Penguins Update: Has the Fire Gone Out?

You’ve just dined on a full course Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, crescent rolls…the works. Indulged in seconds, too.

You’re lounging on the couch, trying to get comfortable, perhaps even watching your favorite local hockey team on the tube.

“Hungry for dessert?” someone calls from the kitchen. “We’ve got fresh-baked pumpkin pie with whipped cream.”

Ugh. While you sure would like to say “yes,” the truth is you’re stuffed. Can’t eat another bite.

Excuse the clunky holiday analogy. But perhaps you’ve guessed where I’m going with this.

Having scaled the very pinnacle of the hockey world with back-to-back Stanley Cups, are the Penguins still hungry? Or has the fire gone out?

I realize it’s awfully early to be shoveling dirt over our Cup aspirations. After all, the Pens still boast a handful of the game’s elite talents, including sure-fire future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and sniper Phil Kessel. Most teams would consider themselves fortunate to have one of those guys let alone all three. And two wobbly games most assuredly do not a season make. Mike Sullivan and his staff are plenty experienced…and have plenty of time to iron out the kinks. Even if those kinks appear to be more substantial than in years past.

The one thing you can’t manufacture?

Hunger. You’re either hungry or you’re not.

Let’s dial the calendar back a few years. Entering the 2015-16 campaign, the Pens had been knocked out of the playoff hunt six years running. What looked at the very least like a mini-dynasty back in 2009 had morphed into one of the NHL’s biggest disappointments.

Think that didn’t weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of warriors like Crosby and Malkin, not to mention Chris Kunitz, Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang? When GM Jim Rutherford arrived on the scene and assembled a strong supporting cast, all that pent up frustration, disappointment and heartache fused into positive energy that fueled the team’s competitive fires and produced the dual Cup triumphs.

Maybe I’m being a tad critical. And yes, I know, it’s October. We still have six months of regular season games to grind through. But I’m not seeing that kind of energy or intensity from our boys. Quite the opposite, in fact. Lazy line changes, precious little urgency in getting back to help out in the defensive zone, not to mention a plethora of bone-head decisions as Other Rick’s so duly noted.

In brief…guys are taking shortcuts. You don’t win titles by taking shortcuts. You win by paying a price. Nobody knows that more than our Pens. They have the battle scars to prove it.

So how do you reinvigorate a fading champion? That’s a million-dollar question…a tough one, too. If there was a formula for it, you’d see a lot more teams capturing multiple Cups.

Perhaps we start with the blueprint Rutherford used when he first arrived. To aid and abet our gifted but overtaxed core, he imported character guys like Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Trevor Daley and Patric Hornqvist…players whose hunger to win a Cup matched Sid and Geno’s. He acquired Kessel, who endured six mostly miserable seasons north of the border while serving as a media punching bag and no doubt was thrilled to join a contender. And he added a spate of speedy, energetic kids who’d skate through the end boards to make an impression.

A volatile mix. Pure nitro on ice.

The nature of that group…fluid and fresh…contrasts sharply with this season’s squad, which experienced precious little turnover. Indeed, most of the changes were cosmetic, with very little alteration of substance.

We’ve all heard the adage about familiarity and what it breeds.

I’m not suggesting JR blow up the Pens and hold a fire sale, Lord knows. However, if the embers continue to fade, he’ll need to stoke the woodpile. Maybe even toss on a new log or two.