context is important. The premise for that post was to suggest that Sidney Crosby and the core in general have not won a playoff series since 2018. So I don't believe we owe them a damn thing at this point they've had five consecutive playoff series losses. I was talking to another poster and he was referring to the fact that we owe Sid every option possible to try and still win. Well, they've had the last five years to do something and they haven't made it out of the first round. Clearly it's not all Sid's fault, as I alluded to. Point being, at this point the run is over.
By your point of view, no one owes anyone anything in this world. The penguins paid Sid and Sid played.
That’s a valid point of view. A lot of teams are ran that way. Most, probably. The penguins will, one day, be that kind of organization.
The problem here is, for most people, sports isn’t a sanitary transaction. It’s not an emotionless situation where we pay money for tickets, they play, and we go home untouched.
Sid and Geno are a dying breed and the Penguins are perhaps the last of its kind - legacy players who were generational superstars who stayed with one team for their entire careers, a team that kept its core together through every up and down.
For most fans - I’m guessing, based on reactions - that means something to them. They want to see this to the end. Yeah, the team needs a rebuild. Everyone knows this. You’re not some genius for pointing out that they’ve had bad playoffs 5 years in a row. But that rebuild is gonna have to happen at some point, regardless, so it can wait until Sid and Geno retire.
Are we contenders? Nah. Probably a single digit percent chance they can even get to the finals, but if we’re gonna lose, it may as well be with these guys.
Also, not for nothing, the penguins have a lot of problems. Sid and Geno’s line are two of the top-20 in the league by fancy stats. They’re still good enough.
