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Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, Tristan Jarry, and other Penguins stars open up on 2025 playoff heartbreak - "Inconsistency plagued us"

Modified Apr 18, 2025 15:52 GMT

The 2024-25 season has officially come to a conclusion for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pittsburgh beat the rival Washington Capitals 5-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night to finish with a 34-36-12 record and 80 points on the campaign. That was far from enough to even compete for a playoff spot, marking a third consecutive season of the Pens missing the postseason.

On Friday morning, the team had their locker room cleanout day, much too early for their liking. Captain Sidney Crosby and other top players spoke about what went wrong this season. Penguins play-by-play voice Josh Getzoff shared their comments on X (formerly Twitter).

"Lots of nights leaving the rink this year feeling like we could have won the game. Confidence we'll move forward from what we've seen from the younger guys. The East was such a logjam; could've been right there with just a few more wins," Crosby said.

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Erik Karlsson, Tristan Jarry, and Bryan Rust also expressed their disappointment in falling short of expectations.

"Been a tough year. Tough year for everyone. Lots of ups and downs. Too volatile. It's unfortunate that it didn't go the way we were hoping for," Karsson said.

"Tough season. Never envisioned it going that way. The start of the season didn't go the way I wanted," Jarry said.

"Inconsistency plagued us. When we were good, we were really good. When we were bad, we were really bad," Rust added.

Karlsson, Jarry, and Rust all remained locked up on long-term deals with the Penguins. There could be trade interest in all three of them; however, Jarry appears to be the most likely to be moved of any.

The Penguins could be very active this offseason

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has publicly stated he wants to bring the team back to contention as urgently as possible.

With the core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, and Kris Letang not getting any younger, it's time to shift from adding picks and prospects to acquiring more NHL talent.

This offseason could be a very busy and important one for Dubas and the Penguins. Pittsburgh has a bevy of draft picks and $23 million available in cap space to add to their roster. Combine that with the late-season emergence of prospects Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty, and things have the potential to look much better next season.

About the author

Jackson Weber is an NHL journalist at Sportskeeda with a Bcomm degree in Business and Sport Management from the University of Guelph.

Jackson has grown up as a lifelong Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are his all-time favorite players. Watching the Penguins win the Stanley Cup three times is an experience that Jackson will never forget. Years later, you realize how rare it is to see your favorite team win even once, so three championships were just incredible.

When not watching, playing, or writing about sports, Jackson loves to cook and is passionate about health and nutrition.

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