Penguins/NHL
Signs were there last season of heading in wrong direction
The Penguins last 75 games (Regular Season/Playoffs) they have a .427 win percentage. Hot goaltenders, injuries, no matter what way you want to spin it or excuses to make, that’s a lot of losing.
The Penguins in last night’s 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens played a horrid first period as the ice was strongly titled in the Canadiens advantage, then Pittsburgh played a strong second period, only to come out with a sluggish start to the third and out-chanced 8-1 in the first nine minutes of the period.
Despite significant changes the last two seasons, it continues to be the same story, the group is plagued by stretches of being listless on the ice. It happened again last night as it did Saturday night vs Arizona.
Playing listless starts at the top and all the way down.
Sidney Crosby through the first three games of the season has never looked this stagnant as a player. His greatness of backing up the D and attacking down the middle of the ice is no longer there. Last night again Crosby gains the offensive zone down the middle of the ice and his first instinct is to move the puck over to Chris Kunitz or Phil Kessel down the wing, instead of attacking.
Evgeni Malkin who some for whatever reason continue to call the second best center in hockey, has no goals in his last 18 games and picked up his first point in 12 games last night with a secondary assist.
Once those at the top in the organization start accepting Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are no longer the players they were in their early 20’s, it will be a step in the right direction. Doesn’t mean they’re no longer great players but both are not the players they used to be. Let’s be honest here.
Teammates don’t feed off Crosby, Malkin like they they did four, five years ago.
What we’ve seen from this group through three games is what should be expected for a mishmash group.
The primary mistake the Penguins made this off-season was talking themselves into believing that the low scoring playoff games with the New York Rangers could make them get away with a poor blueline this season.
They’ve tried to throw crap together on the blueline and cross their fingers that the skill at forward will outweigh the liabilities on the backend.
It doesn’t work out that way.
The goals against are not the numbers to look at. This defense group is not built to play the way the Penguins are built to play offensively. That’s problem No. 1.
The horrific puck management skills from the backend this group possesses, the Penguins would be better off with a bunch of Max LaPierre’s, Daniel Winnik’s on the third and fourth lines.
Not embracing those type of players by any means but that’s how bad the defense is at getting the puck up to the forwards in the right spots through the neutral zone.
This mix is not going to work and we’re going to find out quickly here that it wasn’t an “A+” off-season for Jim Rutherford after all that so many pegged it as being.
Rutherford’s butchering of the roster last season is still haunting the Penguins and it isn’t just the debacle of acquiring Ben Lovejoy for Simon Despres, where the Penguins traded a young top-4 defenseman basically for nothing.
The David Perron trade continues to sting for the present and the future. For an organization dying for young impact forwards, a stud forward in Mathew Barzal went at No. 16 where the Penguins would have selected and for the present, Perron a pending free agent, is a drag on the roster.
In a league where more and more teams are getting faster, Perron’s east-west game makes him a non-factor more nights than not.
A cap hit just north of $3.8 million, that money would surely look good to go towards a quality two-way defenseman right now.
Mike Johnston was not the right guy for the job, that much has been clear for a while now and it isn’t worth rehashing on a daily basis, but he has also been dealt a tough hand with management influencing who should play and where.
After a solid preseason and fitting a need the Penguins desperately lack, someone with solid puck management skills from the backend, Adam Clendening has been stuck on the bench because upper management wants BTo read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
Limp wrist is out already? Not surprised in the least. Who’s next? We all know this is the start of the injury train. Couldn’t even make it out of camp without Duper going down and they signed someone who was going to be on IR for a month.
I thought BB was invincible because he worked out?
nrbst10’s point was actually heavily discussed on here right after the playoffs ended last season and many believed the defense played really well because we only gave up 1-2 goals each game but the defense at the end of last season played a huge factor in the teams inability to score and the point that I tried to get through to people that was laughed off is now being seen in full effect. The talent of the forwards means little if the defense can’t properly transition the puck, without a defensive corp that is capable of getting the puck to… Read more »
Don’t understand the “Max Lapierre and Daniel Winnik” bit. Pretty sure the 3rd and 4th lines are making less than last year with Sutter out of the equation and Plotnikov down on the 3rd line. If you want to argue they shouldn’t have done the Kessel deal so they could address the blueline, fine, because that’s where the money went. (For the record, I’m not.) The 3rd and 4th line upgrades have been mostly due to making more intelligent decisions. Biggest problem I have with the offseason was failing to get rid of Scuderi’s contract. Admittedly this is part hindsight,… Read more »
I think what D is trying to say is that you ‘might as well’ have absolutely awful players on the 3rd and 4th line because the outlet and breakout passes from the defense aren’t any good. If the passes are in the skates or too hard, etc, then you are not utilizing the talent at the forward position. Scuderi, Lovejoy, and even sometimes Cole just rim the puck around the Glass and Dasher in both the offense and defensive zones rather than sending a decent pass into a good area with feel. The problem is you need balance on a… Read more »
Robidas has no more ice minutes with the leafs what makes you think leafs would take scuderi and make him sit as well with his salary
BB will break sami salo Record 15 years 40 times injured BB will double that
same will break joey chestnut’s hot dog eating record.
