I’ve stood idly by long enough. I don’t remember where I saw this last, but there’s something that needs to STOP—and stop immediately. Recently, every time we see a team go through the rebuilding process, we hear how they’re going to “start building from within like the Penguins.” I’ll here columnists, bloggers and executives alike say things like “look how successful you can be if you start a rebuild” and “the Penguins used this model to win the Stanley Cup.” Somehow, they’re implying that every rebuild is going to be like the Pittsburgh Penguins. Finally, I’ve had enough. Stop. The Penguins are a different animal—and I’m surprised that I actually have to explain this.
At least he brought them Kunitz and Tangradi, right?
I think the glow of two straight Stanley Cup final appearances have made people forget just how badly the Penguins sucked. Not only were they a God awful excuse for an NHL team, but they were a God awful excuse for an extended period of time. They were so bad that they were having trouble getting people to go to the arena. They were having a hard time finding funding for a desperately needed new arena. And they were having such a hard time finding an alternative to Jim Balsillie, Mario Lemieux had to step in and save the franchise from becoming the Hamilton Blackberries.
Of course, that’s all long since forgotten. Instead of thinking about the Steelers OTA’s and the Pirates mid-season, June has turned into a time when people from Pittsburgh start to daydream about parade routes. Their poster boy is all over NHL Network commercials and their best player wins scoring titles (no, they were not the same person last season). This last post-season, some even thought that there was a passing of the torch: from the Red Wings dynasty to the impending Penguins dynasty. They’re even compared to the 1980’s Edmonton Oilers—the blasphemy!
I hate to pour cold water on fantasies in St. Louis, Phoenix and LA, but none of the teams that are rebuilding right now are going to be anything like the Pittsburgh Penguins. It has nothing to do with the rebuilding job that the teams are doing though. No, it has more to do with the circumstances that went into the Penguins building THEIR team.
People forget, but the Penguins had the #1 overall pick in the draft twice, the #2 overall pick twice and the #5 pick in the draft in five successive years. The Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets have only had the #1 overall pick in their their entire history (1981 Dale Hawerchuk). Hell, the Kings have NEVER had a #1 overall pick in 43 years of existence! But wait, there’s more. Look at how those drafts happened to shake out:
2002: Ryan Whitney—the best purse holding defenseman in the league! At least he was able to land them Chris Kunitz and their best current prospect, Eric Tangradi.
2003: Marc-Andre Fleury—In one of the best drafts of the last 20 years, the Penguins were able to select 1st overall.
2004: Evgeni Malkin—In a year that there were only 2 truly elite prospects, of course they had one of them.
2005: Sidney Crosby—People had been talking about Crosby for YEARS before he was able to be drafted. As luck would have it, the lockout season meant that there would be a lottery to determine draft positioning (and the right to draft Sidney Crosby). As if the rich needed to get richer.
2006: Jordan Staal—All of those high draft picks were already in the league, but they weren’t quite playing at the level that they needed to for the Penguins to win very many games. Yet again, they were picking before 28 other teams were selecting.
If the Penguins could go back, would they still pick Jordan Staal #2 overall in 2006?
Let’s put 2006 in perspective. The two prior years they selected Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. In the 2006 draft, they were in the position to pass on guys like Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom and Phil Kessel. I’m sure they were pissed that they couldn’t pick Erik Johnson. Look at that 4 year period—the only 2 people that were drafted before the Penguins were able to pick were Alexander Ovechkin in 2004 and Erik Johnson in 2006. Aside from those two guys, they were able to pick ANYONE THEY WANTED for FOUR straight years. That’s a hell of a string of fantastic luck combined with some shitty teams.
You know, when I start a team, I think I’m going to follow the exact same model to build my team into a Stanley Cup Contender. I want my team to be strong down the middle—so I’m going to arrange to select 3 centers with nothing less than a #2 overall pick. I know that goaltending is important in the playoffs, so I’m going to select a future franchise goaltender with the #1 overall pick in the draft. Then I’m going to select a defenseman with the #5 overall pick so my fan base has a whipping boy until he’s finally traded.
This is exactly my point. No team that’s building their squad is going to have a string of high draft picks like that—EVER. If a team is that bad for that extended period of time, no one would go to the games! After all, that’s what happened in Pittsburgh…
If organizations say that they are building from the ground up, then fine. It truly is the best way to build a team. Draft your own talent, cultivate it within juniors and the AHL and then watch them flourish when you put them in a position to succeed. That’s the formula that the Red Wings have been using for years and it’s working out pretty well.
Teams just need to stop saying that they’re forming a team like the Penguins. Nobody is rebuilding like the Pens, they just wish they were…
