The date was June 12, 2009. A Friday night. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Having finished my shift at Wright’s Gym, I stayed and watched the final period of the Penguins’ dramatic Cup-winning victory over Detroit on the big-screen TV above the front desk with owner Dave Wright. We shared a pizza from Portofino’s…pepperoni I think. Funny how you remember such things.
I remember the promise that team held, too.
“This team is set up for a great future,” noted veteran leader and current assistant GM Bill Guerin. “These guys are all in their early twenties.”
Indeed, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang were 21. Evgeni Malkin was 22. Jordan Staal…20. Marc-Andre Fleury…the graybeard at 24.
Where has the time gone?
Fast-forward to last night. Once again, I watched the proceedings on the big-screen TV at Wright’s. If the game back in 2009 represented a coronation of sorts, last night’s Game 4 defeat represented…to me…the final curtain descending on hands-down the most wonderful decade of hockey in Pens history.
As Dorothy said to Toto after her house landed in Oz, “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
I have a sinking feeling we’re not gonna win any more Cups for a while.
I’m not being negative. Merely pragmatic. As respected PenguinPoop commenter 55 on Point recently noted, every championship team has a life cycle. They eventually run their course and bottom out. It’s as certain as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
The Chicago Blackhawks won three Cups in six seasons. After bowing in the first round two seasons in a row, the Hawks have missed the playoffs two years running. And that’s with a core of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith…the Windy City version of Crosby, Malkin and Letang.
Superstars alone do not a Cup-team make.
The Los Angeles Kings won Cups in 2012 and 2014. Anyone seen them lately?
You get my gist. The road ahead could be a rocky one for our Pens. I’m not looking forward to it.
Enough peering into what may be a bleak future. Back to last night. In many ways, the Pens’ 3-1 loss to the Islanders was a microcosm of our season. The good, the bad and the ugly all rolled into one.
First…the good. Starting with a bang, Letang pinched down the right sideboards to keep a play alive in the Islanders’ zone. Crosby found Jake Guentzel cruising all alone in the high slot with a beautiful backhand pass. “Jake the Snake” did the rest, rifling the puck past Robin Lehner to stake the Pens to an early 1-0 lead.
The Pens still possess plenty of firepower and quick-strike ability.
Next…the bad. Ninety-four seconds later, Letang turned the puck over inside the Islanders’ blue line, sending the visitors scurrying away on a 2-on-1 break. Sliding on his knees to cut the angle, Matt Murray failed to stop Jordan Eberle’s glove-side snipe.
The Pens take too many risks and yield too many odd-man breaks. They can’t play with a lead. The goalies need to make big saves when it matters.
Now…the ugly. With the first period winding down, rookie defenseman Markus Pettersson skated to the end boards to retrieve a dump-in with ex-Pen Tom Kuhnhackl in hot pursuit.
“It’s a simple play,” noted studio analyst Jay Caufield. “Just reverse the puck out.”
Except Pettersson didn’t get his stick on the puck, opting to play it with his skates instead. Josh Bailey pounced on the loose rubber, causing the Pens other d-man, Erik Gudbranson, to give chase. With both black-and-gold defenders trapped out of position, Bailey fed Brock Nelson in front for an easy goal.
The Pens are mistake-prone. There’s an appalling lack of structure, especially in the defensive zone.
And that, in a nutshell, sums up the current state of our team. Talented but error prone. Maybe emotionally fragile, too. The very definition of a mixed bag.
Yes, there’s still a lot to like. But we’ve sprouted some warts, too. Perhaps too many to be removed with simple cosmetic surgery.
It’s going to be a long…and potentially eventful…summer.
Hey all,
Sorry to be so absent from commenting. I guess I’m just taking a little time to catch my breath and digest things.
The Islanders essentially held a mirror up to us and, unfortunately, the reflection staring back at us wasn’t all that flattering.
Rutherford didn’t mince words in his press conference, questioning the team’s desire while noting the players never really came together as a unit. A development that probably wasn’t helped by a total of six in-season trades.
