When Steve Sullivan hightailed it out of Pittsburgh in the offseason the search for a winger to compliment Evgeni Malkin and James Neal took off. Tangradi failing to make his mark kickstarted rumors of big trades for players such as Iginla, Kessel and others.
In the middle of all the trade hoopla stands a 23-year-old 14th overall pick. A guy the Penguins picked up for free off of waivers. Zach Boychuk. Now, four games into his Penguins career he has zero points, not even an assist playing on Malkin & Neal’s line. Everyone is writing him off. For one, he is way too small at 5’10”. On top of that there is no way you can get a good player off of waivers.
Stats are one thing, and I know everyone has heard this all before about Tangradi. The bunch of bull about what else he brings. Boychuk is slowly starting to figure Malkin out. Even Chris Kunitz will tell you that Malkin’s play is “a little unconventional” and takes time to get used to. The truth is, Boychuk looks really good out there on Malkin’s line only four games in.
Addressing the other issues. Steve Sullivan was two inches shorter than Boychuk. James Neal didn’t score his first 7 games with the Penguins and only had a goal and 2 assists in his first 20 
games. On top of that Neal was getting 17 minutes a game on average with Power Play time. Boychuk gets 10 minutes with zero powerplay time.
As far getting him free on waivers? Craig Adams came off of waivers and we would have had to get Billy Guerin off of waivers if the Islanders didn’t respect his age and record so much.
Boychuk right now I’m sure is in a bit of shell-shock going from being sent down to playing on a line with the reigning MVP and Art Ross Trophy winner. Give Boychuk some time, he has the skill the speed and heart to be a long time Penguin.
Matt .Can you clear up the LTIR issue for me? My take is that Sturms salary will count agsanit the cap even though he will be out on LTIR, however the B’s will be allowed to go over the cap by the amount of the replacement player’s salary. Once Sturm returns, the B’s will then have to be in compliance with the cap. Is this correct?
…So much for the Great Zach Boychuk Experiment (mind you, that would be a good 1960s rock band name).
TK needs to go. Interesting stat of the day, there are 387 players who have scored a goal in the nhl this season, tyler kennedy ranks 381st in shooting percentage, his shooting% is lower than 95 defenseman this season. Please shero make him disappear, i would trade him for the flu at this point!
Kennedy is a proven third line ROLE player who gets 11 minutes a game. He has scored over 10 goals a season 5 years in a row. He has had a positive +/- every season also.
He is learning a new center. The Penguins are 9 million under the cap. Why would they just let him go?
he kills more offense than he will ever create. kennedy is a proven play killer, watch his positioning he is killing sutter. he is the opposing teams best friend when it comes to giving them an easy breakout. he misses the net so wide he sreates their transition game for them. Look i know he is third/ forth line guy, i have realistic expectations for him, he will never have the numbers of the big guns nor should he. a third / forth line player should occasionally chip in a goal here or there but most importantly not give anything up, grind down the other teams make SMART plays, can you honestly tell me that he does that on a consistant basis? if so what games do you watch?
Just on a side note, what ROLE players do you know of that are 67th in the league in shots on net? there have been 691 skaters to play in a game this year, and this guy is 67th in shots? not to mention he is tearing it up with that 3.2% shooting percentage. There have been 400 players as of 2/14 who have scored a goal this season in the NHL, His shooting percentage ranks 395th. thats not even counting how many times he fires 5 feet wide. he kills the effectiveness of any line he is on. i expect someone on the 1st and 2nd line to shoot that much, not a greedy 3rd liner who cant stop shooting into the goailes chest or wide left….
Keep in mind the shooting percentage is very deceiving. They do not figure in shots that have missed the net. Kennedy has shot 31 shots and has missed the net 7 times giving him a 2.6% real shooting percentage. Malkin has 44 shots and has missed the net 20 times giving making his real shooting percentage 4.5%. Considering 2 of Malkins three goals were on the powerplay and he has seen 55 minutes more powerplay time than Kennedy. Kennedy’s 2.6% is really not that much worse than Malkin’s 4.5%. According to my charts, 4.5% stinks for a second line player. I don’t want to trade Malkin for the flu/bag of pucks just yet though, I really think he is starting to show some potential.
As far as shooting goes, I would like the other players to shoot as much as Kennedy. I have watched many games over the years and have not seen many pucks go in that were not shot.
Getting someone in a trade for Kennedy is a whole other ball of wax. He is a proven NHL 10 goal a season performer.
you and everyone have defined him as a ROLE player, yet he does not fit that role, never did. role players do not think offense, or shoot first. They think defense, control, play SMART. Kennedy does none of the before mentioned. NONE. He thinks shoot, shoot, shoot. He shoots from angles that lemieux wouldnt even try, people explain it away by saying he is doing the pass off the pads,(when he hits them and not the goalies chest) what good is that when he trys to go in 1 on 4? who exactly is going to get that rebound? as for the shooting% stats, you are only looking at this seasons sampling, how about do the same TK malkin comparison over their career, this is not a new problem with TK. its been this way since day 1.
