played at Miami of Ohio and did not display a high offensive ceiling and Suvanto is one of the younger players in the class who lost steam as his offense was questioned.

Hextall intrigues me the most despite playing in junior hockey, but he is the smartest of the bunch with a high motor, and his path to Michigan State sets him on the right track to become a legitimate scoring threat in the NHL. Command, Morozov and Suvanto might have a quicker path to an NHL roster, but patience with Hextall would pay dividends and Pittsburgh can afford to wait.

It is also worth noting that two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins and current development coach, Matt Cullen, has a son, Wyatt, who is a top prospect available in this class. Wyatt is a bubble pick with the top 10, but his father’s Pittsburgh ties could open the door to a move in that direction.

From 22 to 39 a lot can happen, but I will not be surprised if one or both of the polarizing QMJHL defensemen Tommy Bleyl and Xavier Villeneuve are available when Pittsburgh picks again. Bleyl is the best straight-line skating defenseman of the draft and measures at 5-foot-11.25 while scoring 13 goals and 68 assists in 63 games for the Moncton Wildcats. Then he soared in the playoffs with 6 goals and 22 assists for 28 points in 21 games.

Villeneuvue was just over a point per game with 6 goals and 32 assists for 38 points in 37 games, but his draw is more that he looks like a carbon copy of Montreal’s Lane Hutson on the ice. His processing of the game is not quite the level of Hutson, but the Boston University-commit could be worth the risk for Pittsburgh.

If I were Dubas, I would lean towards Bleyl since he will be returning to junior hockey one more season before heading to Michigan State, giving him more time to perfect his game before turning pro, while Villeneuve likely is going to try and reach the NHL as quickly as possible.

Another defenseman who could be around in the second round for Pittsburgh is Brek Liske, and the 6-foot-2 right-handed defenseman reminds me of Minnesota’s Brock Faber both situationally and stylistically.

Liske played in the shadow of his Everett teammates all season in the WHL, but injuries above him allowed him to flourish in the playoffs with 4 goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 18 games. His elite skating and involvement in the offensive zone was overlooked just like Faber in 2020 playing with Jake Sanderson who became a top-five selection.

Another few options with the second-round picks are going after twin forwards Liam and Markus Ruck who led the WHL in scoring; dynamic forward Mathis Preston who underperformed on a bad Spokane team; Sweden’s Marcus Nordmark who is a top-10 talent who has struggled to put it together on the ice; or likely top 9 forward Ryder Cali who projects as a good glue guy who pays attention to the small details in the game.

The draft will really begin to get interesting once the Penguins are on the board as the choices are all over the place. No matter what Pittsburgh does, it will have the chance to add great pieces to build a good foundation moving toward an eventual life without Crosby, Malkin and Karlsson.