Post-Game Talk: Pens lose to the worst team in the league

[Andy99]

That's a fair opinion. But the Bruins just put up one of the best seasons ever and will probably win the cup and their core is also old as shit. And they got arguably less out of Bergeron and Marchand than we just did out of Crosby and Malkin. They do have Pasta, but even beyond him their depth just far exceeds ours, as does their coaching.

I think the Pens could still be a highly competitive team with the right coach and a GM who rebuilds the depth of the team. For how much longer I don't know...that depends on how much longer Crosby, Malkin, and Letang can maintain a good level of play.

There's a lot of work to do though and I don't trust the current regime to do it, nor do I trust Sullivan to guide whatever players are brought in this off season to try to course correct all of this.

Goaltending and a much better puck moving defense…

 

[Zirakzigil]

Maddenly frustrating how this team loses games they should be winning. Squandered away a chance at the first wildcard spot.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I'd be ok with moving everyone not named Crosby, Malkin, or Letang.

Honestly even Jake isn't off the table for me any more. It'd have to be a hellacious offer, but he has been a passenger in so many games this year. I wouldn't give him away, but if someone blew my socks off I'd do it.

Jake's a must-move before the TDL next year imo. People are huffing paint if they want this team to hold on to him just to have him sign a massive deal and ensure the team gets some dogshit return like Galchenyuk and a guy who ends up being a bottom pairing blueliner like POJ.

-edit- Trade his ass at the draft. See if you can snag a top 5 or 10 pick, a good, young roster player or another blue chip prospect.

 

[Extra Texture]

It blows my mind how this place absolutely *has* to make it one or the other, when in reality, this team's been taken into a swan dive over the past half decade by both the front office, past and present, as well as Sullivan.

Exactly. This has been failure all around. On multiple fronts. The need to go to bat for certain guys, who also suck and have gotten us to this low point, is strange.

Sullivan is finished here: he should go. Hextall was the wrong GM at the wrong time, and and accelerated our decline with shit roster moves. He should also go. Jarry is incredibly unreliable and prone to countless screw ups. He should go far, far away from this organization. I don’t see how any of these things are incompatible.

 

[KareemTrustfund]

It’s kind of nuts Jake lead this team in goals. I feel like 99% of the time he’s been absolutely invisible.

 

[Power Surge]

Maddenly frustrating how this team loses games they should be winning. Squandered away a chance at the first wildcard spot.

Be glad this is over, Do you honestly want to see Sully and co. embarrass themselves in the playoffs?

 

[Pancakes]

Boston's also built where you can legitimately argue that Bergeron, Marchand and Krejci (their main old players) aren't their most important players, though. The Penguins live and die based on Crosby, Malkin and Letang. The Bruins don't do that with their old guys at all. Just look at the TOI difference between Crosby, Malkin and Letang and compare them to the Bruins, Bergeron is playing a solid 3 minutes less a game than Crosby.

You are correct that the Bruins had a rapid transformation, but the Bruins were in a substantially better spot last off-season than the Penguins are today.

The Bruins are also a bolder team that was willing to make risky moves to try and change their fortunes around. It took balls to fire Cassidy.

The Pens are coming off a much worse season so the ammunition to fire Hextall and Sullivan *should* be there, but I don't think FSG will take the bait.

I think building around Crosby, Malkin, and Letang is still fine if there's depth to support them. We don't have to follow the Bruin's model exactly. Better depth will at least get us to the playoffs, and who knows what happens from there.

The sad thing is Mario/Burkle had the balls to make major changes when they fired Bylsma and Shero. And GMJR was obviously a maniac who would change any and everything to try and alter this team's fortunes. Sometimes that was for the worst, but at least he tried things.

This team needs a major jolt to its system. The foundations of this organization need to be rocked in a way they haven't been rocked since Shero/Bylsma getting fired.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

The best thing the Pens could do for themselves would be to lose to CBJ now…I think we can move up to have a chance at a #3 pick…

I should have expected them to lose, but I guess I was being hopeful. When they were 0-0 midway in the 2nd, and making Mrazek look like Patrick Roy, I had that sinking feeling in my stomach.

