Let’s face it, so far, this season has been disappointing. On the plus side, our favorite flightless fowl are only 7 points down from the top of the division. On the minus side the team is only 3 points above the bottom spot in the division. Our Penguins aren’t the worst team, but they certainly are closer to that than they are to the class of the division. So just for the fun of it, let’s give our Penguins’ progress report.
In an effort to ameliorate I will start with the only bright spot on the team. I will start with the Centers.
Centers group effort: A-
Don’t get too cocky Penguins’ Centers, the bulk of you are riding Sidney Crosby’s and Evgeni Malkin’s coat tails. That dynamic duo has carried the team on their shoulders over this first 30% of the season. They have combined for 22 goals and 37 assists, and are a +5. Those 22 goals represent 27% of the goals. Looking at the advanced stats, Crosby and Malkin account for 1.8 goals per 60min G60 by themselves and are on the ice for 4.1 team goals for per 60 minutes (TGF60). In terms of Shot Attempts For per 60 minutes (SAF60), the team generates 64.4. Defensively, Crosby and Malkin have been on the ice for 52.6 Shot Attempts Against per 60 minutes (SAA60) and 3.2 Team Goals Against per 60 minutes (TGA60).
Mean while back at the ranch, Derick Brassard, Matt Cullen, Riley Sheahan, and Derek Grant have combined for 7 goals and 9 assists and are a combined -15. They have scored less than 1/3 as often as the top 2 Centers and are 20 points lower in +/-. Relative to time on the ice, the bottom quad of Centers has manage to only score 0.6 G60 and generate 52.6 SAF resulting in 2 TGF60. Unfortunately, defensively, these four players have been on the ice for 64.2 SAA resulting in 3.2 TGA60
Sidney Crosby: A+
Evgeni Malkin: A
Derick Brassard: C
Matt Cullen: D
Derek Grant: D
Riley Sheahan: D-
I give Brassard a slightly better grade than the other 3 because while he was injured the team did struggle. The only thing that Sheahan and Grant can say for themselves is that they win face-offs. Unfortunately, face-off wins do not correlate to winning games. I sincerely doubt Teddy Blueger or Jean-Sebastien Dea could do worse. And in Blueger’s case, since he is a relatively unknown to the NHL, he just may prove to be an improvement. As I said above, the team is only 3 points from the bottom of the division, what you are doing is failing. It is time for a change.
Right Wings group effort: B+
Just like at Center, the Right Wings (RW) are being carried by their top 2 players, Phil Kessel and Patric Hornqvist. I once thought this was a strength of the team, and with Kessel and Hornqvist at the top, it is hard not to think of this position as a strength, but get past these 2 players and it gets worse than at Center. Kessel and Hornqvist have combined for 19 goals while Zach Aston-Reese, Bryan Rust, and Daniel Sprong have a combined 3 goals. That’s bad.
True enough, Mike Sullivan tried to use Domink Simon at RW too, but Simon has only scored 4 goals. It hardly improves the offensive output of the RWs.
Not only are the bottom 2 RWs failing to contribute on the score sheet, they are a combined -13 (-10 if you want to try and call Simon a RW). I hate to fault Aston-Reese for the problems on the starboard side, since he started the season in Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) and has only played 11 games. Furthermore, although I can’t deny that Sprong could have ignored the pathetic way he has been treated by the coaching staff (he could have used the situation as a motivator), I also can’t lay the as much blame at his feet as I can at Rust. Sprong still hasn’t had the opportunity to work with a top Center. All he has been given to work with has been Sheahan, Grant, and Cullen, 3 Centers that haven’t produced regardless of who they have had on their Wings. Rust and even the Left Wing LW, Simon have all been given time on Crosby’s starboard side and have failed to produce.
Truthfully, I can’t see Anthony Angello doing any worse than Rust or Sprong.
