Brian Burke reveals that he and Hextall plan to make the Pens a bigger, uglier hockey team

It's no secret that Pittsburgh Penguins President of Hockey Operations, Brian Burke has a penchant for pushing large "truculent" players in organizations that he oversees.

With Burke and former Flyers GM Ron Hextall now at the helm in Pittsburgh, it's safe to say there is a transformation coming, especially when you consider Burke's comments back in November, suggesting that the Pens are incapable of winning now and are long overdue for a rebuild. But just what does a rebuild look like for the Penguins?

For starters, it looks a lot bigger - and as Brian Burke mentioned during an interview with The Fan Morning Show in Pittsburgh on Friday, it also looks a lot uglier.

"Pittsburgh's the last team to win with a small, fast team. The last three Cup winners have been big, they play long pants hockey, they play ugly hockey. I think we need to look at that & see, have we kept up with the Joneses here?"

Burkie is certainly correct when it comes to the 2018 and 2019 Stanley Cup winners, the Washington Capitals and the St. Louis Blues. However, his suggestion that the Tampa Bay Lightning were not a small, fast team when they won in 2020 is a bit of a swing and a miss.

With Tyler Johnson, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde, Anthony Cirelli and Ondrej Palat all 6'0 and under, the Lightning are anything but a large, nasty hockey club - and are proof that you do not need to be big to win in this league.

Still, when you look at the current Penguins roster, there are an awful lot of 6'0 and under frames around the locker room, and given Burke's comments on Friday, we will more likely than not see some of them moved out to bring in some larger, grittier players.

Among the names that fit the description above are; Sidney Crosby (5'11), Kris Letang (6'0), Bryan Rust (5'11), Jason Zucker (5'11), Brandon Tanev (6'0), Jake Guentzel (5'11), Teddy Blueger (6'0) and Zachary Aston-Reese.

Now, while I'm not suggesting that Burke and Hextall plan to come in and deal every guy on this list, I could certainly see a few of the smaller, skilled guys like Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust and potentially even Jake Guentzel dealt in an attempt to bring in some larger bodies who are less likely to be pushed off of the puck as easily.

The Penguins are currently in possession of a 6-5-1 record through the their first 12 games of the season, and sit in 5th in the East Divison. Though it is still early, Burke and Hextall will not be able to wait very long during a shortened season to determine which moves they plan to make to help improve their fortunes for this season. If they wait too long, they run the risk of missing the playoffs, which would, no doubt, accelerate the potential rebuild that lies ahead.

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