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By Scott Robertson

It is often said of NHL goaltenders that the one great save they make does nothing to erase a bad goal from the scoreboard. While that statement rings true time and time again, it apparently is not the case with NHL general managers, who seem to be able to erase numerous bad trades with one or two good ones.

Such is the case with Penguins' GM Craig Patrick.

The Penguins took great pride, up until this month, of a streak of 11 consecutive seasons in which they made the NHL playoffs. Boasted, in fact, that only Detroit, which matched their run and St. Louis, which doubled it, were the only teams who could compare.

Their statement is true - they are the only three who could make that claim. But those three have not been the three most successful franchises over that span. Who has been better in the last 11 years? The Penguins, Red Wings, New Jersey Devils, Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche? The Penguins have not been a good playoff team since 1992, the last year they won the Stanley Cup.

The reason is simple. Patrick, for all the praise he gets for his deadline deal acumen, has fallen short of making the team a legitimate Cup contender at any time since the 1993 Islanders upset them in the division final series. Patrick gets a lot of credit, and rightly so, for the deals that brought Joe Mullen, Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson, Grant Jennings, Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson and Ken Wregget here. Those deals led to Cup titles that would not have been won had the trades not been made. But since then, Patrick's deals have not served to improve the team, much less make it a Cup contender.

The team made a run to the conference final last year based not on a deal Patrick made, but on a comeback by the owner.

Here's a quick look at some of the deals gone awry. It's easy to single out Markus Naslund to Vancouver for Alek Stojanov - Patrick gets plenty of heat for that one and no doubt still smarts from it. But there are others, and they are equally poor. Follow this tangled web ­Patrick acquires Luc Robitaille from Los Angeles for Tocchet and a second round draft choice (so far, so good). Later, in a money crunch, he deals Robitaille and Ulf Samuelsson to the Rangers for Sergei Zubov and Petr Nedved (still, not bad, given financial constraints). Then, things fall apart - Zubov can't mesh with the Penguins and is sent to Dallas for Kevin Hatcher, a player past his prime (Zubov, by the way, still is playing effectively for the Stars). Hatcher then is dealt one year later for Peter Popovic. Not a turn of events that made the team better. Stu Barnes for Matthew Barnaby turns into Barnaby for Wayne Primeau. Which means it amounts to Barnes for Wayne Primeau. Bad business. In 1993, Shawn McEachern goes to LA for Marty McSorely because the Pens felt they needed toughness. Apparently they did not need it for long - a year later, McSorely and Jim Paek go to LA for McEachern and Tomas Sandstrom. I don't know why I'm criticizing that deal ­who can forget Sandstrom's scintillating playoff performances here? Patrick Lalime couldn't cut it here, either, but Ottawa seems pleased with him. While the Penguins' goaltending situation remains unsettled, even with Johan Hedberg (one of Patrick's better acquisitions) performing reasonably well. Here, though, is my favorite. Glenn Murray to the Kings for Ed Olczyk. Eddie is a popular guy around here and was a great player in his day - but by the time the Penguins acquired him, his day was well behind him. Murray, at last look, remains a top gun with the Boston Bruins.

Those who would argue in Patrick's favor would say that no one could have seen players like Naslund, Murray or Lalime developing like they did - that given their pedigrees, they had shown no indications of performing as they have in recent years. But isn't that the job of a general manager and his scouting staff? Aren't they supposed to be able to tell who can play and who can't, or who will eventually play and who won't? Isn't that why Cam Bonifay was let go by the Pirates and Tom Donahoe has moved to Buffalo - because the deals and/or draft picks they made did not help their teams improve?

Patrick's deals have done a nice job of helping a financially strapped team tread water - guys brought in like Troy Murray, Norm MacIver, J.J. Daigneault and Greg Hawgood have helped keep the team afloat and kept them in the playoffs until this season, but they have been nothing more than stopgaps.

Craig Patrick's deals merely have prevented the ship from sinking and, given the aforementioned financial constraints, maybe that's the best that can be expected. They have not, however, helped the team improve.

Scott Robertson is the associate editor for Pittsburgh.