Phil Kessel: A
Patric Hornqvist: B+
Zach Aston-Reese: D+
Daniel Sprong: D
Bryan Rust: D-
Left Wing group effort: C
Frequent visitor to our board, Dee, has referred to the Penguins’ problem as too many passengers on the team. Left Wing (LW) is no different. From an over-all aspect only Jake Guentzel has been bringing it, night-after-night. Trying to stay positive, we must admit that, although he wasn’t scoring, Carl Hagelin was contributing defensively. Furthermore, Tanner Pearson has been looking pretty good, in his limited time here in Pittsburgh following his arrival via trade. However, despite getting some time skating with Crosby, Simon has been fairly pedestrian, only managing 4 goals. At his current pace, he will only net 14 goals by the end of the season.
As for Garret Wilson, he has been better than I expected, but he really hasn’t been around much nor contributed greatly on the score sheet. I do think he has added some character to the team, but not enough to warrant any better grade for him or the position.
Jake Guentzel: A-
Tanner Pearson: C+
Dominik Simon: C
Carl Hagelin: C-
Garrett Wilson: D
Defense group effort: D
Is there a word for the opposite of synergy? If there is, you would probably see a picture of the Penguins’ defense there as the perfect example. Looking at the Defensemen individually, you can find several silver linings in most of them. Unfortunately for the team, together as a unit, they haven’t been getting the job done on a regular basis for more than a year now. Over the last couple of games, there has been signs of life; finally!
One of my frequent criticism of the team defense has been the limited number of games that they have played where the Penguins’ opponent have been held to less than 30 shots. I am trying to be hopeful that things are changing after seeing a couple of games like this. I know the Goalies have got to be sighing in relief.
Kris Letang has upper level offensive skills but quite often looks lost in his own zone and often picks the wrong time to jump up into the offensive zone, or send a blind pass in any of the 3 zones. Olli Maatta has statistics on his side and the eye test would seem to indicate that he gets it defensively, but he is slow and can get turned. Brian Dumoulin has shown flashes of real talent but has been hampered by Letang’s defensive lapses. Jamie Oleksiak has been a bit of rock. He doesn’t really make many mistakes and has flashed some pretty good moves that look even more impressive because of his size. He is still young, like Maatta and Dumoulin and like Dumoulin has shown steady improvement. As for his physical presence, let’s ask Dustin Byfuglien. And Juuso Riikola has been a real pleasant surprise showing he can play in all 3 zones.
On the other hand, Jack Johnson has struggled. He has the teams worst +/- at -12 but hasn’t been given any press box time. Chad Ruhwedel also has struggled so far this season, checking in at -8.
Since Justin Schultz has only played 4 games, I didn’t feel it was right to grade him.
Kris Letang: B
Jamie Oleksiak: B
Brian Dumoulin: C+
Olli Maatta: C+
Juuson Riikola: C
Jack Johnson: D-
Chad Ruhwedel: D-
Goaltending effort as a group: C
The Penguins Goalies have been a paragon of inconsistency. They stole 2 games that they never should have even been in, let alone win, let alone get the shutouts. Matt Murray rejected 38 shots in a 3 – 0 win against Toronto and Casey DeSmith not to be out done stopped 39 Coyote shots in a 4 – 0 win. Unfortunately, both of these goalies have turned in clunker games as well.
Everyone here, no doubt knows I am a Matt Murray fan, however, he has been the more inconsistent of the Penguins’ goalies. He has a bloated 4.08 Goals Against Average (GAA) and a below average Save Percentage Sv% of 0.877. It is hard to believe that he is the same goalie that won 2 Cups with a cool, calm, stand-up demeanor. Going up against the best of the best, chasing Lord Stanley’s Cup, as a Rookie, he had microscopic GAAs of 2.08 during the first Cup run and 1.70 during the second Cup play-offs, turning aside 92.3% and 93.7% of the shots against him in those play-off series. In fact, he put an exclamation mark on the Second Cup performance with back-to-back shutouts,carring that dominance over to the following year, posting 3 consecutive post-season goose-eggs.
Now, instead of playing a calm, stand-up style, he seems to frantically lunge back and forth across the net, often times taking himself out of the play, as if he were trying to emulate Marc-Andre Fluery. However, Fluery was more acrobatic and could play that frenetic style., while Murray doesn’t seem suited to it. I don’t know if this change in style is intentional or a result of the gross number of pucks thrown at him over the last year or so. If it is intentional, I can’t help but wonder who is wanting to change him?
