It is almost December and nothing seems to be going right for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Blown leads and goalie woes have been the story of their season so far and nothing appears to be changing anytime soon. They are sorely lacking any form of on-ice communication, especially from some of their top players.
Erik Karlsson
Erik Karlsson joined the Penguins last summer after general manager Kyle Dubas pulled off a pretty impressive three-team trade involving the Montreal Canadiens and San Jose Sharks. He was coming off a Norris Trophy-winning season with the Sharks where he finished with 101 points in 82 games. Last season, it seemed like he never fully settled in with the Penguins and finished with 56 points in 82 games. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t as good as Pittsburgh expected him to be.
Karlsson’s bar was set pretty high heading into this season, and so far he has not lived up to expectations. In 23 games he has two goals and ten assists, and when it comes to five-on-five play, his goals-against average (GAA) is 3.98. This is the third highest among Penguins’ defensemen. In Pittsburgh’s 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 7, their second defensive pairing made up of Karlsson and Marcus Pettersson was on the ice for Carolina’s first three goals.
Karlsson looked extremely slow against the Hurricanes and completely off his game. Obviously, missing training camp and the preseason due to an upper-body injury was not ideal, but the Penguins desperately need him to get better.
Kris Letang
Karlsson has not been the only struggling defenseman for Pittsburgh. Kris Letang has also had a pretty rough start to the season. In 20 games, he has two goals and four assists. One of his worst performances so far came on Nov. 11 in the 7-1 loss to the Dallas Stars. He was on the ice for five of the Stars’ six goals in the first period. He was a minus-4 against Dallas and his minus-12 on the season is the third worst among defensemen. He also currently ranks last among defensemen for shots blocked per game with a .8.
Letang has been getting beat defensively all season, and his offensive production has been close to non-existent. Between last season and this season, he has been paired with Ryan Graves and Matt Grzelcyk, which has not helped his performance at all. He has also had struggles with his health over the last couple seasons, and it may be that Father Time is finally catching up to him. With the second half of the season looming, Pittsburgh needs him to find some consistency.
Tristan Jarry
Tristan Jarry is probably having the worst start to the season out of all of his teammates. After going 1-1-0 in his first three starts with a 5.47 GAA and a .836 save percentage (SV%) he was sent down to the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He made his return to the NHL on Nov. 15 in the Penguins’ 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He seemed unable to make a save against Columbus and gave up a goal on the first shot he faced. He looked decent against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 19 until he gave up the goal in overtime and dealt the Penguins yet another loss.
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Jarry was signed to a five-year contract last summer that has an average annual value (AAV) of $5.3 million. Pittsburgh has a long list of problems, but their starting goaltender is probably their biggest one.
Can the Penguins Turn Things Around?
It is not likely. Pittsburgh has completely self-destructed throughout the month of November, and Dubas has his work cut out for him. He will no doubt be making changes, but how much longer will he wait to do so?
