The Penguins have just one goal in their last 190:07 of hockey. But refreshing Penguins notes score big all the time. SHOOT THE PUCK!
• It’s OK to lose now. Don’t get too mad when the Penguins do. If the Penguins finish in the NHL’s bottom 10, that keeps their first-round pick from moving to San Jose ‘til next year. Maybe the Penguins hit big in the draft lottery. That’s happened before.
• Sure, Jake Guentzel wanted to stay in Pittsburgh. At his price. The Penguins didn’t do him dirty.
• No rental players brought much return at this year’s NHL trade deadline. The Penguins didn’t make the only deal that seemed to disappoint.
• A lot of those currently rostered aren’t real Penguins. They aren’t invested, and they play like it. Those players need to go. Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin don’t always play great. But they always represent. They always battle.
• Erik Karlsson seems perfectly content to play for a losing team. Perhaps because he almost always has.
• If Mike Sullivan won’t adapt his system to his resources, the Penguins should hire a different coach. Yeah, I know, everybody in the NHL plays fast. But the Penguins are too slow to do that. Sullivan hasn’t won a playoff series since 2018. #HockeyTomlin
• Not every line has to play the same way. One size doesn’t fit all. Scotty Bowman used to have different lines play different systems.
• Sullivan must trust young players more than he prefers, not least the prospects just acquired from Carolina. Sullivan has leaned far too much on mediocre veterans since, ironically, relying on kids to help win Stanley Cups in 2016 and ‘17. Vasily Ponomarev can’t play less than Noel Acciari. It’s time to teach and improve, not try to squeak by.
• President of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas gets criticized for perceived mistakes in Pittsburgh because Toronto fans see him as having failed the Maple Leafs in his prior employment. The hockey media is chock-full of Leafs marks. Dubas deserves more than nine months to navigate the excrement show he inherited.
• ESPN analyst P.K. Subban made fun of Dubas wearing glasses. As opposed to ESPN’s dress code, which apparently lets Subban clown it up. Subban said that Crosby “deserves better.” But nobody wins indefinitely, not even hockey’s greatest. Subban should turn to his left and ask Mark Messier why he didn’t make the playoffs in his last seven years. Didn’t Messier deserve better?
• If Crosby decides to chase a fourth ring somewhere else, he’d have every right. But the idea that some Wheeling Nailer who carny’d his way onto network TV should lead that campaign is laughable. (It’s much more likely that Crosby will sign an extension with the Penguins on July 1, the first day he’s able.)
• Memo to TNT in-studio hosts: Your entire show doesn’t have to be dressing-room slang, unfunny humor and nicknames. It’s OK to call Nathan MacKinnon by his given name instead of constantly yelling “NATE DOGG!”
• Look at who represents the NFL during that league’s telecasts: wall-to-wall stars and Hall of Famers. Then look at who reps the NHL: too many scrubs and marginal guys. Wayne Gretzky is vanilla, but at least he’s Gretzky.
• Ryan Graves will have a much better season next year, especially if the Penguins adopt a needed tighter structure. Like Graves had in New Jersey.
• Michael Bunting will be Chris Kunitz Lite. That’s meant in the best way possible. He’ll play on Crosby’s line, relieving Crosby of much of that unit’s physical burden. Bunting will also step in when Crosby’s wronged. Every time.
• Maybe it’s born of frustration, Bunting’s arrival, the return of John Ludvig to the lineup or all the above, but the Penguins’ recent bit of chippy play is welcome. Ludvig should have never been a healthy scratch. He brings so much more to the table than P-O Joseph, the human pipe cleaner.
• The one worthwhile thing that can still be achieved by a Penguin is Crosby maintaining his career-long streak of averaging a point per game or better each season. He has 64 points in 63 games. It’s going to be a tightrope, especially given Guentzel’s departure.
• The Penguins need to lose any trace of conceit that remains and embrace force-fed humility as a teaching tool. That includes those wearing rings.
• The Penguins have averaged roughly 14,100 per game at home during the history of their franchise. Rough moments noted, it’s a well-supported team. Attendance might slip a bit, but you can still see Crosby. People won’t quit coming to games. If you do, you weren’t a fan in the first place. X might be angry, but that’s the purpose of X.