Casey DeSmith: C
Matt Murray: D
Coaching group effort: F
Mike Johnston was fired even though his team was playing better. The only way Sullivan and his staff can even tie Johnson’s numbers at the point at which he found himself out of a job is by winning all 4 of the next 4 games. Only in picking up all 8 points will the Penguins have 33 points, which is how many they had at the 28 game mark when Sullivan took over the team.
The Penguins’ defensive woes may not really be attributable to the lack of skill by the players but a testament against the coaching. Since the first Cup year, the team has not made tactical adjustments in a timely fashion. It took around a quarter of the season for the team to abandon their ineffective breakouts that kept them pinned in their own zone for extended periods of time.
When Sullivan lit a fire under team going through the motions, he did it with kids, kids he brought up from WBS, while benching high-priced under performing veterans. I was excited. I was tired of watching the fossil hunter Johnston, looking for the oldest most experienced player he could find. I though there was going to be real change. Unfortunately, Sullivan stopped with the youth movement. He only brought in HIS men. after that, he has turned into the same archaeologist that Johnston was. And just like Johnston, he has consistently given extremely long leashes, even in play off games (Letang last year in the Capital series) while punishing kids (Sprong) for the failure of veterans.
GM: D
I appreciate what Jim Rutherford has been saying. It is always the right thing. However, he has apparently allowed Sullivan to get away with insubordination. Rutherford, over the summer last year brought in Ryan Reaves to protect the team and give it some grit. Sullivan didn’t play him. This past off season, Rutherford said Sprong would be a part of the team this year, yet in a passive aggressive maneuver, Sullivan has put Sprong in position to fail to excuse his insubordination. And let’s not forget the Jack Johnson signing. Not only has Johnson been the weak link on defense, the Penguins were over-stocked with Left Deefensemen.
Our Penguins are 3-1-1 over the last 5 games. They do seem to be trending upward. However, they are still much closer to the bottom than the top. This last 5 game swing may be a sign of good things to come and I do hope so, but it could just be more Jekyll and Hyde.
Phil,
Sorry. Phil it isn’t nothing to support your accusations that he told players injuries es information with reporters . You putting words in his mouth. There’s no point to do so. I’m not buying it. I have seen all Ian cole’s Interviews this season and there nothing there. I doubt that. he never try to get players hurt. Writers get there information about this team everyday via email or text!!! Whatever.
I don’t see him tell stuff about their injuries to get his teammates and friends within the team that he loves to give other opponents a shot to hurt them more. Ian Cole love playing here and love his teammates here. I smell bs.
It what it is . Trading Cole was big mistake & Johnson signing is brutal and very ridiculous. It make out players who doesn’t deserve to get traded and in the doghouse. He wanted to stay and he very cool/ little close with Sid&Geno.
Mike Sullivan doesn’t like upbeat, funny, little out spoken, friendly, and calm nature guys in the lock room. Penguins players loved Ian Cole and they still do. Sullivan didn’t like him and overcompensating for Hunwick that never fit or gave them nothing valuable to the table to win games. Mike Sullivan issues were personal and due him not playing good on his off side for this team.
Regardless writers love for him or not.
I’m quite sure Avalanche or Pittsburgh would have give a article to let everyone know what happen from his side. Ian Cole constantly say he loves Pittsburgh and wanted to stay with them!! Plus players would never talk to him again for that.
Mike Sullivan is fine with Jack Johnson and quite frankly like him . ( for now) Je wanted him. They talk Everyday about players and players to get on this team. Mike Sullivan and Rutherford constantly deferring to one another . More than you know. Sullivan gets say so with Rutherford deals and moves to good certain extent.
Rutherford needs stop deferring to much with him. Mike Sullivan job is to coach the talent and get the best of everything player Rutherford brings to this team. Whether he like them or not. You not gonna like every player and their perso.
