Mark Madden: Penguins remain stuck in the past, too stubborn to see what they are

After the Pittsburgh Penguins lost at home to Carolina last Friday, coach Mike Sullivan and center Lars Eller bemoaned what they considered a subpar effort.

There was nothing exceptionally wrong with the effort. The Penguins are slow.

The Penguins aren’t slumping. They’re bad.

You would have to be delusional not to see it. But the Penguins are good at fooling themselves.

Perhaps president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas isn’t. But iconic superstars and a plethora of no-movement clauses means Dubas has to let this play out. You can release yourself, but the only way is down.

The Penguins have the worst defense and goaltending in the franchise’s recent history. They don’t have enough legit top-six forwards.

Those deficiencies are exacerbated by insistence on playing a speed-based, attack-first system that puts them at the mercy of faster foes like Edmonton, which figures to fricassee the Penguins on Friday night.

That’s the NHL’s style. Most games are a 60-minute series of sprints.

But if you can’t do it, don’t do it. Fat kids don’t run the 100-meter dash. Try the shot put.

Go against the grain. Play slower and more structured. Emphasize hockey IQ.

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But the Penguins don’t want to do that. The coach doesn’t. The players don’t. The Penguins doggedly cling to a style that has passed them by. Like skaters on the opposition.

For example: The defensemen pinch and activate constantly. It’s at the core of the Penguins’ system. Score and situation rarely figure into it. Personnel doesn’t, either. One size fits all.

But their method of pinching is too often flawed. Too much puck, not enough body. That’s what causes the plethora of odd-man breaks the Penguins surrender nightly.

Their activation stinks, too. Except for Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson, the Penguins defenseman won’t do much via getting involved with the attack. When Ryan Graves handles the puck, he looks like he’s trying to beat a snake to death with a tree branch. He’s not going to make a play.

When defensemen join the rush, it often leaves them out of position coming the other way. That’s what’s mostly accomplished. Chances of upside are slim for two-thirds of them.

But that’s how the Penguins play. They will die on that hill. They’re doing so as you read this.

Sullivan is a brilliant coach. But perhaps he’s the wrong coach for this group. Too stubborn.

Wednesday’s 4-3 shootout loss at Calgary was typical. The Penguins gave back two leads and conceded the tying goal with 43 seconds left, an event that seemed inevitable when the Penguins iced the puck three times after the Flames pulled their goaltender.

Blown leads, goals surrendered in the first and last minutes of periods, two goals conceded quickly, the foe scoring right after you do, short-handed goals and chances allowed, awful turnovers, that parade of icings, not converting match point in a shootout … that’s what bad teams do.

The Penguins do those things a lot.

Bad teams are also good at conning themselves, especially early in the season. Rickard Rakell after Wednesday’s defeat: “There were a lot of things we can build on. All of the lines did good things. The defensive pairs did good things.”

Verbalizing pessimism does no good. But get out the shovel. That’s a big pile, right there. It’s even worse if the Penguins really think they played well. Bad moments negated.

The stars are struggling. Evgeni Malkin has cooled after a hot start.

Karlsson and his $11.5 million salary get special mention. He’s playing so badly that it’s hard to believe he was ever good. His decision making suggests a heel turn. Letang isn’t doing much better.

If those two struggle in the back, it resonates all over the ice.

Here’s a sad prediction: If the Penguins lose at Edmonton on Friday and at Vancouver on Saturday, thereby getting swept on their four-game trip through Western Canada, they won’t spend a day henceforth in a playoff spot. It will get late early.

I could be wrong. But I’m not.

My lone disclaimer: Don’t bet against Sidney Crosby.