Penguins: Injuries, Powerplay Failures Are Major Factors in Recent Slide

At first glance, the Pittsburgh Penguins' record after 30 games should be seen as a positive thing. Their 16-10-4, 36 point season is good enough for sixth in the Eastern Conference, and is ahead of the pace set in last year's first 30 (15-13-2, 33 points).

However, after a playoff run, in which the team came within two wins of a Stanley Cup, the off season dealt them a bigger body check than any that the Detroit Red Wings could dish out in the finals last June.

Free agency claimed the likes of RW Marian Hossa and backup Goaltender Ty Conklin (Detroit); LW Ryan Malone, C Adam Hall, and LW Gary Roberts (Tampa Bay); RW and enforcer Georges Laraque (Montreal), and the team has been hard-pressed to replace much of what they lost.

True, in losing all of the above mentioned talent the Pens were able to secure most of their young, core talent for years to come. C Evgeni Malkin, G Marc-Andre Fleury, D Brooks Orpik all avoided various stages of free agency to re-sign with Pittsburgh.

C Jordan Staal, a restricted free agent at season's end, was the only one of the Penguins' youngsters not to come to terms on a long term deal. However, rumblings in town are that both sides might be talking a shorter term extension in an attempt to avoid Staal hitting the open market this summer. 

In my opinion, many of the team's losses in free agency were not addressed adequately last summer. RW Miroslav Satan was brought in to pick up the pieces for the loss of Hossa, and after leading the squad in goals for the early weeks of the season, he has fallen back into his career pattern of inconsistency.

Ruslan Fedotenko, who was penciled in to take up the slack left by the departure of Malone, hasn't been able to find comfort on one of the team's top two lines yet. Only RW Eric Godard, who was brought in to replace tough-guy Laraque, has been some sort an upgrade from what they lost, only because Godard seems willing to battle just about everyone, while Laraque would only consent to tangle with the other team's enforcer.

These have not been the only reasons for the Penguins' recent struggles. G Marc-Andre Fleury has missed the last 12 games with an undisclosed "lower body injury."  While, backup Dany Sabourin's weaknesses are exposed on a nightly basis the more he plays.

Rookie G John Curry, who was summoned by GM Ray Shero from the Wilkes Barre/Scranton AHL affiliate to back up Sabourin when Fleury went down, performed quite well in his limited time in the NHL, even deserving a longer look in the bigs in my estimation.

All-purpose D, and powerplay quarterback, Sergei Gonchar have been out since the pre-season after his shoulder surgery. D Ryan Whitney, a pretty popular target of fan angst last season for his dip in production from the previous season, had foot surgery late in the summer and is about a week or two away from returning. 

It will be a lot like making a big trade when these two return, and seeing Whitney skate on two legs instead of one should silence critics in short order. 

This brings me to my biggest reason for the Penguins' recent slide. The powerplay has stagnated in the last month or so, dropping to 14th in the league at about 18 percent. There is way too much talent still evident on this team to not do better on the man advantage. 

Just having C's Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the ice together should put enough fear in opposition penalty killers. However, as we've found out in the past few weeks you need more than talent to succeed on the powerplay.

Staal had been expected to take Malone's role of standing in front of the net and getting the "dirty" goals, but he has yet to embrace that role.  And while coach Michel Therrien continues to mix and match, he hasn't been able to concoct a winning combination to improve the powerplay's failures.

All in all, this team just needs to get healthy again, and I believe they will be able to  climb up the standings to Eastern Conference prominence once more.

Will they repeat last year's success? Maybe not, but with a week left before the Christmas break, this isn't the time to panic.