Rutherford wanted Reaves, Cole and Sprong to stay. He traded them . Rutherford hands tied to trade them . Etc..
Sullivan is common deminator with players. It’s either his way or you out somewhere to another team. He pushes players out of town.
Rutherford may have easily sit him down with this player play him here and XXX games on this team. He didn’t. He keeps saying, I don’t want to do it . I wanted to keep him.
Trade Cole and Reaves was mistake, imho.
Enough of this. There’s bigger issues going on with team.
One Question: Would move Letang? For what?
Hey Dee,
I understand if you don’t believe what I heard.
I was with a buddy in his car headed to a pub to watch the game and we heard Ian Cole say what he said. I’m not going to pay for the transcript of the interview to prove it. Cole was one of my favorite Penguins players and I always believed he was the best defensive defenseman on the team, and that the trade wasn’t a good one. I also don’t believe I said Sullivan was right or wrong in his treatment of Cole, I was just relaying what Cole said in an interview.
It should also be mentioned that I don’t believe Cole gave the information out on purpose. He probably just said something like “Kessel’s working his way though some stuff right now I’m sure he’ll be fine once he’s back at 100%”. It was just that he wasn’t supposed to say anything, was all he said in the interview.
I also have a ton of people that don’t believe me about the Sprong acting like a ten year old in an interview. Doesn’t matter. I know what I saw, and just because the media decided to be nice about it and never show the video again doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I got a little redemption in the form of a quote from the post-gazette today… “He (Sprong) was not the most mature teenager when he joined the Penguins as a second-round pick in 2015 and did not appear to make major strides in that area over the past few years.”
Take that for what it is worth. I know what I see and hear and only try to pass it on.
Hey Dee + Phil,
I did watch the Avs game and pregame, so I did see that Cole was interviewed, but I was not focused to hear what was said. I don’t doubt that you heard some sort of comments by Cole, he always tended to be talkative and tried to be witty. I just want to try and find it so I can hear exactly what was said and how it was said to put it into some sort of context.
I do tend to see things similar to Dee, and after reading Sullivan’s quotes in today’s PG, he counter-acted any and all of your defense of him, for me. His arguments just re-affirmed my opinions of him after all the work you did to cause me to rethink myself.
Hey tOR,
The interview I listened to was on Sirius NHL Network Radio.
ToR&Rick,
Reliable credible sources seems to have urgency to move Brass, Letang and Murray.
Hey Dee,
I have heard the Murray rumors but haven’t heard anything about Brassard or Letang (Joy, Joy, Joy!)
I still think Murray is salvageable. He looks to me like he is trying to be somebody he is not. Why? I don’t know. He needs to get back to being the kid who calmly just stayed within himself, using his size to his advantage.
Brassard, I never liked the trade to begin with. I wanted JGP, if we dealt with Ottawa last year – but more importantly, I didn’t think the team needed to deal. They were much stronger with Cole and Reaves.
Letang, what can I say; like most people on these boards, I want him out of here. I would have asked for his 8 team list of teams a long, long time ago. In fact, I never would have given him the long Crosby – Malkinesque contract to begin with. He isn’t/wasn’t even close to the same stratosphere as those 2. Had he jumped UFA, the team would have been better off (imagine where that $7+ could have been spent all these years)
Hello TOR,
Matt Murray? I do not see him being salvageable. I know we disagree on this . It’s ok.
Penguins should not wait til Murray can show he can be that guy and to trust him in the net.
Matt Murray just isn’t answer for this team. For many reasons. I understand super subpar defense and other stuff. Pens make a wrong decision at the time .Hindsight 20/20 It wasn’t a no brainer. They chose him because of Sully and he was young. Matt Murray walked in perfect storm . 2015-16 /2016-17
I don’t like to bring Fluery in this situation. Fluery has nothing to do with it. But exposing Murray and Letang to Vegas probably payed dividends to this team.
I still believe Keep Fluery in the net. Mentoring DeSmith or Jarry would have pay off. Give Jarry and Flip Gustavsson a chance to still go through their development.