It will, indeed, be an interesting off-season. Maybe it’s a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. But I, personally, would make trading Kris Letang a priority. I thought, overall, he had a terrific regular season. But dear Lord, was his decision-making bad in the playoffs…again.
If he doesn’t try to stickhandle through three guys with a line change going on behind him in overtime of Game 1, who knows? And his giveaway right after we scored early in Game 4 led directly to a momentum-crushing game-tying goal.
In the 13 games Letang missed with injury and Zach Trotman played, the Pens were 8-3-2 and allowed 31 goals. While I’m certainly not suggesting that he and Trotman are an apples-to-apples comparison, we generally played pretty solid defense without Tanger. And I think Justin Schultz is capable of stepping up…especially if he gets more power-play time.
Of course, we need to some kind of value in return.
I’m guessing that perhaps Phil Kessel’s time with the Pens might be up. When you had a really strong team, you could afford to let Phil be Phil.
Now? Perhaps not so much. But again, you’ve to try and wrangle at least a decent return. And if you trade Letang or Kessel (or Malkin) obviously our skill level plummets.
A lot of the mid-level guys who might be trade bait…Bjugstad, Hornqvist, Jack Johnson, Rust, Maatta…have fairly onerous contracts.
JR obviously has his work cut out for him…and some tough choices.
Rick
PS–A stat that really surprised me. The Pens’ 5-on-5 shot attempts percentage was 55.75…third best in the playoffs. The Pens had six players over 60 percent…McCann was over 70 percent! I know the Islanders play a rope-a-dope style. But it didn’t seem to me that we possessed the puck nearly that much.
Hey Rick
The interesting thing about those CORSI stats is that the Penguins SAT% during their brief time with the lead was 46.67. So in this case it would seem to me that the Islanders were indeed just sitting back, funneling the Pens into low % areas and waiting for them to make their inevitable mistakes. However, when they were ahead, they simply let up.
Hi Rick,
Thanks for a wonderful season my friend. Once again you, Phil, and OTR have done a great job in publishing this blog. The tone of your article above is how I feel about my beloved penguins. They still have some great pieces to make a cup run but they simply don’t have enough! We need to address that issue! I think we’re both are in agreement to that point. We may disagree slightly on the methods needed and the urgency of such, but I’ve known you for almost 3 years and I know that there’s no one who loves the Penguins more than you do.
By the way Congratulations with your latest book and the previous two. I can’t wait to see what your fourth one will be.
After watching the Islander series it became apparent that they were bigger, faster, and played a better system than we did. It showed that our coaching staff Failed to adapt properly to the Islanders dump and chase strategy.
Where do we go from here? I know I’m in the minority, but I really believe we should trade Kessel, LeTang, and for the right deal Malkin and or Murray. Murray who next year will demand a major raise should be looked at in this manner. Are there any elite goalies available in this year‘s free agency that could be acquired for 5-6 million dollar range. If that’s possible,then trade Murray for a very high draft pick to a team that requires a goaltender with cup championship Pedegree. So if that deal exists, then make a trade. Maybe New Jersey .They will have a top five pick.Maybe LA? Again with Kessel and LeTang maybe package our pick and trade up. Add other minor pieces if necessary. They’ll have a top three pick.
With regards to Malkin I would stress that it would require a very special trade before I would engage in it,however it is an option that we should explore.
For example Colorado. They have two draft picks, probably number one and 17- 20 th. With the right player included and their two draft picks I would consider trading Malkin. Again looking to free agency to see what is available for $9.5 million, Genos Cap Hit . Is there an elite Center man available?
So in that regard I’m not dumping Murray or Geno, I want to see them replaced with elite talent from free agency and then with the 2 to 3 high-level draft picks acquire the stars for the future that will help us lift another cup.
That’s my theory Rick. Some may call it Fantasy, but I see it as a serious discussion to make the penguins better because we will have more bodies of elite talent that we have today!!!
