Letang is the most inconsistent because so much rides on him, carrying the puck, passing the puck, jumping into plays and generally making things happen. Letang is the catalyst for this team when he looks good the Pens look good and when he looks bad the team looks bad. This is more true for him than either Crosby or Malkin.

Letang needs a little bit of help and until Maatta returns and gets his game up to speed, or until Pouliott gets his head on straight, I am afraid he is going to remain inconsistent. He just doesn't have much help.
- Thunderbolt

You act like Letang is to pittsburgh what Kessel was to Toronto. But thats not true. Yes letang should be the guy for the pens defense but that doesn't make it ok to overplay causing bad play. I think a lot of pressure on him is put there by himself. Maybe he needs to trust guys like Maatta and Dumo to do work so he doesnt try to one man show it every time.
Fleury is by far the player with the most pressure on him every season. The same could be said about any starting goalie. But Flower never gets the benefit of the doubt. Every year in the "questions for penguins success" Fleury is always top 5 in the list. Despite his play in recent years. With the most hate and biggest responsibility on the ice Fleury has gotten better. So I'm sorry but Letang gets no slack from me for "pressure".

So Crosby and Malkin need wingers to be their best but Letang is supposed to play perfect hockey with Cole and Scuderi as partners. I don't think he needs to be paired with the second best defenseman, but him and the team need to have a someone else capable of making offensive plays.
- Thunderbolt

The pens do have another D-man capable of making offensive plays. Its Dumo. They leave him on the second line so that there is more than one line that can move the puck for the forwards.
Lets not forget that Letangs best years were paired with Paul Martin. Good defensive D-man, but lacking in the offensive department. Guy couldn't move the puck any better than Cole currently does. In fact I think the pens want Cole to be a player a lot like Martin. Honestly if he was we wouldn't have as much to complain about.
Also Sid and Geno have had some pretty bad wingers and still have been successful so that argument doesn't make much sense.

The pens do have another D-man capable of making offensive plays. Its Dumo. They leave him on the second line so that there is more than one line that can move the puck for the forwards.
Lets not forget that Letangs best years were paired with Paul Martin. Good defensive D-man, but lacking in the offensive department. Guy couldn't move the puck any better than Cole currently does. In fact I think the pens want Cole to be a player a lot like Martin. Honestly if he was we wouldn't have as much to complain about.
Also Sid and Geno have had some pretty bad wingers and still have been successful so that argument doesn't make much sense.
- Zac_O

I'll disagree with this. Martin was a good puck mover. Also spent a lot of time on the top power play unit and was succesful. Typically defensive defenseman don't play there

Winning games is all that matters. Goal differential is the objective. I think you missed my point however. By under performing, I'm talking about defensive responsibilities. Ironically, we're talking about 2 players that have two-way utilization. I'm not the least bit concerned w/ individual production (pts) and/or accolades. The '09 Pens were the last team to win the Cup w/ an Art Ross winner. Its not a prerequisite for post season success. And with how the game is being played today, I'd rather have Kopitar, Bergeron, Toews type players anyways. Enter HCMJ's on-ice tactics (200ft). Winning games 6-2 in Oct/Nov/Dec does nothing to help a team (mentally) prepare for Apr-Jun (where every game is decided by 1 goal margin).

Back to #58 and #87. You realize they've been on the ice for a majority of goals against? No Pens fan should be okay w/ these numbers (especially #58 - ridiculously insane)!

#58 All - 52% 5v5 - 57%
#87 All - 43% 5v5 - 54%

That is under-performing. What makes it even worse, is that they receive favorable OZ starts. Add-in the delta for any possession proxy of your choice, and one can deduce from it losing puck battles, turnovers, one-shot and done scenarios, etc... w/ the opposing team (and puck) going right back down in front of #29. These guys need to be better away from the puck/ make improvements to their positioning + coverage assignments. And fix their non-existent transition game. Offense from defense...

#58 is struggling (under statement) and needs his ice-time cut. #87 needs to realize this team's weakness is on D and that reality will force him (and others) to play more responsible (200ft) and execute better puck management decisions. At the end of the day, team results are the additive contributions from the individual parts.
- out_of_market

I assume that your 5v5 % stats are regular possession %, which are based on shots, (correct me if im wrong).

But our system is defensively based in that they want to allow low chance shots from the outside, which lowers their possession stats.

And the one shot and done situation, d-man don't pinch down on offensive blue line, they skate back to the d blue line. because of the system and the forwards basically do the same thing, turn around and skate backwards. we have a pitiful forecheck. This allows the other them to break out with no neutral zone pressure almost every play. Then enter our zone easily yielding more shots. When the pens finally control the puck. They coral it behind the net for 10 seconds. Always allowing the other team to set up forecheck and neutral zone pressure. And when they attempt to break out from there, its like some weird, carry to the blue line, drop the puck back and have 3 players stagnite at the o blueline. At this point all 10 players are the neutral zone. you cant pass, cant skate, and your only option is to dump/chip and chase. All it is, is a prevent defense. Defensively responsible players are wonderful, but not at the cost of absolving all forwards of offensive responsibility.

Yea its nice to be accustomed to low scoring games to prepare for the playoffs. But in the playoffs you only play teams with winning records(for the most part) with multiple nights and games to prepare for teams. We play a predictable style with the wrong type of players for that style. Throw out possession stats, Corsi's and Fenwick's all you want, but entire team is underperforming. And there is one person to blame.