Local Triblive.com writer Josh Yohe writes, Penguins' Malkin: 'We're not a championship team'. Even though the headline suggests that there is some anger, Malkin simply explains that, "If we lose, we’re not a championship team. We’re not (the) team to win it. It’s the first round, 4-to-1. It’s not good enough." He's upset, but he is also just stating the obvious for what occurred this season.

Ron Cook from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette adds in his column Ron Cook: Injuries, illness put Penguins at disadvantage. In it, he goes through the list of player injuries. Kris Letang and Christian Ehrhoff were each out with concussions, while Pascal Dupuis was sidelined with a blood clot and Olli Maatta out with a shoulder injury.

They could have changed things, but as Rob Scuderi was quoted, "Are we a better team with those guys? Sure, we are. But that's not the hand we were dealt with. That's hockey, sometimes."

Cook looks at the performances of Crosby and Malkin, pointing out, "[They] didn't do nearly enough to help their cause. When a team is paying two players at the same position such a high percentage of the salary cap, those players have to be transcendent. Crosby was OK. Malkin was mostly awful."

A bad back might be the reason why Malkin was so ineffective. In Yohe's article, Malkin denied the severity of the injury, saying at first "I (don't) have an injury," and then, "I have a couple of small injuries, but it's not a big one."

Then there is the article Rossi: Crosby, Malkin didn't sign up for this by Rob Rossi of TribLive.com. He feels that the real reason for the failure is from the dysfunction from within the organization. He feels that both Crosby and Malkin are tired, that they unhappy, and "[They've] lost faith in the direction of the franchise."

Rossi goes on, "The organization has degenerated into a toxic mix of a dysfunctional hockey operations department and a business side too occupied with selling youth hockey than winning and scoring," and "The winning and scoring dipped. By no coincidence, so did the TV ratings."

His real issue is that Crosby and Malkin have not been playing with a good enough supporting cast, and the two of them can't do it all by themselves. In fact, he hints that one (likely Malkin) will want to leave the Penguins.

We will take a look at two things: Their teammates, and the Crosby-Malkin paring.

Their teammates:

These rosters were based on several pre-season lists of anticipated lines from The Hockey News guides. By no means are they accurate for what occurred during the season. It just gives you a glimpse as to what kind of players surrounded Crosby and Malkin. It also does not include the defense.

Early on, it was mostly old veterans that were plugged in here and there. They were past their primes, but they still had some talent and could deflect a bit the pressure and eyes of the opposition away from Crosby and Malkin.

Then the team weaned away from the vets. It was made a bit easier when they had Jordan Staal. However, they never won the Stanley Cup after 2009.

One of their biggest mistakes was not acquiring much for Staal. They could not sign him and were forced to deal him to get anything in return instead of losing him for nothing.

There was an opportunity before that period where they could have used trading Staal (or Malkin) to fill the roster with much-needed personnel at the wings or on defense. Decisions were made, which resulted in the current path that they have travelled.

The Crosby-Malkin paring statistics:

(* – Stanley Cup, ** – shortened season)

My first observation is that the only time they actually reinforced each other statistically was in their Stanley Cup winning season. I do notice that the one does better statistically when the other (doesn't matter which one) misses many games due to injury.

Their combined point per game (PPG) has been 1.23 or better until this last season, but as a combo they have missed a lot of games. Teams need their stars in the lineup.

More importantly though, there can only be one rooster in the henhouse.

I am not saying that Crosby and Malkin are fighting or that they hate each other. Leaders like them need to be "the leader" of their team. That cannot be done with both of them occupying the same dressing room.

Some will refer to the Wayne Gretzky-Mark Messier combo, but they were different players, and Messier was led by Gretzky. With Crosby and Malkin, you have two similarly styled players, and even though Crosby is the team leader, one can't help but wonder if Malkin wishes that it was himself instead.

I'm not suggesting that either player is selfish or greedy. It is natural to want to be in charge, especially if you have been expected to be all through your career.

It is time that Pittsburgh does what Rossi suggests at the beginning of his column, "So even though the Penguins don't want to end the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era, I'm not sure they're going to have a choice in the matter."

Stop hiding behind injuries and bad hockey luck. It is time to clear the henhouse. Let Crosby be the Penguin in Pittsburgh, and let Malkin be the big bird in another city.

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