Pittsburgh Penguins: Three Major Differences Between Last Year And This Year

June 22, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero announces the Penguins first round draft choice in the 2012 NHL Draft at CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

NOT Making Trades

There may have been no greater hindrance to the Penguins’ playoff run last year than the players they added. At the trade deadline of last year, the Penguins, smelling blood in the water so to speak, picked up two former captains (Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow), one other forward (Jokinen) and a behemoth named Douglas Murray to play defense.

These trades were as widely praised as any and they were pure examples of another organization being ignorant to the importance of chemistry. There have been statistics and graphs riddled throughout this piece, but there are none that measure chemistry.

That may be why people undervalue it so often, but it assuredly has a profound impact on a team; especially in hockey where there are several different lines and defensive pairings that all need to work on their own separate rhythms as well as a chemistry that exists within the whole team.

Not that all of the pick-ups performed poorly in their time in Pittsburgh. Iginla and Jokinen both did pretty well, but their assimilation into the locker room can’t be ignored. It is almost impossible that there were no issues trying to mold their personalities to the other 19 players who had been together all year.

Hindsight is 20/20. I was just as excited as anyone to find out about the trades after they were first announced, but looking back at them, they don’t make much sense. None of the players acquired, aside from Jokinen, fit into the Penguins offense well at all.

Iginla was even forced to move to left wing when he had played right wing for the previous 16 years of his career. Everyone was too caught up in the excitement at the time to suggest the front office was trying to fix something that wasn’t broken.

The trade deadline this year is fast approaching, and there have been rumors about the Penguins, but perhaps it would be for the best that they don’t make any moves.

Related: Is it feasible for the Penguins to acquire Ryan Kesler?

Pittsburgh has done enough in the early months of the season and maybe trusting “your guys” is the best method. There are still concerns carried over from last year about this Penguins team pertaining to goaltending and coach Dan Bylsma, who didn’t help his argument as the United States coach at the Olympics.

But, the moves that management has made so far seem to have been the right ones, and they just might be enough.

Grant is a staff writer for City of Champions. Follow him on Twitter.