Evgeni Malkin will be a Penguin until he turns 35. With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin signed to long-term contracts, the Pittsburgh Penguins will always be able to contend for the Stanley Cup.
Except the Penguins will always be a “pretender” among the finalists until the organization realizes star power alone is insufficient to win the Stanley Cup.
A Trip Back in Time
To realize how deeply the pervasive, insidious “stars can do it all” mentality pervades the Pittsburgh Penguins, let’s take a trip back in time to when Jaromir Jagr was undisputedly the NHL’s best position player (while a goalie named Hasek was racking up MVP awards for ridiculous goaltending). Jaromir Jagr was the best player in the NHL. Jaromir Jagr could dominate games by himself (and occasionally could win an elimination playoff game against a #1 seed on one good leg).
In his late twenties, Jaromir Jagr insisted his best linemates were center Jan Hrdina and left winger Kip Miller. Jagr was comfortable with Miller and Hrdina. They meshed with his style. Jagr won the Art Ross Trophy--and he racked up points when no one else in the NHL could score while playing with Kip Miller and Jan Hrdina.
Miller and Hrdina were legitimate NHL players, but not first-line players on a championship team. But Penguins would always have hope for a championship with a player like Jagr on their squad, and Jagr, the game's best player, would get his Pittsburgh teams to the playoffs.
But with “Miller and Hrdina” as Jagr’s help, Jagr’s team--not the Jagr who was a better player at 28 than he was at 19--was never good enough to win another Cup.
Meanwhile, Back in 2013
In 2013, the Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup Finals. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are supposed to be, for the Blackhaws, what Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Except, well.
Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have not been consistently good this playoff season. The Blackhawks are up 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals, so some inconvenient facts are routinely dismissed when talking about how the Pittsburgh stars failed versus the Bruins (as compared to Chicago’s).
The Nexus Of Pittsburgh's Playoff Issues: Were Elite Players Positioned to Succeed?
In 2013, Crosby, Malkin and Letang vs. Boston. 0 points.
Dan Bylsma, coaching stars he trusts, stars who produced on a power play that dominated through two round of the playoffs: “We had chances.” Ray Shero: “I don’t think anyone would have expected our team to be shut down offensively.”
A look back at Pittsburgh history, though, tells us that Miller-Hrdina-Jagr worked fine if the goal was for Jaromir Jagr to amass regular season scoring titles. A look back at the entire postseason (not merely the Boston series) clues a rational observer into the reality that Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis performed the same way as Miller-Hrdina-Jagr did come the crucible that is the NHL postseason. A line that was dominant in the regular season when the best player in the world is way better than everyone else on the ice was not effective enough come the postseason. Rationality tells us that Pascal Dupuis is a wonderful human being, terrific person, and incredibly talented player, but he’s not a first line winger on a championship team. (If you want a clue about a first line winger on a Cup champion, take a look at Marian Hossa of the Blackhawks, painful as that may be for Pittsburgh fans.)
Rationality states other, uncomfortable facts: Pittsburgh’s All-Stars (and Tomas Vokoun and Paul Martin, to be fair) got them through the first two round of the playoffs (Malkin and Letang’s occasional giveaways typically covered over by man-advantage dominance). Look at the statistics. Pittsburgh’s power play (on which Crosby, Malkin, and Letang starred through two rounds) and highly effective penalty kill (though it’s surely easy to forget that Letang killed penalties really well given that we easily remember the bad and forget the good) got them past the Islanders and Senators.
But there were signs. No 5-on-5 dominance at even-strength. A Norris Trophy nominee with no consistent even-strength pairing that worked for more than a game or two.
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis was never dominant at even-strength in the playoffs.
An effective “left” winger was never found for Evgeni Malkin and James Neal (and no, Jarome Iginla is not a left winger).