What was I thinking that they could actually string together a bunch of wins when it mattered. Just dejected right now.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It’s kind of nuts Jake lead this team in goals. I feel like 99% of the time he’s been absolutely invisible.

I can't even think of the last time Jake had a strong, productive game independent of Sid's play. It's either Sid playing well and Jake leeches points, or Sid's having a bad game and Jake's just out for a leisurely skate.

Dude's Kessel-bad away from the puck and has been for years. But you can't really argue with the production, when he's producing. Like you said though, whole lotta empty calories in those numbers.

 

[DearDiary]

I was 11 years old when I became a Pens fan. I joined this forum at 13. So I've been a Pens fan for a little over half my life, this is the first time I've contemplated jumping ship. It would be fine if the Pens were a bad team that played hard and just missed, but the reality is that they play an unwatchable lazy style with no structure and no planning. What's there to look forward to? If the Pens decide to waste assets to keep running this ship into the ground next season, I will probably be gone. There's nothing in UFA to fix the team, there's no assets to make them better, there's no reason not to start a rebuild. Do the right thing FSG

 

[Pancakes]

I was 11 years old when I became a Pens fan. I joined this forum at 13. So I've been a Pens fan for a little over half my life, this is the first time I've contemplated jumping ship. It would be fine if the Pens were a bad team that played hard and just missed, but the reality is that they play an unwatchable lazy style with no structure and no planning. What's there to look forward to? If the Pens decide to waste assets to keep running this ship into the ground next season, I will probably be gone. There's nothing in UFA to fix the team, there's no assets to make them better, there's no reason not to start a rebuild. Do the right thing FSG

I feel your pain but back away from the ledge. This team has won three cups in Crosby's era. Most fans are lucky to ever see one cup during an era of hockey like that.

Being a fan is about embracing the pain when it's there as much as it is enjoying the successes.

I'm frustrated too but don't do something you'll regret. There will be a light at the end of this tunnel.

 

[the penitent]

One observation I've made for most of this year is that if you take Crosby and to a lesser extent Malkin out of the equation, this might be the worst stickhandling/passing team I've ever seen. None of the other stiffs can cary the puck into the zone, and any pass over say 10 ft is likely to be off target.

 

[66-30-33]

If Isles get a point tomorrow hopefully we lose our last game and Sabres win out and put Pens 13th overall instead of 14th overall we are currently at.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The Bruins are also a bolder team that was willing to make risky moves to try and change their fortunes around. It took balls to fire Cassidy.

The Pens are coming off a much worse season so the ammunition to fire Hextall and Sullivan *should* be there, but I don't think FSG will take the bait.

I think building around Crosby, Malkin, and Letang is still fine if there's depth to support them. We don't have to follow the Bruin's model exactly. Better depth will at least get us to the playoffs, and who knows what happens from there.

The sad thing is Mario/Burkle had the balls to make major changes when they fired Bylsma and Shero. And GMJR was obviously a maniac who would change any and everything to try and alter this team's fortunes. Sometimes that was for the worst, but at least he tried things.

This team needs a major jolt to its system. The foundations of this organization need to be rocked in a way they haven't been rocked since Shero/Bylsma getting fired.

The argument I'd make is that the "depth" I think you need to contend would likely require acquiring someone good enough to actually be in that Crosby, Malkin and Letang group. I think that even prime Crosby, Malkin and Letang needed that. The Penguins obviously wouldn't have won either cup in 2016 or 2017 without Kessel. Now, you don't have Kessel and your core is worse.

You obviously have to criticize the support cast for this team, because this support cast wouldn't even be good enough if you took 2015 Crosby, Malkin and Letang and put them on the Penguins today. The next level question for that is whether Crosby, Malkin and Letang are good enough today to be the best, 2nd best and 3rd best player respectively of a cup caliber team. I'd say Crosby is, but I'm not confident in the other two.

