While most of the world must have rejoiced when Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early Spring, I could imagine that our favorite, frozen, flightless fowl were somewhat less than ecstatic. It would seem to me that our Antarctic avians would prefer colder temperatures. Perhaps that would account for the teams…how shall I put this…slow start to February; but then again maybe not, January went out like a lamb so why shouldn’t February start like one?
After such a heady December that included an 8 game winning streak that spilled over to January 4th, Mike Sullivan’s Penguins have reversed course; just 3 – 6 – 1 over the last 10 games. Perhaps it is apropos that the teams fortunes are going south as the team itself headed south to Florida to take on the Panthers. Unfortunately our locals’ fortunes are still traveling southward. Their 3 – 6 – 1 record has earned them the last playoff spot with Carolina Hurricanes knocking on the door looking to knock them out of contention.
That would be a strange twist of fate – getting knocked out of the playoffs and replaced by the team from which our GM Jim Rutherford came. Oh the irony!
So how did this team not so long removed from back-to-back Cups fall so hard? Who is to blame?
Is Ian Cole to blame? No, he is gone.
Is Ryan Reaves to blame? No, he is gone too.
How about Daniel Sprong? Nope, can’t blame him for poor defense or lack of scoring. In fact, Sullivan’s favorite whipping boy has 9 goals for Anaheim in 26 games; that is more than Tanner Pearson‘s 8 goals in 38 games, Dominik Simon‘s 7 goals in 46 games, Zach Aston-Reece’s 6 goals in 30 games, or Matt Cullen‘s 5 goals in 23 games. Furthermore his -5 really doesn’t seem to be all that bad in comparison to his teams -51 goal differential, particularly since the bulk of Anaheim‘s team has worse +/- stats.
Maybe this lackluster season is Jamie Oleksiak‘s fault? Oh that is right, he is gone too.
I have heard a lot of people try and blame the Penguins’ Goalies for the team’s ills. Hmm…
Well if you look at Goals against per game, Penguins’ opponents score 3.01 goals per game. Casey DeSmith has a GAA of 2.69 while Matt Murray’s GAA is 2.97 (2.26 since Dec). If you look at the Shooting Percentage (S%) of the opponents the Penguins have played, the Penguin’s goalies should have a Save Percentage (Sv%) of 0.903. DeSmith’s Sv% is 0.918 and for all those who hate Murray since he replaced Mar-Andre Fleury, he has a Sv% of 0.909 for the season (0.930 since Dec 1). Both goalies have GAA below and Sv% above what they should have based on the competition level.
Penguins’ goalies aren’t the problem.
Is the Penguins’ defense a problem? Maybe, Penguins’ opponents average 31.2 Shots Against per game SA/G while the team cedes 33 shots per game. I say maybe because 33 isn’t that much above 31.2 and those number do not reflect true scoring chances versus perimeter shots. Since I do not get the chance to review every single game and I am unaware of anyone keeping track of quantity of shot quality, I am not going to say definitively one way or the other. However, using the eye test on just the Penguins’ games, they do tend to give up tons of odd man breaks and let opponents sit in front of their Goalies.
How many times did Hurricanes hit Murray a couple of games ago, and get away with it?
Is it the Penguins’ offense? I hate to say it but again, maybe. The Penguins’ S% is 10.5, which is a good number but based on the Penguins’ level of competition, opponents’ Sv% would suggest that the team have a S% of 12.4. However, the Penguins do take more shots than opponents usually give up (32.5 vs 31.6). So, even though the team has Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, and Jake Guentzel, the Simon’s, Cullen’s, and other bottom 6 players are weighing down the teams scoring. Maybe Mr. Rutherford shouldn’t be so dismissive of the idea of getting some help for the bottom 6 or even other 2 of the top 6 before the trade deadline, as his recent comments seem to indicate.
That only leaves me to look at the Coaching staff.
Against the Hurricanes, as the Penguins’ offense was being swamped by their opponents system, Bob Errey noted early in the second period that Mike Sullivan was quick to make adjustments. No sooner did Errey make that comment, Sullivan began monkeying with the line combinations. Sorry, changing line combinations isn’t making adjustments. Making adjustments is having a plan B and changing fore-checking patterns and breakouts, not shuffling the deck and hoping for the best. Playing spin the bottle with personnel is something a passenger coach does not an active coach. Changing line combinations is hoping that one of the bus drivers (Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, or Guentzel) has an answer for the hapless coach. Playing line roulette is not what a Jack Adams finalist does, it is what an also ran gambles when he is hoping someone can save his job for him.
Sorry Penguins’ fans but I am in agreement with our friend Dee, it is time to move on from Sullivan.
Outside of the new guys (Nick Bjugstad, Jared McCann, Teddy Blueger and Garrett Wilson) and just a couple of veteran types like Crosby and Guentzel pretty much the rest of the team reminds me of the lethargy that marked the final days of the Mike Johnston regime. I do not see much energy.
Hopefully when Malkin and Justin Schultz get back we will see more energy and wins. I certainly hope so.
Please, Go Penguins! Make me have to eat crow. Don’t go too much farther south. Right the ship and go on another protracted winning streak and prove me wrong!
