Poor Ben Lovejoy. He can’t seem to escape the eye of the storm. A year ago, the veteran defenseman’s arrival at the trade deadline created an unintended stir. Now his upper-body injury—apparently long-term in nature—threatens to do the same.
It’s hard to know exactly what moves Jim Rutherford had planned for the upcoming trade deadline. Conventional wisdom suggests the Pens GM sought to upgrade the team at left wing and, possibly, defense. Lovejoy’s injury—coupled with Scott Wilson’s sudden emergence as a scorer—likely will shift his focus.
Coach Mike Sullivan asserted that he’s comfortable plugging the gap with incumbent Ian Cole. However, JR almost surely will try to add an experienced defenseman. A task that may prove a challenge given the recent trades of potential candidates Roman Polak (to San Jose) and Pittsburgh-born Mike Weber (to Washington).
Maligned by some for questionable on-ice decisions, Lovejoy has nonetheless been an effective second- and third-pairing defenseman for the black and gold. One trusted enough by the coaching staff to team with Brian Dumoulin and Derrick Pouliot, two of the club’s most promising young players.
In particular, No. 12 displayed good chemistry with Pouliot while serving as a steadying influence and on-ice mentor. A role in which he excelled last season before his youthful partner, too, was felled by an injury.
Like “the Reverend,” Cole was acquired at last year’s trade deadline. Unlike Lovejoy, the former first-round pick of the Blues struggled to find his niche this season. Fresh from signing a new three-year contract last June, he’s managed only four assists (and a team worst minus-17) in 46 games.
The upside? Cole’s a plus-2 in his past nine games. Despite a string of healthy scratches, he remains third on the team in blocked shots. Equally at home on the left side or right, he’s a solid penalty killer. And, he’s willing to play the man, a quality in short supply on the Pens’ skill-oriented defense.
Anxious for a chance at redemption, too.
Pens Call Up Oleksy
To fill Lovejoy’s spot, the Penguins summoned Steve Oleksy from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The 30-year-old Michigan native registered a goal and 10 assists in 44 games with the Baby Pens to go with a plus-13—third best on the team.
A pocket version of former Pen Deryk Engelland, Oleksy paced Wilkes-Barre with 78 PIM. Known for his leadership, the combative defender also served an alternate captain.
Oleksy has prior NHL experience. In 62 games over three seasons with Washington, the 6’0” 190-pounder tallied three goals and 16 assists, along with 86 PIM. He was a plus-15.
Hey Rick,
Just a million dollars.Nothing to serious…. We all have been basking in the afterglow of the Scuds for Daley deal.How JR got the better of Stan Bowman.
Well,the truth is that unless we took back 1 million dollars in salary of Scuds that the Blackhawks could not have acquired Andrew Ladd, as they did last night. Not so one sided trade anymore is it.
So while we have little cap space left to acquire anybody of significance,the Hawks fans can thank the Pens for helping them win another Cup.
Just a million bucks !
cheers
Hey Jim,
I don’t think this dims the luster of the Daley-Scuderi trade. Don’t forget…Scuds was virtually untradeable due to his contract and decline in ability. To get a decent player like Daley in return was remarkable…even if JR had to eat part of Scuderi’s contract.
Give Bowman props, too. Andrew Ladd was a great addition. Size, strength, leadership and production. Just what the ‘Hawks needed. Lord, they may win it all again.
Switching tracks, I noticed on another site that Dallas is willing to part with Valeri Nichushkin. You’d mentioned him as a potential trade target in your comments a little while back.
Anyway, I read about him and my mouth started to water. Left wing. Twenty-years old, 6’4″ 205. From Gonchar’s home town (Chelyabinsk). Tenth overall pick in 2013.
Alas, the Stars are seeking a quality defenseman or a legit defense prospect (plus a sweetener) in return. We just don’t have the depth on ‘d’ to part with anyone.
Agreed Rick.
The Daley deal was a stroke of genius in getting us anything for Scuds in return.I give JR full credit for that. My point was that on other media sites there has been a few comments on how JR got the better of Bowman and I was trying to suggest to your readers that simply was not the case.Bowman is making decisions for a longer period of time whereby JR is forced into this “false idea ” of winning now while Crosby, Malkin and Letang are still in their prime and Mario wants to sell the Team.( We have been doing this for the past 6 years,and it has not worked!…and it will not work this year either.)
