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Pittsburgh Penguins: 5 Reasons the Pens Will Not Win the Stanley Cup in 2016

By Mike Necciai |
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Apr 5, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers center

Ryan White

(25) celebrates after a goal by Philadelphia Flyers center

Brayden Schenn

(not pictured) against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

As you may remember, we recently visited five reasons the Pittsburgh Penguins will win the Stanley Cup in 2016. As I said, that was the first piece of a two-part series, and now it’s time to play devil’s advocate.

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Pittsburgh Penguins fans recently had the privilege of watching Jonathan Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks hoist the Stanley Cup for the third time in six seasons. Just as the Pensblog stated in their Pens and Erreything else piece, it left many fans wondering what could have been.

My question is, will the new Pittsburgh Penguins Management Staff make the same mistakes as the old regime?

This article isn’t a definitive “there’s no chance that the Pens win the cup” by any means. It’s simply meant to point out reasons that they can once again miss out on the prize while employing a few of the best players in the world.

Let’s get started.

Feb 6, 2015; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins center

Maxim Lapierre

(40) skates during the warmup period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. Pittsburgh Penguins won 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

5. Same Ol’, Same Ol’

One thing that has plagued the Pittsburgh Penguins and so many others in the NHL is tunnel vision. The inability to accept new things has been the downfall of so many organizations. There’s a reason the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks have dominated the past six years.

First, it’s no coincidence that those teams regularly sit at the top of the ranks in possession stats. Let’s face it, analytics have a place in hockey and help more than hurt. I’m not saying that the Blackhawks or Kings have the best analytics staffs, or any at all, but someone is paying attention to the underlying numbers for those organizations.

Second, the playoffs are a tighter version of the regular season in hockey, that is very true. But, it’s not always about mucking and grinding, despite what the old school hockey folks say. Toughness, grit, and tenacity without skill will get you nowhere these days. Show me which team in the Stanley Cup Final that just concluded based their team around tough guys or agitators.

Grit and toughness are great, as long as they’re accompanied by skill and production.

Let’s hope that Jim Rutherford and the Pittsburgh Penguins buy-in and seek out players that won’t become defensive liabilities or fourth line talent forced to play top-six minutes.

Oct 23, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Johnston (left) during the game against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

4. Coaching

Sound familiar? If you read through my five reasons that the Pittsburgh Penguins will win the cup, you’ll know that I included coaching in that list too. I cited the fact that we haven’t seen anywhere near what Mike Johnston has to offer, and he could do great things with a healthy lineup.

But, what about the rest of the coaching staff? I like Rick Tocchet, and I haven’t given up on him yet, but his areas of expertise last season were the power play and Steve Downie. Downie was fairly productive but took penalties at some of the worst possible times imaginable, and the power play was absolutely awful for a little over half the season.

The power play is also something that was impacted by injury, but when you have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, David Perron, Patric Hornqvist, and Kris Letang at your disposal you simply have to score. Was he the sole reason for their struggles? No. But the location and role of the aforementioned stars saw little change throughout the season as that unit continued to struggle.

Why isn’t Malkin your trigger man? Why is Sid plastered to the side boards when he’s clearly more effective below the goal line? Why did everyone on that unit look like they were cemented in place?

If that unit doesn’t find it’s way next season, the Pittsburgh Penguins will not be successful. The coaches need to figure it out.

Oct 23, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman

Rob Scuderi

(4) skates with the puck against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

3. Management and Front Office Personnel

While Management clearly falls under the first slide, this is a different topic altogether.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were built for success entering the 2014 season. They came out flying and looked like a well-oiled machine that was hitting on all cylinders. But, then injuries struck and it was all downhill from there.

The injuries that the Pens suffered were detrimental to this lineup. I’ve said it many times before and will continue to do so, the 2014-15 Pittsburgh Penguins weren’t going anywhere without Pascal Dupuis, Olli Maatta, Kris Letang, and Christian Ehrhoff in the lineup. However, that doesn’t excuse the staff responsible for making personnel decision from constant mistakes and mishaps.

I’m not a member of the Jim Rutherford hate club by any means. But, he and his staff made a bad situation worse with multiple decisions such as trading Simon Despres, failing to place Ehrhoff on LTIR days before the final ten games of the regular season, and once again sacrificing the future (two draft picks over the next two seasons) for a short-term defensive forward in Daniel Winnik.

The mistakes that occurred last season weren’t on one person. It was a collective effort that widened the hole for this team to fall through instead of offering a ladder for them to climb out. Whether you’re a healthy team or not, those types of decisions will still hold you back.

Jan 2, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie

Thomas Greiss

(1) makes a stick save against Tampa Bay Lightning center

Steven Stamkos

(91) during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

2. Too Much Talent in the Eastern Conference

Let’s face it, the teams around the Pittsburgh Penguins have improved much more over the last few years than the Pens themselves.

There are teams on the rise such as the New York Islanders, Columbus Blue Jackets, and of course the Tampa Bay Lightning who just recently lost in the Stanley Cup Final. They’ll return next season with essentially the same lineup. Also, though the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers may have peaked this season considering their cap situations and departures, the Pens haven’t exactly faired well against either of them.

The Pens finished 6-9-3 against their Metropolitan Division rivals in 2014-15. With the new playoff format, they’ll have to get through one of those teams in the first round. They allowed 58 goals-against in those 18 games, while scoring 44 of their own. They had a strong season against the Western Conference, but numbers like that within your own division are frightening.

It’s simple, if you can’t win within your division and conference, you’re going to stall out quickly in the post-season.

Mar 28, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (58) is is attended to by Pens trainer Chis Stewart (R) after suffered an apparent injury against the Arizona Coyotes during the second period at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

1. Injuries

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the unluckiest team on earth when it comes to injuries, and I’m 100% confident in saying that. Can you find another professional sports franchise that had to deal with two blood clots, cancer, prolonged concussion symptoms, and a measles outbreak?

A lot of folks have cited Dan Bylsma‘s regular season success when dealing with injuries and criticized Mike Johnston for his lack-there-of. But, regular season success is exactly what it was, and nothing more. The Pens still failed to impress in the post-season when missing key players.

Exactly how bad has it been for the Pittsburgh Penguins on the injury front?

To simplify things, you want to be in the lower left corner of that graph. Pittsburgh occupies the worst spot of all NHL teams from 2009 to 2015.

It’s hard to place blame for the odd string of injuries that the Pens have faced. Can you blame the training staff? Maybe the team doctors? I don’t believe so. But I do know that if this trend continues, it will be another early offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins and their fans, despite everyone’s best efforts.

Next: Shero's Defensive Drafts Could Benefit the Pens' Future Plans

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