If Pens don’t get rid of GM Rutherford They may as well go play golf. I am in Raleigh NC where we watched Rutherford keep Hurricanes in basement since their Hartford days. We had 1 good year ad won Stanley cup and he fired the coach. Now he is gone and Hurricanes just kicked Pens out of even wild card. He has ruined the pens team is record time. I have been a Pens fan forever. Originally from south of Pittsburgh. Look at his history. GET RID OF RUTHERFORD.
Hey Tor,
Hopefully Rutherford can swing a trade for a #1 goaltender or the team is screwed. I’m thinking Murray, Simon and the 2019 1st round pick for Jonathan Quick. Boy, who knew Murray was going to get “injured” at the beginning of February.
You should read Gene Colliers Sunday column on team locker room dynamics. You may find it enlightening.
Your right Phil, Sully faked an injury to Murray to give him an excuse for holding him out of a game against that powerhouse Florida (what are they 25th in the league?) With that game out the way, he is now free to play him against the lowly Tampa Bay (see Trib article “Injured Penguins Goalie could return as soon as Saturday”). Sully is definitely trying to give Murray the Bunny games.
Interesting thing about Collier’s article – it isn’t germane. My rants against Sullivan aren’t mindless prattle based on frustration at losing to poor teams. Yes there was a honeymoon phase when he first came here. I was enthralled with the teams turnaround getting out from under the archaeologist Johnston’s slogging, plodding, overly complicated, lifeless coaching. The players won Sullivan 2 Cups imposing their will on opponents, first with blazing speed that no opponent had had enough experience facing to prepare for. Unfortunately, over time, those opponent analyzed the tactics and came up with a counter. Even worse, Sully has yet to try and adapt. His only answer to opponents out coaching him is to poke and hope, to shuffle the deck and pray that one of his players will walk on water and pull his fat out of the fire. When they were younger, Crosby and Malkin could do this regularly, now they are 3 years older and are surrounded by lessor talent, some due to natural attrition of consistently winning with lack of will to part with players at the right time for draft picks to stay on top, and part of the lessor talent problem is ego and personality disorders throwing away some admittedly middle to lower tier players but players who are better than the ones kept and over used.
Poor coaching based on basic management 101 tenets. Any and all excuses for losses always come back to who made the final decision. The person who has control of process – tactics, personnel, etc – is responsible for outcome. The person most responsible for the Penguins playing mediocre hockey is the coach.
Furthermore, with the Penguins currently residing in 13th in the league, even a 25th ranked team isn’t necessarily all that inferior by comparison. So once again, the article isn’t germane.
The relevant part about Collier’s article was keeping the players with the wrong attitudes out of the locker room. That is what Sullivan does. People have called these players cancerous or “Sprong”. Those are great numbers that the selfish Sprong is putting up in Anaheim. These are big goals he is getting. Jets up 7-0 the god like Sprong gets a goal.
Too bad he took the whole team down.
If lazy ass Sprong isn’t going to get back and play defense and the coach likes it, why should I get back and play defense. If Cole talks to the media and tells them stuff he isn’t supposed to why shouldn’t I do that.
Your infatuation with Sprong it is 100% clouding the rest of your judgement about the team. You won’t admit it, as a matter of fact you flat out denied it, but I know and anyone else who has read you over time knows you are rooting for Sullivan to fail because of how he treated your infatuation with the bad apple Sprong.
You can tell me Sprong isn’t a bad apple, but I have seen interviews where he was down right indignant towards Sidney Crosby & Mike Sullivan. Rolling his eyes, basically a spoiled brat.
When Sprong was traded Pens were out of playoffs, now they are back in. Ducks were in second place when they got Sprong, now they are second to last place. That is a huge jump. They have only won 7 of 25 games with him. Three of those 7 games were won in OT or Shootouts. Can you say Bad Apple or locker room cancer?
If you are going to tell me how that Sprong taking down their team is a stretch, keep in mind you tried to sell me a Sprong scoring once in 8 games made Sidney Crosby better line of crap.
You seriously need to get over Sullivan not playing the horrible, godawful, useless, lazy ass, locker room cancer known as Daniel Sprong and move on. Everyone and their mother knows that is what your problem is with Sullivan. Move on, it has clouded your judgement.
Also, I don’t understand your Ryan Reaves argument at all. He was used by Sullivan perfectly. Absolutely perfectly. He was here for his ability to intimidate other teams actors. The guy has less than 80 points in 550+ games. He is a fourth line player that is lucky to get 8 minutes a game.
Keep the players that are team players and will do anything to help the team win. Get rid of the ones that don’t. It is a proven winning formula.
Hi Phil,
Strangely enough, I have made a comment on Sprong on December 19th, 2018. Here it is:
“I talked with a well-known journalist who covers the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (commonly known as the Q). He told me that when Daniel Sprong was playing for the Charlottetown Islanders in the Q, he was not easy to coach. He had a strong personality and tended to challenge the coach’s decisions. His attitude off the ice was not the best. So, I am not surprised that the relationship between Sullivan and Sprong was not an ideal one.”