What ever happened to the idea that when your STAR players got older, you would trade them for high draft picks and young talent to replenish your team? Would it not be incredible to wake up Monday and find Malkin,or Crosby or even MAF traded to another team and see what we GOT BACK IN RETURN? Nobody wants to even consider this idea…..but I bet Bowman would !!! Anything to make the TEAM better.
With Valeri Nichushkin I would trade Derrick P. and a goalie for him.
But now we just signed Maatta for 4 million a year, we have no cap space left in 2016-7. Given the collapse of the Canadian dollar some
Hockey media sites in Canada are saying that the cap will not go up, but stay at 70 million.Now we have way to much money tied up in 3 d men and 6 forwards and a goalie.????
Hey Rick,
Talking about Maatta, my hockey friend was saying how lucky the Pens were in getting Maatta in the first place.It almost did not happen.
Oli Maatta was ranked 8th overall by the NHL Central Scouting reports(North American players,he played in the OHL),and was ranked 12th by the ISS rankings,( combining North American and European players ) in his draft year. Derrick Pouliot was ranked 12th by the NHL Central Scouting and 22nd by the ISS rankings. So when we drafted Derrick Pouliot 8 th ,( who was actually ranked 22nd in the World) and then drafted Matta 22nd,( who was ranked 12 th in the world),we
drafted them in the wrong order according to the scouting services.
I went back to check the info and my friend was right as usual.The right up on DP said ” excellent skater,some defensive issues which would be expected of a 18 year old,and some day he will quarterback a power play in the NHL”. Pretty good stuff. Then I came to Maatta. Wow !
“His vision,hockey intelligence and defensive play are off the charts.Give him a year in the AHL and his upside potential is elite status”. Great stuff !
3 years has shown us the difference between the two players as well.One has a 6 year,4.1 million dollar contract, and the other guy is struggling to find a spot on the roster.
The article also said because Maatta had an injury, he fell to the 22nd spot in the draft, and the Pen’s are very lucky to get him.
I am glad we do.Getting Maatta for 6 years at 4.1 million is a steal and this could be JR’s best move yet as a GM ! In three years from now,we will look back and say this was a great deal for the Pen’s.
Most young d men sign only 3 or 4 year contracts at this stage of their career.We got him for 6.
Good job JR!
Hi Rick,
This changes everything for the Pen’s now that Lovejoy may be side lined for the entire season.The real question JR faces, is that if he does nothing to address the lack of depth at the Defense position and heaven forbid another d-man goes down before the play offs start…( Maatta,Daley,Dumoulin,Letang), any one of them and we are in real trouble.I know you like Derrick P.( I never spell his name right),but to put him in a play off situation as a second pairing d- man and expect to go far in the post season, I think you are dreaming!
240 pound,6’3″ Ovi will plaster him all over the rink.Rick Nash and company as well. Or even 6’6′ Nick Bugstad and MR.JAGR.
So my point is that JR has NO choice but to trade for another d-man with experience,size and mobility to be that number 3 d-man we may need in the future.Problem is Rick as you said many times before, those type of players do not come cheap and the Pen’s can not afford to get one unless they give up someone else of high value ! But really, what choice does JR have ??
There goes our future left winger we needed. We can not afford both now.
My second point is Rick that the other teams are now making bold moves to strengthen their teams for a long play off run. Watch out Pittsburgh !!! Washington added another physical d-man with size.They want to add more.Ottawa traded half their team to get better for a play off run.( and they are better now ). Boston is about to trade Ericson.The Rangers,Panthers and the Islanders are all making big moves if you believe all the chatter on the News and you can never count out Detroit.They will be in the playoffs !! Last but certainly not the least is Tampa-Bay. They can trade Drouin for any starting 6 player on most NHL teams and plus they got Stamkos and if they trade him….the sky is the limit for him.
Edmonton’s local media said anybody not named Mc David will be in play for the right offer. I can only conclude that means a Stamkos type trade.Can you imagine Taylor Hall and Jordan Emberle,or Leon Draisail in a Tampa uniform?
So Tampa-Bay,come March 1st will be a much improved Team and they will be in the play offs too. Plus you have New Jersey and Carolina who may just surprise a few teams as well. Apparently John Hynes did not get the notice sent out by the NHL saying you guys are 14 th out of 16th place team this year.
They certainly do not play like they are a 14 th place team.
1.Washington
2.Tampa-Bay
3.Rangers
4.Panthers
5.Islanders
The reality is the Islanders,Detroit,Pittsburgh,Ottawa,Boston,… all are very close to each other now. March 1st,things will be different for sure.
