[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by catdaddy

Well Dru, the Pens have a number of problems, some of which I wrote about in an earlier post. You are correct in your recollection that they got off to a very slow start last season, which most experts attributed to "Cup Hangover" after winning back to back championships. They rebounded and made the playoffs without too much difficulty. They also got off to a terrible start in their 2015/2016 Cup winning season which precipitated the firing of head coach Mike Johnston, and the hiring of Mike Sullivan.

This season looks to be different in that no one believes that the Pens will make a coaching change, even if it may be justified. Additionally, relative to the rest of the league, the Pens are an older and slower team which leaves them without an effective strategy for winning with their current personnel unless a different approach is tried. And as if those things weren't problematic enough, their No. 1 goaltender, Matt Murray, is consistently playing the worst hockey of his career.

I suppose it's possible that somehow every member of the team will start to play better, or that Mike Sullivan will draw up some creative new Xs and Os master plan that will allow this team to get the best performance from every player, but I'm not optimistic. I'm afraid the Pens have joined LA and Chicago as former powerhouse franchises.

That's the big thing - Murray isn't stealing any games. Hopefully he'll turn around.