“I believe that we will make the playoffs.”
With a singular forceful statement, All-Star center Evgeni Malkin reflected the growing sense of optimism over the fortunes of our Pittsburgh Penguins. Almost overnight, it seems, they’ve transformed from a crew of rag-tag underachievers struggling to keep pace in the Eastern Conference playoff chase into a tight-knit bunch that might do some serious damage come the postseason.
Thanks in no small part to new coach Mike Sullivan, the superstars are thriving. The power play is clicking. The team’s battle level and resilience have taken a quantum leap forward.
Credit GM Jim Rutherford, too, for having the guts to make a needed coaching change. And for adding precious speed. As the Tribune Review’s Bill West aptly noted in a recent article, the Pens have morphed into one of the league’s fastest teams.
Suddenly, it feels like 2009. When we came back from the dead to win a Stanley Cup.
Could it happen again? Don’t laugh. The answer is yes.
Especially if center Nick Bonino returns from the IR hale and healthy. Chris Kunitz rebounds from a lower-body injury. And youngsters such as Derrick Pouliot, Conor Sheary, and Scott Wilson prove they can contribute on a regular basis. If not, the Penguins will need an upgrade at left wing and defense if they’re to go on an extended postseason run.
Let’s peer into the crystal ball. Assume the Pens will be active in the trade market. Who can they offer? Who should they target?
The former group? Far from overwhelming. Spare parts Ian Cole and Sergei Plotnikov won’t excite anyone. Ditto veteran Ben Lovejoy. Beau Bennett offers potential—and at a reasonably attractive price. Too bad he’s fragile.
Wunderkinds Pouliot and Daniel Sprong might fetch a decent return. However, Rutherford must guard against bleeding the future for the present. Especially at positions where the farm system is paper thin. And he needs to be prudent when trading high draft picks.
One position affords Rutherford the luxury of dealing from strength. Goaltender. With reigning team MVP Marc-Andre Fleury and hot prospects Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry in tow, the club possesses enviable depth between the pipes. Assuming the Pens are poised for a postseason run, Fleury’s a virtual lock to remain the go-to guy. Which leaves Murray and Jarry as trade fodder.
Of the two, Murray likely would be the most attractive to other clubs. At 6’4” and 178 pounds, the rangy 21-year-old more closely fits the modern prototype of an NHL goalie. Plus, he’s got an established track record at the pro level. A stunning 1.73 GAA and 16 shutouts in 66 games over the past three seasons with the Baby Pens. Not to mention a 1.72 GAA during a four-game cameo with the parent club.
Still, pinpointing a trade partner could be a challenge. Take Columbus, for example. The Blue Jackets have lost top goalies Sergei Bobrovsky and Curtis McElhinney to injuries. They also have an intriguing young power forward—former first-round pick Kerby Rychel—who can hit, score and fight. Frustrated with a lack of ice time, the 21-year-old left wing requested a trade earlier this month.
Might Rychel be available, straight-up, for Murray? Or in a package deal that includes, say, Plotnikov?
Doubtful, considering that youngster Joonas Korpisalo has emerged to fill the Jackets’ goaltending void. Not to mention Rychel’s recent uptick in playing time and two-point efforts against Boston and Washington.
Elsewhere, Tampa Bay is fielding offers for suspended phenom Jonathan Drouin. Needless to say, there’s no shortage of suitors. And the Lightning—deep in goal—already have a homegrown version of Murray in Andrei Vasilevskiy. Cross Drouin off the list.
Carolina captain Eric Staal is rumored to be on the block. The Hurricanes need goaltending. However, with an annual price tag ($9.5 million) approaching the national debt, Staal’s way too expensive.
The same goes for the batch of high-profile defensemen expected to be on the move, including Winnipeg’s all-purpose hammer Dustin Byfuglien, St. Louis stalwart Kevin Shattenkirk, and mobile Ranger Keith Yandle. None are realistic options for the black and gold, who have roughly $1.3 million of cap space to work with (according to Hockeyscap.com).
So who can we afford? Toronto bruiser Roman Polak ($2.75 million cap hit) for one. Given his preference for puck-moving defensemen, it’s hard to imagine Rutherford having any interest in the burly 29-year-old Czech. But Polak’s teammate, forward P.A. Parenteau? With a bargain-basement $1.3 million price tag and history of decent production, the UFA-to-be could be on JR’s radar.
One thing we’ve learned about Rutherford. Expect the unexpected.
and with a good person a nd a good guy and a very good coach to change it around
Good assessment Rick.
I believe to be a true cup contender the Pens need two new left wingers, a replacement or an upgrade for “brittle”Beau Bennett on the right side, and two more d men with size and skill.The Plotnikov 4th line experiment seems not to be working and truly Chris Kunitz is more suited as a third liner than a first liner at this stage of his career.I am not being critical of Kunitz,I like his play very much, but I am being realistic.Time catches all of us eventually.
On defense,I still believe we need a true number two d man with size and another 5-6 d man to be an upgrade for Lovejoy. At the start of the season I thought that Cole would be that perfect 5-6 d man,similar to Matt Niskanen of two years ago. It appears that I was wrong.
