The Slump of the Penguins...

Ok, so everyone who is watching the Pittsburgh Penguins these days is obviously a bit frustrated watching a team that last year made it to the finals now barely able to score a goal. They are in a huge slump! They are not winning at home, not scoring goals, and their power play is pathetic.

So what happened?

Well, many people will point fingers here and there, but I'd like to offer at least my thoughts on the matter:

1. Leadership.
This is a very young team with young leaders and it's easy to lead a team when things are going well, but when things go bad, this is when true leaders emerge. This is a team that is slowly defining itself and it's key players.

2. Chemistry.
The team has seen a wide variety of changes over the past year with players going elsewhere and new lines being formed. The team is changing up the lines and determining who plays well with who.

3. Injuries.
On top of players being gone from the team due to trades, they are also facing many injuries, which they were able to overcome last season, but this year it's challenging with a whole new team DNA.

In order for the Penguins to get the ship turned around there are several things that must happen. Malkin and Crosby need to play on separate lines and also be the leaders of those lines, which means they need to start scoring goals. The Pens also need depth right now to help contribute as guys like Satan, Fedetenko, Staal, and Sykora are also producing less than what should be expected. Also import is the contribution from third and fourth string guys like Kennedy and Talbot, but their production should only come as a bonus to what the top lines are doing. The entire team needs to learn to stop passing so much and just shoot the puck! This is perhaps the most frustrating part of watching this team as they try and make fancy plays and end up losing the puck. They just need to keep firing from the point and look for rebounds, which being me to yet another point, which is having guys in front of the net. This is where most of the action is and we never have enough guys in front who can be screening shots, looking for rebounds, or frustrating the defensemen.