It ranks among the most unpopular—and controversial—deals in recent Penguins history. To such an extent that GM Jim Rutherford felt compelled to absolve himself of sole responsibility, stating that a push for the trade came from above. An organizational decision. Heck, JR stopped just short of calling the swap a mistake.
Yes, I’m referring to Simon Despres for Ben Lovejoy.
Before I continue, let’s be clear. Parting with a mobile, 6’4″ 215-pound, 24-year-old defenseman who hits and possesses some offensive upside? That’s something you just don’t do. He’s a player you keep and make a cornerstone of your defense. Much as the Ducks did when they signed Despres to a five-year extension worth $18.5 million.
So much for the disclaimer.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch? Lovejoy’s been really good this season. In fact, through the first 10 games he’s arguably been our best defenseman. Logging an average of 18 minutes of ice time, the Dartmouth grad’s registered a goal and an assist to go with a healthy plus-3.
His possession numbers aren’t stellar (a poor Corsi For All of 41%). But metrics can be deceiving. A whopping 66.9% of Lovejoy’s shifts have started in the defensive zone—far and away the most for any black-and-gold defender. A clear indication “The Reverend” has earned the trust of Mike Johnston and the coaching staff.
Indeed, Lovejoy and partner Brian Dumoulin have been used more and more in shutdown situations. Take Wednesday’s 3-1 impressive win over Washington, for example. Matched against Alex Ovechkin the pair did a standout job, limiting “the Great Eight” to no points and eight five-on-five scoring changes. Or two below Ovy’s season average, according to Jason Mackey of the Tribune Review.
Afterward, Johnston singled out No. 12 for some well-deserved praise.
“I thought Ben had a really good stick and really good position on the ice,” the Pens coach said. “That’s the type of player he is.”
Sweet words, I’m sure, to the underappreciated defender. Especially given the uproar surrounding his arrival last spring.
This isn’t the first time the New Hampshire native’s tasted success in a Penguins jersey. Signed as a free agent in 2008, Lovejoy played well back in 2010-11 (17 points, plus-11 in 47 games) before injuries and a glut of NHL-caliber defensemen made him expendable.
Prospect Derrick Pouliot flourished last season while paired with Lovejoy. However, an ultra-heavy workload and a tendency to press derailed the outgoing defender’s normally steady approach. Trying too hard to do too much, he struggled mightily down the homestretch and in the playoffs.
Fortunately, Ben’s found the reset button. And a little love for his game.
HI Rick,
Excellent article! I agree with Jim’s assessment and your points, too. I’ve had to wipe some egg of my face the past few games.
Even as they’ve recently beat two very good teams, I can’t see, as yet anyway, this level of defensive play being maintained for long stretches. I don’t think they have the horses for that. And, the truth is if Fleury is even merely mediocre, this team is maybe 2 – 7.
That aside, I’m more confused than ever. They’ve been saying recently their philosophy is “defense first.” Now, if that is indeed their philosophy, why did they go through the pains of wresting Kessel from the Leafs instead of going after a bonafide shutdown defenseman, or two? Or make the Despres deal? Or even, stretching the point, the Bortuzzo deal? Is it any wonder this team has no identity? They’ve loaded up the offense in order to play a defense first game, with a suspect-at-best defense? If there is confusion on this team, and there appears to be, I’m not surprised.
I, like everyone else currently opining about the Pens, hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see this being sorted out and solidified in any meaningful way in the immediate future. I’m also left wondering how much this defense first philosophy correlates to what, so far, has been an offensive failure. Anyone with a good pair of eyes and any sense of the game can see the confusion on the ice. Terrible passing. Uncoordinated breakouts. Failure to get set up in the offensive zone 5-on-5, and on the power play. A dearth of goals. Crosby lost. Letang guessing at QBing the PP. Lackadaisical forechecks too often, while, no doubt, worried about getting back in defense first mode. The list goes on.
This team was built to outscore opponents. That’s so obvious as to be not worth mentioning. It’s also obvious that over the length of the season they aren’t shutting down anyone on a regular basis. Forcing defense first on offensive powerhouses like Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, and others, is like having them leave their sticks on the bench when they go out for a shift.
I’ve been saying this for at least three seasons: There’s a serious disconnect on this team. It’s a top-down failure and no one appears to be on the same page. To quote Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke: “What we have here is a failya to commun’cate.”
Yeah, I hope they’ve pulled it together with this string of victories, but I’m not holding my breath. This coach appears to not be up to carrying the water and it’s spilling all over his players. The regular season does not take kindly to protracted learning curves. You go with your strength, or you go home.
Well said 55 on Point.
