Has it dawned on you that there might be a price to be paid for our two stars doing what they did last year to carry things when half the team was on cruise control?
I do not think half our team was on cruise control last year. This year? Sure. But last year? No. There's a reason why we were the highest scoring team in the league - and it wasn't just Crosby. Sheary played a prominent role, and excelled. Guentzel when he earned his spot, played a prominent role and excelled. And Kessel had a very solid season. Crosby's production was only slightly above what he's put up the past few seasons.
So you bash Sid but blindly defend Rutherford and these bottom six idiots? Sid is trash, but Riley Sheahan needs more time! You keep preaching patience but have no issues trashing our star players? You routinely defend Rutherford for everything. You refuse to acknowledge that the bottom six needs to be redone.
No, I'm simply pointing out a huge reason why our team isn't scoring. You're trying to blame the entire bottom 6 and focusing on depth players like Sheahan. I'm just pointing out that the problem is actually a much simpler one - just one few want to acknowledge. But don't worry - I actually am very patient. Unlike some, I'm not immediately looking to replace the struggling player, and am more than willing to let him work through whatever it is that he needs to do. Too bad you can't say the same.
I also wasn't aware that pointing out that Crosby is on pace for less ES points then he had ES goals last season was "trashing our star players". Clearly reading comprehension isn't your strong suit.
I usually agree with you Rip, but you are out to lunch.
Malkin is above a PPG. Kessel is in the top ten. This team should be able to succeed with Crosby putting up typical 2C points.
I'm out to lunch that a huge part of our teams issues at scoring at ES starts with our top 6?
Crosby has 7 ES points. That's a 30 ES point pace. Last year he was 4th in the league with 64 ES points.
Malkin has 11 ES points - a 47.5 ES point pace. Only "slightly" off the 63.5 ES pt pace he had last year.
Kessel has 22 pts in 19 games - which is fantastic. Unfortunately, a full 50% of them at on the PP. Which is great when the PP is one of the best in the league... but when the team isn't scoring at ES, you're not going to win a ton of hockey games.
This isn't about Crosby JUST being on pace for 56 points, it's where those points are coming from, because right now, almost half are on the PP (6 vs 7) - and that doesn't just go for him. I'm fine with people pointing out that our team is struggling, and suggesting changes (even when I do not agree with them), but saying "well if we replaced the entire bottom 6, we'd have 7-10 more goals and have likely won a few more games" is complete and utter BS. Sure it's true... but when the entire top 6 also isn't scoring at ES... why are we blaming our woos on depth players?
A team will be hard pressed to win a championship without quality depth - we all know that first hand. But what every single one of us on here also knows, is that without their star players playing at an acceptable level, they'll never even get the chance to contend for one. And right now, our biggest issue is that our top 6 just isn't getting it done. I pointed out Crosby and Malkin's numbers, because they're paid the big bucks and it got my point across quite well. But lets go a lot further then just those two.
Crosby: .368 ES pt/g vs .853 ES pt/g
Malkin: .578 ES pt/g vs .79 ES pt/g
Kessel: .578 ES pt/g vs .487 ES pt/g
Guentzel: .315 ES pt/g vs .75 ES pt/g
Sheary: .315 ES pt/g vs .786 ES pt/g
Hornqvist: .157 ES pt/g vs .385 ES pt/g
Basically the only player who's ES production hasn't cratered compared to last year ES production is Kessel. And while you can give some leeway to Sheary and Guentzel due to their age, Crosby, Malkin and Hornqvist all need to be better. They're far from the only ones, but there's a reason why they're paid the big bucks... and it's not so that at almost 1/4 into the season Crosby can put up the same ES production as Rust.
So yes, if select people are going to try and blame this teams woos on having Sheahan as our #3C, I'm going to toss it right back in their faces, with the cold hard truth - and that's that our current issues start a LOT higher up in the lineup then our #3C.