How do the Pens do it?

[Pens1566]

I revisionist history

 

[3ladesof5teel]

Obviously Crosby is an incredible player- but his sweetheart of a deal would be illegal now. That’s huge.

Then Malkin signs a hometown discount. Pretty incredible when you can have 2 top 5 players on steals.

Then they fleeced the Leafs to ADD Phil Kessel- when his value couldn’t be any lower.

Good luck to anyone hoping to crack the code of how to replicate their success. They even make Letang’s brutal contract a non-issue.

I remember clearly when people said that the Crosby and Malkin contracts were terrible over payments and there was no way they would be able to field a competitive team having so much money tied up into two players.

Got to love the boards

 

[brewski420]

You would think other teams could afford to give Bettman bigger piles of cash!!

 

[DarkReign]

This is a mystery even Shaggy could solve.

Name another team with both a Crosby and Malkin.

Now name another team who also has their experience, pedigree and track record in the playoffs.

Not since prime Datsyuk and Zetterberg and Z isn’t really on their level. Sakic/Forsberg? Yzerman/Fedorov?

Pittsburgh contends so long as those two are healthy. They are, they are awesome and they are locked in. Throw in Kessel, Guentzel (sp?) and Murray? Contenders.

 

[Pens x]

The Pens pissed away 8 years having Shero as the GM. We always lacked depth and made our stars play with garbage wingers. Rutherford is a decent GM but Pittsburgh had all of the pieces to compete for the cup but Shero and Bylsma were awful. Shero did draft a couple of good players in his later years.

But any competent GM should excel with the star players. Shero could never find complimentary players.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Top 5 player and top 30 player ever finally getting some depth around them =cups. Who would think it?

 

[Revelation]

I remember clearly when people said that the Crosby and Malkin contracts were terrible over payments and there was no way they would be able to field a competitive team having so much money tied up into two players.

Got to love the boards

lmao no one ever said that unless they were trolling hard

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

You would think other teams could afford to give Bettman bigger piles of cash!!

Other teams can't win when the Pens have these kind of dollar bills to offer.

 

[BigEezyE22]

There is a difference losing a player in the middle of the playoffs over being aware said player isnt going to play the rest of the season right before the TDL. Pens had plenty of time to add Dmen Preds couldnt just pluck more centers when Johansen and Fiala went down. Given how your fanbase views Letang you certainly didnt miss his bad defensive play and boneheaded penalties. Johansen's loss for Nashville had a much larger effect on Nashville and their offense than the loss of Letang had for Pit and their defense.





Just simply calling bull **** on the people who said the eastern cup finalists La and Chicago faced from 10-15 were jokes until Pit came back from their 6 year absense as if pit didnt also lose to those same teams that were considered weak finalists.

Just as we like to call bullshit on the schmucks who get off on a guy who was propped up by Marian Hossa.

 

[PensandCaps]

There is a difference losing a player in the middle of the playoffs over being aware said player isnt going to play the rest of the season right before the TDL. Pens had plenty of time to add Dmen Preds couldnt just pluck more centers when Johansen and Fiala went down. Given how your fanbase views Letang you certainly didnt miss his bad defensive play and boneheaded penalties. Johansen's loss for Nashville had a much larger effect on Nashville and their offense than the loss of Letang had for Pit and their defense.





Just simply calling bull **** on the people who said the eastern cup finalists La and Chicago faced from 10-15 were jokes until Pit came back from their 6 year absense as if pit didnt also lose to those same teams that were considered weak finalists.

Lol no there isn't. If anything the Pens playing longer and more games without their star player is more impressive than Nashville having Their star player for the first 3 rounds.

 

[Grandma Bingo]

There is a difference losing a player in the middle of the playoffs over being aware said player isnt going to play the rest of the season right before the TDL. Pens had plenty of time to add Dmen Preds couldnt just pluck more centers when Johansen and Fiala went down. Given how your fanbase views Letang you certainly didnt miss his bad defensive play and boneheaded penalties. Johansen's loss for Nashville had a much larger effect on Nashville and their offense than the loss of Letang had for Pit and their defense.





