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Every roster flaw on display last night |
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Games in hand are advantageous. They lose their luster when you drop two points to your direct competition. The Penguins still have four games in hand on the Islanders, but the two teams are now tied in the standings. Pittsburgh had the chance to land a knockout blow last night up 4-2. they squandered it after allowing a late third period goal and left with no points earned. This despite the Penguins playing one of their better games in the past few weeks. They were dominate at times. They outshot the Islanders 44-28. They got four goals from the top six. They also got .821 goaltending
The loss was a microcosm of the entire season. This is a team treading water with a GM content to let the team tread until they drown. Other teams are going to be active in improving their team. Teams who also have cap issues to navigate. In fact, there was a pretty big deal announced right after the Penguins game ended
This is a deal the Penguins had the assets to make. For the people who don’t want to trade the 1st round pick or use other draft picks to help the now, get with the program. This team isn’t rebuilding right now nor should they. Retooling on the fly is also a misstep. The only path is going all-in. Choices were made and this is the path they are on. There’s no undoing the extensions given out over the summer. The Penguins committed to the now at a time where they could have veered off and taken a different path. There’s no reason to keep this year’s first or Owen Pickering, none. Sometimes deals don’t come to fruition, but it isn’t for a lack of trying. Does Ron Hextall fall into a description like that? He has a sizaeble track record of being passive.
The Penguins do employ a former GM who understands the need to act and more specifically the need to acquire legit talent. That would be Brian Burke, but good luck figuring out what his role has been with the team. He has the bravado to do the things that need to be done. Does he have the role? Does he agency to do... anything? Who knows.
All I know is the Penguins continue to slop it up with the McGinn-Carter-Kapanen line. It’s gross. To have a line like this in February with minimal injuries is quite pathetic. They have a CF% of 41.38 and an xGF% of 38.21 in 155 minutes together. This line sums up why the Penguins can’t get any traction. What an uninspiring mess of 9.075M spent. You are an unserious team if this is your third line, totally and utterly unserious. It’s not quite retiring Chris Neil’s number embarrassing, but it is close.
The Penguins don’t have much time to sulk. They are up against the second place New Jersey Devils. Jack Hughes had been out. He is returning to action today so the Penguins won’t catch a break there. They’ll have the Devils today, the Islanders at home on Monday, and then host the Connor McDavid show on Thursday. There aren’t a lot of layups in the schedule. That’s what the west coast swing was.
Thirteen days until the trade deadline...
Thanks for reading!
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