I would have extended Fluery to 3-4 deal with 6 to 6.8 million with Sid& Geno. Fluery , Sid and Geno should stay together on this team. Not Sid, Letang, Malkin. Fluery is the better goalie even through his trials and tribulations years ago. I do believe he would have gave that performance to help Penguins last season to the finals. Penguins would have 3 peat and have great success.
I am not a Murray hater. I like him a tab bit. I analyze players to see what they can bring to the table and benefits to this team. Murray doesn’t have that. Injures will keep pile up and he will feel comfortable due to being Sully’s boy.
Matt Murray is very injured prone, inconsistent goalie among other things.
To me, he’s Cam Ward /Jim Carey/Rick Dipetro in one.
Minus B2B cups and other issues.
Murray has not showed that he’s capable to be a starting solid goalie that make timely saves, stand on his head, steal games and be comfortable to start in the net over 50-60 games. He has played very poorly for one year and half. Injured 3-5 for 19 months . I won’t go far. Because some people don’t like the reality of the assessment on his goaltending minus stanley cups.
From a business standpoint, it’s time to move on, it would be very wrong to sign him to long term contract, it hurts last great elite year of Sid&Geno , probably long term future too.
Murray is on the last part of his contract. So you get your best return for him .
Brassard? It is what it is. Rutherford try this summer for Alex Galchencky . He back out or something.
Letang? Absolutely. He got that contract out of one ok season year ago. Ray Shero being too loyalty. Ray Shero’s fault. Letang is a prima Donna, temper tantrum, self -absorb, selfish player , one trick pony that hurts this team. People marble at offensive ok attribute. Penguins don’t need that. They need defense and leadership from him. He do not have that. He care a bout points. He hides behind Sid and Geno.
Mike Sullivan doesn’t know what to do. He scared to hold him accountable and bench him.
Watch everything he does every game. It’s the same and it’s brutal. He suck the life out this team. He’s a offensive weapon for other teams . Every short handed goals was because he aggressively pinch, contextual awareness,lack self of unaware and not natural elite quarterback. Bad pinching every shift and plays like a fowards.
Rutherford needs to trade Letang and wash his hands to surround Better players with Sid& Geno.i would rather keep Kessel until his contract expires than Letang.
Jack Johnson needs to be bench. He wears down Jamie Olekskiak . There’s nothing there with him.
Hello TOR,
Nice Report.
Thank you. For acknowledging me .
I agree with most of the brutal grades and assessment.
Letang ? C- I don’t get two buckets of pucks about his ok overrated offensive talent. He’s brutal. He has been ok good this season. Very inconsistent. Sloppy , reckless, unaware, low hockey iq, bad defensively, always chasing points, offensive weapon for their goals. Bad Powerplay Quarterback. Bad in all three zone It there every game. People only chose to criticize other players and care about offensive things with him. Same Ole Letang!!
Letang is the Penguins biggest problem and culprit on this team . ( several years) Nothing special. Aggressively pinching and odd man rushes. Put his team in vulnerable position. Stuff he does hurt the team momentum to be a threat on the ice. I’m tired of people defending him. He’s a cancer on the ice.
He lack of self-awareness and inability to be consistent to help this team. One trick pony.
He constantly cost Penguins games. Etc. Trade him!! While he’s healthy and doing ok.
Dumoulin? B- I would give him that. Because he puts up with Letang crap and babysitting to much. It hurt him to be able to blossom and showcase his talents more.
Brassard? He deserves D- He does not being nothing to the table. Do not fit this team. He has play with every winger and center on this team. He has not show nothing to help this team. Trade him!!!!
Penguins are very weak, fragile and disorganized. Blame goes to coaching staff. It getting very Mike Johnston/ Dan Blysma esque.
You don’t continue lose to teams they are losing and desperate mode to get points.
Penguins are painful and shocking to watch . This is rock bottom, imho.
No one wants admit it or criticize Mike Sullivan. This team is a big reflection of Mike Sullivan’s ego and stubbornness. His system, coaching, tactics, strategies, game plans, adjustments, line combos are very weak and plain inexcusable with experienced elite talent Penguins have on this team. I do not what to hear what Sullivan happens to say anymore. Damaged is done. Players are down and really not playing their potential and definitely not playing where they belong in these Brutal line combos .
