3 Penguins Thoughts: Critical Problem; Questioning Sullivan; Much Needed Change

CHICAGO  — It was on the walk to the hotel from the United Center Sunday night with a slice of deep-dish Jet Pizza in one hand and a handful of thoughts in the other that the future of the Pittsburgh Penguins was no clearer Sunday than it has been for two years.

Chicago had nine “kids” in its lineup Sunday. The team has 15 players 25 and under and 13 players 23 and under. The prospects are largely at the NHL level, and the team absolutely stinks. Sunday was just their 22nd win of the season.

The Penguins are three years away from having a plethora of prospects available, and they don’t stink yet, but they have an Achilles heel so great that they stink anyway.

They cannot the Montreal Canadiens, who lead them by 11 points in the standings. Unless the NHL decides to make the final four games worth more than two points each, it is indeed over for the Penguins.

A fact they had long ago come to accept and move past.

There was no wailing or beating of the breasts Sunday night. There wasn’t even any gnashing of the teeth. An emotionally flat loss was somewhat predictable given the intensity they brought to facing St. Louis and Dallas in the previous three days. Facing a team with nothing to play for, no intensity, and a scheme that more resembled the cops chasing the Blues Brothers than it did Jake and Elwood, the Penguins never had it.

Yet, their lack of emotional availability was not the reason they lost. No, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost because they made the same mistakes they had been making for months, and increasingly so over the last few weeks, with no correction.

The larger failure that was plainly available Sunday served in a smaller shot glass of the unsmooth cocktail of mistakes at all three levels of the organization. The on-ice foibles, stubborn decisions, and shoehorned construction that could have been changed at any point in the last two years created shortcomings so great that they have overcome another absolutely brilliant season by Sidney Crosby, who is soon to be 38 years old.

Crosby has flexed his muscles this season and is playing extraordinarily good hockey, even at the end.

3 Penguins Thoughts

1. The Defense is Epically Bad

The problem extends to all three levels of the organization. Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang compounded each’s mistakes on one play, leading to an entirely avoidable shorthanded goal against with 1:05 remaining in the second period Sunday.

Those mistakes are ever present but have worsened.

With the current blue line configuration, the team has allowed no fewer than a dozen breakaways in the last few games (some were poorly defended two-on-ones that became breakaways, if that matters).

The defensive prowess on display has been mind-numbingly inept for most of the last few weeks, with no innocent parties, except for Ryan Shea, who is working on his backhand because coach Mike Sullivan is force-feeding Conor Timmins in the top four.

Timmins watched Ilya Mikheyev blow past him for a breakaway goal Sunday. Since his arrival with the Penguins, turnovers and bad angles leading to goals and chances against have dogged Timmins.

Like soft gaps and disheartened play have hurt Kris Letang and Matt Grzelcyk.

Ryan Graves has clearly been struggling, but that is not a new occurrence. His puck movement is not a strong suit and often seems at half-speed, at least in the Penguins’ system. After two years, Graves isn’t fluent or quick in his current scheme, and it’s often to the team’s detriment. It was Sunday when his first-period inability to stop a play on the wall, then two poor outlet passes, resulted in a big momentum swing for Chicago.

The players need to be better. Duh.

2. Sullivan’s Stubborn Decisions

Why is Sullivan using the same defensive pairings? Perhaps the most inexplicable part of the equation is that Sullivan has not made a change.

The coach installed Karlsson on the left, but Karlsson has essentially overridden the lineup and plays the right, pushing Timmins to the left.

Karlsson isn’t entirely wrong–in this case, he’s a step ahead of the coaching staff. Why would you put the most offensive defenseman on his backhand, where he’s not comfortable, and put the defenseman who is going to be responsible for defending on his forehand?

It was a bad move by the coaches.

Worse, Sullivan has surely seen the struggles when pairing Grzelcyk and Letang. They are not good together—they haven’t been good. It’s another bad move by the coaches.

Vladislav Kolyachonok isn’t much of an NHL defenseman. At least, not yet. He simply hasn’t played much hockey over the last four years (213 games combined at all levels), but surely, he cannot be more problematic than Graves, and perhaps the Penguins can help him become a serviceable D-man.

If the organization is looking for players for next season, playing Kolyachonok a mere 11 games isn’t enough, certainly as the player on the ice isn’t performing well. It’s another bad move by the coaches.

3. Where is Owen Pickering? Or anyone else?

Pickering, a lefty defenseman, should be here with his rookie cohorts Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen. It’s a bad move by general manager Kyle Dubas. Of course, Dubas could have–should have–made more of an effort to change the configuration of the blue line over the last two seasons.

It’s been bad, but since the January trade in which Dubas sent Marcus Pettersson to Vancouver (with Drew O’Connor for a very healthy return of an interesting prospect- Melvin Fernstrom- and a New York Rangers first-round pick), it’s been awful. It’s an expensive but unplayable blue line.

If the Penguins’ defense corps were adequate, merely average, the Penguins would be in the playoffs.

If the Penguins’ defensive corps’ construction consisted of merely average defenders who don’t offer the same upside but have a far less defensive downside, they’d be in the playoffs.

Crosby and his top line with Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell have been that good.

Perhaps with just a bit more protection, the goaltending wouldn’t have crumbled, and starter Tristan Jarry wouldn’t have undergone the odyssey that befell him.

Sullivan and Dubas haven’t played this one very well. If they are on the same page, it’s the wrong book.