You are viewing the chat in desktop mode. Click here to switch to mobile view.
X
Matt Vensel's Penguins chat: 11.22.24
powered byJotCast
Matt Vensel
11:01
Good morning, Penguins fans. Looking forward to talking hockey with you again today. We will get started at noon. I see the queue is already filling up with questions, so be sure to get yours in ASAP.
Sam
12:01
Matt, thank you for being available to chat with an angry Penguins fan base the morning after the entire city is furious over another inexcusable Steelers loss.  I'm sure we the chatters are very level headed today.  I can't fathom that the Penguins have more blown multi-goal leads this year than they have total victories.  I know they haven't all ended in losses, but where does most of the blame go?  Is it the players, the goaltending, Sullivan saying just keep playing the same way?  If you even convert 3 of the 5 losses after leading by 2+ to wins, you're sitting in a playoff spot at the moment in a not so deep Eastern Conference.
Matt Vensel
12:05
Sam, thanks for the question. Happy to give Pittsburghers something else to complain about for a few minutes before aiming their ire back to the Steelers. Haha. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. Maybe some folks don't want to hear that, but it's true. As a reporter covering this mess right now, there are so many issues that it feels a little pointless drilling down to something specific, such as net front defense. But when you zoom out and look at the team, are they doing anything well right now? The PK was doing OK but has slipped recently. Some individuals such as Owen Pickering have had good moments. Is there anything else to feel good about? But the big issue right now is obviously the blown leads, which Kyle Dubas vented about on his radio show the other day. That's a great place to start.
epiballo
12:06
The Penguins giving up a lead in the third period is not new; it has been happening for a few years now. A simple question: why?
Matt Vensel
12:12
No, it is not new. The Penguins for much of Mike Sullivan's tenure were statistically one of the NHL's best teams at winning when leading after two periods. And then there were lapses in the previous two years, but nothing like this. I still can't believe it even though I have typed it about 20 times now, but they have blown multi-goal leads in eight of their last 15 games. How can this be possible? Well, to start, the Penguins are point-blank the league's worst defensive team. It's not like the lapses are limited to the final 10 minutes of the game. On top of that, Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic have really struggled in the third period and in OT and shootouts. There is an aspect of individual players not bearing down and staying on the defensive side of the puck. But the bigger issue is that it is clear the Penguins are in their own heads right now. They are a fragile team. Some of them have admitted to thinking "Here we go again" when they get up on teams. Add it all up, and you this is what you get.
Paul
12:13
The Penguins do have multiple problems but most stem from lack of defensive play. Nothing against Karlson but why not sit him for a few games just to help the team have better defensive play? I'm not into setting examples or sending messages, this is just what they need to do to win some hockey games.
Matt Vensel
12:15
Paul, I understand what you are saying here with Erik Karlsson. The counterargument is that the Penguins desperately need wins and have no choice but to stick with their best players right now and simply hope they play better. I am thankful that it is not my job to make those decisions, though I would certainly appreciate the seven-figure salary now that I have started buying Christmas presents for my two kids.
Joe
12:16
Matt, please explain to me why Mike Sullivan is immune from being fired after 6 years of failure, including what’s shaping up to be the third year of missing the playoffs. And please don’t tell me it’s because FSG loves him.
Matt Vensel
12:16
Obviously, what the owners want matters, Joe. Don't be naïve.
Keemosawbee
12:17
Do you agree with Jason Mackey that there needs to be a coaching change?
Matt Vensel
12:21
As a reporter, it's not my job to make those kinds of declarations. Jason is a columnist who is paid to share his opinions, and I know he did not write what he wrote about Sullivan without giving it a ton of thought. My job is to report the facts and provide context on what is going on around the team. I can point out facts like the Penguins haven't won a playoff series in my seven years on the beat, or that their record has gotten worse in each of the last three years, or that the Penguins have the league's highest goals against total and goal differential this season. It's up to you guys to formulate your own opinions with that information.
Kris Peterinelli
12:22
Matt, who from the current roster is on this team for opening night in October 2025?
Matt Vensel
12:26
Hey, Kris. Welcome back. I actually did that exercise last fall, projecting the future roster, and holy smokes does it look bad today! Please delete it from the internet. Thanks. In my defense, it was early last season and the Penguins had just made all those win-now moves. Few could have predicted that they would pivot into a rebuild (or whatever the Penguins want to call this) so quickly. For me, the true 2025 roster locks might only be Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Rutger McGroarty and Joel Blomqvist. There is at least a sliver of uncertainty with everyone else, whether they are free agents, deadline trade bait or a long-time Penguin who might be ready to waive a NMC.
