Penguins still lacking clear identity, strengths going into season
There are still a lot of questions about the 2024-25 Pittsburgh Penguins and what they will do well.
If there is one thing that has troubled me about the Pittsburgh Penguins the past couple of years — outside of the lack of playoff appearances and playoff wins — it is the complete lack of an identity for the team on the ice.
What do they do well?
What are they good at?
What is their calling card as a team?
You just .... do not see it.
They are clearly not a Stanley Cup contender at this point, nor are they going through an obvious rebuild. There are signs they are doing a slow rebuild, or perhaps on the fringes of a rebuild, but they are not in that stage entirely. They are not an overly young team and have not totally punted on the short-term. There is still an emphasis on trying to be some what competitive.
But even with that, it is hard to see how they plan on trying to actually win games.
They are not a fast team. They are not a great offensive team. They are not a great defensive team. They are not an overly physical or powerful team. They are not great on special teams. They do not have great goaltending. They just do not have anything that is easily identifiable or truly outstanding about them.
In the mid-2000s in the early stages of the Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang era, they were a young, dynamic offensive team with an incredible power play that would be borderline unstoppable at times. They won games with offense and playing an overly exciting brand of hockey with young stars that were on the rise.
In the mid 2010s when they were winning Stanley Cups in 2015-16 and 2016-17, their identity was speed and outskating everybody. They had fast players, they played fast, and their entire plan was to just wear you down and play a pace that you could not keep up with. There was nobody in the NHL that could match them.
Over time, and for a variety of reasons, that identity started to drift away. They got older, former general managers had different visions for the type of players they wanted, and bad roster moves were made.
It is to the point now where the team is not only not winning, it is also not really exciting and does not have anything unique about it.
Sure, they still have a quartet of future Hall of Famers in Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Erik Karlsson, but they are all at a stage of their career where outside of Crosby they might not be total game-changers anymore. They are still very good. They are still very productive. But they are not what they once were earlier in their careers.
We already know what the team’s weaknesses and question marks are — and they are many — going into the season. But what exactly do they do well?
Statistically speaking they are still a very solid 5-on-5 team, outscoring their opponents by a 179-172 margin a year ago with a 51.2 expected goals share. Those are decent numbers that could be playoff caliber. But they are still closer to middle of the pack than top-tier. They also go about producing those numbers in a very bland way.
Even the things they do well or the areas where they have a chance to be good come with question marks or flaws.
Their center depth — a consistent calling card over the past 20 years — is still a clear strength with Crosby, Malkin and a lot of the players they have acquired over the past couple of years being capable bottom-six options in the middle. But there is still a steep drop after Crosby and Malkin in the top-six.
The power play has a CHANCE to be good on paper given the talent they have, but it has been so bad and inconsistent the past two seasons that you can not count on it until they do something to change the narrative around that unit.
It is one thing to be bad or average if you are in a clear rebuilding mode and building toward something in the future. If you are waiting on players to arrive or develop, or giving young players a chance to grown and learn in the NHL. The Penguins do not really have that on a widespread level.
It is okay to be an old team if you are still good and playing at a high level. The Penguins are not really that, either.
In a vacuum I do not even hate most of the individual moves that have been made, and can see an argument for most of them on why they could work. I get the Kevin Hayes trade and the thought process behind it. I am fine with the cheap, one-year, low-risk free agent signings on reclamation projects. But when you put everything together it is just seems like a haphazardly built team that does not have a clear path at the moment.
I am not even saying I expect it to be a bad team, because there is a chance if some things go right they could still make the playoffs this season. If Crosby and Malkin play a full season again, they will have a chance. If the power play clicks and figures it out, that could become their calling card. There is always a chance, however unlikely at this point, that Tristan Jarry actually puts together a full, productive season. Maybe some of the young players they do have will emerge and bring some excitement to the roster. Any of that is possible.
Even so, those are still question marks and uncertainties. They still have to actually happen. There is no guarantee they will. There is still a lot about this team we do not know and have to figure out. We will not get those answers until they start playing real games and develop their own identity as a team.