When Staal left I always felt like the Pens could never roll a proper third line.
That was a big blow to the overall team depth. Sutter was decent but was never going to fill those shoes. Penguins prided themselves on depth down the middle but realistically, after Sid and Malkin, we had nothing. Making matters worse, Shero's mantra was "Sid and Geno have to make due with less" ala "we give you Fedetanko and Talbot for wings and you deliver a cup". Bylsma's thoughts about what wings would work were also wack. There was a soul-crushing arrogance that both had. They won in 09...they knew everything...they were never wrong. Boy were they wrong.
Getting back to what you said, though, you are correct. The Penguins also held on to this idea that the lines should be labeled as: Scoring line 1, scoring line 2, shutdown line, gritty vet energy line. Problem was, the shutdown line was meh and teams could afford to focus 100% on the top 6 because after that...there was nothing. Craig Adams, Tanner Glass, and Sutter were not threats to score on you at any time. The bottom 6 contributions from 2010-2015 are putrid.
First off, Bylsma straight up sucked. The Penguins had terrible depth under Shero and up until 2016, when Shero's late round picks started becoming NHLers. Just compare forward groups from today to 2014:
2014:
Kunitz-Crosby-Gibbons
Jokinen-Malkin-Neal
Bennett-Sutter-Stempniak
Glass-Goc-Adams
Now:
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Sheary-Bonino-Rust
Kunitz-Cullen-Wilson
The difference is night and day with those forward groups.
Shero could never find a wing to bring in for Sid. Oddly enough, two minutes after he's in New Jersey, he sends a 2nd to the Ducks for Palmieri. Had he done that in Pittsburgh, he could have maybe kept his job. I have no idea how JR was able to assemble what he has now and how difficult it seemed for Shero to bring in any impact players. Almost had to try to make the roster that bad.
Bylsma and the flyers.
Hopefully we make the playoffs next year and knock them out.
One of my favorite memories was playoffs 2012 where the Flyers went up 3-0 and threw this gigantic party in Philly acting like they had swept the Pens and had won the Cup. I believe a guy even called a beer Crosby tears. The city was flying high...until Game 4...when the Penguins came out and steamrolled the Flyers 10-3.
I cannot think of an event that defines "getting knocked off your high horse" more than that.