Just simply calling bull **** on the people who said the eastern cup finalists La and Chicago faced from 10-15 were jokes until Pit came back from their 6 year absense as if pit didnt also lose to those same teams that were considered weak finalists.

What changed for the Pens in '16 was Mike Sullivan being the coach.

The Bylsma/Johnston Pens of 2010-15 were unfocused and undisciplined.

If Sullivan were name coach in 2010, the Pens would have a couple more Cups.

 

[TheAngryHank]

I remember clearly when people said that the Crosby and Malkin contracts were terrible over payments and there was no way they would be able to field a competitive team having so much money tied up into two players.

Got to love the boards

No one ever said that, Sid took a home town discount,Geno wasn't going to take more than Sid.
Letang is the worst contract on the Penguins books.

 

[Gnashville]

They get a lot of 50/50 calls go their way in critical moments.

 

[ColbyChaos]

What changed for the Pens in '16 was Mike Sullivan being the coach.

The Bylsma/Johnston Pens of 2010-15 were unfocused and undisciplined.

If Sullivan were name coach in 2010, the Pens would have a couple more Cups.

They had Matt Cooke, Guerin and bunch of other nobodies in their top 6 and top 9 a number of years from 10-15 lol they werent getting by Chi-La even with Sullivan. Fleury alone would have been enough to hold them back and see them sent home in the opening rounds there is a reason why they had to get Vokoun and why Flower needed his own personal psychologist after so many playoff meltdowns. They just werent good enough Sullivan doesnt magically change Crosby's injuries, Fleury's constant playoff meltdowns, and most of all he doesnt fix that barren bottom 6 Shero would have given him.

 

[Beau Knows]

They get a lot of 50/50 calls go their way in critical moments.

Someone is still mad about something...

 

[CartographerNo611]

Tank for years, draft, and develop well. Also their star players show up every game.

 

[Fire Benning]

They didn’t make the mistake of overpaying for mediocred middle of the lineup guys. They also a few decent hockey players you may have heard of.

It also helps that Crosby’s contract is a ridiculous steal.

 

[sjosty26]

It's because what Sullivan did, and their prior coaches were unable to, was get both Malkin and Crosby playing well at the same time. If both of those guys are going, seriously, how do you stop them. Who do you key on? Then you throw Kessel and Brassard on the third line, with Hagelin's speed...playoff-caliber teams or not, the 3rd D pairing will be exposed (see: Gudas, next round: Orpik). It was always either Crosby was hot, or Malkin was, interchanging throughout the season or playoffs. Some of that has to do with injuries.

Now that they are both rolling through, it's just enough to really overwhelm teams, especially on the PP. Their 26.2% conversion rate on the PP this season was the 2nd-best since 1991 I think, only mark that's better was WSH a few years ago

 

[kingsholygrail]

They finally got a goalie.

 

[Fatty McLardy]

They finally got a goalie.

i think finally getting a good coach was big. Fleury had his share of troubles don't get me wrong. but Bylsma's system was the worst plus the guy constantly got out coached in every playoff series and relied on Crosby or Malkin going god mode to win....

 

[carter333167]

Crosby/Malkin>>>>>>>>Toews/Kane

 

[Dying Alive]

Tank for years, draft, and develop well. Also their star players show up every game.

The Pens have missed the playoffs four times since 1990, and it was during the years they were literally bankrupt due to the idiot previous owner.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

lmao no one ever said that unless they were trolling hard

Oh you bet your ass they did. I wont even waste the time to search that jib jab

 

[harmonica]

What changed for the Pens in '16 was Mike Sullivan being the coach.

The Bylsma/Johnston Pens of 2010-15 were unfocused and undisciplined.

If Sullivan were name coach in 2010, the Pens would have a couple more Cups.

I totally disagree with if we got Sully in 2010 we would have more cups. We might have less.

Sully needed time developing his coaching skills and methods. He has constantly referred to his time with Torts in NY and Vancouver and his short stint working with the Blackhawks. Without those, I doubt we have a coach half as good as we currently do. We ended up getting Sully exactly when we should have.

 

[Loseipeg]

Uhhh did you forget 2010-2015? I guess calling getting destroyed year in year out by a soft eastern conference isnt good enough to be called a retool.