The Return of the Playoff Tracker Thread

[PenGator88]

I think they'll go deep in the playoffs...just our luck.

[Zalapski33]

So now that the last game means absolutely nothing I’m calling the Bemstrom hatty to turn that 6th into a 3rd.

Im calling Jansin Harkins getting his 1st Goal.

[Crash66]

Things keep getting progressively worse. At least last year Game 82 mattered. Wonder what Sully and Co. will "learn from this".

[KG]

So now that the last game means absolutely nothing I’m calling the Bemstrom hatty to turn that 6th into a 3rd.

Im calling Jansin Harkins getting his 1st Goal.

We'll probably play our $5million backup goalie too. Jarry needs to be moved this off-season.

[Zalapski33]

It's been a long and frustrating season.

Best to everyone out there.

See yinz in free agency season.

Best Wishes.Too bad we couldn't see any more Spring Time Penguin Hockey.

[KG]

[Tico Rick]

Who knows how many years until we see our next Playoff Tracker Thread?

[DelPen]

Torts getting blasted on X for pulling the goalie after Detroit had already tied to go to OT meaning the Flyers were done.

[DelPen]

And Wings win in the SO so nothing went good for two nights in a row. Awesome.

[Zalapski33]

Going with aging Forwards(Acciari,Nieto,Harkins) as 3rd/4th Line Players who produce nothing offensively.
Retooling the Defense Group for the 4th straight years,spending a tremendous amount of cap space and continuing to see it underperform.
Giving Jarry a huge contract,watching him fade for the 4th straight season and become a benchwarmer for 12 Games with the season on the line.
Deciding that Smith and Graves were going to be key guys to improve the team and getting lousy seasons from both.

And that is in addition to regurgitating all the ineptitude from Sullivan and his Coaching Staff that failed to do anything to rectify the disasttrous issues on ice that sunk the 2023-24 Season(30th Ranked PP, 7 Blown 3rd Period Leads,10 Losses in OT).

[Sams_Dog]

Very disappointing season. Terrible power play, terrible defense, disappointing play by Karlsson, bad scoring depth , terrible coaching, Jake gets traded, and they miss the playoffs by one or two points. Other than Sid’s impressive performance this was a wasted year. I’m already preparing myself for the anger when Dubas says Sully will be back next year. I know it’s coming.

[KG]

Going with aging Forwards(Acciari,Nieto,Harkins) as 3rd/4th Line Players who produce nothing offensively.
Retooling the Defense Group for the 4th straight years,spending a tremendous amount of cap space and continuing to see it underperform.
Giving Jarry a huge contract,watching him fade for the 4th straight season and become a benchwarmer for 12 Games with the season on the line.
Deciding that Smith and Graves were going to be key guys to improve the team and getting lousy seasons from both.

And that is in addition to regurgitating all the ineptitude from Sullivan and his Coaching Staff that failed to do anything to rectify the disasttrous issues on ice that sunk the 2023-24 Season(30th Ranked PP, 7 Blown 3rd Period Leads,10 Losses in OT).

Agreed. If I had the magic wand I would:

1. Move on from Sullivan and the staff. Bring in a coach who will hold players accountable. The team underperformed for all but a 12 game stretch. Bring in Berube or someone similar. And bring in an assistant coach that has a clue on how to run a powerplay.
2. Trade Jarry. The cap space alone would be enough, but I think we could get a decent return for him.
3. Go with 3 scoring lines and a 4th line energy line comprised of young players. This team has always been at its best when they have depth scoring. Enough of this 2 offensive and 2 defensive lines. It's a flawed strategy.
4. Trade Smith. ASAP. Hopefully we don't have to retain to move him for a pick.
5. Use the cap space to bring in Jakes replacement, and maybe another 3C and move Eller to 4C.

Dubas showed he wasn't afraid to move a popular player and make a tough decision like he did with Jake. He really needs to find a way to move on from Sullivan.

[Sigwolf]

There is, and has been, a consistent problem with this team for many years, many players, and many GM's. But don't worry, Sullivan has it all figured out for next season.

