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The 2024-2025 Pittsburgh Penguins Season Thread (Thread #100)

Ed H in Pasadena

Ed H in Pasadena

Well-known member
A place for me to post my thoughts on our season. And anyone else who wants to can comment. Really. 😁

Open the season with the Rags. I have zero expectations for this largely still aging group. Makes for a weird feeling, one I've not felt since Sid's first season. And even then, there was the hope that they'd gel in the years to follow. Which they did, to say the least.
In fact, probably more accurate to say the worst feeling for an upcoming season since 03-04, the season before the Malkin/Ovechkin draft.
 
3-4 to start the season. Lose, win, lose, win, OT win followed by two blow out losses. Tristan Jarry has looked awful, the kid Joel Blomqvist has looked okay. Decent scoring at times but poor on defense.
In other words, it's gone exactly as I'd thought.
 
Hard to come in here and chat up the Pens when they are so bad. If there were others to commiserate with over their demise, yes, but there isn't.
In any case, back-to-back games are coming up with vs Winnipeg (sure loss) and Utah Hockey Club (what a stupid name). Maybe someone, somewhere will step up, grab this team by the scruff of the neck and carry them forward ... but not likely. Yet somehow, Sid remains optimistic. Not sure what it's based on though, TBH

www.yardbarker.com

What’s Crosby’s Mindset as Penguins Struggle? Might Surprise You

If you have been wondering whether the Pittsburgh Penguins’ rough start to the season has team captain Sidney Crosby ruminating over things even when he’s away from the rink, you would be right.
www.yardbarker.com www.yardbarker.com
 
If it was up to me, though, I'd blow it all up right now, as quickly as possible. Everyone on the trade block, Sid included. He deserves better than this absolute **ithole of a team. Get what pieces we can, draft wisely and see what emerges in, oh, 4-5 years. 😭
 
Winnipeg 4, Pittsburgh 1
Utah Hockey Club 6, Pittsburgh 1

Team has quit on Mike Sullivan. Sh**canning him won't do anything, but it's all but inevitable now.

pittsburghhockeynow.com

Penguins Stink Again in Embarrassing Loss to Utah

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins (7-12-4) quit long before the game was over. The Utah Hockey Club (8-9-3) did not, and it was yet another embarrassing, lifeless loss on home ice as Utah won 6-1 at PPG Paints Arens Saturday. On the plus side, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby added his name to...
pittsburghhockeynow.com pittsburghhockeynow.com
 
So hard to post about this season. After the last post on the 24th, they won four in a row, then have been 2-3 since. Good to see the trade acquisitions Philip Tomasino and Cody Glass playing pretty well, and the rookie Owen Pickering is a bright spot. But this team still has defensive problems (most goals allowed in the entire league), goaltending problems, and now Marcus Pettersson, arguably our best defender, is out for a while with a "lower body injury" (stupid NHL injury designations).
Currently 6th in the Met and 11th in the conference. 🤦‍♂️ :cry:
 
Been six weeks since my last post. Had a few things going on (holidays, end of one term and start of another, illness, Ohio State's run to the national title and ... the fires!), but mostly, there's no real reason to post this year. No one commenting, and the Pens playing about as poorly as expected. Hard to see Sid, Geno and Kris going down with this shipwreck. But the team missed opportunities to trade these assets to build for the future, so I'm stuck with this team. Headed to their third straight playoff-less season with little hope on the immediate horizon.
Sid passes milestones, is still the best player on the team, and it's nice to see Rickard Rakell playing decent hockey. And at least they cut ties with Tristan Jarry, though just over a year after stupidly extending him. On the other hand, everyone seems to have forgotten how to defend, forwards and defenders alike. Goaltending is still a problem. And no one apart from the first line seems to know how to score. Geno and Kris look awful, and Owen promptly hit a development wall and got sent down.
 
Well, the big deal I was expecting to go down finally went down: defenseman Marcus Pettersson (with Drew O' Connor) were traded to the Vancouver Canucks for Danton Heinen (welcome back), Vincent Desharnais, Melvin Fernstrom's rights and the #1 pick the 'Nucks acquired earlier Friday in the J.T. Miller deal.


Penguins Trade Marcus Pettersson to Vancouver
 
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On November 22nd, I said
Ed H in Pasadena said:
If it was up to me, though, I'd blow it all up right now, as quickly as possible. Everyone on the trade block, Sid included. He deserves better than this absolute **ithole of a team. Get what pieces we can, draft wisely and see what emerges in, oh, 4-5 years. 😭
Click to expand...

We now have four first round picks in the next three years, 15 picks in the first three rounds in that same time period, and 29 overall in that time! Dubas better freaking well hit several homers with all this draft capital.
 
Since the Pettersson deal, the Pens have traded Vincent Desharnais, Michael Bunting with a 4th round pick, and Anthony Beauvillier. In return, they've received a 2nd, a 5th (in 2028), and two players: Luke Schenn and Tommy Novak.
Still to be determined: flipping Schenn for a pick, trading Richard Rakell, and (unlikely) Erik Karlsson. I see them as likely, possible and impossible.
 
Pens just flipped Schenn for a second (in 2026) and fourth (in 2027) from Winnipeg. I'll take that.
 
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Looks like the Pens were done with the Glass deal. Rakell still in Pitt, as is Karlsson.

Missing a chance to talk about the big deals today: Rantanen, Cozens and now Brad Marchand. WOW! :oops:
 
From a Pens' fans, looking back at a miserable 2024-2025.
THE HIGHS
  1. Sid getting to 91 points in 80 games, his 20th consecutive PPG+ season, an NHL record (surpassing the Great Gretzky)
  2. Bryan Rust getting to 30+ goals, his first career season at that number
  3. Rickard Rakell getting to his career high in goals with 35.
  4. And the kids at the end (Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty in his second stint) played like they'll have long, successful NHL careers.
And that's it.

THE LOWS (too many to count really, but)
1. The goaltending was horrific, despite the fact that Jarry was somewhat decent at the end of the season when he played.
2. Geno is a whisp of his former greatness, barely a second line center any longer (though, as some pointed out, he really cut down on his "brain dead" moments in games, which is a small win)
3. Our defense is horrific. No one played well with any consistency, game in and game out. Matt Grzelcyk was the closest (and our top scoring D-man). But I'm calling out the two big names here
3a. Erik Karlsson was a big whiff. Too many liabilities in his game.
3b. Kris Letang can't play any longer. His crash is even more pronounced than Geno's, who at least looked occasionally very good. And with MORE health issues (now his heart :oops:), he should just hang them up.
4. Since our second Cup win, we've struggled to put together a decent bottom six, and this year it was glaringly obvious. The top three scoring guys were Philip Tomasino, Kevin Hayes and Tommy Novak: 24, 23 and 22 points, respectively. Just not good enough.
5. Far too often, they looked disinterested, and quite often they seemed unsure what they were to do when they were on the ice together.

Middle of the pack in goals scored. Third bottom in goals allowed. Fourth most SOG allowed. Fourth worst goal difference. Just a miserable season, and not sure what the prospects are for the future. Free agency additions better be clever, and the draft has to be spot on for several consecutive years to get us back to Stanley Cup contention. Will Sid make that? Will Geno? Who will be there? Such an uncertain offseason.
 
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