This is the type of thing I'm talking about. People acknowledge that his linemates have been dog shit, but still think he should produce regardless. The NHL is a tough league to expect one guy, no matter how good, to produce offensively when the other 2 guys on his line are playing poorly.
Like, exactly what is he supposed to do if the other two guys on his line aren't doing anything? Go end to end? Deke around three defenders and singlehandedly put up goal after goal? The expectations for our star players is ridiculous on this forum.
I even mentioned the best player in hockey (McDavid) struggling to produce in the playoffs to show how difficult it is even for someone in their prime to do it, but it's brushed off as "we're not talking about him, we're talking about the Penguins' top players". That's the problem. You're ignoring the fact it's not a "Penguins" problem. It's called no single player can do everything on their own if their linemates are playing terrible hockey.
If Guentzel and Rust were flying and Crosby was loafing around, I'd 100% agree with you. But the fact that it's universally accepted how bad those two have been and you still think Crosby should be producing "just because" is what I mean by this fanbase wanting to shit on Crosby (and Malkin) whenever things go poorly, even when they're not even close to the reason for the struggles.
I mean, if Jake and Rust have been shit, why can't Sid have been shit too? He's had nice plays defensively and occasionally makes the offensive plays a top center can and should make. But if they're not doing anything, they're not doing anything. Goals win you games.
People want to look every which way but at Sid or Geno when things don't go well. They've been as responsible for this team's failure in recent years as anyone. Spend big money on players, put them in important roles, and if they fail, they fail. I don't care if it's Sid, McDavid, Giroux, Marchand, etc.
Nobody wants to accept the fact that these forwards, to a man, have come up short. Some worse than others, but zero players have lived up to expectation or done what needs to be done in order to succeed. The coach sucks, the blueline's sucked for years before this iteration, Murray and Jarry have both been shaky as f***--at best. Yeah, all true. But the forwards have been dogshit and people need to accept that there's plenty of blame to go around, and guys like Sid and Geno don't escape because they carried this team to Cups years ago. We're all happy to have seen this team win 3 Cups in this era, but those Cups mean jack shit with regard to this team's current situation.
And we're not talking about McDavid. I don't give a shit about McDavid.
If anything, he'll eventually figure it out due to his age and talent. Our guys are ~35 and have stumbled in the playoffs the past several trips, and are surrounded by dudes who don't pull their weight either.
At some point people gotta accept that valid criticism landing in the lap of underperforming players isn't shitting on players, or having some agenda. The fact is, this team's spinning its tires and no forward is exempt from critique. Not Jake, Rust, McCann, nor Sid and Geno.
-edit-
If you're gonna hold Jake, Rust, McCann, etc. accountable for underwhelming or downright awful play, good. Deserved critique.
If you're gonna hold Sullivan accountable for his stubborn, almost spiteful arrogance and ego torpedoing things with his refusal to shake things up, good. Deserved critique.
If you're gonna hold players and coaches accountable for this team's annual greasy, wet fart come playoff time, good. But you damn well better accept that Sid and Geno, two guys making ~$18 million and handed huge roles of importance, are very largely to blame as well. Maybe they're old, maybe the mix isn't right to get the most out of oft-injured and aging vets, maybe they've just lost it. But they're very deserving of blame, and to pretend they're not is blatant homerism and gold/yellow colored glasses yinzer talk.
