Every week there are minor moves and stories around the National Hockey League that tend to fall through the cracks. Consider this our weekly roundup of those stories from the previous week, all wrapped up in one neat little package.Right about now, it seems like an eternity since Petr Sykora ended game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals in the third overtime, capping off one of the classic moments in Penguins history. At that point, everything was roses in Pittsburgh, presumably because the team was two wins shy of potentially claiming its third Stanley Cup.
What a difference a few months makes.
Here we are, ready to turn the calendar over to 2009, and everything seems to be coming apart for the flightless birds. We've already talked about the month-long slump the Penguins have been in, and following last night's loss to Boston, the team held a players only meeting. Here's what head coach Michel Therrien had to say on the topic: "it's about time they had a meeting ... I'm anxious to see what's going to come out of this."
Yeah, Michel, so are we. The most troubling thing to come out of Therrien's post-game presser was the comment that some guys are more concerned about "personal agendas," and not the team concept, which is a complete 180 from what we saw a season ago. Ouch.
So, is this team just not as good as we thought? Underachieving? Simply in a slump? Honestly, it's probably a combination of all three right now.
