from Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Jim Rutherford looks around and sees a team in a slump. I look around and see Jim Rutherford in a slump.

If indeed team chemistry is whacked, as Rutherford suggested Wednesday, then I have to look at the master chemist first. If it’s simply a bad assemblage, I have to look at the guy who bought the parts.

It’s Rutherford’s team, and if he were a goal scorer, he’s finding the net about as often as his bottom six these days — although history tells us his touch could return at any moment. One of his great strengths as Penguins general manager has been the ability to identify his mistakes and correct them, often to astonishing results. Exhibit A: replacing Mike Johnston with Mike Sullivan....

This is a fragile situation, and in Rutherford’s words “a fragile team.”...

What is their identity now?

These Penguins are among the oldest teams in the league, and any team with Johnson and Olli Maatta representing a third of its defense is not going to win many sprinting contests.

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