The Penguins scoring problems are a massive problem

This is something I have talked about before and mentioned a lot on my twitter stream. The Penguins offence is pitiful right now to say the least and it is the third worst through 17 games in franchise history. The fact that an offence with Crosby, Malkin and Kessel is able to be coached to such low totals is a big worry. If a team with that amount of talent struggles it is usually just a rut but the Penguins have had a continual problem which has stretched back to December last year.

Mike Johnston runs a defence first policy and looks to play it out of the back with quick passes, often two line ones. With the  Penguins personnel this isn't a wise choice. Right now Kris Letang is struggling and creating turnovers regularly. Outside of him Lovejoy, Cole and Scuderi are not puck playing defencemen. I'd barely class Scuderi as a player right now. Their CF% is illustrated below and it isn't pretty.

Lovejoy and Scuderi's CF%. Game 4 against Ottawa Scuderi didn't play.

The Penguins traded away one player who used to be a good puck player in Despres. They also have one sitting in Wilkes-Barre Scranton in Pouliot. Not to mention Clendening who is currently getting splinters sitting on the bench. The Penguins have a chance to make a few adjustments to see what the effect is and they should try them before making drastic decisions. Being honest though, I think it is the system more than anything that has led us here.

The Penguins are not entertaining to watch right now. Crosby currently has just 9 points in the first 17 games which is his worst start to a season. Something like that would have been completely unthinkable two months ago. Evgeni Malkin has bust a guy in numerous games to try and lead the team but he too is struggling. Phil Kessel has played well since being traded from Toronto but a sniper can't be expected to carry a team, look at James Neal.

The team that the Penguins built over the summer was continual lauded for the depth they had added. They brought Plotnikov over from Russia and appear to be scared of letting him play having scratched him in 6 games so far this season. There were signs of problems with Kunitz's game last year but he hasn't had his minutes reduced and it has left the Penguins relying on an ageing Dupuis, coming back from a blood clot, to lead the first line.

Just to show how bad the  Penguins scoring is, below is a table of a number of players alongside their current production. I've used their pace to get a full season total and compared that to see where it ranks in their career in terms of season.

I don't think that Johnston will be fired for a while. It was mentioned by DK that Rutherford hasn't been happy with the Penguins product recently though. So, maybe another couple of losses and a few more low scoring team efforts would get him the can?