Though Zdeno Chara plays best with Seidenberg (and didn’t play nearly as well against the Toronto Maple Leafs when paired with bottom-pairing defensemen) and Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are at their best as a tandem and Drew Doughty plays best with a steady partner like Rob Scuderi and Ryan Suter only found his game once he got paired with Jonas Brodin, the Penguins entered the postseason expecting their top-minutes eater on defense to play with one of Simon Despres, Mark Eaton, or Matt Niskanen (all players who would be fifth o rsixth defensemen, at best, on other conference finalists). (Side note: The issue of how much Pittsburgh should/should not pay Letang on a future contact is not for this post; the point here that Pittsburgh entered the postseason at a disadvantage compared to other teams who put their top defenseman in a better position to succeed.)
Sure, Pittsburgh’s stars should have “willed” their way to a point or two versus the Bruins. And the lack of support for the All-Stars doesn’t excuse the nightmare that was Game 2.
But mental mistakes? But an inability to find time and space?
Is it fair to ask if Beau Bennett could have created more space for Crosby? Is it fair to ask if Pascal Dupuis would have been able to ignite a third line rather than stay on a first line that was producing very little at even-strength? Is it fair to admit that pairing an undersized bottom-pairing defenseman with an undersized Norris Trophy nominee isn’t the way to get the best out of either player when it comes to postseason match-ups against elite, large power forwards and isn’t putting either player in the best position to succeed (and you surely didn’t see the best out of Kris Letang or Matt Nisaknen during the 2013 postseason, did you)?
The Condition for Future Championships
Jaromir Jagr really did say it best. Of course, Jaromir Jagr in his twenties simply said, “Kippy and Jan and I have to get it going.” And that, of course, is the attitude of young stars who don’t know any better. Who think, because they’re so talented, they should just “will” a win--because, let’s be blunt, they can so often do just that on their own during the regular season and even against “really good” teams on occasion.
But the Penguins’ coaching staff and management should know better, and to learn better, they only need to look to the Blackhawks.
Toews and Kane were nowhere near as good through two rounds as Pittsburgh's stars. They simply didn’t have to be.
But Chicago’s in the Stanley Cup Finals, and Pittsburgh’s not.
Because Chicago had coverage for their stars when they got shut down. And because Chicago--aggressively--puts their stars in the best position possible to succeed by adjusting lines and reuniting a struggling defenseman with a defensive partner who brought out the best in him.
You want another championship in Pittsburgh with Crosby and Malkin at the helm?
The Penguins won’t win another Stanley Cup until Ray Shero and Dan Bylsma acknowledge that coverage--in the form of both personnel and personnel deployment-- for star players is a prerequisite condition for any future championships.
That means someone has to tell a young Sidney Crosby what no one dared to tell a young Jaromir Jagr. “You need more help on your line to win another Cup.”
Does anyone in Pittsburgh actually know, believe, or realize what it took Jaromir Jagr a career to learn?
Because, if not, the Penguins must learn to be happy with entertainment, sellouts, and Art Ross trophies. Because even the most elite players in the world win their Cups with appropriate support and fail to win it all without support.
Don’t forget that, either, should someone tell you how great Toews and Kane are after the 2013 Cup Finals end. Toews and Kane are great players--but to win it all, they’ll have had even greater support.
How about the Penguins make it an offseason priority to figure out what support their elite players need when matched up against other elite teams? How about the Penguins make their offseason priority finding the complementary personnel that will put their elite players in the best position possible to succeed, rather than saying, “They’re elite; they’ll be able to do it on their own!”?
How about the Penguins realize that no elite player or two or three--on their own--will ever be sufficient to win a championship? And how about their general manager acts in accordance with that truth this offseason, and how about their coach acts in accordance with that truth come next season when it comes line-ups and defensive pairings? And how about we stop hearing about how the Pens always have a chance to win because they had Sid and Geno and start talking about the Penguins as a team--not just stars--that truly covers each teammate well enough to have a shot at winning it all?
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