The Pittsburgh Penguins believed they were going to be in the playoffs this season, but after a month of hockey, they sit in last place within the Metropolitan Division having lost to teams like Anaheim, Chicago and St. Louis to name a few.
The Pittsburgh Penguins finished the month of October with a record of 3-6-0. They have beat Colorado, Calgary and Washington, and while their 4-0 win against Colorado was impressive, they have not looked good as of late.
The Penguins might still have Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby playing great hockey to start the year, but this team is struggling for a few different reasons. Similar to last season, it all starts with the goaltending.
1. Goaltending struggles
General Manager Kyle Dubas entered the Penguins organization this summer, looked around and decided Tristan Jarry was the best option in net for this team. Fans have to wonder if he regrets that decision after October.
Jarry has gone 2-5-0 in the net, and he has put up a .893 save percentage good enough for a 2.84 goals against per game on average. Jarry has two shutouts on the season bolstering his stats, so it just shows how wildly unreliable and inconsistent his goaltending has been.
2. Working in Letang and Karlsson
The San Jose Sharks thought they were going to have a monster of a blue line when they traded for Erik Karlsson. They had both Brent Burns and Karlsson bolstering their blue line, and the result was underwhelming. Through nine games, the same might be said for the current Penguins' defense.
Erik Karlsson has two goals and four assists through nine games, while Kris Letang has just five assists. Working in two-star defensemen who eat up a lot of minutes is not that simple, and that might be the case for these two.
3. Missing depth scoring
The forwards in the Penguins top six have combined for 18 goals at even strength, the forwards in the Penguins bottom six have combined for just three. The Penguins need to find a way to get some depth scoring from their roster. Maybe that means splitting up Guentzel from Crosby and Malkin from Smith but something has to change to get the offense going in the bottom six.
For the most part the problems in Pittsburgh are mostly the same from the past few seasons. The moves Pittsburgh made this offseason looked like they would be contending for a cup this spring, now they just look like the same old Penguins fans have watched the past few years. Something has to change to get this team back on track in the coming months.