So JR, get shopping!!..and remember you do not have a lot money !! Please try not to give away to much as well ! The new owners will not appreciate it.
cheers.
Hey Rick
I just finished listening to the 5-1 Boston win over the Pen,s.
Mike Lange mentioned Boston beat the Pens in all 3 meetings this year,
out scoring the Pens 14 to 3.The game scores were 3/0,6/2 and 5/1.( I did not
know this.) Not even close.
Boston will only get better after the trade deadline.
The Boston team is a lot bigger and they took no penalties.
So I want to amend my list above.
1.Washington
2.Tampa-Bay
3.Rangers
4.Panthers
5.Islanders
6.Boston
7.?
8.?
One will be Detroit.
One will be the Pen,s or Ottawa .(only 4 points back and they won their last 4 games)…
It will very interesting in the month of March.
Your thoughts Rick ??
Hey Jim,
I’m a little pooped right now (no pun intended), so this probably won’t be much of a response. But your points are well-taken. Other teams—most notably the Caps—have been very aggressive about improving their team. Much as we did in years past. And, as much as I’d like to see us upgrade on left wing and defense, I just don’t know how much Rutherford can be reasonably expected to do. Especially, as you noted—without a lot of cap space or mouthwatering prospects to trade in return. (Beau Bennett, anyone?)
In the end, I think JR will count on the healthy returns of Geno, Bonino, and Fehr as our forward upgrades. After watching tonight’s loss to Boston, I think he definitely needs to bolster the ‘d.’
If our core stays healthy, I still think we’ll make the playoffs. But if any of them miss a significant amount of time (like Malkin just did)?
All bets are off.
Good points Rick.
Without the proper defense,we are going nowhere! Maatta was pressured by bigger,stronger more aggressive forwards into a few mistakes that cost us dearly.The same with Derrick P. and Brian D.
They are just kids! None of them are veterans to play off hockey.
Our defense will not stand up to the constant fore check of other bigger and faster teams as mentioned above. Even in the past 4 or 5 years when we had Paul Martin,Brooks Orpik and Matts.N. and others,they too were over matched in the play offs by bigger,faster and more physical teams. We all like to blame MAF for our past play off failures, but really the team in front of him was not good enough to get the job done. Even with Crosby and Malkin !
So I see a one and done,( if we are lucky and have no injuries), for the Pens of 2016.
Of course we can always hope that 5 or 6 other teams in our conference have multiple long term injuries to their star players and maybe,just maybe we can get to round 2 of the play offs.
Sad really that now we see the true cost for Ray Shero’s and Mario’s mistakes of the past. We have no room to move in this years draft unless we give someone special away !
Cheers
Hey Rick,
You may be right, JR may really try and look for a D man at the dead line and that will scare the euphemism out of me. I know there are some that hate Lovejoy and some that just love him. I don’t consider myself either. When Lovejoy was first traded to Anaheim my gut reaction was a bit of shoulder shrug. However, looking down the roster, I wished the Pens would have dumped Engelland. In either case we are talking about a 5th, or 6th defensemen, not a 1, 2, or 3.
Now several years later, as the Pens gird for the second season, I fear that JR will over-react and hurt the team long term for nothing more than a 6th defensmen. When I look at what Lovejoy has done this season I do not see a veteran bringing kids along. I see a defensmen that had no chemistry with Letang, Maata, Dumoulin, Cole, or Scuderi. (He never skated with Daley). I see a defensmen crawling on the ice to try in vain to get back into a play when Stalman performed a spinnerama move causing Lovejoy to bite so bad on the play as to fall to the ice as if Stalman were Malkin or Denis Savard and not a defensemen himself. and then a game later falling for the same move against St Louis (at least it was Tarasenko that time).
Up until recently, the only D men on the team that looked worse than Lovejoy were Warsovsky and Cole, but at least Warsovsky is still young and not in his 30s. I would suggest to you that since Lovejoy didn’t pair well with any of the D men as mention earlier that it is more of a case that Pouliot combined with significantly reduced ice-time is what has made Lovejoy stop looking like a turnstile, spinning around as opponents get behind him.
So my fear is that with a team with very little to spare in the way of assets has nothing worth trading in a year very light on D-men of value, particularly D-men that would fit Sullivans Mobility first style. Yes, there is some discussion that St Louis may be willing to part with Shattenkirk due to a need for a scorer and, now with Elliot going on IR, a goalie. And that is my fear, MAF and Fleuery may be the only bargaining chips they Pens have.
