Last year around this time I wrote about how excited I was for next season. I said we needed to add defense, and we did. I said we needed to add scoring wingers, and we did. I said we needed to get rid of our players that don't play with any heart, and we did. So we had the perfect roster, in theory. So what happened this season that we did not even reach the second round? Well yes injuries were a pretty obvious reason. When your playing without two of the top ten players in the world your team is obviously not going to be as good. I would like to see Washington play without Ovechkin and Backstrom or Tampa Bay play without St. Louis and Stamkos. However, I refuse to blame injuries or use that as an excuse. Lets not forget that the Penguins were ahead 3 games to 1 in the series.
The undoubted problem come playoff time was coaching. Yes the almighty Dan Bylsma is definitely where the blame falls for the team falling apart. I think he will, and should, win the Jack Adams award this year. However, in the playoffs he sucker punched his own team. His misuse of talent was astonishing. It became obvious to me that he didn't know what type of players each of his guys were. He apparently thought that Alex Kovalev was a playmaker, a guy that you run your offense through and sets up other players. That is not Kovalev's game. He is a sniping wing with great hands. 90% of his passes are blind no-look passes. This team didn't have a playmaker. Don't try and make your 38 year old winger into something he has never been. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. In game seven's third period he benched Kovalev. Kovalev has 100 career playoff points and is the only guy with goal scoring touch and you bench him. Disco is nothing if not stubborn. He continued to force feed rookies and grinders undeserved ice time. Chris Conner has done nothing in this series, outside of scoring a meaningless garbage goal. Yet he continued to get loads of playing time and stayed in the lineup over the much better Eric Tangradi. Ben Lovejoy got outworked repeatedly in every game and was responsible for an uncountable number of Lightning goals. Again Bylsma kept him in the lineup over the much needed toughness that Deryk Engelland would have provided. The most blatant problem with this team was the power play. Going 1 for 36 in the first round of the playoffs, usually not even creating a scoring chance, is simply embarrassing. The problem was not a personnel issue, it was a system and coaching shortcoming. The Detroit Red Wings could put their five worst players on the ice and their power play could still score over 20% of the time. The power play is incredibly inpatient. The system itself eliminates three players from scoring areas. Only Letang and whoever you set up on the half wall are in a position to shoot. I could write a book on the problems with this teams power play. I am obviously not saying Bylsma needs to go, I am saying Shero needs to get in his ear and remind him what each players role is.
I am very interested in what Ray Shero is going to do this off-season. All of the key players are under contract through next season. So there is not much cap room. There is also not much need to sign anyone. The only thing I would like to see is the Penguins sign is right handed wing that can play the power play. All of the teams best forwards, outside of Tyler Kennedy, are lefties. Other than that I do not expect the Penguins to sign anyone. The really interesting thing is going to be who the Penguins keep and let go. Dupuis, Adams, Rupp, and Kovalev are all unrestricted free agents. I only see the Penguins keeping two of those guys. I would guess they are going to resign Adams and Rupp. They are great locker room guys and good role players. The player that is least likely to be kept, but I would most like to see return, is Alex Kovalev. As I said earlier Kovalev is not a playmaker, but Crosby is. Kovalev never got to play with Crosby this year. That pair could have been magical. Kovalev could easily be resigned for less than a million dollars next year. Letting him walk away could be a mistake.
As far as next season goes I am very excited. It will be a fun team to watch. All of these young players like Jeffrey, Letestu, and Tangradi have a year more experience under their belt. Crosby and Malkin should be back at 100% and ready to remind everyone how great this team is. I cannot wait till October.
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