So, even in his junior years, Sprong was not an easy customer. A head coach may not always have the ability to communicate with these players. As I mentioned in a comment made yesterday (Feb.8th), assistant coaches such as Rick Tocchet were good in communicating with players. I don’t know what went wrong with Sprong but I think everyone (including Pens management) has their share of responsability.
Wow!! Just wow. I remember not too long ago there was a snippet put out on being respectful to each other. Phil, I would say you are definitely not being respectful. I read every signal post and comment and there are a few things that I can take to the bank. 1. TOR really liked Sprong and did not like the way he was treated by Sully. 2. TOR doesn’t like Sully’s coaching style. 3. You think Sully walks on water. 4. You HATE Sprong.
I think trading Sprong to the Ducks for Peds worked out for both teams and was a pretty even swap. I also would not define it as a miracle as someone on this site described it. For the record, I do think Sprong has an attitude issue, but I do think he, Cole, and Reeves deserved better treatment from there coach. Heck, I will even go as far as to say if Sully was half the coach you make him out to be shouldn’t he be rising to these challenges rather than just running these guys out of town.
Hey Kerdog211,
Sorry my attempt at an intervention above came off as being disrespectful.
The only player I believe Sullivan ran out of town was Cole. That had to do with a locker room issue apparently.
Reaves, I have no idea what any of you are talking about. He was thrown into the Brassard trade because the Pens had to add a player to get Brassard. I thought Sullivan used him absolutely perfectly for Reaves abilities. Over Reaves 550+ games he is averaging 5 goals a year if he played 80 games a season. Sullivan had him playing 8 minutes a game. How did that run him out of town?
Sprong problem was that Rutherford signed him to a one way contract and he still needs work. Sprong didn’t hustle enough to make it on the top two lines and he couldn’t play on the bottom six. He didn’t fit.
If you don’t give 100% a game at the position the team needs you in then Sullivan doesn’t want you on the team. That is why Brassard is in Florida. He felt he should be on the top two lines and couldn’t accept his role on the team. I personally think that is the best thing about Sullivan.
Hey Phil,
I understand that at times things can get heated. I know this is your sandbox so please do not take this the wrong way, but I think both you and the TOR need an intervention. Is Sully is a terrible coach? Is he a great coach? I believe the answer is somewhere in between. I really do think that what made the Pens back to back champions was the combination of Sully, Martin, Tocchet, and of course, great players. It’s like a wagon wheel with 4 good solid spokes, it will roll right down the road. Our wagon wheel has one spoke that’s getting older worn down and one that has been replaced and it isn’t as strong. The wheel still works but is a shadow of what once was. My wife has a business associate Ken and he is my go-to guy when it comes to hockey. He played in the minors and coached for a few years so I trust his opinions (the only problem is he is a Rangers fan). I remember when Tochett got the job in Arizona, the first thing Ken said to me was “that’s going to hurt”. I asked why, and he said that he taught Sully needed a guy like Tocchet to be a buffer. I hate to say it but I laughed at him because I truly believed in Sully. Now every time I see Ken he reminds me with a not so gentle “I told you so”. I loved the Sully hire and I firmly had his back till I got tired of his way or the highway routine. When Tocchet coached with Sully it seemed like they were almost on even ground and he helped “Buffer” Sully. I am of the opinion that Tocchet saved Sully from himself at times. I do not think that Recchi has anywhere near that skill or influence. I will leave you with this: A coaches number one job is to teach to lead, not to discard a player if he finds them too difficult. John Wooden said it best “A coach is someone who can give correction without resentment”.
Hey Kerdog211,
You are correct, I need an intervention also.
Sometimes I think that tOR does this just to get me all fired up LOL. I’m pretty sure that when he wrote the stuff above that he knew it would invoke that response from me.
I agree with you about Tocchet, I have commented about that on numerous occasions.
There are plenty of decent ex-coaches hanging around waiting for a call. Perhaps having one of them as an assistant would be better.
The Penguins went through years of Dan Bylsma who everyone claimed was too friendly with the players. Basically let them get away with anything.
Bylsma is still living in Pittsburgh. Hmmm.
Is Sully’s approach wrong? If he has rules and they are not followed over and over by a player that is constantly being reprimanded (Ian Cole was benched for locker room problems many times) what do you believe he should do?
Brassard, Sprong & Reaves all had the same problem with Sullivan. None of them were able to break into the top 6 spots on the roster and they were unable to accept that and the role they were given.
Should Sullivan have demoted Malkin or Crosby to third line to make Brassard happy? Maybe Kessel, Hornqvist or Rust should have been demoted for Sprong or Reaves to be happy?
I believe when the Penguins have players that can’t accept their roles on the team they need to be cast aside. Otherwise their constant unhappiness rubs off on the team.
This is where Tocchet was extremely valuable. He was able to convince players that where they were in the lineup was as important as any spot the team.
Hey Phil,
I think the answer here might be Sully’s delivery. I think the best coaches understand that not all players receive the message the same way. I believe Sullys the type of guy that has a one-way delivery system. As you said, “This is where Tocchet was extremely valuable”. Heres hoping he can get this all figured out and right the ship.