What is our strength? I watched the Toronto game tonight and we had a 5 minute power play opportunity. It was embarrassing to watch! On paper with Crosby, Kessel,Letang,Malkin…and whoever you put out there for the fifth player on the PP,our team should have scored 2 or even 3 goals against a team like Toronto,given their current state of rebuilding.No wonder our PP is a joke. Somebody has to tell the”brass” upstairs that hockey is played on the ice and not on a piece of paper. As crazy as this sounds,I would prefer to watch a team of players like Eric Fehr,who played his but off tonight,instead of a bunch of 8,10,12 million dollar a year stars who continue to under achieve every year. On the PP goal we did manage to score ,it was done by the second unit ‘s Chris Kunitz.
Hey 55 on Point,
Great to hear from you. And great thoughts, as always.
It is kind of confusing, isn’t it? A team that appears, at least on paper, to be suspect defensively has allowed the fewest goals against in the league. (I have to pause for a moment to let that truly sink in.) Conversely, a team built to score goals is struggling to produce.
I don’t know what’s going on with Sid. Perhaps a combination of a system that places more demands on him defensively and…and I hate to even go here…a decline in his abilities? It seems that when he gets chances, he’s just not burying them like he used to.
The power play? A case of too many cooks? Lord only knows. A legit quarterback (Pouliot?) would help.
Anyways, it’s like everything’s upside down.
Along those lines, I continue to be spot on (not) in my player evaluations. As part of my response to Jim, I wrote that Kunitz was done. He scored a goal last night. A while back I opined that Scuderi was finished. He’s second to partner Olli Maatta in plus/minus (+5). While I think Maatta’s had a lot to do with it, Scuds hasn’t played all that badly.
Whodathunkit? Certainly not I …
In terms of overall outlook, we do need to keep in mind that this is—for all intents and purposes—a new team. Johnston and his staff are still working out the kinks and seeing where the pieces fit. Speaking of, it sure was nice to see Fehr play last night. While we can’t expect two points from him every game, I really think he’s going to help.
And I guess we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though it’s been ugly at times, the Pens have won 7 of 8 … 🙂
Hey Rick,
As a fan,I am glad the boys went on a streak and put up 6 wins. They Fooled me ! I have been pretty hard on the team by my recent posts.My heart tells me to celebrate that we are finally winning again.Lovejoy,Dumoulin,Cole have all played better.Letang is being Letang again.(Can he keep it up all season? No way.Not for 82 games playing 25-27 tough minutes a night. ) Hope I am wrong.
But my head tells me a different story.53 shots for Buffalo last night.A 3 -2 victory.Over Buffalo! These guys are the bottom rung of the league. The Caps out shot us 34 to 25 even though we won 2-1.Fleury won that game by himself.He was the games first star. We beat Toronto 2-1, and Fleury was second star.Toronto another bottom feeder ! We beat Florida 3 -2 in over time.Shots were 35 -33.Close game.Yet another team rebuilding with youth.
In Nashville they out shot us 39-26 and Fleury again was star of the game. With out him, we would be sunk.So my head tells me that even though we have 6 wins and 5 losses,with a win tomorrow against Toronto we will be a 500 Hockey club.
Question for me is, when I look ahead to the 14 games in December and see all the really good teams we will face,How will my mighty Pens do based on what we have seen so far? My heart tells to believe one thing ,but my head tells me it is going to be rough come January 2016.
Hey Jim,
I really thought Washington would make road kill out of us, while exposing our weaknesses. The Pens not only stunned the Caps … they stunned me, too.
I, too, am looking for positives to latch onto. And there’ve been some. Malkin and Kessel look good together. In a perfect world, maybe they follow in the footsteps of Geno and James Neal and develop great chemistry. And I’ve always liked Hornqvist with Crosby. He draws Sid into the traffic areas, where our captain excels but seems reluctant to go on his own these days.
I like Bonino, good on draws and the p.k. and he hustles all the time. Bennett’s been good (surprise). Great to have Dupuis back. I think Cullen’s been solid in his role. Sprong? I wish they’d play him more. No doubt he’s got the skill.
Unfortunately, left wing is a black hole. Kunitz just doesn’t have it anymore. Perron’s been playing better—at least in spots—but can’t buy a goal. Plotnikov has already been relegated to the press box—not a good sign.
He’s not a left wing, but I’m hoping Fehr can solidify things up front a bit. It’ll be a pleasure to have a bigger guy out there.
The defense, while admittedly not an all-star group, has played better than I expected. I think Lovejoy and Dumoulin have been pretty solid. The Pens have been able to buffer Scuderi to an extent by teaming him with Maatta—kind of like they did with Despres last season—although I don’t know if it benefits Olli much. Letang’s been okay … he still doesn’t defend well around his net but compensates in other ways. The d-man who seems kind of lost in my eyes is Cole. He’s in over his head on the top pairing.
Of course, you definitely get the feeling that the precarious balance they’ve achieved back there could come undone at the drop of a hat (or puck). Same with the team, for that matter.
Fleury’s been amazing—still athletic—but more solid and poised than I can ever remember. You’re right—he’s definitely stolen a couple of wins for us. And Zatkoff did a heckuva job facing down those 53 shots you mentioned after sitting for a month.
Anyways, enough rambling. Always nice to hear from you.