If the Pens trade Murray, they throw away their future. If they trade Fleuery they will be taking a serious risk hoping that Murray can lead them through the play-offs.
And even though Sprong represents future goals and the Pens are deep on RW, St Louis needs scoring now, not next year.
And all to replace a Defensemen that has been reduced to the 3rd pairing.
Hey Other Rick,
I respect your opinion. However, it seems you and I have a different take on Lovejoy. I actually like him…especially in a third-pairing role. Leads the ‘d’ in hits (122). Second among the defense with a plus-9. Tops in blocks (86). Fewest turnovers (12) among the regular d-men who’ve been here all year. Not a huge minutes eater (18:51/game). But not a slouch, either.
Is he an All-Star? No. But he’s not expected to be.
To me, he’s kind of a poor man’s all-arounder.
Even when we respect each other’s opinions we won’t always agree and the last time we disagreed over Lovejoy, you did mute my decidedly negative opinion of Lovejoy to a neither hate nor love.
So let me ask you this; given what is out there, who would you try and trade for to replace Lovejoy and what would you be willing to give up? Who could the Pens realistically acquire right now that would represent a significant improvement over what we already have here, that would fit Sullivan’s system?
Hey Other Rick,
That’s a really good question. Since I don’t try to play GM as much as I used to, I’m not sure I have a good answer.
I’ve seen Vancouver’s Dan Hamhuis bandied about on other blogs. But he’s way too pricey ($4.2M) for my taste. Nor would he provide the physical edge I’d hope to add.
Honestly, Weber would have suited me perfectly. Cheap too, at $1M. But he’s gone, so no use crying over spilled milk. I’ve always liked Kevin Bieksa, but I don’t think Anaheim is looking to trade him. David Savard catches my eye every time we play the Blue Jackets. Can’t imagine he’s available.
So to answer your question…I dunno.
How about you? Any ideas?
Hey Rick,
For me, the question comes down to these two points; what do we have that we can afford to trade, that anyone wants and who is out there that we can squeeze in under the cap.
The talking heads last night suggested Kris Russell between periods.
So looking down our roster; Fragile Freddie, Beau Bennett? I can’t inagine anyone willing to take him since he hasn’t shown the ability to stay healthy. Daniel Sporong? We do have some depth at RW so maybe, but do I really want to trade him for a D man to fill a third or do I try and trade him for someone to play first or second pairing and move everyone below down a spot. Scott Wilson now that he is starting to score? We still aren’t that blessed with depth at scoring right now. I don’t want to trade a scorer we may need in the playoffs. A draft pick? That is about all we may have that we can afford to give up this year without hurting ourselves in other areas just to replace Lovejoy. But if we make the playoffs we won’t get a first round pick this year, again (Didn’t have one last year) So even if we are talking a 3rd round pick, we are weakening an already beyond depleted farm system.
Malkin and Crosby still have maybe 3 to 4 years as top 10 centers, Letang has shown that he is getting better (maybe under some guidance from Gonchar now that he is on the staff) so quite frankly I would rather the Pens stand or fall with what they have now rather than panic. I don’t see anybody out there that the Pens can afford to acquire under their cap restrictions and/or with what they have to trade that would improve their chances of making a cup run enough, this year, to justify the trade.
Next year, with Murray and MAF starting the season out together, with Murray getting some precious NHL experience and Jarry getting more time to develope, MAF could net a big trade at the deadline and possibly get both something for a serious Cup run next year as well as something to help restock the farm. (And for those MAF fans who may read this, please do not mistake me for an MAF hater. The kid in me would love to see MAF retire a Penguin. My comment is purely a business decision.)
Hey Other Rick,
While I do think we need an upgrade on our defense, I hope we don’t trade for Russell. I don’t think I can stomach another undersized (5’10” 170) defenseman, puck mover or not. So that’s probably who JR will target … 🙁
Lord, I wish we had even a little size and toughness. If we just had two bigger (functional) guys…a forward and a defenseman…to add some sand, I’d really like the overall makeup of our team. As presently constructed, I think we’re easy meat for bigger teams that play a more structured game, like the Bruins and Rangers.
Although I do think JR will try to bolster the ‘d’, it wouldn’t shock me if he stands pat. As you pointed out, who can we offer as trade bait to get a decent player in return?
Sound of crickets chirping…