Kris Peterinelli
12:27
Do you think the fanbase will tolerate a true rebuild given it's history of abandoning a bad team?  And isn't this the real reason why ownership and management are smart enough to know not to blatantly call out "we are in a rebuild folks".  I read all these comments about it, but at my advanced age I know that yinzers don't have any patience for something that will take close to a decade to achieve.  So the marketing tool is "Retool with the Big 3".....
Matt Vensel
12:33
I think it is a fair question, Kris, and we are probably going to see whether this is a fair-weather fan base here in the next few years. But I do think there will be support for a true rebuild going forward under a couple of conditions. One, I think the Penguins need to be open and transparent about what they are doing and where they are headed. Kyle Dubas has not exactly been direct about that publicly, perhaps because he has to be careful with how he messages things out of respect to guys like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But, if you've followed along closely, I do think through his moves and some of his public comments that Dubas has signaled his intentions to rebuild. And two, they have to bring in young players worth getting excited about. This season I have heard fans make comparisons to the X Generation Penguins, but beyond Fleury, there wasn't really anyone else there generating hope. If the Penguins are able to pile up some quality prospects, I think fans will come out to see them grow.
East End Joe
12:34
Were you surprised about the comments earlier this week about Karlsson being on the Swedish team for the upcoming international tourney? I'm wondering how hard that hit him.
Matt Vensel
12:35
Only in the sense that people inside hockey don't often come out and speak candidly. But what former Sweden coach Johan Garpenlov said about Karlsson being a liability on defense is no different than what some of you are saying right now in this chat. Haha
Jason
12:36
Can we just bring back Disco Dan? Say what you want but that was a very entertaining few years with him behind the bench.
Matt Vensel
12:37
Dan Bylsma is currently the head coach for the Seattle Kraken, so presumably they would have something to say about that.
Guest
12:38
I don’t understand Mike Sullivan, but I’m not a professional coach, so maybe it’s me.  To me, Puljujarvi has been one of the better wingers on the team.  He seems to forecheck and backcheck and plays with speed.  Why did Sullivan only give him 13 shifts and just over 10 minutes of ice time?  Am I not seeing some aspect of Puljujarvi’s game.  I would be putting him on the top line with Sid… but he continues to get some of the lowest ice time on the team. He plays in the 1st and 2nd periods, but not so
Matt Vensel
12:42
Jesse Puljujarvi has become a polarizing player in Pittsburgh. It seems like every year the fan base fixates on a bottom-of-the-lineup type player and argues about whether he is being misused. What Sullivan has said about Puljujarvi is that they want him to be more responsible defensively, stay on the right side of the puck, etc. Right or wrong, that has been the explanation from his coach. From my vantage point, Puljujarvi has been a streaky player offensively. Perhaps that's in part due to the limited ice time you are referring to. Another factor with the TOI is that he doesn't play special teams every night. So that cuts into his playing time. Anyway, my simple, high-level thought is that, yes, Puljujarvi deserves to be in the lineup and being on the third line is appropriate. The trio of him, Drew O'Connor and Sam Poulin have actually been pretty good and are forging an identity in the cycle game. I would keep the three of them together and see where it goes.
epiballo
12:44
There is so little to be excited about this Penguins team, or reason to think they can turn it around. Is the season already lost?
Matt Vensel
12:46
Last question for today. The season is not lost yet, but it could be before Christmas. I wrote at the start of this week that the Penguins were entering a make-or-break stretch with 10 games against a bunch of good opponents. They blew the first one Tuesday against Tampa. The Penguins need to get it together and produce better performance and results over this stretch. If they don't, they will be in too deep of a hole to climb out of without divine intervention from the hockey gods. And more poor play might also encourage Dubas to start selling off more veterans and begin to bring up Rutger McGroarty and others. So, yeah, couple of big games coming up for them this weekend.
12:48
And that will do it again for today's chat. Thanks for all the questions. We might take a break from the chat next week given the Thanksgiving holiday and my travel to Boston. But you can always shoot me a question at mvensel@-post-gazette.com. Enjoy the turkey, everyone!
Connecting…