he lost to a chinaman this year
instant buzz: pens best player injured.
he has played 99 GAMES since 2012-13 season
BB injured again ? is it because of the wrist shot he scored on price ?
Wasn’t Billy Guerin the one who pushed for the Ben Lovejoy trade? I forget where I saw or heard that, but I was like, wtf!?
yes he was
Adam Gretz @AGretz
Just doing a quick look through hockey-ref, only 15 teams since 05-06 were winless through 4 games. Only 3 of them made the playoffs.
(1) In hindsight, the Perron trade hasn’t worked out, but it seemed like a good deal at the time. Perron scored 28 goals for Edmonton in 2013-14 so getting a young potential 30 goal scorer for what we had assumed would be a late first round draft pick wasn’t a bad deal at the time. (2) If we had the 16th overall pick, for all we know they would’ve drafted Sprong in that spot. (3) The Pens are feeling the collective impact of losing Nisky, Orpik, and Martin. It was the right decision individually to let each player walk due… Read more »
Be careful using common sense, its a dangerous habit in these parts.
Did Sid score yet?
I thought it was all Scuderi’s fault? Good article D – we are witnessing a team on the slide, not one on the rise. Some intervention has to happen, or the Penguins will not recover in time to make the playoffs.
I’m not sure an intervention is even possible. Mario doesn’t care and just wants his money so he won’t be intervening with the people directly below him and I really believe that is where the problem lies. MJ may not be a good coach but as we’ve already seen better coaches aren’t going to come to an organization where the FO meddles and interferes with lineup decisions. The only real hope for the organization right now is if they players take it on themselves.
AGREE jaydogg
nucks coach decline to come with pens and chose vanvouver saying he wants to coach long-term and not short term like it will soon be the case of MJ
Good post agree. Haven’t seen that from this player group yet though
Mario doesnt care and just wants his money? And the best way to realize max return is to try and sell a team that is playing like dog shit with what seems like a cloudy future? I don’t think Mario would be stupid enough, as a business man, to not see his cash cow is broken. It will have to be fixed before he sells
Team success is only a minor factor in the value of the team from a business standpoint, it’s a value to the fans but not to the financial valuation of the team. The only real factor that effects the financial value of the team is the value of it’s assets and it’s ability to be profitable/marketable and those factors are unchanged, the physical assets of the franchise(building/land) will not be decreasing in value any time soon and as long as they maintain the star power of players like Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and Letang the franchise will continue to be marketable… Read more »
If the assets have become a question mark because of performance then it would devalue the max purchase price no?
Yes and no. The assets that carry the most value(property/marketing) aren’t a question mark at all and the asset of personal is a renewable asset that can always be regenerated. Get rid of Sid, Geno, Kessel and Letang and all it takes is a high draft pick and you’ve instantly replaced the marketable asset even if it isn’t as talented as the previous asset.
bit of a crap shoot… when you have some of the games top marquee names signed over the next 6 or so years the expectation is immediate success and returns based on that success. Especially in a city where support has waivered in the past when they have been in the gutter.
On a brighter note, imagine how good this team would be if only they had a young defenseman who had 0pts and was -4 through the first 4 games, they only thing that would be better is if they just gave that young defenseman a 3.7M/year raise. I guess we can only dream though.
Correction. 0pts and -4 through 3 games not 4.
Have you seen Getzlaf’s and Perrys numbers? I have watched every Ducks game this season….have you? No you just wait for the opportunity to try and support your stupid claim that Despres was a depth d man and the trade hasn’t hurt Pittsburgh. Hear this silly silly stubborn little man….it was the return that killed us. You were glowing over Lovejoy and called him a top 4 Dman and you know it. And you are, were and will be wrong wrong wrong.
Not was. IS a depth D-man. You can argue that he was worth more than Ben Lovejoy. I’ll listen to that argument, and likely agree in the end. But he’s not a good defenseman. And he never was.