[Lifetime Pens Fan]

3 hockey nights in a row where no results of other games help the Pens. That sums up the 23-24 season.

[Sigwolf]

Dubas showed he wasn't afraid to move a popular player and make a tough decision like he did with Jake.

Dubas showed he wasn't stupid enough to lose an asset for nothing that wasn't going to re-sign here... no more. It's not like he pulled off some surprise trade of a popular player with term to improve the team. He got something for a player that was going anyway. Not a bad move, but hardly a showing of his resolve.

[Zalapski33]

Going with aging Forwards(Acciari,Nieto,Harkins) as 3rd/4th Line Players who produce nothing offensively.
Retooling the Defense Group for the 4th straight years,spending a tremendous amount of cap space and continuing to see it underperform.
Giving Jarry a huge contract,watching him fade for the 4th straight season and become a benchwarmer for 12 Games with the season on the line.
Deciding that Smith and Graves were going to be key guys to improve the team and getting lousy seasons from both.

And that is in addition to regurgitating all the ineptitude from Sullivan and his Coaching Staff that failed to do anything to rectify the disasttrous issues on ice that sunk the 2023-24 Season(30th Ranked PP, 7 Blown 3rd Period Leads,10 Losses in OT).

Agreed. If I had the magic wand I would:

1. Move on from Sullivan and the staff. Bring in a coach who will hold players accountable. The team underperformed for all but a 12 game stretch. Bring in Berube or someone similar. And bring in an assistant coach that has a clue on how to run a powerplay.
2. Trade Jarry. The cap space alone would be enough, but I think we could get a decent return for him.
3. Go with 3 scoring lines and a 4th line energy line comprised of young players. This team has always been at its best when they have depth scoring. Enough of this 2 offensive and 2 defensive lines. It's a flawed strategy.
4. Trade Smith. ASAP. Hopefully we don't have to retain to move him for a pick.
5. Use the cap space to bring in Jakes replacement, and maybe another 3C and move Eller to 4C.

Dubas showed he wasn't afraid to move a popular player and make a tough decision like he did with Jake. He really needs to find a way to move on from Sullivan.

Complete agreement on all Your Points KG.
Eller is a useful and versatile player who showed he has plenty of gas in the tank.
Will add that they need to give strong looks at Pomonorev and Kouivenen going into next season.2 Young forwards who this organization gave the 2nd best Offensive player up for.Find out what they have to offer with their skill and potential.Not sure we will see Yager or Pickering as being ready yet.
Blomqvist should be given a chance to be in the mix with Ned being the guy in Net as the #1 Goalie.Jarry needs to be moved,its a Year too late IMHO.

Beyond that there are many huge questions for the Roster. I would bet that Karlsson would benefit tremendously from a Coaching Change.Malkin and Letang will continue to be enigmatic declining players who are going to be difficult to reach with a new Coach,

But respectfully its time to move on from Mike Sullivan and this system which has not sniffed any serious success for 7 Consecutive Seasons.

[Antonio]

Hard to imagine a scenario in ANY league where a coach spends almost a DECADE without making it past the FIRST round of playoffs including 2 straight atrocious years of missing playoffs filled with endless hideous performances and keeps his job. Real paradigm altering **** in Pittsburgh these days because it's not something anyone has or will see anywhere else at any time.

Bottom line, I loved Sid and his insane season where he continued to shock and astound, and almost got 600g in 1 season when I thought he would need 2 full seasons from this season start. He remained a pleasure to watch and otherwise, I just started to try and keep tuning out the rest of the team and organization in a way I never have in 35+ years of watching. The organization is a broken ****, especially as long as that talentless idiot stays behind the bench, but who cares honestly. When they get serious about improving the team and making real change, I'll get serious about watching every game again instead of lazily tuning in about 2/3 of the time and running it as background noise. Not even mad about it anymore. Going to watch and savor every second of what remains of the career of one of the top 5 players to EVER play the game and relish how lucky I've been to watch 2 of the 5 greatest ever and really 3 of the 10 greatest ever to play the game all play for my team. A stroke of fortune few fans could ever imagine.