All the other pieces are just pieces that can be interchanged for the right deal. Every deal should be considered that will help make our team better. That’s why I have not added the various bottom six numbers to this discussion.
Hope we can speak over the summer and if my health issues improve maybe I can get out my pen then write a few articles as we did before.
So happy to have you as a friend.
Your thoughts?
Cheers.
Jim
Hey Rick,
I just read an interview given today from GM Jimmy Rutherford in where he states” he is concerned about complacency among his team given the stages of their careers.Having won 2 or 3 cups maybe they are not as hungry as they once were.” Rick,this is an amazing confession from a GM.There are 11 players still on the roster from the cup winning years of 16 and 17 the article states. We all know who they are. You can take Sid off the list but after that, anything could happen.
I remember Mario giving an interview in his Native province of Quebec and saying since we spend to the Cap limit each year and we are a small market team,in relation to the 5 or 6 big hockey crazed markets of New York,Toronto,Montreal,Boston,Detroit and LA,?? that we need to finish at least deep into the second round of the playoffs to justify the high salary expenses. I believe there is a lot of truth to that statement.
There is pressure for them to perform.I do believe that you will see a major shake up of at least 2 or 3 of the big 7 and much of it will depend on the available elite talent at free agency. All in all that was quite an interview JR gave today.
It will be an interesting summer.
Cheers
Jim
Rick
Excuse my French but I hope JR has the “balls” to do the right thing. For me Letang has to go along with Simon, Maata and almost anyone who doesn’t have the name Crosby – maybe Dumo.
I know I’ll get some heat on this one and Malkin is a legend in Pittsburgh but it may be time to swing a Major deal??
Any thoughts??
Hi Mike!
Here are my thoughts:
Malkin, as we all probably noticed, hasn’t had a good season overall. His 2018-2019 stats are 21-51-72 in 68 games. For many NHL players, 72 points in 68 games would be considered as a decent season. But according to Geno’s standards, it is not. This is 26 points lower than last year. Ok, he was injured but there was something really disturbing in his attitude this year. I can’t really tell exactly but he did not seem as committed as he used to be.
Did he feel that the team was not performing well? Was he unsatisfied with the game plan, the lack of structure, or stamina? I know that he and Sully are not on the same wave lenght on many things. I could feel his anger and frustration at times.
I am going to express a very personal opinion here but for the benefit of Malkin’s career, I think a change of scenery should be considered. I know he loves the city of Pittsburgh, his teammates, the fans. However, he has always been in the shadows of Sid and never had the opportunity to establish himself as a franchise player, except when Sid was injured. As a no.1 centre, he would have the opportunity to display his true talents. Geno likes to produce under pressure, when he feels he can take matters into his own hands.
But the questions remain: Does GMJR have enough guts to make such a move? Is Geno willing to be traded? To trade Geno, it would take solid guarantees and of course Geno’s approbation. GMJR will have a very busy summer. He will have to deal with a few bad contracts and he doesn’t have much room to manoeuvre. There is one thing for sure: status quo is not acceptable. This team really needs a major retool.
Speaking of bad contracts, some of them will be tough to manage. I am thinking about Patric Hornqvist, Jack Johnson, Olli Maataa, and Kris Letang among others. In Letang’s case, it will be very difficult to trade him, considering his injury history.
Hey Rick,
Great Stuff as always!!
As I wrote elsewhere, players win games, teams win championships. All of the breakdowns you talk about above really were examples of players not trusting in team.
What was it that Styx sang in there all too forgettable Kilroy album “Don’t let it end this way”. It may be over (the Crosby – Malkin era) but I really don’t believe it has to end this way. I do see potential to retool and make another bid. I wanted JR to concede this season at the trade dead line and it would have been a whole lot easier to make the moves to retool but nothing is impossible.
Here is the title of your next book “Return of the King – The Crosby – Malkin Penguins climb back to the top”
Well said Coach ! Return of the King !!
I like that. 🙂
Cheers.