GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Jim Rutherford, Mike Johnston and their staffs escorted the Penguins into this 2015-16 NHL season with a plan that underscored depth: They'd roll four scoring lines, they'd split their stars on separate power-play units, they'd fan out their top defensemen, and they'd operate with a pack mentality, both in structure and scope.
And hey, let's not kid anyone: It sounded great. It still does, actually.
But just two games into the schedule, two serious problems have poked into view:
1. They're 0-2, this after the 2-1 loss Saturday night to the rebuilding Coyotes at Gila River Arena, as well as being blanked two nights earlier in Dallas. With the undefeated Canadiens and undefeated Senators coming to Consol Energy Center this week, there's a very real risk of a very ugly start.
2. Sorry, but they aren't that deep, at least not yet.
See this below?
That, my friends, is the sum total of the offense through two games.
It was Phil Kessel's first goal in a Pittsburgh sweater and a beauty at that, as he followed a one-handed strip of Arizona's Shane Doan in the neutral zone with a beeline to the net and a bullet by Mike Smith's stick side. But because it was unassisted -- and, more important, unmatched -- Kessel's marking in the goal column represents the only non-zero on the team's scoresheet to date.
And that might be pretty hard to explain, especially the part where neither Sidney Crosby nor Evgeni Malkin has produced squat.
Except that, honestly, I don't think it is.
The superstars have been quiet, especially Crosby in failing to record a shot through two games in addition to failing to create chances for others. When he's getting the puck, he's twirling once, not seeing much, then doing something ... well, strange with it. He doesn't look at all like himself. Malkin has been better, but zero plus zero still equals zero.
"It's two games," Crosby told me afterward. "I wouldn't get too caught up in anything after two games. We'll be better."
Both need to be far better, independent of all other context.
At the same time, there is other context, and most of that, to be blunt, falls on the coach's almost-beyond-belief forward lines and power-play sets.
How is it that Daniel Sprong, the team's top performer in the preseason and still among their most dangerous forwards, logged only 7:57 in this game and a mind-numbing 2:44 in the third period with the Penguins trailing throughout?
Seriously, what's the kid even doing here if he isn't allowed to help after powerfully demonstrating he's genuinely capable of helping?
Has Johnston really not picked up -- or worse, ignored -- the bad vibes all week from both Crosby and Malkin regarding being split on the power play?
If so, he'll want to click the play button below for a quick tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHxMsyqPaD4
Yikes.
How is it that it took Johnston a game and two periods to realize Sergei Plotnikov has no business -- certainly not yet -- on any NHL team's top six, much less alongside Malkin?
Who is Kevin Porter and why did he get 10:53 of ice -- four minutes more than Sprong -- including five shifts in the third period?
No, really, who is this guy?
What coach anywhere in the NHL opens a power play with Malkin and Patric Hornqvist on his bench -- their places taken by Chris Kunitz and David Perron -- then allows the first unit to stay on for an offensive-zone draw 37 seconds after the penalty, then doesn't send out Malkin's second unit until a ridiculous 1:36 has expired?
What could compel any sane coach to give Hornqvist, his fiercest competitor and a legit scoring threat, only 12:28 of ice?
I swear I'm not making that up. Hornqvist had the fourth-lowest ice time on the team. The only ones who played less were Sprong, Plotnikov and that Porter guy.
I'm also not making this up: Hornqvist led the Penguins with five shots, anyway.
Dave Tippett must have been howling right along with the Coyotes' capacity crowd.
The Coyotes' Jordan Martinook celebrates his first NHL goal Saturday night. -- GETTY