Looking back at his career. 2 years ago TK had 21 goals which was 4th best on the team. That same year there were four NHL teams that did not have a goal scorer score more than 23 goals.
He has had a positive plus minus all five years. A third line player who has a positive plus minus (defense) every single year and scored 21 goals??? Still not seeing a problem.
That year phil crosby played 41 games i believe, malkin 43ish . Tk got top 6 minutes not to mention 1st powerplay time. If you honestly dont see the problem please remove the blinders. Watch tk, focus on him for one game and youll see. He is a killer to that 3rd line or any line he is on.
I do believe we are going to have to agree to disagee on this one. I guess if the announcers love tk, so should the fans, no matter how terrible someone is playing………
Here are Zach Boychuck’s stats through 6 games playing on a line with Malkin and Neal:
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
Points: 0
Plus / Minus: -2
PIM: 2
SOG: 6
TOI / Game: 11:59
I think I could have managed at least a point playing with a tennis racket in the same span of time alongside Malkin and Neal! This guy needs to sit or be sent to WBS. He is clearly not a top-six forward, and is potentially not ready to play in the NHL. I don’t think Dustin Jeffrey or Eric Tangradi are the answer either, but I think they both played at least as well as Boychuk, while being given less opportunity. The line of Malkin-Neal-Kunitz needs to be reunited. I haven’t the faintest idea why it was broken up in the first place, considering it was the most productive in the NHL last season. TK needs to take up a spot with Crosby and Dupuis. They have played together before, and seem to have some familiarity with each other. TK is the most logical option, as he is too small to be playing a checking forward’s game on the third or fourth line. He seems to be ineffective in this role. Unfortunatley, he doesn’t quite have the skill to be a top-six forward, but maybe Sid can bring the best out of him, much like Lemieux turned Warren Young into a 40-goal scorer.
I think Kunitz and Crosby have some history together also. It would be unfair to Crosby to put the teams two best wingers on Malkins line. I bet Crosby could throw up some huge numbers with Neal and Kunitz. Maybe even more than Malkin. Until NJ both lines were just starting to put up big numbers.
I think the team might have been a little worn down plying 6 games in 8 days.
Not a chance is TK the answer. he is horrible. why would you put him on a line with crosby? you do want crosby to be able to shoot from time to time right? with TK there he will never have the opportunity. i do agree with the thought of kunitz moving back to malkins line, try boychuk with crosby, if you watch boychuk he is the only guy on the second line who is in position, neal and malkin are great but if you take even kuntiz’s comments how is a new guy supposed to be able to pick up on their habbits in such a small sampling? TK needs to go, not to the second line, or first, he just needs to go……
Am I the only one who remembers the number of goals Kennedy and Cooke were scoring last season when Crosby was centering the 3rd line? Agreed that Kennedy is not having a great year, but I think it’s too early to write him off.
he drives me insane, always has, i never wanted him in the first place…. but of course i am not the gm.
Sorry Phil, but I agree with Mike. When the Pens claimed Boychuk it reminded me of when they picked up Chris Bourque a couple of years ago, and we know how well that turned out. While I think Boychuk might be a tad more skilled than Bourque, his career numbers (7 goals in 80 NHL games) pretty much tell the story. Boychuk’s more likely to morph into the next Chris Conner than a top-six forward.
I wish the Pens could get over their affinity for runty, 5’10” forwards, and take a flyer (sorry, poor choice of words) on someone with some size, but that’s not likely to happen with speed-obsessed Dan Bylsma at the helm …
Jeffrey hasn’t been given any sort of chance. He didn’t play well the 1st game of the season, so was sent to the press box for the next 4. He was then came back for 2 games as the LW on Malkin’s line, and was arguably one of the Pens best forwards in those 2 games. He didn’t put up points but created chances, not bad for coming back out of the press box. Then Boychuk is picked up, has done absolutely NOTHING, yet remains in the lineup while Jeffrey is sitting in the press box.
what do you mean you ”there is no way to get a good player off of waivers”, ever heard of Michael Grabner ?
I agree give him a chance..Tangradi was not given much of a chance..I’m not talking 6- 12 min on the fourth line, put him with Sid for 10- 12 games. So hopefully Zack can get the chance and turn the second line into the best in the league
I think Tangradi has been given a chance and many other chances with the organization the last few years. I don’t know if Boychuk is the answer he seems to be getting worse as he goes along. I like giving him the benefit of the doubt though. For one we don’t seem to have much else and also it’s a new system for him, one that Tangradi has been playing. Boychuk hasn’t really seen any time off to get coached on the system since he’s gotten here. Hopefully finally having two days off in a row & at home will fix him up.
LOL
I really like him, he’s shown good hands and creativity. Reminds me of Neal when he showed up, doing everything right but not getting the points. Definitely a good pickup.