Well it made for some extra fun games near the end. Needed two points against Toronto/Bruins but only got the 1. C'est la vie.
- Aaron_85

We've been spoiled over the years. Cant complain.

It at least gives us a blueprint for Dubas to improve in the offseason. Unfortunately he's handcuffed himself with some bad and unnecessary contracts that will be hard to move.

The final thought I have before I jump out of here for the night is the goaltending.

In 2017, the Penguins arguably had the best organizational goaltending depth in the league. Flash forward to 2024 and goaltending in March/April have now cost us in the last 4 years.

Dubas had limited options last offseason, but he chose to give a big contract that was very undeserved to Jarry. Over the last 3 weeks, our coach has driven our backup into the ground because of how little confidence he had in Jarry. That to me is the biggest mistake of Dubas. He easily could've signed a cheaper tandem of Ned and someone else without committing to either one of them long term and tried to upgrade this offseason or turned to our WBS guy. The only reason Washington made the playoffs was because of their goaltending.
- SuperHenderson13

I thought the tending was pretty solid most of the season. Not great, but solid enough to carry them into the playoffs. I think team D was worse than the collective tending.

The Penguins being 30th in the PP this season is unforgiveable. That's where the season was lost IMO.

Well it made for some extra fun games near the end. Needed two points against Toronto/Bruins but only got the 1. C'est la vie.
- Aaron_85

That was our playoffs. Yes, at least it was a little fun and interesting.

We've been spoiled over the years. Cant complain.

It at least gives us a blueprint for Dubas to improve in the offseason. Unfortunately he's handcuffed himself with some bad and unnecessary contracts that will be hard to move.
- SuperHenderson13

Most teams have contracts like that and it takes time to get out of some of them.

The Penguins being 30th in the PP this season is unforgiveable. That's where the season was lost IMO.
- madmike71

We’ll never know what “analytics” the brain trust looked at or what video they watched to enable them to essentially stick w/ 5v4 play all season. Results (G & W) matter! I dont get it. Even if you make it about personnel / deployment on the PP, it was gross incompetence from coaching staff & ultimately lands on sully’s shoulders.

Btw,,, what was PP clicking at with Bunting?

Team at least has a blueprint for next season. Either Graves is somehow traded, or he’s their 6th dman. Shea, Ludwig, and St Ivany deserve to be on the team. Dubas needs to go shopping for someone to help score goals if he’s serious about another run next year.

I’d put a majority of the blame on Sullivan. Time to go shopping for a coach who’s ready to move onto the future
- drummer829

It would be hard to have Graves on the third pair and keep all 3 of them unless you want to go 8 D. I agree with Graves third pair (because we are stuck with him so hope he's just better) but I don't see any of those guys as a top 4 LD, so realistically the three younger guys will have to fight for 2 spots.... which is a fine spot.

Camp battle, but for me St. Ivany is practically locked in at 3 RD, been impressed by him. I think Shea is more polished but Ludvig has more potential.

Real question is do they give POJ the top four spot, have him 'compete' with Graves, or bring in someone and throw POJ into the battle at the end of the depth chart.

We’ll never know what “analytics” the brain trust looked at or what video they watched to enable them to essentially stick w/ 5v4 play all season. Results (G & W) matter! I dont get it. Even if you make it about personnel / deployment on the PP, it was gross incompetence from coaching staff & ultimately lands on sully’s shoulders.

Btw,,, what was PP clicking at with Bunting?
- out_of_market

Quick math says they were 7 for 54 since he joined which is a touch under 13% and that's actually a bit worse than they were before.

So Dubus got the exact same result as his predecessor & with pretty much the same equipment.
* same coaches
* same core
** different supporting cast of characters however

So if/ when FSG asks for answers (assuming they will care do so) where does he point his finger?

Asking for a friend (looking to get into coaching)

Quick math says they were 7 for 54 since he joined which is a touch under 13% and that's actually a bit worse than they were before.
- Tojo.

Hmm. Interesting. Seemed they were doing better. Maybe just a game here/ there. Thanks for posting!

So Dubus got the exact same result as his predecessor & with pretty much the same equipment.
* same coaches
* same core
** different supporting cast of characters however

So if/ when FSG asks for answers (assuming they will care do so) where does he point his finger?

Asking for a friend (looking to get into coaching)
- out_of_market

I personally think last years team performed a lot better. The east and the metro were WAY better last year and they still finished with 91 points.
For the hope of the pens fans and the players hopefully he points the finger at himself as 1 of the top 3 things to point at.

This. The multiple blown leads. The terrible power play. They honestly don't deserve to be in. I for sure thought the Flyers were going to make the playoffs this season. Their late season collapse was astounding.
- PittsPens

And all the shortys. So many shortys. That first game against Anaheim where we were tied with 2min left and a 5 vs 3. I think it was Mactavish who came out of the box and scored a shorty on us with like 30s left in the game to lose in regulation. That’s the one that hurts me.