Wasting Crosby / Malkin era.
I have never left a hockey game in my life whether they lose or win. Tonight I had to leave early during the first period after the Flyers tied game. 1-1 . I watched rest of the game on iPhone in the car.
You do not continue to play Kessel and Brassard together. There’s no results there. All I see is Kessel is tryna set up something and Brassard passing to defenders while losing puck battles. You want chemistry and goals. You load your top lines and shortening the bench. You bench your brutal defenseman and give someone else so more minutes.
Penguins are not playing fun cohesive hockey. Letang suck everything out this team. I do not understand. You supposed be defensively read and give what the opponents give you on the ice. You don’t aggressively pinch and give up everything to them. You watch your puck management and puck decisions. Support one another and be aware with puck to get something offensively to beat opponents. Get dirty areas and puck in deep. Use the hash marks. Shoot rebound and blue paint battles etc..
Pens are losing because their whole defense together is not doing the job. About a few guys. Some fowards are weak and turn the puck out ver to defenders.
Penguins have a very soft schedule this month. 2-3 home games to start this moth. 8 home games and 7 away game. Christmas Break.
Something happens to give.
Penguins needs to tighten up and defensively.
• Better Breakouts
•Support one another on the ice.
•Defense to offense( defend first/ control your self awareness/ emotions on the ice)
•No cross ice passes
•Shoot the puck/ rebounds/dirty blue paint goals
•Prepare game plans
•A, B, C plans to adapt every game.
•better line combos /line changes
•No odd man rushes/pinching/I’ll advices passes.
•stop self – inflicting/ sloppy hockey
That’s all have .. for now…
Letang, Brassard, Sheahan, Rust needs to go. Coach changes.
Rutherford needs to act and get that phone dialing to do some work to better this team.
Like against AVs game.. Penguins coaching staff had a chance to load up on their lines. Shortening the bench. Hold Letang accountable and fight back to win.
No. Letang off the off. Flyers doing whatever they want. Bad face off wins. 75% hold the puck. They played sloppy, bad, brutal, hockey. Bad officiating.
I wrote you another comment e about Sullivan’s 4 Line philosophy.
Hey Dee,
What can I say, when you are right, you are right.
Sullivan and Letang are anchors that are drowning this team.
As I wrote Jorenz, I only gave Letang a B because of his stats. He is offensively putting up numbers and his +/- is still solid. I do agree with what you wrote a little while back, Letang’s +/- is no doubt more a factor of the ice time he gets with Crosby and Malkin than anything he brings to the table – sort of like the 40 goal seasons Scorin’ Warren and Doug Sheddan had flanking Mario back in the 80s. But with no other physical evidence this first 1/3 of a season, only the eye test and other non recorded/record able realities I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
One of my pet peeves about Letang was in full force last night. As you noted the officiating was bad. When the officiating is bad Letang’s little temper tantrums almost always come out and hurts the team. He took 2 really bad penalties at the end of the game. It is hard for fans, even when they are at the game, to know exactly what players say to the Refs but I have no doubt that Letang was chirpping and got the Refs ticked-off so that regardless of how professional they are supposed to be, they weren’t. They really did call the game slanted.
As for Sullie, he has this team in a position now that they can not even get to where they were when Johnston was fired in the standings and they are foundering at least as bad from a morale stand-point. I have already read what you wrote above and I am hoping that the Pens front office is also feeling an urgency to fix the coaching.
A friend suggested that bringing Craig Patrick back was in fact a step in that direction. He suggested that Patrick was brought back as a plan B/interim coach should the team decide it was time to end the Sullivan era. At this point in my frustration, I hope so.
Hello ToR,
Spot on !
Jim Rutherford has a opportunity to better this team this month . December—February are crucial time for the Penguins to get better and be a complete team. Move r dead weight , handle Sully and bring some support great hungry cast. Make a better foundation around Sid&Geno.
