Compare the 2012-13 Pittsburgh Penguins to the current roster. Based on skill alone, who is more likely to make the Stanley Cup Finals?
If you said this years’ team, you might be lying to yourself.
That team three years ago was stacked, and on paper one of the most talented teams in franchise history. They were supposed to breeze through the Eastern Conference on their way to the finals. It was not supposed to be close.
Future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla was acquired for below-market price. Former Dallas Stars’ captain Brendan Morrow was a third liner. Jussi Jokinen was acquired as a just-in-case policy if Sidney Crosby could not return after taking a puck to the face before the trade deadline. Tomas Vokoun was the backup goaltender.
And it was not close. Just not in the Penguins favor.
The top-seeded Penguins struggled to put away the bottom-seeded New York Islanders in the first round. Two rounds later, they were swept by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Embarrassed would actually be a more accurate way of describing it; Boston outscored Pittsburgh 12-2 in the four games. The disappointment was second only to the 1992-93 Penguins who failed at getting the three-peat.
Fast-forward to last October.
The team had just come off a quick playoff exit the year before. Years of dealing picks and prospects finally appeared to catch up to the roster’s depth. An uninspiring start led to coach Mike Johnston’s mid-season firing. Missing the playoffs seemed like a real possibility.
Yet, here they are in the Stanley Cup Finals.
There was little question they were the best team in the East during the playoffs.
So how did this year’s Penguins, a group who were not expect to make it this far, go further than arguably one the most talented rosters in team history?
Chemistry.
That team didn’t mesh together. They also lacked the heart and drive the current Penguins do.
The Penguins of three years ago were a square peg in a round hole. Big names were acquired via trade and free agency and just did not fit in. No one exemplified that more than Iginla playing in his off-wing.
The team’s picks for the following draft were gutted for players who found new homes in July.
That is not the case this year. Players aren’t put in roles they “should” be in. They are playing were they work best.
Phil Kessel is a top six winger on any other team. Carl Hagelin would be on many others, too. It should be a forgone conclusion a player with Kessel’s offensive talent should be on a line with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
Yet, he is not. Because he and Hagelin found chemistry with Nick Boninio, instead.
This team is working well together. They also are benefiting from home-grown talent.
Would goaltender Matt Murray be around if the team decided to go all-in the way they did three years ago? What about fellow rookies Tom Kuhnhackl, Bryan Rust or Conor Sheary?
All have made an impact on this season’s Cup run, and they might not be this far without them, especially Murray.
Besides the Kessel trade – which even that yielded a player who is under contract who the next seven seasons – this season’s team was not made up of big trades. The team that won the Cup in 2008-09 did not see any big trades, either.
Maybe the answer is not selling-out for rentals. Maybe it is finding what works with the players they have, then making smaller moves to fix what needs improved.
Maybe they have learned from the mistakes of the past.
