Preface: Thank you, latest incarnation of Snowmageddon. If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have had time to write today, or even read the quote that inspired me to write.
The NHL season is a marathon not a sprint and it ends in a war called the “Stanley Cup Playoffs. One game hardly constitutes a need for panic or anointing. Teams will have winning streaks and losing streaks. There will be bumps a long the road and smooth straight highways.
A couple of weeks back with our favorite flightless fowl riding a 10 game winning streak, mostly against the lower echelon of the NHL and with all opponents suffering the same ills that befall our heroes, Many a fan were hailing this team as legitimate Cup contenders; some still are.
Now the streak is over. In fact, the team has been inconsistently trading back-and-forth between Wins (W) and Loses (L). The “Glass Half Full” set are now decrying that the team is only inconsistent because of the number of players that have been protocol led out of games and/or injured, totally forgetting that many of the teams our Pittsburgh Penguins bested during the “streak” were suffering as Mike Sullivan and his crew have now suffered.
Me, I have been accused of being less than a fan because I am not buying into the idea of this team as a real Cup contender. I have been proselytizing that the team be sellers at the trade deadline, selling off Dunsel forwards that could still net a decent return – particularly from our friend and new General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks, Jim Rutherford. He loves to overpay and get players that once played for him.
This morning I read an interesting quote from Dan Kingerski, “The big get on the NHL trade block will be John Klingberg. Unless GM Ron Hextall puts a couple of the Penguins core on the block, Klingberg will be the BIG get.”
Hmmm
If I were sold on this team, I would not be talking about the possibility of trading a couple of the core. If I thought this team were a true contender and not a pretender, that core that could challenge John Klingberg for the “BIG get”, as described by Kingerski, this deadline, would be better used as in-house rentals.
With this team losing to the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings and barely beating the Anaheim Ducks and going to Over Time (OT) against the San Jose Sharks, has the team lost some luster? Is Kingerski seeing some cracks in the armor? Is he trying to prepare the fan base for the inevitable?
Anything is possible. I am not saying our Penguins won’t make the Cup Finals, but the probability isn’t all that great. There would have to be a great confluence of coincidences for that to occur. Furthermore, there is an opportunity here to limit the turn around time to contender again and with less luck than it would take to win the Cup this season.
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