Penguins Regular Season Recap + Playoff Outlook

If you're an NHL fan and your best friend isn't a volleyball named Wilson, you've heard the news by now. The NHL regular season has officially come to an end and with it came the 24-team "playoff" format the league will use to decide it's champion should play resume. There are still plenty of hurdles yet to clear in order for this to actually happen but I'm going to make like Ricky and choose to be an optometrist instead of a pessimist on this one. Let's take a quick look back on the highlights of yet another roller coaster season in Pittsburgh, opine on the latest NHL news, and end with a way-too-early prediction if (ahem, when) the the puck drops for playoffs.

PENS 2019 - 2020 REGULAR SEASON - HIGHS AND LOWS

• EXPECTATIONS: The Penguins began the season with tempered expectations everywhere outside of Pittsburgh, the 12th-best Cup contender according to Vegas at +2000. Yinzers won't like it but that's the reality of having the majority of your core on the wrong side of 30 following an uninspiring sweep in Round 1 to the Islanders the previous year. Still, the Pens managed to do what they always do and hang around the upper half of an impossibly loaded Metropolitan Division for the majority of the year.

• IN SULLY WE TRUST: The perception of an NHL head coach is a fickle beast, and I certainly have my occasional gripe, but look elsewhere if you expect me to nitpick Mike Sullivan. Injuries were the story of the year, a refrain that has been all-too-common with this team in the Crosby / Malkin era. By the time corona stuck it's nuts in your face, the Penguins were Top 3 in Man Games Lost in almost every meaningful category. This included extended absences of nearly every impact player (Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel, Letang, Dumoluin, Rust, Hornqvist and Schultz all missed double digit games). No matter - the team played a gutty and disciplined game on most nights, finding themselves sniffing 1st place in mid February before going on a bit of a skid as they got healthy (to the surprise of no one). Every team thinks their guy is a Jack Adams no-brainer, so I'll simply say shame on the NHL if Sully isn't at least a finalist. Nobody gets more out of less than he does when the injury bug bites.

• GOALIES: Speaking of job security, how'd you like to be a goalie in the NHL? Despite already having two Cups by the time his parents kicked him off their cell phone plan, Matt Murray yet again found himself the object of fan ire following a slow start to the year. The criticism wasn't entirely unwarranted. Murray posted sub-.900 save percentages far too often and gave up four (4) or more goals in nearly a third of his starts (11 / 38). Meanwhile, Tristan Jarry was having his coming out party. Jarry the Cat frequently bailed out AHL level defenses in front of him and was a huge part of the Penguins stacking wins when Murray was battling poor play or injury. He eventually took over the starting job, but came back to earth a bit and by the time March came around was probably considered 1B to Murray's 1A. We'll see what happens come playoff time given the hot/cold nature of NHL goalies, but here's betting Sully goes with Murray which is probably the right decision. Murray has been shaky throughout his career, but has yet to cost the Penguins a playoff series and will likely be up to the task. Regardless, the situation will be interesting to monitor as both are RFAs next year.

POSTSEASON FORMAT THOUGHTS

• COVID-19 has put the NHL and the rest of the major sports leagues in preposterously unprecedented circumstances. While the MLB / NBA play grab-ass and the NFL does it's best "This Is Fine" impression of that dog meme, the NHL has quietly attempted to get it's shit together. I know I'm not the first to say it, but man what an incredible opportunity for an under-marketed and overlooked league to be front and center on the world stage. The NHL has Step 1 complete, which is more than the other leagues can say. That step of course is figuring out the science of postseason formatting and securing approval from the players. You're never going to please everyone, so I'm not going to force a hot take criticism on things like re-seeding. That column has been written a thousand times and is for another day. The bottom line is the NHL needed a way to assign value to the season that had been already been played. This means including teams who still had mathematical chances of making the playoffs while rewarding those who led their divisions. This format accomplishes most of that, so fine. 24 teams, Top 4 in each Conference seeded via round robin, and the rest play to advance. Good enough - now let's name those Hub cities!

CANADIENS vs. PENS IN PLAY-IN ROUND

• Fair as the formatting may be, most would agree the Penguins received a dicey draw. Any NHL playoff series is brutal, but a quick best-of-five against one of the most talented goaltenders in the league leaves them more vulnerable than they'd like. Me and everyone else with a 412 / 724 area code still have nightmares of the last time the two teams met in 2010, when the Guins were properly Halak'd in a seven game upset. Price hasn't been his best this year, posting a modest .909 save percentage alongside a 27-25 record, but fair to say the talent in front of him hasn't been exactly lights out. More detailed analysis on this series as plans formalize, but initial gut feeling is Pens in a tight five (5) games. I reserve the right to change my mind in a month after 4 more Penguins go on IR. Non-Pens fans are rolling their eyes, but the team literally just announced two more players were done for the year. To be fair, Dom Simon's surgery had to wait due to COVID, but Nick Bjugstad's run of hilariously bad luck continues. We barely knew thee. At least Guentzel could be back!

That's all for now. Next is proceeding to Get Down on My Knees and Start Pleasin' Jesus, so that He may return hockey to us this season. I suggest you do the same, I'm ready to hate those French Canadian bastards again. Va te faire foutre!