Kipper : Blackhawks Just Accomplished What Many Predicted Of The #Pens Back In 2006

Ray Shero was hired, Evgeni Malkin was sneaking out of Russia at 3am to the safe haven of Los Angeles, the Pittsburgh Pengui9ns had the #1 overall pick in the draft.. The media started predicting by the end of that Offseason that the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to be the next dynasty in the NHL. The next Edmonton Oilers or early 1980's New york Islanders. The Pens were stacked with young talent that was going to get the chance to grow together.
Seven years later, the Pittsburgh Penguins haven't managed to win 2 Stanley Cups with this generation of talent, to match their 1990's predecessors.
The Chicago Blackhawks just did.
The Blackhawks are no slouches either. They obtained a lot of top end talent through the draft by being terrible like the Pens had and were gifted Jonathan Toews who the Pens should've drafted. however, the Blackhawks have now won 2 Stanley Cups since the Pens won their last Cup. The dynasty talk now starts with Chicago. Credit for the Blackhawks starts up top with their GM's - Dale Tallon and then their current GM Stan Bowman who has good hockey genes in him already being the son of Scotty Bowman. They built and constructed winners. Their owner hands them the keys to the shop and they do the building. the players, the coaching staff - it's all their decisions. The very things that the common fan complains about is controlled by the GM. Nobody has done a better job in the NHL since the 2004-05 Lockout than the Blackhawks GM's.
This the expectation I have for the Pittsburgh Penguins who should've won at least 2 Cups so far and haven't. They've underachieved for a myriad of reasons and most of the failures start up top with the GM. Don't like the coaching staff? They don't need to be here. That's the GM's decision. You don't like this player? That's the decision of the GM. The Blackhawks are being constructed to win Stanley Cups and the Pittsburgh Penguins are becoming the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks. Great Regular Season teams that fail in the playoffs. the expectations for the Pens are higher and should be higher. For everything that the Chicago Blackhawks are, they don't possess 2 of the Top 3 players in the NHL (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) but they're accomplishing more in spite of that.
As Pittsburgh Penguins we enter each season with high expectations. There's such a safe bubble surrounding GM Ray Shero that the Pittsburgh Penguins without questioning become perennial favorites to win the Stanley Cup each October. That should change in October 2014. The Pittsburgh Penguins should be going from favorites to a team that is getting known for choking in the Playoffs. Like San Jose, people want them to win the Cup, even get to the Finals, they see the talent on the paper but are generally smart enough to know that they choke too much to cast anything beyond playoff failure for them. The Pittsburgh Penguins have just entered that territory. the perennial favorites have now become underdogs. will becoming underdogs help the Pittsburgh Penguins? do they have enough revenge in them to get them over the hump. That sour taste in their mouth they had after getting beaten badly in the 2007 Playoffs, that was used to get to the 2008 Finals? That sour taste of losing in the Finals in 2008 they used to get back and win it all in 2009? Is that hunger there?
Perhaps taking the pressure off their shoulders of being constant favorites will help the Pittsburgh Penguins, well until the next Trade Deadline when they go on another shopping spree that nets a lack of results.
What is known right now is that the Chicago Blackhawks have earned the right to be the NHL's darlings by winning 2 Stanley Cups in this era. They've earned by being able to dominate the Regular Season and the Playoffs. They've earned all of the things Pittsburgh Penguins fans expect the Pens to earn and have earned. Perhaps it will happen next year, but until then, as fans we have to accept that the hype that has surrounded this era's Pittsburgh Penguins, has been replaced by the Chicago Blackhawks actual achievements.