Post-Game Talk: Jack Johnson Era 0 -2.

[Yuri35]

Malkin is untouchable and deserves more rope than anybody in management, before that talk gets outta hand.

not sure to understand what you mean...

 

[Honour Over Glory]

How is it JR's fault that a majority of their star players decided to do nothing in an entire playoff series?

They lost this series because of guys like Malkin, Guentzel, Rust and Hornqvist not playing up to the caliber they should be. Anyone blaming JR, Sullivan or depth players while not mentioning that fact is not paying attention.

JR deserves some blame sure.

Mike Sullivan deserves most of it. You see that roster and team and you lose to the habs and it's not a lack of talent. It's a lack of tactic and planning on the side of the coaching staff.

 

[Empoleon8771]

How do people seriously think that just getting rid of a few bad depth players and firing the coach will solve the problems with this team? Like this series wasn't "Penguins playing great, but a few bad apples tanked the team". This was catastrophic failure all around.

 

[JBose7]

Marino is a great defenseman, but he isn't a # 1 D.

So you don't believe that in two years he can play 25 minutes a game and quarterback the number one power play? I'd like to know what you're basing that on?

 

[bambamcam4ever]

I disagree about Johnson - he was never good - but I agree that coaching is the primary issue.

EDIT: tried and failed to quote the long post by Pittsburgh1776.

Yep, it's not talent that makes Montreal able to enter the zone in their sleep while the Penguins struggle to get a good dump-in.

 

[sovietsanta87]

Malkin was a monster this year before the shut down.

They just looked like a team that stopped listening to their coach. It happens in hockey all the time. Sullivan has been an awesome coach but it is clear he is stuck in his ways and the core players have started to slow down. Need a new coach with a new message/system. Let sheary, marleau, schultz walk.... move murray, JJ, bjugstad, and maybe mccann. Like i said the other night, there's a ton of dead cap space on this squad. I think big moves are necessary but i dont agree with trading malkin. I would move Letang but you'll never get any value for him. It wuold purely be a cap dump and even then, you need to hit homers on all your free agent dmen

 

[orby]

Trading him away was far worse. At least he would have brought energy to the line-up and actually sustain some pressure on the forecheck.

They tried the finesse approach, and it hasn’t worked with this aging core.

I just mean in terms of mucking with the team's identity. They had so much success with a team based on overwhelming speed, then reversed course to add "toughness," then again to add "skill," ad nauseum until we got this weird misfit roster with no identity or cohesion.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Crosby to



Is like

Mario to Jagr

Without the dying alive.

 

[Hockeygod66]

So what's last years excuse?

 

[Shady Machine]

Yes. Sully f***ed us by choosing the worse goalie for game 1. Pissed on a 3 goal performance like the loser he is.

Yeah that back 2 back cup winning goalie is a loser. You’re a rationale human

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I just mean in terms of mucking with the team's identity. They had so much success with a team based on overwhelming speed, then reversed course to add "toughness," then again to add "skill," ad nauseum until we got this weird misfit roster with no identity or cohesion.

I don't know if the identity changed as much as it got stale. You can't keep the same identity when the league has adapted to you and then expect the same success. That's the issue I'm finding with everyone's gripes right now.

 

[EvGeno]

Malkin is untouchable and deserves more rope than anybody in management, before that talk gets outta hand.

I agree, he was our best player all year and gets F’d by Sully with Johnson and Schultz, and never giving him Guentzel again to give him confidence or try to jumpstart him.

 

[KIRK]

Absolutely pathetic effort throughout the series. Horrendous coaching. Flawed roster. Clean house already. Rutherford has to go. Sullivan and the entire coaching staff has to go. Letang has to go. This team needs to get younger, bigger and more offensive. They can NO LONGER rely on two guys to generate ALL of the five-on-five offense. Kessel was never replaced. We have no third-line center. We let the worst team invited inside the bubble dictate the entire series. Nice.

Whether we pick 1st or 15th, make this damn pick count. If we pick 15th, get a center who can push for playing time right away. Let's not wait any longer to reboot this roster.

Pull a Chicago. Take a step back in order to still take three steps forward while the superstars are still able.

0-3 against Mtl in the playoffs. If they can't win this one, they'll never beat that franchise in the playoffs.

Pathetic beyond description. We need answers and we need changes. Pronto.

The two biggest differences, in terms of the roster, compared to 2017 . . .

1. The absence of warriors. Then, it was Bonino, Cole, and Horny. Now? Bonino left. Sullivan ran Cole off. And Horny has like 3 years and 20000 more miles on him.

2. The lack of young blood up front. Sheary and the other kids in 2016. Jake in 2017. Their energy was infectious.

 

[Empoleon8771]

JR deserves some blame sure.

Mike Sullivan deserves most of it. You see that roster and team and you lose to the habs and it's not a lack of talent. It's a lack of tactic and planning on the side of the coaching staff.

JR deserves blame for things like JJ for sure. But they lost for way more reasons beyond that.

