Phil Kessel Not The Answer For The Penguins

The Pens think THIS GUY is the answer to all their problems. He's not.

I'm going to make a prediction that Phil Kessel will get his name engraved on the Stanley Cup as a Penguin the exact same amount of times as I will. (sidenote: I can't skate!)

This has nothing to do with Kessel not being a talented player, it has everything to do with me not trusting the Penguins organization to do the right thing.  It is about the Penguins once again trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Management and Ownership of the Penguins seem to think that their team is close to winning another Cup.  They aren’t.

Here are the facts. 

The Penguins needed a win in the final weekend of the regular season to even secure a spot in this year’s playoffs.  They were the worst team in the Eastern Conference point-wise to make the playoffs, and only Calgary in the Western Conference had a lower point total of teams to make the playoffs.  By that math, they were 15th of 30 teams in points last season.  If that isn't average, I don't know what is.  And average teams aren't one guy away from winning a championship.

This team lost in the 1st round of the playoffs in just 5 games.  That is the fewest amount of playoff wins the team has had in a post season since the first year of the Sid-Geno-Fleury Era, when they lost in 5 games to the Senators.

This team had 49 points after 32 games this season, then got just 49 more in the final 50 games, finishing with a losing record in those final 50 games.

How does one player suddenly make a team with so many needs, and so many faults, a serious Cup contender?  The answer, they don't.

The Penguins need a reboot, but management doesn't see that.  Instead they will continue waste away the prime years of two superstars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as they attempt to find quick fixes instead of rebuilding the team for years to come.

The Penguins have put all their eggs in one basket with Kessel, all the while ignoring the fact that he doesn't fit the team in the biggest areas of need.

The Penguins need a gritty goal scorer.  They need someone that will camp in-front of the net and make it his job to screen the goalie every time the play is in the offensive end.  They need a big physical player that will throw their body around.

This is not what Phil Kessel does.

Kessel is a goal scorer, and a damn good one at that.  He has scored 30+ goals in 5 of the last 7 seasons.  He isn't a grinder.  He won't win pucks out of the corner.  He won't sit in front of the net on the power play or get ugly goals by crashing the net.  And he certainly doesn't play both ends of the ice.  He was a -34 this past season in Toronto, which was the 2nd worse in the NHL.

Will Kessel help the Penguins?  Of course, but not in areas they need it the most.

Yet the Penguins ownership and management think that Kessel is the solution.  So much so that they are now on the hook for $47.6M over the next 7 years.  So much so that  instead of getting multiple pieces that fill the needed roles for the team at a much lower cost, they will pay $6.8M a year to a guy that fills none of them.

Then again, this should surprise no one that has followed this organization.  This is the organization that has been putting band-aids over gunshot wounds since they won the Cup in 2009.  The same organization that has traded away more draft picks (32) than have had players drafted make it to the NHL (22) over the past 10 years.  (They traded another 1st round pick away to get Kessel, making it 3 straight years that they will not have a selection in the 1st round of the draft.).  It is the same organization that with Kessel, has now tied up 53% of their salary in 5 players.

If you want to win, you have to make tough choices.  You have to trade guys that fans like.  You have to cut ties with players that have given their all for you.  You have to be willing to part ways with guys that won with you and that the organization has been built on.  You have to be willing to trade anyone on your roster if it will help your team in the long run.  I do mean ANYONE, including Letang, Fleury, Malkin and even Crosby.

The Penguins won’t make these type of moves, and because of that, they won’t be engraving Phil Kessel’s name into the Stanley Cup any time soon.

Reality Check For Bucco Fans

For all the Pittsburgh Pirate fans who are panicking after the Buccos' most recent home stand in which they finished 4-7 and failed to keep the opponents from scoring at least 5 runs in the final 10 games, I have one word for you.

Relax.

The Pirates aren't as good as they were the first two months of summer, and they aren't as bad as they played the past 11 games, so let's find a middle ground for this team.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that Pirate team that you just saw during this home stand is more like the real team than the team we saw take the field for most of June and July.

Let's step back and look at this team from an outsider's perspective and not as an irrational fan that has been dying for a winning team for the past 20 years.  The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 105 games just 2 years ago.  Last year, they improved that mark by 15 games.  Not many teams improve by 15 games in 1 year.  This year, they are on pace to win 88 games, once again improving, this time by 16 games.  I know that everyone in Pittsburgh would love to see this team in the playoffs come October, but why can't people just be happy that this team has continued to improve in drastic measures over the past two seasons?

When this season began, everyone that followed this club knew that they were a year or two away from being serious contenders.  That plan was set in place by drafting Jameson Taillon and Garrett Cole, two of the top young pitchers in the country, with back-to-back first round picks.  Add in signing all-star Andrew McCutchen to a long term deal, and the promising younger position players the team has in the organization (Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and Starling Marte), and the future looks bright.

Also consider the fact that all of the key players on this years team as well as all of the players acquired at the trade deadline are signed at least through the 2013 season.

Sure, making the playoffs this season would be great, but let's remember where this team was just two years ago, and be happy with the results we have seen this year.  It is about continuing to get better, and the Pirates are doing that.

The 2012 Pirates team has been really fun to watch, but this is just the start of things to come for Pirate fans if all continues to go right in the Pirates organization.  Just be patient, and relax.