Hey Dee,
I honestly wouldn’t be upset if the Pens didn’t try and make a Cup run this year but retooled for the next couple of years. If they tried to make a Cup run this year, they would undoubtedly try and keep Letang and that would be disastrous this year and for years to come. This may be the last best chance the Pens will have of dumping him.
I wish JR could find a way of undoing the Johnson trade too, but after figuring out ways of getting out from under Scuderi and Hunwick, I am not sure there is enough magic left.
Right now there are some big names ready to go UFA. There is at least $20 mil in Cap $$$$ that could be traded away to go after a couple of those bigger name UFA.
Add in a top 5 draft pick for falling to the bottom of the League for a year.
Then mix in a couple of the younger guys from WBS and/or a Jr team.
Of course, to do this and make it work will mean getting in a new coach, one that doesn’t punish rookies and 1st year men for the errors of under-performing veterans. It would take a coach that can work with kids and develop them.
Good Morning TOR,
Exactly. That has been my longest desperation take of Kris Letang.
He’s on other side of 30 , he will not get better, he isn’t help ing this team, he isn’t fast anymore, he can’t handle over 18 mins, will continue to decline and his contract will continue to punish them, they can get out from his albatross contract. not a true capable #1 defender So on and on..
Pens will be complete find without Kris Letang. It evident. For many years .
Pens have a lot of great years life in Sid& Geno. That my observation and opinion. I still believe they can win 1-2 more cups and awards together.
But..
This ends the question, who’s more important to the pens… Shultz or Letang? … one can play both ends can,great on quarterback for powerplay, the other has zero interest unless it’s in the offensive zone at small times . Cheats there etc..
Shultz is the answer. With two new RHD
That answer was there multiple times when Letang was out. 2016 , 2017 with some depth there. Years ago with Ray Shero era..
You remember pens were great with Shultz pairing with Cole or Dumoulin..
I do not understand the hesitation on Jim Rutherford’s mind. Time to move him.
I agree with you. Great UFa is coming plus some good trade deadlines this season.
Let me say this. If Jason Botterill or another GM was here to strengthen this team last summer.. right now.. I bet Kris Letang and Jack Johnson would not be here on this roster.
Point Blank Period.
I stand firm . 3, 8 , 4 , 6 are not the Problem. I see them try hard to get the put out zone and jump in the play at right time. Small simple mistakes. When they do make mistakes they come back and defend their mistakes.
They are victims to lost coaching and overvalued Kris Letang. You remove that . Bring two great top reasonably 4 RHD and use WB/S for D depth .. pens will be good.. implemented better defensive schemes to win games..
Pens do not need a top D on the D core.. to win stanley cups..
Thoughts on Charlie Coyle? He shoots right. Can play wing too. 6’3 two years left on about 3-4 million..contract..
Thoughts on Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko??
Names to throw out..
Hey Dee,
Coyle is an interesting thought. He could be a Nick Bonino type player coming in here. A forward that blocks shots and hits people. He is a $3.5 hit, so is would be interesting to see if they team would work something out. Are you thinking Brassard?
Pietrangelo and/or Parayko, well with JR trading Sprong for another Lefty, it seems that the team doesn’t really want right handed Defensemen, so the point may be moot. If it were me, I may be more inclined to go after Parayko to save some money to try and sign a real UFA in the off-season.
Perhaps the Sprong trade is the forerunner for that though. Bringing in Petterson could free the team up to trade Dumoulin and Maatta to free up $8+ mil (Rather one of those trades be Johnson but that won’t happen). Then they could trade Letang for Parayko and have ~ $10 mil to play with.
Hello!
I am new on this blog and it is always a pleasure to read articles and comments. I have been a Pens fan for many years and I would say that this season has been very disappointing. I agree with most of the elements mentioned except for Letang’s and Kessel’s marks. I would have given Letang C and Kessel B-.
The question that I often ask myself is: How can this talented team be so off beat? There is no energy, no passion. It can be frustrating at times. The reasons can be multiple but I think that Sullivan’s style of coaching may be outdated, not adapted for the new NHL trend. It seems like some of the players don’t listen to him anymore, so to speak. His style is not suited for instinctive players.
