Madden 'Tuesday': Why Penguins goalies are failing, Super Bowl fallout, Steelers 'nuclear winter'
Our “Madden Monday” podcast had to wait a day because of Mark Madden’s trip to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl.
Did Madden’s mini-vacation soften his recent harsh assessment of our three Pittsburgh sports teams, specifically the Steelers?
“They are one year away from nuclear winter, which is where the whole Pittsburgh sports scene is going to be soon enough,” Madden proclaimed.
I guess not. Nor should Madden back off that ledge. I agree with the “nuclear winter” analogy.
After all, I think we were all more concerned about living under a mushroom cloud in the 1980s. And, as I recently wrote in “Breakfast With Benz,” I feel like we are hopping into the DeLorean and dialing it back about 35 years when the Pittsburgh sports scene was really bleak.
Unfortunately, the Penguins’ choppy 5-5-1 start in 2021 is a big part of that equation. And as Madden tells us, look no further than the goaltending as a reason why.
“The goaltending is the worst in the league,” Madden said. “And it is the worst it has been since I don’t know when! Vincent Tremblay comes to mind.”
Tremblay was the goalie the Penguins played in 1983-84. That was the tank year for Mario Lemieux. He went 0-4 with an .830 save percentage and a 6.02 goals against average.
What’s causing the problem for top goalie Tristan Jarry? Maybe it’s the position coach. Madden sees some bad habits creeping into Jarry’s game that he also noticed with Matt Murray before he was traded to Ottawa this offseason. Namely, playing too deep in the net.
But the concern doesn’t stop there.
“Jarry used to be really good at poking the puck, like (Marc-Andre) Fleury was,” Madden explained. “Now he never pokes at all. They are being coached — when the puck is around the blue paint — to do what’s called a ‘VH.’ One pad vertical, one pad horizontal. And they don’t poke. They just try to take up the net.
“The goaltender still has to stop the puck. But it does make me wonder about the goaltending coach, Mike Buckley. In retrospect, they made a horrible move firing Mike Bales after winning cups. And then they went to Mike Buckley because he was Murray’s guy. The last thing they needed to do was give Murray his guy. Murray needed a kick in the (backside). Not a pat on the back. And Tristan Jarry, I don’t know if he can handle the burden of being a No. 1 goalie. You have to wonder about that.”
So now the question becomes, do the Penguins consider trading for a goalie? If so, is that a worthwhile mission given that the team is a long shot to make much of a run in the playoffs even with a better netminder?
“They should not bother for this season. They should find out exactly what they have in Jarry by letting him sink or swim,” Madden concluded.
Understood. But we all know where this conversation is going next, right?
“Pittsburgh, listen to me closely. They aren’t bringing Marc-Andre Fleury back,” Madden said.
Got it.
The exacerbating factor for the confusion surrounding this topic is the fact that the Penguins still need to replace Jim Rutherford as the general manager. And even the idea of trading for a new starting goalie feels like a “win now” move for a team that has limited assets to trade for future considerations.
That would be a risky proposition for a GM that’s thinking long term.
I asked Madden if he prefers a general manager who leans toward winning now versus one who hold his cards to use down the road.
“I want a guy who is going to walk the line between both,” Madden said. “And, honestly, I would not name a GM until season’s end. I would wait for (New Jersey interim general manager) Tom Fitzgerald. Or wait to see if (New York Rangers assistant general manager) Chris Drury would want to come in during the offseason.”
Throughout the rest of the podcast, Mark and I get into Steelers off-season conversation, Super Bowl fallout, Super Bowl chicken wings and the ongoing trauma endured by the city of Pittsburgh because T.J. Watt didn’t win NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
How will we ever persevere?
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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