Équipe: 2019-20 Penguins de Pittsburgh

Date de création initiale: 11 août 2020

Publié: 11 août 2020

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

While you can argue that there were several reasons that caused the Penguins to lose against Montreal, the biggest one for me was the lack of adjustment by the coaching staff to address weaknesses that were holding the team back.

The Penguins' third pairing defence was absolutely brutal especially as the series went on. They would get undersiege in the defensive zone pretty much every shift and give up prime scoring chances, killing any momentum generated by the rest of the team. The majority of the Penguins' goals against were in direct result of their poor play, so it didn't make any sense for them to remain in the lineup.

The third line forward had no chemistry and wasn't able to generate anything offensively for the team. I felt the issue was that the wingers did not have enough speed to keep up with McCann. Several shifts I noticed he would enter the offensive zone but would then need to wait for his wingers to join, allowing the opposition to take the puck and transitioning the other way. If the coach took out Marleau and swapped Hornqvist with Sheary, maybe things would've been different. It also seems that McCann plays better on the wing since there is less responsibility and he has more chance to use his speed to generate offence.

Management should be blamed as well since they were overconfident with this team and did not make the necessary moves to address the glaring weaknesses. They could've at least traded for an upgrade over Jack Johnson or Justin Schultz if the coaching staff wasn't confident with the alternative options remaining. The moves made at the deadline simply didn't work out.

I felt the Penguins played well during the first 2 games of the series. They controlled play by generating majority of the game's shots and scoring chances. After they gave up a 3-1 lead, they didn't have any jump or pushback the rest of the series. They were a defeated team. I made this armchair team looking at moves and lineup decisions the Penguins should've made in order to have a better chance.

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