The Boston Bruins fired their coach, Jim Montgomery, and won their first game under the direction of Joe Sacco.
The St. Louis Blues fired their coach, Drew Bannister, and won their first game with the aforementioned Montgomery on the bench.
Are the Pittsburgh Penguins desperate enough for a single win to mercifully fire coach Mike Sullivan, hoping that trend will continue?
OK, likely not.
At least it’s not likely the Penguins make Sullivan walk the plank because of the results elsewhere.
The Penguins most likely would fire Sullivan simply because that is about the only meaningful arrow in the quiver held by general manager Kyle Dubas. The time is at hand for drastic measures in the Steel City.
Even so, drastic measures will not change the destination the Penguins are hurtling toward.
The Penguins are headed right where they were at the turn of the century, all the way to the basement. Crazy as it seems, it appears the trip will be full circle for Sidney Crosby, whose arrival became the turning point for the franchise when the 2004 draft lottery went Pittsburgh’s way.
Since that day, the Penguins have enjoyed nearly two decades of prosperity and three Stanley Cups—no small feat in a salary cap league.
But those steak and lobster days are in the past for the Penguins. If there was any need for proof, their last two games showed exactly what this team is about right now.
Last Friday, the Penguins were toyed with by the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-1 loss. The follow-up performance was even more dismal, a 6-1 beatdown at the hands of the Utah Hockey Club, who are below the NHL’s version of .500.
The highlight in that span was Crosby’s 600th career goal. The second most interesting aspect was Crosby fighting Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor, both a testament to his competitiveness and an indictment on the rest of the team for not showing the same gladiator spirit.
Did we mention both of those Penguins losses came on home ice? That makes the picture even uglier.
And unlike the Bruins and Blues, the Penguins look nothing like a team that could contend for a playoff spot. The Bruins, although not the power of the past years, were a team that a shakeup could possibly help, while the Blues are good enough to be a mushy-middle squad but could make some noise with a bunch of luck.
The Penguins, however, have shown little reason to believe their fortunes can change. Offensively, the lack of talent after Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is jarring. The move to acquire Erik Karlsson has not provided near the production and made the Penguins more defensively suspect.
The mess is worse thanks to the below-mediocre defense corps and downright awful goaltending, especially from Tristan Jarry, who is in the second season of a five-year, $26.9 million contract that is already appearing as an anchor on the organization.
As a result, they are a team with the league’s worst goals-against average while in the bottom quarter offensively heading into Wednesday’s home clash with the Vancouver Canucks.
Worse yet, there is little good news on the horizon, even though Pittsburgh has missed the playoffs the past two seasons. The Penguins have one of the league’s worst prospect pools, with only a few hopefuls who look to be more than simply depth players, namely defenseman Owen Pickering and forward Rutger McGroarty. Even so, neither of them are the next Crosby, Letang, Malkin or even Chris Kunitz.
It should surprise nobody if the Penguins are next to make a coaching change. Nor should it surprise anybody that the club will continue to slip and slide down the standings.
