Too Much Too Soon for the Penguins

It was simply a case of too much, too soon for the Pittsburgh Penguins in this year’s NHL playoffs. The team improved tremendously over the past year going from missing the playoffs to a 105 point season and 23 games over 500. However, as far as the post season is concerned going from one of the worst to one of the best teams overnight is often the kiss of death.

The Penguins are stacked with excellent young talent in every position, with Marc Andre Fleury in net, Ryan Whitney on defence, Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Christensen, and Sidney Crosby up front. They also have a mixture of experience and toughness with Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar, and Georges Laraque. However, while the Penguins are loaded with young talent, most of them are players without any NHL playoff experience, and it definitely showed against Ottawa.

In fact, the Senators are a prime example of a youthful team with an abundance of playoff experience. Ottawa is the fourth youngest team in the league, but the players combine for a wealth of post season games between them. This is the type of team the Penguins will eventually turn into over the next few seasons. They may win a few series along the way, but it will probably also come with some heartbreak as well. The youngsters will eventually learn that playoff hockey is a lot different than the regular season. This is especially true this year with the playoffs having a very nasty aura about them. The teams tighten up and a lot of the free-wheeling Penguins found they didn’t have much room to move and react on the ice.

Of course, this is the new NHL and it seems like any one of the 30 teams could win the Cup when the season starts and I may end up with egg on my face next year. However, it took Ottawa a few seasons of getting an annual ass-kicking from the Toronto Maple Leafs to finally put things together in the playoffs, and this is likely going to be the situation with the Penguins as well