Boos & Soft Attendance; Are Penguins Fans Tired of the Core?

If you pay your money, you have the right to boo. That’s the expression, right? Yet it was surprising the Pittsburgh Penguins were the recipient of hometown boos Tuesday despite being in a close game with the Colorado Avalanche.

The Penguins eventually faltered late, including some wasted power plays, in a 6-2 loss at PPG Paints Arena.

Like so many things in life, just because you have the right doesn’t make it right.

The booing on Tuesday seemed petulant. The team had won five of six games, seemingly turned the corner, and fought back in the game. The power play had been hot until running headlong into an aggressive penalty kill that knocked them off balance.

This writer believes Sidney Crosby’s published comments about the booing Tuesday were deeply personal, probably without even Crosby realizing it. The boos hurt, and here’s why: the Penguins core players have sacrificed far more than we know to stay with the organization. They believe they’re part of the solution and are willing to go through the downside to help the organization get back to the upswing.

They’re not here for the money.

They’ve sacrificed personally, professionally, and financially to remain with the Penguins organization. Collectively, they don’t know that many of you would prefer nuclear teardown and full rebuild.

Penguins Fandom

To be a fan is to love, to hurt, and to be fickle. Before becoming an embittered scribe, this writer looked up to a few athletes and lived for news and highlights, too.

The frustration of watching the Penguins lose is understandable, but in case no one realizes, the Penguins’ rebuild is already underway. Surely, most of the new group, including Philip Tomasino, Matt Grzelcyk, Kevin Hayes, and Cody Glass, wouldn’t be in the lineup if they weren’t different parts of the same master plan focused more on the future than today.

The Fenway Sports Group believes that if and when the team is winning, fans will show up in big numbers. Is that true? This team had won five of six games, including a strong win just a couple of days prior to Saturday’s loss, and was climbing back into the playoff picture despite an ugly start to the season.

OK, a really ugly start to the season.

Based on hundreds, if not thousands, of comments, replies, and conversations, the conclusion is as inexplicable as it is inescapable. A good chunk of the Penguins fanbase holds the core responsible for the current state of affairs, including two straight playoff misses and likely a third.

The Penguins are in uncharted territory. No other team and no other fanbase has had a core stick around as long as the Penguins’ trio. No other marketing department has ever had to build marketing campaigns around the same players for so long.

To paraphrase Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight, it seems to be a case of “You die a hero, or you live long enough to be the villain.”

The swaths of empty seats for home games speak as loudly as any megaphone could. There is a growing distance between the Penguins and their fans that hasn’t existed in a long … long time.

Perhaps the core is just taking the brunt of criticism because they are the face of the franchise. The cacophony of calls to can coach Mike Sullivan petered out when it was obvious that wasn’t on the organization’s menu.

Economically, the core is not hampering the Penguins. Kris Letang remains the Penguins’ best defenseman and makes just over $6 million. Sidney Crosby will make only $8.7 million for two more years after this. Evgeni Malkin made a comparatively small sum for his role, also just over $6 million.

That’s about $21 million. Consider Leon Draisaitl’s signing a new deal that will pay him about $14 million annually. For about a decade, the Penguins championship core left money on the table for the organization to fortify the players around them. They combined to forgo tens of millions to remain together and for the organization to spend elsewhere.

The Booing Stung

A few weeks ago, a few players privately scoffed when goalie Tristan Jarry was booed during introductions during his first game back from a two-week conditioning stint in the AHL.

There’s no doubt the group cares about the fans and producing a winning product. Sure, they have been frustrated, too. Last month, when the situation reached a critical mass of negativity, Malkin apologized to fans.

Attendance (tickets sold) has shrunk to the 15,000 range, and it surely appears significantly fewer are attending. That’s an even worse sign.

Boos and dropping attendance, even as wins were replacing losses, is the new reality. In a world of shiny new things, the Penguins’ core has been constant for almost 20 years. The coach will celebrate nine years behind the bench this weekend, which is three times longer than most NHL coaching tenures. There’s a lot of “same” at PPG Paints Arena.

Obviously, to many fans, buying a ticket to see Crosby, Malkin, and Letang isn’t the treat it used to be. Fans aren’t flocking to see the greatest player of his generation, the charging Russian with a big personality and silky mitts, and the scrappy do-it-all defenseman.

After nearly two decades, are fans tired of the core?