PITTSBURGH -- There's never been a Pittsburgh Penguins
season like this, not even close.
They've had bad seasons in their 39-year existence, for sure --
just check their early 1980s record before Mario Lemieux arrived.
And this is not the first time they have gone four consecutive
seasons without making the playoffs.
But as long as the Penguins take the ice, this question is
certain to be asked about what might be the most disillusioning
season in club history:
How could Sidney Crosby play so well at age 18, and a team
seemingly loaded with so much talent be so bad?
A Penguins season that began with so much optimism, hope and
promise in October ended this week with a franchise-worst 60 losses
in 82 games following six months filled with misfortune and
miscalculation, another Mario Lemieux retirement and one
misadventure after another.
"I really didn't expect anything from this season, I came in
open-minded and went with the flow," said Crosby, the No. 1 draft
pick who played far better than expected by finishing with 102
points. "A lot of things happened during the season, good and
bad."
Except for Crosby, the youngest player in NHL history to reach
the 100-point mark, it was almost all bad. Unpredictably,
unbelievably bad.
The Penguins emerged from the labor dispute that shut down the
2004-05 NHL season with what looked to be one of the NHL's
most-improved clubs. They drafted Crosby, seen as the best prospect
in a generation, and a small market-friendly labor agreement
allowed them to sign or trade for John LeClair, Jocelyn Thibault,
Sergei Gonchar and Ziggy Palffy. They had already added proven
scorer Mark Recchi.
With the much-respected Lemieux around to add a winner's
presence and guidance, the Penguins appeared to have built a
potential Stanley Cup contender in a matter of weeks. And Lemieux
said so.
Maybe because they added so much so quickly, it was easy for
general manager Craig Patrick to overlook what they didn't have:
Team chemistry. Role players to do the grunt work. And team-driven
players who could meld the proven old hands with the fast-arriving
group of new players eager to contribute (Crosby, defenseman Ryan
Whitney, forward Colby Armstrong).
At least it didn't take very long -- a nine-game losing streak to
start the season -- for the Penguins to realize this mishmash simply
wasn't a good fit.
With nearly all of the veterans underachieving, inexperienced
coach Eddie Olczyk was fired in mid-December with an 8-17-6 record.
Former Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien was hired to
install the same disciplined, team-first system that had been so
successful at the Penguins' Wilkes-Barre AHL farm club, but it was
a slow go.
By then, many of the veterans were packing.
Thibault was injured while going 1-9-3 and never returned.
Palffy lost his drive to play and retired. Gonchar, signed to a $25
million contract, looked lost from the start and didn't begin
producing until after the Olympics. Recchi seemed to dislike how
Crosby quickly ascended to a leadership role and, after previously
saying he wouldn't waive his no-trade clause, willingly accepted a
deal to Carolina.
The whole mess proved wearying to Lemieux, the 40-year-old
owner-player who, unbeknownst to all but a few close friends, had
developed an irregular heartbeat during the summer. The Hall of
Famer produced early in the season, getting 12 points in a six-game
stretch, but a heart flare-up sent him to the hospital in early
December. He returned to play one more game, then retired for the
second and last time after one of the greatest careers by any
player in any sport.
By then, the Penguins clearly were Crosby's team. And, as they
kept bringing up younger players under Therrien, there were some
encouraging signs -- including an 8-12-3 post-Olympics record
against difficult competition.
"There were some good games," said goalie Marc-Andre Fleury,
the former No. 1 draft pick who had several long stretches of
excellent play. "But the losing, we did not expect this."
More changes are expected following this 22-46-14 season.
Patrick's contract is up and, after nearly 17 years on the job,
the Hall of Fame executive is not expected to return. Lemieux has
put the club up for sale and, if a new arena deal is secured and
the franchise is sold, he could find himself separated from the
Penguins by this time next year.
Therrien has two years left on his contract and is expected to
be back, even though the Penguins' record with him (14-29-8) was
nearly identical percentage-wise to that under Olczyk.
Asked to sum up his season, Crosby said: "I wanted to have the
best possible finish -- and have no regrets."
Not many others with the Penguins could say that.