Hmm. Interesting. Seemed they were doing better. Maybe just a game here/ there. Thanks for posting!
- out_of_market

Maybe it’s recency bias with this past game against Nashville and the PP looked………..good.

1.) I think all coaches outside of Sullivan all need to be gone next season (since we know they wont let Sullivan go).

2.) They need to hire an actual GM and let Dubas be President.

3.) They need to dump some salary.

4.) They need to upgrade the top line LW and PP for next season.

Maybe it’s recency bias with this past game against Nashville and the PP looked………..good.
- drummer829

The PP has definitely looked more functional than it did before even if it is only producing at very similar rate. I'm curious to know the difference in HDSC and shots since.

I personally think last years team performed a lot better. The east and the metro were WAY better last year and they still finished with 91 points.
For the hope of the pens fans and the players hopefully he points the finger at himself as 1 of the top 3 things to point at.
- pens4life-66

First month of October with over 50% brand new roster they went like 3-9 is a killer here too.

First month of October with over 50% brand new roster they went like 3-9 is a killer here too.
- MattStrat

Yeah but they can't use the new roster excuse for going 5-8-2 in March.

Yeah but they can't use the new roster excuse for going 5-8-2 in March.
- jmatchett383

For a lot of that no Jake and Rust the same time, both injured. Then Jake was traded and you could see a very visible drop in play the first several games after that. The night he was traded was the worst they looked all season vs the Caps.

For a lot of that no Jake and Rust the same time, both injured. Then Jake was traded and you could see a very visible drop in play the first several games after that. The night he was traded was the worst they looked all season vs the Caps.
- MattStrat

Yah, they did sulk a bit there. If they'd kept Jake, they probably could have snuck in, as I think he's worth at least 1 win more win over that stretch.

Pens this season are:

12th goals allowed
9th in PK
13th in 5 on 5 xGF%
11th in 5 on 5 HDSC%
12th in 5 on 5 CF%

Thats all playoff team material.


31st in PP

Flyers are 32nd in PP....both of those teams are in the playoffs with an average PP. Its crazy.

Yah, they did sulk a bit there. If they'd kept Jake, they probably could have snuck in, as I think he's worth at least 1 win more win over that stretch.
- jmatchett383

Yeah, they lost a brother they were close to and won a championship with. Not only that but it seems like management has given up on them and their season trading away such an important piece like that. Bunting had different ideas, though...and Graves went down. I believe those two things were a big factor in the push of the last several weeks.

We learned two things yesterday: the Pens are out and a few of you don't know how probabilities work.

We learned two things yesterday: the Pens are out and a few of you don't know how probabilities work.
- MickV

hahaha

We learned two things yesterday: the Pens are out and a few of you don't know how probabilities work.
- MickV

9 different possibilities from the games last night and how the Penguins could have made it since they own the tiebreaker (i.e. neither team can get 2 points):
Det W, Was W - no
Det W, Was L - no
Det W, Was OTL - no
Det L, Was W - no
Det L, Was L - yes
Det L, Was OTL - yes
Det OTL, Was W - no
Det OTL, Was L - yes
Det OTL, Was OTL - yes

So 9 possibilities, 4 preferred outcomes is....what was it you said, 25%?

9 different possibilities from the games last night and how the Penguins could have made it since they own the tiebreaker (i.e. neither team can get 2 points):
Det W, Was W - no
Det W, Was L - no
Det W, Was OTL - no
Det L, Was W - no
Det L, Was L - yes
Det L, Was OTL - yes
Det OTL, Was W - no
Det OTL, Was L - yes
Det OTL, Was OTL - yes

So 9 possibilities, 4 preferred outcomes is....what was it you said, 25%?
- jmatchett383

Indeed, going into the 3rd period I gave MTL and PHI each a 50% chance of winning their games. The Pens needed both of them to win, and if you accept the 50% chance of a win for each, the probability of both winning is 25%. (Predicting the individual probabilities of all possible outcomes would require assigning an additional probability of the game going to OT, but we only cared about the MTL W, PHI W case. Whether DET or WSH got an OTL point didn't matter in terms of us still being alive.)

Pens this season are:

12th goals allowed this season
9th in PK
13th in 5 on 5 xGF%
11th in 5 on 5 HDSC%
12th in 5 on 5 CF%

Thats all playoff team material.


31st in PP

Flyers are 32nd in PP....both of those teams are in the playoffs with an average PP. Its crazy.
- MattStrat

Right. How many of us were saying early in the season that the PP was going to cost them a playoff spot if it's not fixed. Sully would swap out a player or two, but no real change in scheme. I think it's shocking it came down to the last couple games of the season with a PP this bad. Just goes to show you how bad some of these other teams are.

All season long, the Pens had opportunities to add to leads or tie a game with 3rd period PP's and they almost NEVER got it done.