SIDNEY CROSBY | PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

In Tampa they’re conducting a master’s class in asset management, but in Pittsburgh they’re merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

At least Kyle Dubas seems to have a keener appreciation of his circumstances this time around.

Last year Dubas, the Pens’ newly anointed president of hockey operations, and the powers that be at Fenway Sports Group operated under the assumption the Pens were still a contender.

So they brought back Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. And they traded for Erik Karlsson.

And they missed the playoffs again, anyway.

Contrast that to what just happened in Tampa.

The Lightning let franchise icon Steven Stamkos walk away via free agency and turned the salary cap space and top-six minutes into Jake Guentzel.

Tampa, in effect, traded a 34-year-old, 40-goal, 81-point scorer for a 29-year-old, 30-goal, 77-point scorer.

That’s what can happen when you take emotion out of the equation.

That’s how you stay relevant after having won Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 and having reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2022.

It couldn’t have been easy for the Tampa franchise, and especially for the Tampa fans.

But the latter are likely to get over it once the team they’re devoted to resumes contending.

The Penguins are no longer in that category, and Dubas knows it. That’s why he resisted the urge to try to somehow fit in another perceived difference maker in free agency and instead settled for the likes of Blake Lizotte, Matt Grzelcyk and Anthony Beauvillier, none of whom are going to move the needle on or off the ice.

“What we’re not going to do is get into the free-agent quick fixes,” Dubas told reporters amid a free agent frenzy league wide that was reduced to a fizzle in Pittsburgh. If we had been in a situation where we had been a playoff team and close to being a contender, we would do that. But I think the appetite here is to try to get the team back into contention for the great players who have been here for so long of a time.

“We’re not looking to simply squeak into the playoffs. It’s to return the team to become a contender as soon as possible. Can we do that this season? Can we do that next season? It’s hard to put a timeframe on it. But this is obviously not a strip-it-down-to-the-studs situation here. The people in the room are too good for that.”

The fact that Dubas is even publicly contemplating it might be at least a two-year re-tool project speaks volumes, even if they’re not planning to strip it down to the studs.

It could have happened sooner had the Penguins not brought back Letang and Malkin (imagine what the resulting cap space and significant minutes available via their departures might have been turned into).

But it didn’t and it won’t.

This is a reclamation project that might well outlast even Sidney Crosby.

Which means the Pens should at least be contemplating a trade of Crosby as much as they are extending his contract.

That is particularly if Crosby comes to the conclusion he’s already spent his last days contending with the Penguins.

If he hasn’t, if he’s determined to be a one-career, one-team type of icon, so be it.

He’s earned the right to call that shot if that’s what he wants.

But what if it isn’t?

Crosby will turn 37 on Aug. 7. Does anyone really think he’ll be in a position to lead a Cup charge with the Penguins at 39 or 40?

But he still has game and he’d still, presumably, glean a great return in either top young players or top prospects/draft picks or both if the Penguins opted to explore the market.

A Crosby trade might well accelerate a Penguins’ revival that has a destination in mind but as yet no ETA.

The fans, of course, might riot no matter what the Pens get in return.

There would be a significant hit at the ticket window initially (which wouldn’t be an insignificant development to the organization’s decision makers).

But winning enough to legitimately contend again would take care of that eventually.

There are no guarantees that would happen sooner rather than later, or at all without Crosby.

But the alternative is to watch Crosby, Letang and Malkin keep skating hand in hand into the abyss.

To think any other outcome is more likely to happen would be to view the Penguins through rose-colored glasses.