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The Penguins: A Return To October Hockey

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ByThe Other Rick

Mar 2, 2018

I thought I stepped into my DeLorean and went back to October hockey last night.

Pride goeth before a fall and insisting on playing Matt Hunwick and Conor Sheary is at the very least prideful.

Winning back-to-back Stanley Cups not only takes a tremendous toll on the bodies and psyches of the players that have to endure the marathon of two regular seasons and the war that is the post-seasons, but sometimes it causes Coaches and GMs to start thinking that they can’t make mistakes. Welled with their pride they can make serious mistakes, thinking that they are infallible.

Trading Ian Cole and to a lesser extent Ryan Reaves could very well be a case of this.
I am not complaining about the addition of Derick Brassard, he actually does look good on the ice and in a Penguins uniform. He may need to suffer through some adjustments to his new team but I haven’t seen him make a bad play or really get man-handled and have the puck taken off of him, like a bully takes candy from a baby (Conor Sheary). I do love the depth the Penguins have at Center; Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Brassard, and Riley Sheahan. I can’t help but wonder what that 3rd line would look like if they now would slot in an NHL caliber Left Wing.

I am complaining about the cost of trading Ian Cole and Ryan Reaves to acquire Brassard. I seriously doubt that the current bottom falling out of the Penguins’ “D” is just coincidence. During the game last night, one of our readers posted a similar thought as the Bruins totaled up their score, noting the losses and last night’s deluge of goals against. But let’s recap more fully what has happened these last 3 games (1 game with Cole a healthy scratch in anticipation of the trade and 2 after the trade).
Over the last three games the Penguins have given up 17 goals or 5.67 goals per game. It is not surprising that the team has given up so many goals when you consider the Coleless Penalty Kill (PK) is an abysmal 4 of 9. I still remember Cole almost singlehandedly killing off a penalty last spring, playing nearly the whole 2 minutes himself. I also remember a PK this year that almost equaled that iron man performance.
It is also less than surprising to see a return to embarrassment that was October when you look at the Shots Against (SA). In the 3 games since the Penguins have chosen to play without Cole they have given up 106 shots or 35.33 per game. Even with Matt Murray in net to handle that barrage and Malkin, Crosby, and Phil Kessel to counter attack, it will be a hard sell come playoff time.

Actually, come to think of it, if this trend isn’t reversed, there still is time for the Penguins to fall out of the playoffs.

I don’t really want to lay all of the blame on Jim Rutherford. There has been a cloud hanging over  Cole all season. He has been targeted as a healthy scratch on several occasions. The rumors were rampant that Mike Sullivan didn’t really play well with the most competent defenseman on the team. Sullivan often opted to play the team’s most incompetent defenseman (Matt Hunwick) over Cole. Rutherford may have only been trying to salvage something out of a situation where certain individuals put ego over the good of the team.

The past is the past, no matter how much we fans bemoan the senseless banishment of Cole and as I said to a lesser extent Reaves, it can’t be reversed. The only thing that can be done now is to fix the current ridiculous excuse for team D. Unfortunately Sullivan now has precious few options. However, the first thing he needs to do is sit Hunwick. He is not able to get the job done. Any subjective discussion that he looked good several years ago or that he skates well, or any other non-quantifiable opinion doesn’t matter. The Win – Loss column tells the tale. If he was a viable defenseman, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
The Penguins must now pin their hopes on either calling for help from Wilkes-Barre Scranton (Andrey Pedan or Jared Tinordi?) or hope that the “Big RigJamie Oleksiak can slide back to Left Defense and Chad Ruhwedel can shake the rust off and step in to help the team limp to the finish line.

Let’s face it, although the scores may get worse, the results are the same a loss is a loss and what they are doing now isn’t winning. Changes on “D” have to be made.

As for replacing Ryan Reaves, well, you can’t replace him. I know some of you may want to bring up the fact that I was against trading for him to begin with and have recently said I still think it was a bad trade. I reconcile these statements first by saying Reaves is the best at what he does but second that you don’t necessarily need the best pugilist. Boston didn’t need him last night, nor did New Jersey, or Florida before them.
What the Penguins really need is team toughness. They need to sit little gnats like Conor Sheary who, although having good offensive instincts gets tossed around like a rag doll by even average sized players and has the puck taken away from him (saw it again several times last night). I have read some people complain about players like Domink Simon and Daniel Sprong, saying that they need to develop a 200’ game, but quite frankly, I never see Sheary in the “D” zone. In the mean time I have witnessed and commented on both Simon and Sprong’s play in their own zone. If Simon and Sprong are 1 dimensional, than Sheary is in the decimal places in his dimensions. It is well past the time to bring one of them back up, at least until Zach Aston-Reese can return to the line up.

