I had some hope yesterday that the organization was finally going in the right direction. Getting a fourth-rounder for Ruhwedel (I don't care what year) is highway robbery. The Guentzel deal hurt because of the player we lost, and I can't stand Michael f*&îing Bunting, but the overall package is acceptable under those circumstances. And then we were trading a goaltender, so I was getting my hopes up even more...
then I find out the goaltender traded was Hellberg for peanuts, Nedeljkovic was not traded AND the team kept Reilly Smith and Lars Eller.
At this point, this team is no longer a team. It is a corporation. There are way too many factors at play, way too many people making the decisions and way too many goals. This is sports. Sports is about winning. There should be only one goal. If you cannot win now, then you do whatever the hell is necessary to win in the near future.
I honestly don't know who calls the shots. We know it is not Sid (that has been out there for years) because he seems completely disconnected and disillusioned with the Guentzel situation. All we can go by with regards to Dubas is what he states. He stated that the team needed to get younger. So, the Penguins' idea of getting younger is dumping the No. 6 D, not replacing him, and trading a 29-year-old star for a middling 28-year-old LW.
It almost feels like somebody got to Dubas after the Ruhwedel deal was announced. You almost get the feeling that Sullivan told Dubas, "OK, you got your previous draft pick and now I am out a key defenseman. NO MORE TRADES!" It might have even been Sid, we don't know.
The be-careful-what-you-wish-for portion of this post states that Crosby and Sullivan are joined and unified. If Sullivan is still the coach, it may have to do with BOTH those above Dubas and the core players wanting him as the head coach. So, if we get rid of the coach, that could be the tipping point as far as Crosby wanting out is concerned.
They may want to remain a classy organization, but they have also become a completely dysfunctional franchise. And until that changes, I don't even know if Dubas can be evaluated properly. I mean, whether it is him or the people he hires to help him, his moves so far have been far better than the team's results imo. We clearly have holes. We are not very good. But on paper, we should be a bit better than we are. Coaching is a massive issue. But the constant lack of self awareness and organizational evaluation is killing this team. It has been for years now.
I will continue to believe that if given the opportunity (to get younger and retool on the fly), Dubas might be able to give the four core pieces a few more opportunities to challenge for the Cup. The optimist would say that Smith and Eller will only be around until next year's trade deadline at the latest, and we already have their replacements lined up (Koivunen for Smith; Ponomarev for Eller), we might be able to convince Guentzel to return and guys like Puustinen, Joseph, Ludvig and Bemstrom might continue to grow down the stretch.
But the pessimist in all of us knows better. We did not create any room for any youth to claim a spot in the lineup (aside from Ludvig). And as long as this coaching staff is behind the bench, they will always prefer more experienced "system" players over younger players with more upside. And that will not change.
Right now, I see the worst possible scenario for this franchise: we are spinning our wheels. Had they traded Smith, Eller and maybe one more player, you could see the plan (at least I could). Get younger, surround the four core pieces with youth, fresh legs, enthusiasm and potential. You hope you can hit a home run with one of these young pieces, whether it be Yager, Koivunen, Lucius, et al and you also hope we can use the available cap space to fill in the holes.
By not trading Smith and Eller, it makes the decision to trade Guentzel all the more foolish. If you are not getting younger, then why get worse? Hell, getting OLDER at this point would have made more sense than just rearranging deck chairs.
But I still maintain that somebody got to Dubas yesterday. They still believe they can somehow make the playoffs, and maybe they can. But not with this group, so what are we doing? Smith and Eller should have been traded for whatever you can get.
Let's see what happens this summer, but I am expecting the worst now. I am a NY Jets fan, I can do that.
