Not a collapse? Give me a break.

have you looked at that roster right now? even when healthy, top to bottom, it's not a supremely talented roster. it's very top heavy with little depth. Shero and Rutherford have not done a good job in that regard. and there's no Carey Price or Pekka Rinne back there either.

that said, the Pens likely punched their ticket with that point last night, considering they close against Buffalo. that point could be the one that crushes Ottawa.
- DoubleDown

Ha! You want to talk about an untalented roster look no further than the canadians roster. If Carey price didn't have a season for the ages montreal would be middle of the pack. But go ahead and throw stones.

Ottawa beat us last night and I didn't see talent being the deciding factor.
- icedog97

Yep.

It's obvious the Pens are on the decline, and the poor management of their draft pics will only hasten that.

Thanks, yeah so is Brian Gibbons.
- nbartley9

Brian Gibbons is a dwarf who scored a couple of playoff goals and a few bandwagon Pens fans thought was god. Any HOCKEY (not Pens) fan know, he was nothing more than a AHL-NHL tweener. I am sorry to get your panties in a knot, but Stone and Hoffman are legit NHL top 6 wingers weather you want to admit it out not. Hoffman, yes came out of no where this season- but 27 goals tells me he belongs, but definitely more to prove. Now Mark Stone.. Yes he was a late pick, but this guy has some pedigree. He was a great player in the CHL, made the Canadian world junior team about 3 years ago and was every bit as CLUTCH for team canada as he has been for the Sens in this run. I'm a lifetime Pens fan, and I know this will sent a lot of people spinning, but I'd trade Kapenan for Stone in a heart beat. And beyond those 2, the rest of Ottawa's young players are all finding roles and proving to be legit NHL players. Turris, Zibinajad, Ceci, Pageau, Weircoch... This is a well put together YOUNG team... Are they ready to compete for cups? No. Has Bryan Murray done a great job on limited resources? Yes.

It's obvious the Pens are on the decline, and the poor management of their draft pics will only hasten that.
- jimmy mcnaulty

Insightful, bye

non-sense. as a fan, that's just dumb. and as a die-hard, its even dumber. the revenue we generate in the playoffs is vital to future success.

I feel like people want us to miss the playoffs so they can prove they were "right"
- YouMeAndDupuis9

The fact of the matter is that the playoffs are now for the Pens. 7 of their last 8 losses are to non playoff teams. What do you guys think is going to happen when they face off against playoff caliber teams? If they would happen to back in the playoffs it is because of their record from Oct-Dec. This current team doesn't resemble that team at all. Revenue is the least of this franchise worries.

name the last superstar that got traded and actually got traded for fair value.
- SuperHenderson13

Jagr

Johnston sucks. His system hasn't been an improvement, his player management hasn't been an improvement, and his lack of emotion and passion is an issue. He's spent his life coaching 18 year olds. I don't think he's built to coach grown men.



Keep Calm and Move On (and bring in Babcock or someone who will man up and yell or cause a scene when it's necessary).
- hardnosed

Dude, you need to put little images of Sid and Geno in the trolley in the background to really make this pop!

It's obvious the Pens are on the decline, and the poor management of their draft pics will only hasten that.
- jimmy mcnaulty

What happened to their draft pics? Did the computer that had them stored break? I agree should of had them on a flash drive.

Ottawa beat us last night and I didn't see talent being the deciding factor.
- icedog97

what was it then?

what was it then?
- all-pgh

coaching

have you looked at that roster right now? even when healthy, top to bottom, it's not a supremely talented roster. it's very top heavy with little depth. Shero and Rutherford have not done a good job in that regard. and there's no Carey Price or Pekka Rinne back there either.

that said, the Pens likely punched their ticket with that point last night, considering they close against Buffalo. that point could be the one that crushes Ottawa.
- DoubleDown

There is nothing wrong with Fleury. He certainly is the only reason this year we are still in the play-off hunt. I wish people outside of Pittsburgh would recognize it. It tells me people aren't paying attention.

I agree with the rest of the first graph. It's been this way for a while. When you invest 33% of the cap on three players, you have bottom of the barrell talents to supplement the roster. When you trade valued assets, like picks, for rentals, you don't properly develop young forwards, which we are in dire need of. Ottawa has done this. Hoffman, Stone, Zabanajad, Chiasson (even though he came from dallas) and Lazar. It's a nice situation to have. I envy them.

guys like Crosby, Malkin, MAF, and Letang aren't crippling this franchise.

Paying guys like Spaling, Sutter, and Scuderi that kind of money is what is crippling this franchise.

1. Penguins need to find some new homes for some of these guys. Scuderi will be impossible to trade more than likely. maybe buy him out, take the cap penalty and open a spot for someone else. Trading Sutter and Spaling should be doable.

2. Let the young guys play. In 2008 and 2009, both of those teams were filled with young guys who brought all the energy we needed. i dont believe you need grit, i believe you need energy in your bottom 6. Ruutu, Laraque, Kennedy, Cooke, Roberts, Talbot, etc. those guys all sucked from a hockey standpoint but they brought energy and timely goals. guys like spaling, lapierre, sutter, adams, and bennett dont bring any of that. penguins need to open their roster and let younger guys compete. replace those bottom 6 guys with farnharm, rust, wilson, sundqvist, kapanen... those guys might not be experienced and not the most talented guys, but you know all of them will give you 100% every night. Of the current bottom 6, the only guy i hope is there next year is Winnik. I've loved the game he has played so far. very smart and responsible hockey. Bennett, maybe give him a chance on the top 6.

penguins arent nearly in trouble like many of you say, they need a reevaluation of the makeup of the roster.