That might be the most depressing article I’ve ever read. What was it that I said 2 years ago? Be careful…. Yeah, that’s what I thought.
this looks like a coaching issue to me. Definitely still a competitive team. Defense does have its problems running this offense and I would be upset with Rutherford for the defense he put together but not sure how much he could fix that while we still have Kun/dup/scuderi on the books.
its probably a david moreheist issue. didn’t he block the trade of a player because he was “marketable”? it probably was st. blurry after the isle series when vokoun replaced him and had the best playoff numbers in penguins history. the pens couldn’t sweep vokoun under the rug quick enough. how dare he outplay our patron saint, country club member, smiley faced clown and marketing gem. couldn’t allow that! that infectious smile and perfect teeth= $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
We would have been selling low on fleury at that point and lacked viable starting goalie options. Vokoun was aging at that point.
If Pens struggle into the play offs this year then a shake up will be necessary.
Selling high on fleury or atleast at reasonable value might make sense. We could then use that trade to add the second pairing guys we need and prayer that Murray is ready
Country club Mario needs to sell the team, Then trade Sid and Fleury, get rid of Tocchet. Let Malkin be the #1 and this thing is fixed.
if they trade st.blurry, who will go to all of the media’s cookouts and let the kids put on a goalie mask? st. blurry is a hall of famer according to ron cook and he is the best goalie the pens ever had. we are blessed to have a saint in our net.
mario can’t trade crosby. he lived with him for years. you can’t trade your son!
if not mistaking yoda i think fleury lived with mario as well so he wont be gone 🙂
in case you are board yoda http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2015/04/15/Penguins-goalie-Marc-Andre-Fleury-in-eye-of-the-storm-again/stories/201504150110
How does Fleury get left off of this list. Sensational for game two, he was the mediocre mental midget in games 1 and 3, letting up soft goals on the first shot he faced and putting his goal-allergic team in a hole. Crosby sucks, Malkin is disinterested but Fleury is unreliable at best.
When your team is built to be an offense first team and you get outscored 8-3 through 3 games, your goaltender is the least of your concerns regardless of how he plays.
according to jay, the goaltender can never ever ever ever ever be called out for a crappy game. it’s always the defense.
He didn’t have a good game on Tuesday. He was good to great in the first two. On his worst day, he isn’t disappointing as much as the center from Cole Harbor that’s stealing $12 million.
st. blurry sucks. he gave up 2 short side goals against the canadiens. that is humiliating. he didn’t give the pens a chance.
If they send sprong down before he plays 10 games, can they bring him back up?
Not until the end of his junior season.
remember when you all laughed at me when i told you the pens were going to finish 12th in the east this summer? i changed the prophecy. they will finish dead last.
To be fair, we laugh at you when you say anything.
….don’t think for a second mario doesn’t know what he is doing. the writing is on the wall. he wants out because he knows the nightmare is just beginning.
from a fan standpoint, i want them all gone. it’s the TV show that should have been cancelled 3 years ago. i am so bored watching the same guys underachieve. it is pathetic and embarrassing. don’t forget, these guys are signed until 2021. nobody is going to take on that cap hit for guys who don’t even care. the pens are SCREWED for at least 10 seasons.
malkin and crosby aren’t that old. they should still have 80-100 point seasons easily. i think the problem is everyone in the organization kisses their rear ends and they never get a boot up the ass when they need it. honestly, how can crosby and coaches watch the videos and not tell sid that he is allergic to the net and he is playing like a woman? seriously! wtf! geno needs to go back to russia and swim with the wales. he hasn’t given a crap since the 2012 season. there is no reason he shouldn’t score 40 per season.
Don’t say that about geno you will upset or break stans and jaydoggs heart ,and call you racist
It always starts out “sid and geno” and ends with how geno sucks. So yoda.
You maybe right but they looked pretty good in world championships, can not believe both players can not score, at same time. All points to the coach my friend.
If the wheels are truely off, does it matter if Pouliot is in the AHL or NHL? He could be sucking it up in the NHL and we could lose every game and get into the lottery for next year.. YEAH.. this is depressing…
It could effect the future with the development of Pouliot. I don’t know the kid so I have no clue how he would respond to being thrown to wolves and failing but personally I prefer a conservative approach with prospects.
Trade malkin already as I said the more we keep him the more his stock will drop and team will sink. He is 29-30 this is the best time to trade him after this he won’t have as much as value of today
In order to have low scoring playoffs game you need to have a good D