Yep. I'm pretty sure Sid is in a similar boat. Serious question: Who were the last guys who did things to help Sid and Geno get to THEIR games?
Neal and 2014 Kunitz help them accrue more regular season points, but by my estimate Talbot when he morphed into Malone 2.0 and Kunitz before he became a perimeter player was the last time. That was 2009.
For Malkin? I'd say Kunitz in 2012 was at times, mostly when he found his legs and decided to be the ferocious forechecker he can be. However, even in his worst night back then, he created more space for Malkin and Neal that Jokinen ever did. (well his playing style is simply a better complement for those other two than Jokinen's)
Malkin needs 2 talented guys that read him, interact well with him and at least one that will able to dig pucks along with him for the line. (Jokinen is the former, not the latter, Neal is not good enough at the latter and well, it wouldn't make much sense to expect him to be that kind of guy for the line anyway)
The fact that one of them is a great goal scorer may not matter as much as one could think but is a nice bonus.
As long as he has that kind of wingers, I'm positive his line will generate numerous scoring chances, at the very least, Malkin will have everything at disposition to succeed and the line's production will rest on his shoulders.
I deliberately left Crosby out of the discussion since his issues are much harder to correct, like Malkin, some of the blame going to Shero,(how many years since Hossa?), some to Bylsma (matchups, linemates, ice time distribution, not the most appropriate system..), some to his linemates (Kunitz too good to play a hard game anymore?
, Dupuis injured) but I have also a hard time denying that Crosby isn't part of the problem himself.
Crosby has changed his game quite a bit since he entered the league, nothing wrong with that, top players have to evolve, refine their game as they gain in experience and get older.(looking for durability plays a huge part as well) We've all seen what happened to player that wouldn't, couldn't evolve (Ovechkin).
And until the concussion, I'd say he had done a good job at it.
But since then, he is becoming more and more a perimeter player, how many times a game do we see him driving the net anymore or even attacking opposing Dmen? Either he can't or don't want to. To make matter worse he isn't keeping the opposition honest, refusal to shoot and always looking to pass to Kunitz (and a lot of forced passes to him) or back to the blueline.
At this point, the book on Crosby has not only become quite clear, but worst of all, quite achievable :
-keep him to the outside (in addition to Crosby's own willingness, it also seems much easier to do nowadays, probably due to past injuries or general fatigue coming from a long season for him),
-deny him his passing options, mainly to Kunitz.
Then there's the right winger problem : he won't work with, he won't trust anyone else than a Dupuis clone. Lastest example of that is a talented winger like Bennett, who should change his game and play Dupuis-like to accommodate both his linemates.
The ironic part is that they are acting as if the Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis line was the greatest thing on earth for anyone involved and couldn't be shut down, but it has been before and will be in the future.
Of course, the issues with Crosby and his line haven't just arised with the start of the playoffs. It may have been a great reg season for him from a statistical standpoint, but I think it was one of his worst if you look closely at his individual performances and the line's ability to generate scoring chances game in, game out, even more so since Dupuis went down.
Hopefully we'll see some major changes this summer, going as far as our GM and hopefully, Sid and Kunitz will re-think their game and not just wait for Dupuis to come back.