The NHL Marketing Department finally had its wish fulfilled as Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the Stanley Cup Final.
In the days leading up to Game 1, there is no shortage of storylines. You have the “Can the Sharks finally do it?” angle, the Thornton vs. Kessel angle (commonly referred to as the LOL Bruins angle) and a litany of other talking points to fill the time before Monday night.
But as the Final approaches, it’s difficult to not think this should have happened sooner for the Pens.
Pittsburgh skated off as Stanley Cup Champions in 2009. Crosby was 21, Malkin was 22. Both had more than 30 points in the playoffs. The team was coming off back-to-back Final appearances. The Eastern Conference was more-or-less wide open, aside from the emerging Bruins. Those two teams should have dominated the next decade. But, for a variety of reasons, that didn’t happen and we got a weird stretch of Rangers dominance.
Imagine telling a hockey fan in 2009 it would take seven full seasons for the Penguins to make another Cup appearance. Or that the team’s only Conference Finals appearance in that time was a lifeless sweep. They wouldn’t believe you.
There were no signs of trouble in the immediate Cup aftermath. Crosby’s golden goal at the Winter Olympics set him off on a torrid second half that saw him finish with a career-high 51 goals. However, the Penguins ran into the red-hot Jaroslav Halak and lost to the Canadiens in seven games, managing just 12 goals in the final six games.
The 2010-11 season started well enough for the Penguins. Halfway through the season, Crosby was enjoying a career year. He had 32 goals and 66 points in 41 games. And then the Winter Classic happened. He’d miss the final 41 games of the season and the first-round playoff loss to Tampa Bay (in which Marc-Andre Fleury posted a sub-900 save percentage for the second straight year).
Crosby would play only 22 games during the 2011-12 season due to lingering concussion symptoms, but managed 37 points. He played all six games of the Penguins’ wild first-round series against Philadelphia. The teams combined for 56 goals as Fleury sported an .834 save percentage.
That was followed by the lockout season. Crosby led the league with 56 points in 36 games, before having his jaw broken by a Brooks Orpik slapshot. He’d return in time for the playoffs, torching the Islanders and Senators before the team was dominated by Boston in the Conference Finals, managing just two goals in the series.
And this is where the issue of depth started to rear its head. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup that year, while sporting four solid lines and capable defensemen across all three pairings. It became apparent both that depth was key and Stan Bowman was world-class at filling out that depth under tough financial constraints. It also became apparent just how poorly the Penguins had done in that department.
While Crosby rolled to the Hart Trophy and a 17-point lead over second place Ryan Getzlaf, the likes of Craig Adams, Tanner Glass and Rob Scuderi patrolled the bottom lines and pairings.
Regardless, the Penguins would again play until Game 7 in the second round, before falling to the Rangers. Dan Bylsma was fired. The team wanted to change its approach. Crosby was on something of a playoff slump dating back to the Boston loss.
So Mike Johnston happened. It was a disaster. The Penguins barely limped into the playoffs last season and were easily dispatched by the Rangers. Nearly halfway through the season, the team was on the outside of the playoff bubble, looking in. Kris Letang was hurt and slumping, the Phil Kessel trade seemed like a bust and Crosby seemed broken, worn down or washed up.
It looked the Crosby era had been sufficiently wasted. But Mike Sullivan replaced Johnston and had the bright idea of letting star players do what they’re good at. Obviously, a new crew of acquisitions joined, including Carl Hagelin and Trevor Daley. Crosby took off, Letang took off and the team took off. Now, they’re four games away from flipping the narrative on this era, if that narrative hadn’t already been flipped.
The Penguins have gone from hapless and lost to the Stanley Cup Final in a matter of months. I can’t think of a more interesting storyline.
