There is no doubt the Pittsburgh Penguins front office jobs were highly sought after given the reputation, success, resources, and expectations. Brian Burke sounded downright giddy at the thought of working for the Penguins, while he and new general manager Ron Hextall said all the right things at their introductory press conferences on Tuesday.
But for as exciting as this job might be, it is not going to be a particularly easy job. It might even be pretty daunting when you dig below the surface of a couple of superstars and recent championships.
The three best players (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang) are in their mid-30s and on the downside of their careers, while two of them will have their contracts expire after next season in a league where the salary cap is going to remain pretty stagnant.