Gurglesons
Registered User
I wouldn’t say that either. The Pens during Lemieuxs era were dysfunctional and top heavy for a majority of his years there. Lemieux didn’t play for the ‘95 season and only played 22 games in ‘94. Those are 2 prime years where he wasn’t able to contribute much. Very similar to Crosby from ‘2011-13, all those injuries definitely hurt the Pens playoff chances, would you say.
You can argue Crosby being more successful but that’s more or less because he had a much better ran team than Lemieux did. Lemieux never had.
I don’t remember the mid 80s. But from 90-97 the Penguins basically had an open checkbook. The “much better ran team” means nothing when the GM spent the majority of our cap on defensemen like Brooks Orpik and Michalek leaving Crosby and Malkin to play with the Jussi Jokinen, Steve Sullivan, and Lee Stempniaks of the world.
Kind of similar to the Pens organization and coaching when Jagr was at his best with no Lemieux....
Using your logic, it was actually Crosby’s lack of leadership. You know, the Pens “X-Factor” to their playoff success and the main reason why he’s a better Pen than Jagr. Unless you think he magically gained better leadership abilities in 2016.
Weird how when the Pens weren’t winning, it’s management, but when the Pens started winning, it was Crosby’s Leadership that tipped the scales in their favor.
Weird how the 98-01 Pens were shaped around Jagr’s wishes to get him to stay here and he still asked for a trade out multiple times.
Jagr was never the # 1 guy on a team that made a conference final. Sid has been the # 1 guy on every cup final they’ve been to in his era.