Thoughts from the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room clean-out day

The Pittsburgh Penguins had a lot to say during their locker room clean-out day.

The Pittsburgh Penguins had their annual season-ending locker room cleanout today yesterday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. There were plenty of interesting quotes from the players, GM, and head coach.

For the second straight season, the clean-out day happened earlier than expected. The Penguins lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the New York Islanders.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked Norris caliber defenseman Kris Letang if Letang would play more conservative next season, after making a few mistakes in a four-game sample size.

Letang’s response to this asinine question was bang on.

Elite players are not the problem in Pittsburgh. Nobody asked Jack Johnson or Garrett Wilson if they were considering changing their game. It’s because they stink. Letang has been a vital piece to the Penguins success over the last decade and will be moving forward.

This quote from Bryan Rust really stands out.

I have written on numerous occasions that a large portion of the Penguins downfalls the last two seasons have been self-inflicted. Poor roster construction from Rutherford and some head-scratching lineup decisions from Mike Sullivan have prevented the Penguins from maximizing their lineup production. The Penguins skaters have had some blunders, too. But it is hard to argue with Rust on this issue.

General Manager Jim Rutherford feels that this blue-line is the best one that the Penguins have had since his arrival in the Summer of 2014. That is ludicrous.

History has shown that when Rutherford says something, he means it. As NBC’s Adam Gretz tweeted, it is extremely worrisome if Rutherford actually believes this.

It is possible that Rutherford could be playing the role of a car salesman here. There is a slim possibility he does not believe this and is attempting to publicly downplay the Penguins blue-line issues.

This is the quote that drives me nuts.

Rutherford is distributing the blame onto Mike Sullivan and the players who won multiple Stanley Cups for the Penguins. The lack of accountability from Rutherford is on full display here. The biggest reason this team was not “tight-knit” was because of the seven trades Jim Rutherford made this past season.

There has been a revolving door of roster transactions that have made it difficult for things and people to settle down. Rutherford is the biggest reason for this mess the Penguins are in. The effectiveness of Rutherford and the Penguins roster construction has been all over the map and pretty abysmal since the Summer of 2017.

Sullivan raises a few solid points in this quote.

The Penguins are a difficult team to play against when their star players are firing on all cylinders, their third line is clicking, and all of their players have proper puck skills and speed. The presence of physical defensemen, a 42-year-old Matt Cullen, and a career AHL winger do not fit that bill.

In terms of buy-in, players are not stupid. If you watched this team on a consistent basis, teammates rarely passed the puck to players who do not have puck skills (Jack Johnson). That has to be infuriating as a player.

It is tough to get players firing on the same page, at the same time, and at complete health when there has been so much roster turnover. Acquiring players that do not make the Penguins difficult to play against and the revolving door of transactions have made Sullivan’s job much more difficult. These issues go hand-in-hand.

Here’s to hoping Rutherford listens to Sam Ventura and the Penguins analytics staff, calms down and makes the proper roster decisions this summer. Thanks for reading!