[BurghThing]

Hard to imagine a scenario in ANY league where a coach spends almost a DECADE without making it past the FIRST round of playoffs including 2 straight atrocious years of missing playoffs filled with endless hideous performances and keeps his job. Real paradigm altering **** in Pittsburgh these days because it's not something anyone has or will see anywhere else at any time.

Bottom line, I loved Sid and his insane season where he continued to shock and astound, and almost got 600g in 1 season when I thought he would need 2 full seasons from this season start. He remained a pleasure to watch and otherwise, I just started to try and keep tuning out the rest of the team and organization in a way I never have in 35+ years of watching. The organization is a broken ****, especially as long as that talentless idiot stays behind the bench, but who cares honestly. When they get serious about improving the team and making real change, I'll get serious about watching every game again instead of lazily tuning in about 2/3 of the time and running it as background noise. Not even mad about it anymore. Going to watch and savor every second of what remains of the career of one of the top 5 players to EVER play the game and relish how lucky I've been to watch 2 of the 5 greatest ever and really 3 of the 10 greatest ever to play the game all play for my team. A stroke of fortune few fans could ever imagine.

Antonio, have you ever heard of Mike Tomlin?

[Antonio]

Although I'm not a Steelers fan, I've read enough posts here to know the situation, which is why I carefully mentioned that the paradigm is being altered "in Pittsburgh these days".

[pcmforless]

Such a weird ride. One month ago was the first time in years I had missed watching some games (new business has me busy) but also since they appeared to be meaningless I wasn't overly motivated to watch. I actually was Ok with them blowing a 4-0 lead to Colorado and losing an overtime game to Columbus as I though it would help draft pick wise, turns out those two points would be a game changer tonight. They went on a hell of a run and made the last month of the season fun to watch again. Shame it ended tonight as they were playing good enough to be anyone (as shown by them beating NYR, Nash, Caps, Lightning, Wings, Canes, etc.... Coming up just short with Toronto, a bit short against Boston. I have some renewed hope for next season. If Karlsson bounces back, Graves turns into something even close to what they paid for and some of the young guys continue to imporove and Crosby, Malkin and Letang hold up healthwise..... and maybe they FREAKING PRACTICE 3 on # as it turns out those points ACTUALLY MATTER!!!!! next year could turn out half decent.

[Puck-Lurker]

At least we won't have a chance to make the playoffs if we get the right result against the Isles. Knowing this team, they'd be in prime position for it, and then flub it in the 3rd

[Pens4Life]

I HOPE THIS ENDS SULLIVAN and CO. time in Pittburgh! Enough is enough..

[Badger Bob]

Hey, they competed hard every night, amirite? Just ask Sully.

[stonewizard51]

Very disappointing season. Terrible power play, terrible defense, disappointing play by Karlsson, bad scoring depth , terrible coaching, Jake gets traded, and they miss the playoffs by one or two points. Other than Sid’s impressive performance this was a wasted year. I’m already preparing myself for the anger when Dubas says Sully will be back next year. I know it’s coming.

I think Dubas made Sully's return a given considering he said something like if He fired Sully, the next day he'd be looking for another Sully. I'm paraphrasing but I think that was the gist of it. I do want Reirden gone. He has done nothing with coaching the PP to show me he's a keeper.

[Puck-Lurker]

Very disappointing season. Terrible power play, terrible defense, disappointing play by Karlsson, bad scoring depth , terrible coaching, Jake gets traded, and they miss the playoffs by one or two points. Other than Sid’s impressive performance this was a wasted year. I’m already preparing myself for the anger when Dubas says Sully will be back next year. I know it’s coming.

I think Dubas made Sully's return a given considering he said something like if He fired Sully, the next day he'd be looking for another Sully. I'm paraphrasing but I think that was the gist of it. I do want Reirden gone. He has done nothing with coaching the PP to show me he's a keeper.

What if he fired Sully, then went looking for Sully but couldn't find him? I mean, he could mysteriously disappear for... a few months?