Like Bucs, Penguins Still Have Work to Be Done
Paul Ladewski
PITTSBURGH -- The Penguins may be out the playoffs already – c'mon, they lost to the eighth seed, really? – but at least one Pittsburgh team won this hockey season.
Yep, you guessed it – the Pirates.
Now that the Penguins have gone belly-up in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years in the Sidney Crosby era, maybe we'll hear less about how their ownership will turn around the Pirates in no time if given the chance.
The fact is, despite every conceivable advantage from first or second overall choices in four consecutive drafts to the mother of all lottery picks to a league that operates with a salary cap to a pucks-mad fan base, the Penguins have been unable to dominate their own division let alone the entire league.
Or did you know that, while the Pirates have gone 17 years without a sniff of .500, the Penguins have hoisted exactly one Stanley Cup in that period?
Pure and simple, like the Pirates over the years, the Penguins have made mistakes in the draft and the open market. Lots of them.
For instance, take the 2003 draft, in which the Penguins owned the No. 1 pick on the heels of a anorexic 65-point season. (Yes, Bubba, they were dog breath themselves not that long ago.) The golden rule states that you never, ever select a goaltender at the No. 1 pick, but the Penguins chose Marc-Andre Fleury, anyway. Here are some of players that they could have taken instead -- Eric Staal, Thomas Vanek, Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Corey Perry, Shea Weber . . .
Hey, maybe Bryan Bullington wasn't that bad, after all. Sorry, forget I wrote that.
Here it is, five years after Crosby was drafted, and the guy still doesn't have a regular linemate that is in the same zip code as his talent level. Quick -- name the last legit 30-goal-scorer to be developed in the Penguins farm system.
OK, 25 then.
Uh, 20?
God help the franchise if Sid the Kid goes down any time soon. Cart him off and the Penguins are the New York Rangers all of a sudden.
I wouldn't wish that on even a Philadelphia Flyer let alone Crosby, who represents everything that is good about professional sports. I wouldn't wish that on any team owner let alone Mario Lemieux, a guy that only the devil could root against.
It's just that, before people wish for the Penguins to step in and save the baseball team in this town, they should remember that the Penguins have to help themselves first.
***This article was on piratesreport.com and has since been removed. If this were meant to be ironic, it would be totally awesome...but sadly it is serious. taking a shot like this at the penguins may be enough for me to consider searching for a new favorite MLB team, this is just sad, sad, sad.
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3 comments:
that article is just dumb. save themselves? Come on! They pulled themselves out of the brink of extinction to become stanley cup champions. They had made the stanley cup finals the year before and yes they got bounced this year, but now this team will have a sell out crowd every home game until sid retires! Save themselves! come on! What retard wrote this.
When it comes to building an organization, it is considered a success if your team wins enough to keep getting butts in the seats. Which the penguins will be doing on a record basis from here on out.
since the penguins won the stanley cup last season, that makes them one of 10 different teams in those 17-18 years to have a successful season. Which is saying that the other entire 2/3's of the NHL is a complete bust.
Oh well, might as well cancel the league, since 20 other teams havent won the stanley cup in 17 years, this league sucks a fat one. They all need to save themselves!
Focus more on how the pirates can save themselves from oblivion, rather than berate a team that already succeeded in doing the very same. That author is an idiot
Yeah, this article was pulled. Interestingly enough, the writer is the guy the Nuttings replaced John Perratto with on piratesreport.
It is just a nice propaganda piece trying to convince fans that the Pens ownership would also have a shitty baseball team. Glad they pulled it though.
yea, i wanted to grab this so it could live in some additional infamy. the nuttings should be ashamed that such hack propaganda went on their site. i understand their motivation, they are hurt that the people of pittsburgh would rather have lemiuex own the pirates than them, but this article was just ridiculous.
the pens have done exactly what kern said.
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