Jagr
- znagle

best goal Kris Beech ever scored was nailing that reporter from KDKA.

Brian Gibbons is a dwarf who scored a couple of playoff goals and a few bandwagon Pens fans thought was god. Any HOCKEY (not Pens) fan know, he was nothing more than a AHL-NHL tweener. I am sorry to get your panties in a knot, but Stone and Hoffman are legit NHL top 6 wingers weather you want to admit it out not. Hoffman, yes came out of no where this season- but 27 goals tells me he belongs, but definitely more to prove. Now Mark Stone.. Yes he was a late pick, but this guy has some pedigree. He was a great player in the CHL, made the Canadian world junior team about 3 years ago and was every bit as CLUTCH for team canada as he has been for the Sens in this run. I'm a lifetime Pens fan, and I know this will sent a lot of people spinning, but I'd trade Kapenan for Stone in a heart beat. And beyond those 2, the rest of Ottawa's young players are all finding roles and proving to be legit NHL players. Turris, Zibinajad, Ceci, Pageau, Weircoch... This is a well put together YOUNG team... Are they ready to compete for cups? No. Has Bryan Murray done a great job on limited resources? Yes.
- Willaged

I can not even begin to describe to you how much I could care less about Stone and Hoff-whatever the hell his name is; it wont matter when he is in the AHL in 2 years, you guys are a powerhouse; you have an all world first line center in Kevin Turris, and your elite net minder Grimace Lalime gets more and more impressive with how he juggles his sloppy rebounds into fantastic unnecessary saves. I don't care about your team, I just care about the fact that we felt like we didn't have to show any effort to beat them.

Jagr
- znagle

hahahaha Ross Lupaschuk was a beast.

You miss my point. Regardless the reason, if your number 1 center is a minus on any night you probably loose the game. The Crosby line is getting out scored at even strength. As long as that continues you will lose more games than you win. Obviously, this is even more important in the playoffs when fewer penalties are called and winning is almost always about even strength performance.
- spatso

Yeah put Scuderi and Lovejoy behind the turris line and watch them get annihilated. Put Letang and Martin or Maata and Ehrhoff behind the Crosby line and not only see less goals against but a lot more goals for because that line doesn't have to worry as much about getting back. Letang was unbelievable this year, he was everywhere on d, it's too hard to overcome with what we have now which is not much.

I can not even begin to describe to you how much I could care less about Stone and Hoff-whatever the hell his name is; it wont matter when he is in the AHL in 2 years, you guys are a powerhouse; you have an all world first line center in Kevin Turris, and your elite net minder Grimace Lalime gets more and more impressive with how he juggles his sloppy rebounds into fantastic unnecessary saves. I don't care about your team, I just care about the fact that we felt like we didn't have to show any effort to beat them.
- nbartley9

bartley is so sad

I can not even begin to describe to you how much I could care less about Stone and Hoff-whatever the hell his name is; it wont matter when he is in the AHL in 2 years, you guys are a powerhouse; you have an all world first line center in Kevin Turris, and your elite net minder Grimace Lalime gets more and more impressive with how he juggles his sloppy rebounds into fantastic unnecessary saves. I don't care about your team, I just care about the fact that we felt like we didn't have to show any effort to beat them.
- nbartley9

I love ya barts....that's awesome...

Yes and no.

One blood clot is one thing & a fluke. But recurrence when it's a known previous issues? Proactive screening should be done regularly on players with that history. It obviously isn't.

And concussions are another thing that can be avoided to a degree. The Pens are a small team playing in a bigger league and with a system that puts them in the position to be on the receiving end of physical play more often and lacking the speed to avoid that contact. Smaller guys getting hit by bigger guys leads to an increased likelihood of injury. Concussions are one of the possible potential injuries that arise from that situation. That's on the system & on strength & conditioning guys. Either the system adjusts to the personnel or the strength & conditioning guys work with the players to increase their quickness & ability to avoid hits even when they're getting worn down later in the year.
- ScienceJesus

The screenings wouldn't have prevented it though. They only would have caught it a little sooner and Dupuis still would have been out, so not sure how that helps anything.

Also, how do you know they aren't getting screenings? Do you want them doing screenings every day?

Last night was a collapse. The last month has been a collapse. Anyone who suggests otherwise doesn't have a clue. Up 20 points on Ottawa a month ago and now we are one point ahead and hoping to sneak our way into the play-offs? That is a collapse.

This collapse has many contributors. Ownership for its handling with Bylsma. Fire him when you fired Shero and go out and find a coach then. You could have had Trotz. Instead wait; say you are going to hire a GM and have him make the decision, even though the decision was made months ago (JR had no decision on DB).

GM - failure to draft forwards; stupid decisions on trading valuable picks for crappy rentals; poor contract deals

Head Coach - where to start

Injuries - where to start

Players - several players have been madly inconsistent or just plain and simple playing terrible hockey for a greater portion of the year.

This has all contributed to this.

I love when things go bad. Very entertaining......

bartley is so sad


- sensarmy_11

Haha that's actually pretty damn funny


Im not sad, im pissed with how our team acts and plays.

In regards to calling up Kapanen and/or Sundqvist....I know everyone disagreed with me. But has anyone come to my side in light of recent events?