Why are the Penguins struggling?

Less than a year after the Pittsburgh Penguins made an almost unprecedented run from worst to close to first in the Atlantic Division of the National Hockey League. The Pens are back where they were, last place. Their 8-10-2 record is tied for 3rd worst in the Eastern Conference and 6th worst in the NHL. The problem that I see, is obvious. The play of veterans Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts and Darryl Sydor has been horrendous. Recchi has only 2 goals after 20 games into the season, a year after he scored 24 goals. Roberts isn't much better, last season he had 20 goals, 22 assits for a total of 42 points in 69 games.

This season Mr. Roberts only has 1 goal and 6 assists in 19 games. Some of this may have to do with his being ill at the beginning of the season and never playing 100% until recently. Darryl Sydors defense has been suspect to say the least, he currently holds the second worst +/- rating on the team, at -7, only player worse, Jordan Staal with a -8. Jordan Staal is experiencing the sophmore slump, after a 29 goal season, Staal has 1 goal and 1 assist in 20 games.

Coach Therrien has been under a lot of heat from fans and reporters, myself included. Every game it seems like there is new line combinations which is very difficult for a player to become acustomed to. Therrien has consistently benched fan favorite Colby Armstrong, while playing underachievers Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts almost every day.

I would argue that the biggest problem facing the Penguins is their defense. The Pens do not have any shut down defensmen outside of..are you ready for this..Rob Scuderi. Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney both get the headlines because they put the puck in the net, but one on one Gonchar gets beat consistently, which is the reason that Gonchar has the second most penalty minutes on the team, with 26 PIM. The Pens tried to address this problem by the recent promotion of Kristopher Letang from the AHL affiliate. I would argue that they may have promoted the wrong guy if they're looking for solid D. Letang is, and always has been a scorer, he is working on his defense everyday but it's a long process to learn the right angles, especially at high competition.

The two bright lights for the Penguins have been defending leage MVP Sidney Crosby and defending Calder Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin. Sid the Kid is tied for second in the NHL in scoring, while Geno is not far behind in seventh. Many people feel that the Penguins needed a scoring winger (and perhaps still do), to those people I want to introduce to you, Petr Sykora who is currently fourth on the team in scoring with 15 points. Imagine if Recchi, Roberts, and Staal were producing like they did last year with that scoring winger that the Pens now have, I feel that the Penguins would be 1st in the Atlantic.

Many people look to goaltending when they try to asses why the Pens are having a problem winning, I would agree but not for the same reasons. Marc-Andre Fleury, while started off playing poorly has only played in 14 games this season, and has one shut out. Sure he has played in 70% of the games, but a few of them he has come on in relief after Dany Sabourin has got the start. Your starting goaltender should not be starting less than 70% of the time unless he is injured, especially when that goalie is your "goalie of the future". It seems that Therrian has some trust in Sabourin that I cannot see why. Sure Sabourin has had a couple good games, but he also consistently lets in weak goals.

I firmly think that the Penguins need to settle on a goaltender and set lines for their offense if they want to go on another 16 game win streak as they did last season after having a similar start. If they do this, I think the Pens have a great chance at making a run at the Stanley Cup.