 

[Ryder71]

How do people seriously think that just getting rid of a few bad depth players and firing the coach will solve the problems with this team? Like this series wasn't "Penguins playing great, but a few bad apples tanked the team". This was catastrophic failure all around.

Standing pat won't help. Gotta start somewhere.

 

[canadianguy77]

I came back to say I was wrong and the doubters were right. My optimism was based on the fact that we did dominate for a while this season (while Sid was out), and who knew how the long layoff would play out... Oh well, I guess.

Why did we play better with Sid out? How much lineup input does he have (ie not giving up Guentzel, no Hornqvist, buddy Jack needs to play)?

BYE, Sully...good luck and thanks for the Cups, MM...don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, JJ and Jultz...

The team played better when Geno was out too.

 

[MapleLeafs94]

From a outsider perspective sorta (big Crosby fan) I just dont understand what is happening to this club. The roster hasnt really changed that drastically from the dominant team you had a couple years ago. Got rid of a regressing Kessel and signed a pylon in Johnson but that shouldn't effect results that significantly, lost a bit of depth in other places.

Malkin was obviously pretty worthless this series but had a pretty damn good year so i don't think regression was the problem with him, maybe just rust.

Losing to the Caps in 6 was fine considering you own them historically and it was a damn good team but these last 2 post seasons are mind boggling, this is a talented roster.

Anyways, 12.5% at 1st overall is a nice consolation and id love to see Laff flank Crosby for his remaining years.

Keep your head up Pens fans. You still have a top 5 player in Crosby and a damn good player in Malkin (Hes hard to rank with injuries, etc) with that talent shuffling a few things and the team getting hot at the right time you always got a chance.

Sorry for the novel and i know you're frustrated, just thought I'd chime in with my opinion.

 

[Night Shift]

I mean sure it was a failure but hard to be mad though because of the unusual circumstances. It'll be worth it to get #1

 

[WayneSid9987]

How do people seriously think that just getting rid of a few bad depth players and firing the coach will solve the problems with this team? Like this series wasn't "Penguins playing great, but a few bad apples tanked the team". This was catastrophic failure all around.

I mean, ya gotta start somewhere.
Not just depth will leave tho.
1 goalie is already as good as gone.

 

[Phil68]

Rope. Is and understatement. People act like Crosby as well can carry a team anymore. Nope he cannot and he has the pen's best winger on line. The entire year if Malkin wasn't here before covid the pens would not even have had a shot at making regular playoffs. As I stated. You trade Malkin, sid will want out well, because at his age too I doesn't want to be part of a bottom feeding team

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Don't overthink this.

1. Somebody said if Sullivan goes with JJ and Schultz again it's the equivalent of rolling over and dying. They did it!

2. Jack Johnson is a great person and an ok player who was successful in a slower more physical era. We've been out of that era for years now. It isn't his fault he was put in a position to fail.

3. Marleau was a hollow choker on San Jose and he was never going to help this team. This team has Crosby and Malkin in their 30s, they don't need a f***ing sage to help.

4. Schultz was casual all year, and never should have been played the way he was.

5. The PP has been bad all year, trying everything possible to overcomplicate and apparently stroke egos than do what needs to be done. Different variations of Malkin on the left side, Malkin on the top have never worked and never will. One of the best shooters in NHL history used a decoy was and is ridiculous and it's absurd it went on so long.

6. Murray was good, he wasn't the reason they lost.

7. All of this leads to the only point that matters. Mike Sullivan caught lightning in a bottle and then managed to do it again with good decision-making and being willing to listen. Somewhere along the line, that changed. He actively hampered this team at every turn and his decisions were mind-boggling. The less-astute here will blame players like Malkin because it feels good to rag on the stars for not scoring. A better discussion is how on earth did this coach manage to take a superstar having his best season in years and make him into his third choice on the ice? Wow. Mike Sullivan and Evgeni Malkin cannot co-exist, there is no reason to have Malkin here if Sullivan is going to treat him the way he does. It hurts our team to have a 9MIL player trusted less than Teddy Blueger. My God. This team was rolling when Malkin was rolling, and it did it for months, and it was the only time they were rolling. A smart coach would take notice. He didn't, because he doesn't trust Malkin and never has. So part ways with one or both.

Anybody blaming the players (beyond a few poor performers) for this doesn't have a clue. Rutherford assembled a talented team. This coach has lost it and if he isn't willing to change, he needs to be gone. Recchi too. What does he do here, again?

Good post, but JR gets blame too for enabling MS, and the terrible Kahun trade.

Malkin was the pens best player during the season and they were killing it as a team with the Guentzel-Malkin-Rust line. Genius coach decided to ignore that though.

 

[Clare2904]

I need doggie/cats photos STAT

 

[JTG]

Lafreniere + Poulin + POJ = Profit!

 

[Jayan]

I waited 5 months for hockey and this is what I got.

Ranger fan here. Atleast ya’ll won a game.

 

[Hacketts]

15th.

9th