Are we having fun yet?
The Penguins started the year shot out of a cannon. Times were great. They were scoring six goals a game and the focus was less on if they were going to win, but who was going to score the goals. Times they are a changing. After last night the Penguins have lost their sixth consecutive game. The last time they lost six in a row was February of 2020. The last time they lost seven in a row Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby were playing together. The team lost nine in a row to start the 2005-06 season and mixed in another ten-game losing streak for good measure later in the season. There have been a lot of ups and downs in this era of Penguins hockey. What is happening right now has potential to get bad. Teams who are out of a playoff spot during American Thanksgiving don’t have great odds to make the playoffs. It can happen. It doesn’t happen a lot. Currently they are only two points out, which isn’t bad. The issue is they are only ahead of Columbus and Ottawa at the moment.
The best players on the team are doing what they are being paid to do. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jake Guentzel are all over a point per game. Jason Zucker, who was coming into the season with questions marks, has eight points in nine games. Bryan Rust has eight points in 11 games. Rickard Rakell is tied for the team lead in goals with five in 11 games. Their xGF% are all very solid xGF%
Zucker 63.41 Guentzel 62.09 Malkin 61.18 Crosby 60.54 Rust 60.26 Rakell 58.37
Is this really the direction we want to point the blame? I think those who are quick to criticize this group of players are expecting/needing perfection because the rest of the team can’t be counted on for much of anything.
Kris Letang is always a popular punching bag by some. I do not believe he’s been at the level of last year to this point because he hasn’t. He’s still 52.26 xGF% so far this year. Who is he playing with? He’s playing with the guy who has been on the ice for the most goals in the NHL. Brian Dumoulin deserves to watch some games from the press box. Instead, he is glued to the Penguins best defenseman. I don’t know how people can expect a 35-year-old Letang to be at his best when he is dragging around a player who is washed. Quite frankly, this falls on the coach not adjusting and not living in the present moment. Yeah, Brian Dumoulin was a super dependable player for a long time. He isn’t that player anymore. You have to live in 2022 not 2016. Nitpick Letang if you must, but don’t ignore the elephant in the room.
Jeff Petry hasn't been the player he has been in year's past, to this point. He's taking a number of penalties and to this point his offense isn't enough to offset the other stuff. He doesn't have the same excuse Kris Letang has. He is playing with the Penguins best left defender. Could you imagine a Dumoulin-Petry pairing right now? Yeesh.
Pierre-Olivier Joseph has earned the opportunity to get some more minutes. Put him with Petry and let Pettersson play with Letang. See how that goes.
During this six game losing streak Kasperi Kapanen has 0 points and a 35.80 xGF% . He is objectively terrible, blame him. Just because a player like him is an obvious answer doesn’t mean he gets to avoid being blamed for the losses. He’s nowhere in this lineup if his name is Kevin Johnson, seventh round draft pick.
Brock McGinn, 45.81 xGF% during the losing streak. Ryan Poehling is 40.66. Jeff Carter has played four out of the six games is 41.88. Sam Poulin and Drake Caggiula are both ~35%, but I’m not going to put this on them. They shouldn’t be relied on in the first place.
Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith don’t get off the hook here. You rarely see a goalie out of position like DeSmith was last night in the NHL, let alone for two goals in the same game. He was floundering. The last six games each goalie has played three times. Jarry has an all-situations save percentage of .888 and DeSmith is .892. You can say the team in front of them hasn’t helped, but Jarry’s HDSV% is a woeful .643 and DeSmith is .722. In the NHL you are going to have to make hard saves, it is part of the gig. They haven’t and here we are.
So what now? There really isn’t much. This team as currently constructed is kind of stuck. Who can you trade away to improve the team? Trading anybody from the top six isn’t going to really help, they aren’t the problem. They are also the only ones who have value. The prospect pool is dry. The first round pick should have been moved last year. Moving it this year has a lot more risk based on how things are going. The only realistic thing I see helping the team in the near future is the return of Teddy Blueger. He will help. He also won’t fix the problems at large with this roster.
The Penguins don’t play until Saturday when they host the Kraken. They’ll have plenty to think about until then.
Thanks for reading!