This Pittsburgh Penguins Act is Getting Old

[Sidney the Kidney]

Pens vs Caps tonight, not that long ago that those felt like must-watch games.

Now both teams are incredibly boring to watch, and Malkin and Ovechkin have declined pretty badly.

Prime Pens and Caps was like watching Hulk Hogan versus Ric Flair fight in the late 80's. Current Pens and Caps is like switching on RAW today and seeing 70 year old Hogan versus 80 year old Flair fighting.

 

[chethejet]

Yep Pens win 3 cups in 4 finals. Have a decade of success that no teams had this century. Plus up to the last two year were playoff teams. Just is ending and that is OK. All teams have to rebuild at some point. But watching them be one of the teams to beat for such a long period is rare for most franchises. Yes tough times ahead but good drafts, trades for prospects and go from there.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Yep Pens win 3 cups in 4 finals. Have a decade of success that no teams had this century. Plus up to the last two year were playoff teams. Just is ending and that is OK. All teams have to rebuild at some point. But watching them be one of the teams to beat for such a long period is rare for most franchises. Yes tough times ahead but good drafts, trades for prospects and go from there.

<-- my reaction when thinking about this team's ability to draft over the past decade

<-- my reaction when thinking about Sullivan being the guy to develop those draft picks and prospects

 

[WarriorofTime]

Core is old
Cap space is tight
New wave is non-existent from years of trading picks

I’m sure the coach doesn’t help but it’s not the only issue. It happens.

 

[golfortennis1]

Core is old
Cap space is tight
New wave is non-existent from years of trading picks

I’m sure the coach doesn’t help but it’s not the only issue. It happens.

But even at the stage the core is at, this team should be a playoff team. They would need several lucky breaks to win a SC, but to have a historically bad power play, and to basically neuter Erik Karlsson.....that is coaching 100%.

 

[FerrisRox]

In that case, would Dubas waive the protection on this years pick (basically telling the whole world, he expects things to get worse before they get better)?

If I'm the Sharks, and there was any chance I could get the Penguins pick next year instead of this year, there's no way I would agree to have Dubas waive it.

 

[edog37]

Is there any appetite from Pitts fans to trade away the core 3 (4) to massively kickstart a rebuild with a bevy of great picks?

Malkin is washed up, so that nets nothing. Letang's contract probably precludes a trade. Crosby will be resigned to an extension. Me personally, if the right deal came around, I'd be alright trading 87 for a massive haul. The other two would want out at that point, so bonus. That said, it won't go down that way. Crosby wants to finish his career playing for one team. That's ok by me as well.

 

[edog37]

But even at the stage the core is at, this team should be a playoff team. They would need several lucky breaks to win a SC, but to have a historically bad power play, and to basically neuter Erik Karlsson.....that is coaching 100%.

have you not seen Malkin this year? He's completely washed up.

 

[Nyr88nyg]

I’m quite enjoying watching the Pens and Devils myself

 

[golfortennis1]

have you not seen Malkin this year? He's completely washed up.

I don't disagree, but why not move him to wing? There are tons of adjustments that could be tried, but the only one that happens is whenever something works, it doesn't stay in place very long.

And at $6 million, Malkin isn't that big of an issue. Could there be some better players on this roster? Sure. But the fact is the roster that is in place is not being put in the best position to succeed.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

Is there any appetite from Pitts fans to trade away the core 3 (4) to massively kickstart a rebuild with a bevy of great picks?

If we miss for a 2nd year in a row (all but mathematically at this point) I would be fine with trading everyone but Crosby. The guy needs to retire a Penguin given he is willing too. Malkin is my favorite player and has been since he stepped foot on the ice in his rookie season. But I even saw the writing on the wall the year after the back to back runs and was very vocal we should have traded him back them. Too late to get value on him now. But the problem their destiny is completely in their hands. Malkin, NMC. Letang, NMC. EK, NMC. Unless they come to FSG and work out a place to go this core is probably going to play together at least another year before one of them asks out.

 

[BallardEra]

5-0 now.

