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I hate this. I really do. To say the 2023 Pittsburgh Penguins season was a disaster would be an understatement. Imagine a fully healthy Crosby and Malkin and still missing the playoffs. And not just coming up short, but doing it in the most frustrating and predictable ways possible.
The rest of the league celebrates the demise of the Pens, and I slowly die from the pain. We will enter hell itself. Welcome to the post-Cup downfall. God help us all.
38 Comments
2017? That was thanks to Phil Kessel.
Nothing like hearing background music for Diddy Kong Racing to give me nostalgia.
Oh, wait… This is about the Penguins being an overrated team for the last 20 years. Okie dokie.
When Hextall and Burke got hired by Pittsburgh, both Philadelphia and Calgary was probably confused
The worst part of the game against CBJ was that it was Pittsburgh's first loss against the Blue Jackets since NOVEMBER 29TH, 2019.
You should do a video of the rivalry between the avalanche and redwings. You probably could have a lot of fun with that.
Let’s face it, we all knew this video was coming
Good video!
Pittsburgh…
Your FO are stubborn fools in denial, you haven't won a playoff series since 2018, your window is over, and they can't accept that, and get your rebuild over with, or else you'll face a lost decade like the Red Wings have
At least Tree has the Pirates to look towards too.
Yeah, no. Don’t expect sympathy from any other fan base lol. My advice, start stocking up on prospects or draft picks of any sort.
Edit: certainly no sympathy after hurting Ekker for the playoffs!
I came here to laugh at your team and you end up reminding me of the hell my Wings are in. I guess that's fair.
As a pens fan. This is deserved. We are screwed for a while
youre welcome for hextall btw
Don’t worry, Tree, give it a few years of tanking for the Pens to declare bankruptcy for a third time and be gifted another couple of clear cut HoFers to get them out of the jam.
The Toy Story 2 music was a beautiful touch
I don't think you mentioned how awful the Pens special teams were all season long. Case in point, the fact that the Pens gave up crucial shorthanded goals like they were Halloween candy all season long.
I honestly thought the team would blow it up after the results in 2019 and 2020. I was surprised they kept Sullivan and Rutherford around. I had doubted both of them at that point.
2021 came along and I thought that the team bounced back. Rutherford made the right moves that offseason and then resigned (which was much needed regardless of that offseason). The Penguins won their division and were looking great heading into the playoffs. I truly think that if Jarry didn't get in his head that year, Pittsburgh makes it to the ECF.
Unfortunately, Burke, Hextall, and Co. decided to ruin that exciting 2021 team and failed to address goaltending. Jarry and DeSmith were pretty good in 2021-22, but both got hurt at the worst time possible. I don't think they would've gone much farther than the first round last year though. New York was a fluke, you're right about that.
If they kept that 2021 team together instead of making some awful decisions, I wonder if the Penguins would still be doing damage. We had everything but goaltending and management did nothing about it. Ruin the defense and bottom six, but fail to address our biggest issue then. It sucks Malkin, Crosby, and Letang played well this season only to miss the playoffs altogether.
As a Sharks fan, there are far worser fates Tree. At least you guys have something to look back to.
I'm still holding on to some hope. As long as Malkin and Sid are in the lineup, this team has a chance. This organization is a few moves away from getting back on track. Poulin, Pickering, Broz, Bloomquist, and their 1st rounder this year will be some well-added youth. It's just so odd at how many bad trades the pens made over the past few years.
The Sonic 2 music fits this too well lol
This hurts so good 🥹🥴😩😩😩😩
Mike Sullivan's not playing the young players? Then bring in more old guys! Bonino! Bonino! Bonino! Bonino! Bonino! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
It’s coincidence that you used Sonic music in this video as that franchise is notorious for its dark ages.
This team really sped up the dying when Mario sold the team. I grew up a fan of this team from 2007 up until 2018 when I converted to my hometown Canes. I loved Pittsburgh, but those 2 Cups really brought in such a toxic group of fans that it wasn't fun anymore. That and I saw the way this team was gonna die coming from a mile away so I figured I'd go ahead and save myself. It hurts though to see my old flame dying like this, I must admit. It just feels like the accountability left after Mario sold the Pens
You'd think the penguins would be smarter than hire an executive from a rival team especially when that team hasn't won a cup in 40 + years
LOL
Pittsburgh your time has ended just like my Detroit Red Wings in 2017. Welcome to the couch
Simpsons Hit & Run music? Banger video.
There's something to be said about this team post-2017, the way we went down that was highlighted perfectly in another comment.
The Red Wings went down sad, slow, depressingly over the course of 7 years. You want the sweet release of death? Have David Legwand, Daniel Alfredsson and a bunch of declining grit forwards first- your consolation prize? Watching Datsyuk and Zetterberg die before your very eyes.
Us though? Our death isn't only 10× as self-inflicted, it's EONS more comedic. Imagine explaining this without any context- "Yeah, it might be Sid and Geno's only healthy season together, so we better grab MIKAEL GRANLUND and get a handful of games out of Nick Bonino and Dmitry Kulikov."
What about Ty Smith? Ah real shocker there, he doesn't meet the team's 25-and-older rule yet, he's gotta wait a couple more years yet. We broke that rule with Marino, can't go being lenient just because.
Everything about those old Red Wings teams is here. Crosby is Datsyuk, Malkin is Zetterbert, Guentzel is Nyqvist, Rust is Abdelkader, Rakell is Athanaseou, Zucker is Alfredsson, and the bottom 6 is any collection of Dan Cleary, Riley Sheahan, Stephen Weiss, Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Thomas Jurčo or Johan Franzen.
Defense? What defense?
That's literally the exact team structure. The only difference is, you're not in the weakass 2015 Atlantic Division, you're in a bloodbath Eastern Conference that realistically boasts 13 teams that are either more talented, or more well-structured than we are.
This team better suck for a DECADE and blow it the hell up before we start talking about rebuilding and wasting more talent.
I don’t care what you say it’s literally all the goal tending. Yeah I mean they are an older team and the players skill might slack from time to time but how are the players supposed to play while feeling confident with desmith is net 90% of the time. Even when Jarry is there he isn’t any better. It’s just frustrating
Well… at least the pirates started well tree !
It was fun while it lasted, but eventually the payments on that Stanley Cup credit card were going to come due, here we are. I also like Mike Sullivan, but he was recently quoted as saying things aren't as bad as the media is making them out to be. Mike, they are indeed that bad, and worse. You haven't won a playoff series since 2018 and missed the playoffs altogether this year. Yes, things are bad. Sullivan sees things as he wants them to be and not how they actually are, which is why he has to go.
You still want Miles Wood, Tree?
Ah yes, the true hallmark of a dysfunctional franchise in the modern era: Giving up premium assets for enforcers
To make it even worse they had to bring in a former Flyer as GM to throw the final scoops of dirt.
It must have sucked to sacrifice monetization on this video for that montage of the dumb decisions by Hextall with the Toy Story 2 because of copyright, but I'd say it was 100% worth it because that montage was perfect and showcases the bad choices this team ad which led them to this point.
Being a Pens fan is painful right now.
Why almost everyone as a whole decided to move goal posts and say the Penguins made the playoffs in 2020 is beyond me
Now we need a video like this for the Capitals. Even though they saw a shorter playoff streak come to an end, they are in a similar boat with the Penguins. At least they accepted their fate sooner and started selling at the trade deadline. Hathaway and Orlov were sent to Boston. It'll be interesting to see what type of approach the two clubs take this off-season but I doubt either club can do much.