That's the funny thing in all of this. These people think we're actively rooting against the team or something like that when we question the mix. Truth is, the Pens went from being faster than everyone and having plenty of warriors in 2017 to being smaller but no longer faster than everyone and vanilla in 2021, and pointing that out doesn't make one less of a Pens fan.
I just get tired of the same refrain being repeated, especially when there seems to be an unwillingness to point blame elsewhere.
The Guentzel-Malkin-Rust campaign. The notion that Sullivan had it out for Kapanen despite evidence to the contrary, as well as the ridiculous argument by some that Sullivan is anti-European. Your repeated assertion again in this thread that it is a given that Sullivan will mismanage Malkin whenever Geno returns. It all wears incredibly thin.
I don't think Sullivan is above reproach. He's too patient at times. I wish he'd exert more control over the special teams, though the power play has largely righted itself. I don't understand why he's allowed Vellucci to stick with the diamond formation on the PK. But I do think a lot of the stuff he's being criticized the loudest over is overrated. Line chemistry matters, but only to some degree. What's more likely, that Jeff Carter and Jared McCann suddenly can't play because Kasperi Kapanen knocked Freddy Gaudreau off their line? Or that they simply had a bad night for the first time in about a month?
I'm more apt to buying into the notion that the mix on this team is bad in terms of style of players. And that's blame that should be laid at the feet of Jim Rutherford. I know everyone likes to point to the clip from Pens TV of Sullivan saying, "I think he'll score goals for us" when they're talking about Jankowski, Rodrigues, etc., but Rutherford is the one who reduced the number of voices in the room and who made the decisions post-Stanley Cup wins to change the make-up of the team. Tom Wilson got in his head and he was chasing ghosts the rest of his tenure.
If there is a criticism of this team, it is that it has too many similar players. All of the defensemen are cut from the same cloth, with slightly varying skill sets (Dumoulin is more defensively responsible, Matheson is a better skater, etc.). That's on Rutherford, not Sullivan. That's a worthwhile discussion to me. Not whether Jason Zucker being on the second line with Malkin and Kapanen is going to tank the team's playoff chances. That's ridiculous hyperbole, and it gets old seeing it repeated day in and day out. What's more likely to tank this team's playoff chances are 1) Jarry falling apart; 2) The power play and penalty kill failing; 3) The inability to roll four lines, not just because of any mismatch in chemistry in Malkin and Zucker, but because Carter, McCann, Blueger, et al also go cold despite being in advantageous situations.
That's what bothers me and why I push back. Certain people on this board latch on to one singular notion and then beat it into a bloody pulp. Sports are a lot more nuanced than that.