Looks like they’ve thrown in the towel. Malkin, Sid and Letang a collective -10 after 2 periods.

 

[Beauner]

We got so good at being good we decided to be the best at being bad.

Y’all can’t touch us

Is there any appetite from Pitts fans to trade away the core 3 (4) to massively kickstart a rebuild with a bevy of great picks?

Nah. As long as they want to stay, let them. They’ve won 3 cups and I’ve seen that many as a fan. Them staying in Pittsburgh for their careers means more than getting some random prospects and picks that may still amount to nothing.

 

[chethejet]

Pens will begin the transition with trades and prospects and picks like every other franchise has done after a great run. Hopefully Dubus is up to the job.

 

[Schennanigans]

I’d say this basically eliminates them.

 

[JediOrderPizza]

 

[edog37]

I don't disagree, but why not move him to wing? There are tons of adjustments that could be tried, but the only one that happens is whenever something works, it doesn't stay in place very long.

And at $6 million, Malkin isn't that big of an issue. Could there be some better players on this roster? Sure. But the fact is the roster that is in place is not being put in the best position to succeed.

He no longer has the speed to play with Crosby

 

[Matty Sundin]

While I think Sullivan has past his expired date(which happens to every coach eventually) I don’t get how some people here think firing him is gonna fix their problems and they’ll be good again. The rebuild needs to happen. The team is old and the longer they wait, the more worst it will be when they get life without Crosby.

 

[Beau Knows]

While I think Sullivan has past his expired date(which happens to every coach eventually) I don’t get how some people here think firing him is gonna fix their problems and they’ll be good again.

Well yeah, it's too late now. But he should have been fired years ago.

 

[Matty Sundin]

Well yeah, it's too late now. But he should have been fired years ago.

Team still has Hextall’s and Burke’ puke and shit stains on there with only Dubas blank stain on it with the Karlsson trade. Team was just going down regardless.

 

[Donnie740]

Even if Karlsson didn’t have a NMC, nobody is going to take on that $10M boat anchor contract.

Instead of making asinine trades for Karlsson and Reilly Smith or flushing money down the toilet on Ryan Graves or Trist Jarry, Pittsburgh should have been offering to take on every bad contract they could in exchange for high draft picks.

Just take a year or two and be a dumping ground for terrible contracts. If it’s just one year remaining on a terrible deal, that’ll only cost a 1st round pick to dump. If there’s two years that’ll be a 1st and a 3rd. If there’s still three years left that’ll be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Ideally, they’d be able to turn around and flip one or two of those unwanted contracts for even more picks - - like Montreal did with Monahan.

 

[Bounces R Way]

I mean yeah the core got old, that's definitely the biggest part of it. But the Penguins management have done a very poor job of finding young talent to help balance that out. They could still be a playoff team if they had made sure the cupboards hadn't run as dry as they did.

Instead they went for washed up or mostly washed up guys like Rakell, Carter, Petry, Zucker, and Karlsson.

 

[The Panther]

Looks like they’ve thrown in the towel. Malkin, Sid and Letang a collective -10 after 2 periods.

Kris Letang seriously blows right at this moment. No goals, no assists, and -8 in the past five games.

 

[golfortennis1]

He no longer has the speed to play with Crosby

And? I didn't say move him to Crosby's wing. He only ever plays with Crosby on the power play nowadays. Early on in his tenure I hated how Sullivan never put them together for any reason outside of PP. I thought Bylsma had a brilliant plan where he would send them both out after a penalty kill. It doesn't work anymore because as you say, Malkin is not the same player, but this is another example of Sullivan not adjusting.

He really, truly and honestly thinks "I've won two cups, my system is successful, the players just aren't executing." But what is really shocking is when they did win, he was adjusting like mad. He handled a decimated defence corps brilliantly in '17. What happened to that guy?

 

[Midnight Judges]

Kris Letang seriously blows right at this moment. No goals, no assists, and -8 in the past five games.

Same goes for Sidney Crosby - who has 1 secondary assist and is minus 8 over the past 5 games.