That last question is whether the "do you need a new Phil Kessel?" comes in. At this point, I think you can legitimately argue the "support" you need for the Crosby, Malkin and Letang core is someone good enough to challenge Crosby for the primary member of that core.

 

[canadianguy77]

I was 11 years old when I became a Pens fan. I joined this forum at 13. So I've been a Pens fan for a little over half my life, this is the first time I've contemplated jumping ship. It would be fine if the Pens were a bad team that played hard and just missed, but the reality is that they play an unwatchable lazy style with no structure and no planning. What's there to look forward to? If the Pens decide to waste assets to keep running this ship into the ground next season, I will probably be gone. There's nothing in UFA to fix the team, there's no assets to make them better, there's no reason not to start a rebuild. Do the right thing FSG

Now it all makes sense.

 

[Power Surge]

I was 11 years old when I became a Pens fan. I joined this forum at 13. So I've been a Pens fan for a little over half my life, this is the first time I've contemplated jumping ship. It would be fine if the Pens were a bad team that played hard and just missed, but the reality is that they play an unwatchable lazy style with no structure and no planning. What's there to look forward to? If the Pens decide to waste assets to keep running this ship into the ground next season, I will probably be gone. There's nothing in UFA to fix the team, there's no assets to make them better, there's no reason not to start a rebuild. Do the right thing FSG

I'm assuming you weren't around for Gen X?

Not just you but I think a whole generation will probably follow suit with you because they never seen losing hockey and would not be used to it.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It's wild to think that the first fully healthy season of Sid+Geno this team's gotten in forever resulted in this 82-game shitpile.

A Sid injury and they're picking top-5.

 

[66-30-33]

I'm assuming you weren't around for Gen X?

Not just you but I think a whole generation will probably follow suit with you because they never seen losing hockey and would not be used to it.

I was around those dark years and I got people who knew of me before I posted here.

 

[Pens x]

This team is desperate for sweeping changes from top to bottom. FSG doesn’t appear to have the balls to fire the front office and coaching staff. Let’s see how deep those pockets are, FSG. I’m not sure how they can justify keeping anyone.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Just not a Firebird Trans Am

@Tacitus Kilgore needs to whip out his finest Jorts first.

 

[Pancakes]

The argument I'd make is that the "depth" I think you need to contend would likely require acquiring someone good enough to actually be in that Crosby, Malkin and Letang group. I think that even prime Crosby, Malkin and Letang needed that. The Penguins obviously wouldn't have won either cup in 2016 or 2017 without Kessel. Now, you don't have Kessel and your core is worse.

You obviously have to criticize the support cast for this team, because this support cast wouldn't even be good enough if you took 2015 Crosby, Malkin and Letang and put them on the Penguins today. The next level question for that is whether Crosby, Malkin and Letang are good enough today to be the best, 2nd best and 3rd best player respectively of a cup caliber team. I'd say Crosby is, but I'm not confident in the other two.

That last question is whether the "do you need a new Phil Kessel?" comes in. At this point, I think you can legitimately argue the "support" you need for the Crosby, Malkin and Letang core is someone good enough to challenge Crosby for the primary member of that core.

That "new Phil Kessel" could just as easily be a goalie as well. Someone like Saaros could be enough of a game changer to make us threaten for a cup.

A lotta ways to try and fix this. Remains to be seen what FSG does, and if they don't do anything, what Hextall does.

 

[Andy99]

 

[Gurglesons]

Elias Lindholm would be a player I'd go all in on.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

How about a Welcome Back tour for JR?

JR went for dinner in Yaletown 5 months ago and is still trying to find his way out with all the one way streets. We may never hear from him again.

Ah the excuses shift. It's never Sullivan's fault.

Lol, Pens Media filled with dipshits.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I will be flat-out *astonished* if Hextall isn't fired damn-near immediately upon season's end. I wish it were both Hextall and Sullivan, but assuming Sullivan is stupidly allowed to keep his job because FSG A. adores the guy, B. has close to $30 million owed to the guy for the next five years, I'll take one of two.

Neither should be with the team once June rolls around, but if both are, I'll be absolutely beside myself in shock.