"Do we believe we are a contender? Yes, we do, and we (Burke and general manager Ron Hextall) have since we got here," Burke told NHL Network Radio on Sunday. "Can we add with our cap situation if we decide to? We are pretty limited with the salary cap restrictions that we are under, so making a big deal probably would be difficult to do. But we would look, certainly."
The Penguins (20-9-5) won an NHL season-high 10 games in a row before a 3-2 loss at the Dallas Stars on Saturday. They currently hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They have their first-round pick in each of the next three NHL Drafts, but Burke said he is reluctant to continue borrowing against the future to add to the present.
"What assets are we going to give up to add? The answer is not many," Burke said. "It's time for this team to stop the steady, and this will come out as a negative and I don't want it to because I love (former Penguins president and general manager) Jim (Rutherford), but stop the trend where we are going to give away a lot for a 20 percent chance at winning. You get close, you add, and Jim did what he was supposed to do. But we have to stop that trend at some point."
The Penguins' ability to stay in playoff contention has been even more impressive when considering they have been without numerous key players for significant periods of time. Center Evgeni Malkin, who had knee surgery June 4, has yet to play this season. Center Sidney Crosby missed the first seven games recovering from wrist surgery, then another five games while in NHL COVID-19 protocol. Forward
Bryan Rust
has missed 19 games this season, forward Jake Guentzel six and defenseman Kris Letang four.
Burke said coach Mike Sullivan deserves a lot of credit for keeping the Penguins competitive.
"Mike Sullivan has done a heck] of a job, he's a good coach," Burke said. "Our focus to maintain the level of play and level of intensity that we have maintained from day one with significant injuries and COVID outbreaks," Burke said. "Like we are not just missing Brian Burke-type players, we're missing important players. We had three of our six defensemen out with COVID at the same time (
[Brian Dumoulin
, Marcus Pettersson, Chad Ruhwedel), and these guys just keep showing up and putting up points.
"Coaches usually fall under one of two categories; there's real boss-type men who order people to do things, and then guys who convince people to do things. In order to be a truly great coach, you have to have a little of both of that. This is a guy, Sullivan, who is a thinking player, played over 700 games in the NHL despite not being a great talent but made it work and figured it out. (He) figured out how to be smarter and better than other people and then he brings that commanding sense to him as well.
"You have to be a general, there's lots of colonels. You look at the hierarchy of the U.S. Army, for every general, there's 20 colonels, probably higher. This guy is a general."
Burke also said Crosby, who has scored 22 points (four goals, 18 assist) in his past 15 games, has elevated his play at a critical juncture of the season. Pittsburgh is 11-3-1 during the stretch.
"We have a captain here that empowers a lot of things, that makes everyone work harder, makes everyone follow the game plan, makes everyone better, makes everyone listen and his name is Sid and that helps," Burke said.