Maybe it will take a year off the playoffs to undertake major changes…
Keep up the excellent work!
Welcome to PP Jorenz and thanks,
Believe me, I am no Letang fan. I am not a Letang hater either. Letang is Letang, he can skate and that puts him a position to do good things offensively. However, he is paid to be a defensemen and he makes many bad, bad decisions defensively. He also is undisciplined and takes bad penalties and last night the Hyde side of Letang was out in force. He was out of position on multiple goals against (Including the SHG) and took 2 really bad penalties ruining any chance of a Penguin comeback.
If you see above, Dee writes that credible sources are saying the Pens appear pushing to move him as well as Brassard and Murray. So, if this is true, maybe the team can start to move forward.
I gave Letang a B based on his statistics over the course of the full first roughly 1/3 of the season. Even though I personally would have moved him a long time ago, I hate to give him and average grade when he is putting up really solid offensive numbers and is on the + side of the +/-. I agree with Dee’s assessment that those numbers are more of a reflection of being on the ice with Crosby and Malkin most of the time.
I am hoping that other GMs are only looking at those numbers and not the low lights of last years Capital series or the temper that caused Letang to take 2 stupid penalties last night.
I can see why you would want to drop Kessel down to a B, particularly now that Sullivan is trying to force another square peg into a round hole (Brassard – Kessel). Kessel’s production is tailing off right now and he is part of that PP unit that gives up almost a many goals as it scores.
As for Sullivan, well, it is time to move on. As I wrote earlier this year, even though I was indignant when Sullivan wasn’t even nominated for the Jack Adams after chasing and securing back-to-back Cups, the black-n-gold blinders are off and I can see now what that committee may have been seeing when they snubbed him. He appears now to have been the beneficiary of a perfect storm. Although he started a trend towards fast moving hockey that is exciting to watch, the way hockey is supposed to be played, he is now getting out – coached night after night.
One thing I forgot to mention when I compared Sullivan to Johnston, not only do the Penguins have to pick up all 8 points to match the teams point totals when Johnston was fired, they have to hope Columbus only picks 1 of their next 6 possible points, the Islanders only 4 of their next 8 and Carolina 4 of their next 6 otherwise they would only match point totals and not position in the Division. When Johnston was fired, the team was 2nd in the Division. They are now 6th and only 3 points from the bottom.
Well,
After this latest loss Sullivan cannot equal the record Johnston’s Penguins had when he was fired. Wrong players again!
Just finished watching the Pen’s vs Flyers game. We can talk about
the other (5) that make up the Pens defense but Letang is killing us.
I keep repeating myself but the guy has zero Hockey sense. How many
times will his “POOR” decisions cost us in close games.
He has way to many mental glitches – JR needs to pull the trigger and
move him while theirs a possibility of getting some type of value in
return.
Hey Mike,
If you haven’t seen Dee above, apparently sources are indicating Letang is on the block. I really hope this is true. Like you, I hate sounding like a broken record.
The Other Rick
Like you I thought signing Jack Johnson was a horrible decision but
I will have to respectfully take up for him after reading your article.
I realize he’s a minus 12 “not good” but he leads the entire team in
hits and block shots – two very crucial statistics when playing defense
in the NHL.
The last point I would like to make is Sullivan system – which we both
know is tough to grasp. I remember hating Ian Cole and thought he
was a flat out bum then I grew to love him. Theirs been several players
struggle when first joining the team.
GO PENS
Hey Mike,
I have always appreciated Hits and Blocks, so I hear what you are saying, but my problem with Johnson is that he seems to be way out of position way to often. I understand that many defensemen have struggled with Sullivan’s system; Cole, Lovejoy, Maatta, and Dumoulin have all been given press box time because they had bad starts in this system. I am not saying that Johnson will never get it. All I am doing is recapping the start of this season.
Sullivan and Rutherford, who also got horrible grades from me could turn it around before season’s end.
The Bottom line for me is that since the team is only 3 points from the body spot in the division I find it hard to give many players good grades.