Relax Pens Fans

The Penguins started writing the 82 chapter story that is their 2015-2016 season on Thursday October 8, 2015. They fell to the Stars 0-3 as Antti Niemi pitched his second straight shutout start to the flightless birds in as many games (last year he shut them out as a member of the San Jose Sharks making 39 saves, including overtime and a shootout). Two days later they laced up in Arizona. This time they scored one, on a wicked little shot from the right circle by Phil Kessel, but the Coyotes scored two. Next up was a Montreal Canadiens squad backed by Carey Price who had won their first three. The Penguins looked better at points in this game. They also looked terrible at others. They lost 3-2.

At the time people were really concerned. Why would a team employing Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Phil Kessel and Marc-Andre Fleury be starting the season 0-3. If they went 0-4 or 0-5 would they fire the coach? Would there be a trade? Would they blow it all up? To this start I said good. You may have thought I was certifiable at the time, but it’s what we should have expected.

The closing night of the 2014-2015 season and the opening night of the 2015-2016 had drastically different rosters. Over half of the forwards are new. Literally. Of the twelve forwards who laced up against the Florida Panthers in the Penguins sixth game of the season, seven were new. These seven players, plus the rehabbing Eric Fehr, are all leaning a new system. Every single forward line had at least one new face and the bottom six had more new guys than returning faces.

The defense? Well, Olli Maatta hasn’t played a professional hockey game since the 2014 calendar year and it’s going to take time. Kris Letang missed a massive portion of last year to injuries, as well, and is still getting his feet under him. Brian Dumoulin is in his first full NHL year and Ian Cole just had his first Penguins training camp following a deadline deal that brought him over from St. Louis.

Add to this the fact that the Penguins’ preseason game schedule was almost as long as a Dan Bylsma stretch pass and that the second week featured three straight games and you have a team that largely was not ready to play together the first two games.

Losing games when the team isn’t completely set yet also makes complete sense. David Perron, who was relegated to the fourth line in preseason and for most of the night in Dallas, played nearly the entire second half of the Coyotes game with Malkin and Hornqvist. Plotnikov has moved lines while they gauge how he will be utilized in North America while Daniel Sprong keeps impressing and earning more and more ice time.

Another example? Special teams. The team lost almost all of its penalty killers this off season and Pascal Dupuis just returned last night. Mike Johnston and Gary Agnew have also moved to using Malkin and Crosby as part of those units. This ice time usage along with the move towards “pairs” as opposed to three-man units meant separate power plays for the two-headed monster, something that drew much ire from Penguins fans around the horn who have unsuccessfully seen this attempted before.

Following a sub-par special teams outing in Dallas the team immediately made one big change to the PK. Rob Scuderi was removed from the first PK unit and replaced by Ian Cole who has far and away been the team’s best defenseman in limited action. They’ve had multiple looks on the PK as they adjust for who is playing well against who on any given night, but it’s still a work in progress.

Halfway through the game in Arizona they put the Harlem Globetrotters on ice out together. This put Malkin, Crosby, Kessel, Kunitz and Letang out against four Coyotes and Mike Smith on a power play. The result was not a goal in the desert, but it was the right move. They’ve had their stumbles and went five games without a power play goal but they are figuring it out. Their two man-advantage goals against the Panthers proves this.

Perhaps the biggest reason I’m okay with this slow start though is that it doesn’t breed false security. Last year this team started 13-3-1 and looked like they were out to take on the world. Then injuries, puck luck and maybe a few bad ref calls got to them. Start slow now and get used to the uphill climb because it isn’t going anywhere, the 82 game season and quest for Lord Stanley does not come easy whether you win 13 of your first games or not.

In fact, it could be argued these games don’t matter all that much. The Penguins, as we all know, play in the Metropolitan Division but only play seven games against division foes in 2015. Much like the Pirates schedule to end the 2015 regular season, the Penguins will see much more of their division rivals in the spring while traveling much less or on shorter trips. This will make the march to the playoffs more exciting because every game will be twice as important and even more of them will be at home (the spring schedule last season was very road-heavy).

Mostly though, this schedule works in the Penguins favor by giving them time to tinker with things like where Plotnikov will fit and what’s going to happen with Daniel Sprong. It gives Crosby and Kessel time to get used to playing together and even lets Derrick Pouliot cut his teeth in Wilkes-Barre. The team you see now will be drastically different at the end of the season.