Losing Staal is the biggest single player loss that hurt them, but it's really a symptom of a larger, overlying fault that they always have had since the Cup win that they don't seem to care about their depth whatsoever or seem all that interested in being disciplined. They downgraded from Staal. Over the years they've done stupid trades that seem small, like Goc for Lapierre as the most recent example, but are clear player downgrades and add up. Now it adds up to their lineup after Crosby/Malkin/Hornqvist/Dupuis consisting of useless players like Sill/Adams, tough guy plugs like Lapierre/Farnham, and aging declining players like Kunitz/Scuderi. That's all really stupid and adds up.
The Pens seem to have embraced a "we need to get tougher" mentality when in reality they just need to be a more disciplined team and have higher quality depth as well as fresh blood for the top six winger positions. Instead they hang on to guys like Kunitz and Dupis, bring in guys like Lapierre and Downie all while for no reason whatsoever ignoring the useless guys like Sill/Adams. They also seem to be stupid with coaches considering how long Bylsma was kept on, how Johnston seems to be trending, and how the polar opposite of Bylsma could be used.
That organization's answer to everything seems to be "get tougher" and "exchange spare parts to get tougher" even though it's really just shuffling out deck chairs for less comfy deck chairs.
When judging Couturier's worth and whether we should consider trading him back around that time, I discovered that every Cup winning team going back to the 05 lockout had a high-level two way center, and always one who had recently been a Selke finalist. It was as "mandatory" as a #1 dman and solid goaltending.
So with that knowledge I was really ecstatic to see the Pens lose Staal. I haven't worried about seeing them win another Cup since. I won't worry about it again until they get someone else like that.
Wondering if you would have considered Kesler as that player, had that happened.