As your article correctly illustrates that with just 1.3 million in Cap space and with only Matt Murray,Tristan Jarry, Daniel Sprong,Derrick Pouliot and maybe Beau Bennett the Pen’s do not have a lot of trade chips to offer other teams to get back the pieces they really need.They do not even have a first round pick in 2016 unless they miss the play offs !
So JR’s job is not an easy one moving forward.He has to be very careful not to damage the weak talent pool any further as your article notes.Every trade he makes has to be a WIN for the Pens, and that is really hard to do when the rest of the league knows you have to make a trade and your owners want to sell the team.
When you really think about it Rick, and given Mario’s recent comment that if the Pen’s do not make the play offs they will lose money, JR has an impossible job to do. Fans want him fired and the owners want a miracle !
( Last year Forbes reports the Pens made about 20 million). The team value actually dropped from 565 million in 2014 to 560 million in 2015 Forbes reports.
First time the Team Value went down in several years. So again I say JR is really under a lot pressure to deliver us a winning Team asap. I hope he can.
Hello, Jim.
Excellent observations.
I, too, thought Cole would be a solid third-pairing d-man. After a bit of a rocky start in the ‘Burgh last spring, I thought he played really well down the stretch. He was especially good at joining the rush and firing off shots without leaving himself too vulnerable on the counterattack.
I don’t know where that guy’s been this year, but we haven’t seen much of him. I did read on another blog that—stat-wise—he’s actually been a very effective penalty killer. And—dreadful plus/minus aside—he leads the Pens in blocked shots.
Overall, I thought he’d played better of late with Daley as his partner. But, apparently, Sullivan didn’t think so.
Regarding Rutherford. You’re spot-on about his mandate…and dilemma. Improve the team. Heck, maybe even tune up for another run at the Cup. Do it without significant help from Wilkes-Barre. And without much to offer in terms of trades. And without much cap space. Oh, and don’t trade draft picks.
You’re right…JR has virtually no margin for error. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place!
Hey Rick,
A couple of thoughts;
I think a lot of the increased speed of the Pens is more due to Sullivan than JR. Granted trading Scuderi for Daley and Perron for Hagelin did pick up team speed but there was speed their all the time but it wasn’t being used. Part of the slowness was due to MJs refusal to give ice-time to kids. Sullivan does not labor under that delusion. He is not an archaeologist like MJ looking to dig up fossils. Secondly, under MJ even the younger players looked slow because half of the time they were standing still in their “position”, especially on the power play. It is a whole lot easier to get up to full speed when you are in motion already as compared to starting from a standing still position. You don’t have to overcome that much inertia when you are already in motion. Furthermore, MJ, who looked like a college professor seemed to have the team over thinking everything they were doing, instead of playing the game, slowing them down even more. Granted Hagelin and Daley moved the team speed into another dimension, but there was untapped speed there all the time.
Bonino hasn’t made it on the scoring sheet as much as the team have liked but his contribution in the FO circle and on the PK cannot be under-stated. Getting him back will be a real boost. If for no other reason than moving the lilliputian Sheary off of the roster.
I know there are people out there that like Sheary and may take offense to my comments but he is way too little to play in the NHL. He gets tossed around like a rag doll and gives opponents way to much ice to operate in. He may be a half a step or even a full step faster than Plotnikov but he needs to be since he is so small, to make up for his significant lack of reach. If you look at his team goals against per 60min is one of the worst on the team and he doesn’t even play on the PK. I haven’t seen a even strength comparison but I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t the worst since only those players that play the PK are a little higher than him and that is barely.
Although, I will say that playing Sheary, as small as he is, does send a message to under-performing veterans; Sullivan won’t play you if you are just going throught the motions.
Finally, I really hope that the Pens are not buyers at the trade dead line. Minor deals getting something for a Bennett or Lovejoy wouldn’t be bad, but throwing away players like Murray or Sprong would only serve to further alienate fans who are tired of the mortgaging of the future stratagem.
Hello, my friend. Welcome to PenguinPoop!
I know you’ve done some coaching. And your observations regarding the speed issue and what they’re doing under Sullivan (playing with tempo) compared to the style they played under Johnston (more static) are very insightful.
Not to bash poor MJ, but they seemed so slow earlier this season. No jump, no flow, very little puck support or movement. A lot of “one-and-dones” as Eric Fehr noted a little while back. At times, it looked like we had five statues anchored to the ice on the power play. No wonder we couldn’t score.
Maybe that’s why they look so fast now. The Pens are moving their feet. Supporting each other on the rush and in the corners. And doing a lot of circling (and cycling) … ala Herb Brooks.
It’s working. And, fun to watch, too.
I hate to seem like I’m picking on guys, but my feelings about Sheary are pretty much the same. On one hand, I like his speed and energy. He busts his tail (literally). He does a good job of finding the seams and getting his shot off. The puck seems to follow him…an indication that he reads the play and anticipates well.
And yet, he does spend an inordinate amount of time scraping himself off the ice. I’ve made it a point to watch him…especially since his recent recall. Not a shift goes by that Sheary doesn’t get flattened—sometimes two or three times. He absorbs some really brutal hits.
God bless him…he keeps getting back up. But I sure wish he had a little more size to go with all that spunk.