Is There A Plan B For Our Penguins?

Our Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t won a game since game 5, on October 22. That means our seafaring Sphenisciformes have gone 7 games without a win. They did pick up one point in those 7 games during an overtime loss to, of all teams, the Boston Bruins. However, they have not registered a win during that span.

The good news is that the laws of probability suggest that they will eventually get a win. There are 70 games left. It is highly improbable our boys in Black and Gold will go 77 games without a W.

In a similar vein, by now, it should be evident that this team is not a serious contender. There are not a whole lot of Stanley Cup winners that go 7 games without a win during the regular season, at least not without a coaching change.

I am not going to say it can’t happen, that we won’t see a Disney happing ending. Often, all it takes is some puck luck, a freak goal, that leads to a victory and confidence is restored. A team with swaggering can start to win games.

If you have been diligently reading as much about our hometown heroes as you could, pouring through all the blogs or if you have been listening to all the talking heads on the sports talk show circuit trying to dissect our waddling waterfowl’s winless ways; the shear number of opinions is dizzying. Therefore, I am not going to assault your senses with my own take on our favorite flightless fowl’s foundering. Nor am I going to argue with any of the excuses offered up to date to explain this apparent death spiral our Penguins are locked in.

All that I will say about this streak is that you don’t go 7 games without a win by accident. To break the streak, changes will have to come, or the results WILL stay the same.

Time is running short. Teams that are out of the hunt for a playoff spot by Thanksgiving rarely make the playoffs. Thanksgiving is only 18 days away. Mike Sullivan’s boys have 7 games in that span of days, but only 2 of them are home games.

Currently, the Penguins are 25^th in the league in terms of points percentage and none of the 7 games between now and Thanksgiving will be played against teams below our boys of winter.

Fortunately, Sullivan does have several days off to prepare for the 7-game gauntlet that lies between today and perhaps Pittsburgh’s D-Day. Teddy Blueger and Jeff Carter will have had 4 days to heal and get in the lineup. Any players who may have come down with an illness will also have had 4 days to convalesce.

What happens if the Penguins Aren’t in the hunt by Thanksgiving? Is there a plan B?

Now that is a great question and the purpose to which I am writing.

I repeat, I don’t care why the team is losing. However, if Sullivan can’t right this ship’s listing, with the 4 days he has to prepare for the up coming test and with a potentially a fully healthy squad, the shoe has to drop.

Like our friend Phil, I have no real problem with Ron Hextall keeping the “Core” together for a last hoorah. There are many intangibles that go along with having Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang playing their entire careers in a Penguins uniform. It could make for an environment that will attract other good players, Free Agents looking for stability. Keeping the “Core” together could pay dividends in the future.

There even is some value in keeping Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust around.

When the “Core” was young, they needed the steadying influence of veteran players like Bill Guerin and Sergei Gonchar. Young guns need veteran leadership. However, an old “Core” needs more veterans around them like a Polar Bear needs an ice cube. Our “Core” needed to be surrounded by youth. It was asinine to start the season with the oldest team in the league.

While I can be behind Hextall keeping the team together, even if they fail to even get to the playoffs, let alone out of the first round, I can’t say I support the team’s decision to be the oldest in the League. I can get behind a team that has Filip Hållander, Valterri Puustinen, and Corey Andonovski learning from their mistakes but not behind Kasperi Kapanen, Brock McGinn, Josh Archibald, Jeff Petry, Brian Dumoulin, and Marcus Pettersson giving their best with their best being not good enough.

Dan Kingerski, of another blog, has suggested that the team make a trade to right this ship. Like me Kingerski suggests that the top 4 Forwards and Letang stay but all other players can be options for trade. Unfortunately, there aren’t many players that any teams may want or at least be willing to give up anything of value.

Rickard Rakell does have 5 Goals (G) in the first 12 Games Played (GP). That isn’t too shabby. However, he is signed through 2027-2028 at $5 Million. He probably won’t draw much interest. (I was on record this past off-season for not re-signing him).

Kapanen only has 1 G in the first 12 GP and he has 1 more season on a $3.2 Million per season contract. He may draw some interest, but the team is hardly likely to get a game changer for him. (I was on record this past off-season for making him a qualifying offer, but for trading him.)

Perhaps, at this point in the season, the only players that might get Hextall any return may be Jason Zucker (who is off to solid start), Pettersson and Pierre-Olivier Joseph (they have good stats at this point of the season that just may mask their short-comings). However, trading any of these players might be an admission of a rebuild and trading them may be best done at the trade deadline.

Regardless of whether or not a trade can be made, the problem here is that the same Captain is steering the ship. With so little in assets and/or Cap space to play with, the most logical change should be in Coaching. A new vision with a new Helmsman at the wheel will be the quickest and easiest change. It would only cost the team money (salary) but not Cap space and maybe, just maybe cure it of its allergy to size, grit, and youth.

The Bottom Line

Getting Blueger and Carter back may help a little, but what if it doesn’t. Hextall needs a plan B, just as Sullivan needs a plan B. Where do you go Mr. GM if you are out of the hunt by Thanksgiving?

Odds and Sods

• The stupidity of playing the 33-year-old Dustin Tokarski over the actual prospect, 23-year-old Filip Lindberg to the tune of 2 games for Tokarski to Lindberg’s 1 continues down in Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS). It seems the allergy to youth on this team is alive and well, all the way down to their farm club.
• With so little playing time, Lindberg struggled last night, giving up 4 goals on 29 shots. Nobody can learn to play hockey from the bench or hone their game watching others.
• Speaking of WBS, Hållander notched 2 G and and 1 Assist (A) last night to take the lead in scoring for the Baby Penguins. Jonathan Gruden had 1 G and 1 A and Puustinen had 2 A in a losing effort against the Hershey Bears (4 – 3)
• Our Penguins next opponent, the Washington Capitals play host to the Edmonton Oilers tonight at 8 pm. I wish we could be catching them on the back end of a back-to-back series but they will have a day off before Crosby and Crew come a calling on them, Wednesday night at 7:30pm.