Between Sheary’s $3 mil and Hunwik’s $2 mil, that is money poorly spent, and right now I am wishing Rutherford would have talked Vegas into taking Sheary.  I would have gladly given up that draft pick to cut my losses there. Actually, I advocated letting him go RFA.

When you combine Sheary’s and Hunwick’s salaries the team could possibly still have Marc-Andre Fleury. The only way this team may be able to survive the pathetic excuse of a “D” that it currently has is by having both Murray and Fleury to back stop them, so that when they wear out one of them, the other could step up. No disrespect intended toward Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith, no rookie goalie should be faulted when veteran defense looks this bad.

9 thoughts on “The Penguins: A Return To October Hockey”
  1. I think Rust should flank Geno’s line but I like Hagelin and Hornqvist there. I prefer Hagelin and Kessel there. Rust should flank with Brassard and Kessel while Guentzel and Simon should flank Sid’s line. Simon on the right line it was in Jackets’ game months ago. If not Guentzel and Rust is fine with Sid to me.

  2. Thank you. Thank you . Simple great stuff, Other Rick.
    Always on Point. Agree . Wasted money on Hunwick on Sheary.
    Some PGh writers talk about don’t panic and Hunwick shouldn’t be an scapegoat. T

    lI have been saying(thinking) this all season and really at this point I’m very disappointed in the Pens Organization. I wish Rutherford would have let let Sheary walk in the off -season . Pens are deep at wingers to let Sheary go .Really trade him couple of days ago.
    I love Simon and his 200 game. Only thing he has to do is work hard on lowering his penalties that he takes sometimes. I would take Rust, Resse, Guentzel, Simon and Sprong over Sheary . Frankly . I I saw through him as soon as he put on a Pens Jersey three years go . Sheary doesn’t brings nothing to this team. Sorry for People who tend to disagree with me. About him. Sheary isn’t a top line caliber player. Basically isn’t an bottom line player either. I believe and see Sheary gets favoritism (special treatment) because he knows Sullivan directly due to family history .
    All season long I can’t understand why he Sullivan continues to put him on Crosby’s line when Crosby’s doesn’t want him there and they don’t mesh well together. Sheary is awful.
    He doesn’t contribute enough and Crosby has hard time playing his game how he wants.My last straw for me when Sprong was up then scratched Where Sheary went back on top line after his constant bad games especially during LA road trip.
    No fit for him. Anywhere for that matter.
    For me I get joy out of see Crosby and Guentzel together because they are in sync basically great duo like Kunitz or Duper years ago. Simon and Rust as well when they are heavy on forechecks, defensively sounds and effective down low with Crosby.
    Guentzel should have been there all season through his slump . He still was effective to me. Way before that Guentzel and Crosby were fine together. I feel like at this point in Crosby’s career a player like Guentzel should be the first line permanent winger with Simon and Rust or Resse . Sullivan needs let them be together like Malkin’s line all now plus throughout the playoffs.
    Cole is big loss to me. He was part of why Pens D were effective on D before the trade that I hate. Some make it see like Cole isn’t good when he was. In my opinion he can be a effective top 4 Defensemen to me . Cole -Big Rig mask still overrated Letang and bad Hunwick. Pens D have gotten exposed again( Weak all season except for when Cole was playing) in last 3 games. It should be panicked because it’s still a tight race even tho it would be great if they finish SSecond playwith home home – advantage.
    Pens are back to bad where they were all season. Agree . I stated before Big Rig move to Left and Pedan or Chad to Right .

    If it was up to me I would have Sheahan and Kessel flank Brassard. If Cullen would have came through on deadline I would flank him with Rowney as right winger. Add Depth D. Let go of Letang for Veteran Goalie McDonagh and but it’s to late.

    1. Appreciated Dee,

      Like you I think Crosby and Guentzel are a great combination, but I also liked Simon – Crosby – Sprong. With the loss of Reaves, I wouldn’t have minded if the Pens would have dealt for Evander Kane but that is neither here nor there since that ship has sailed.

      With the playoffs coming, I think I would adopt Sullivan’s strategy from last year putting a Banger on each line and then extend that to putting a Road-runner on each line too.

      In my mind the top 4 lunch-pail Bangers would be – Hornqvist, Aston-Reese, Kunhackl, and Rowney. However, Rowney has not shown much of a scoring touch so even though he wouldn’t be the ideal guy, I would probably tab Guentzel as the other Banger. He isn’t that big but he does take the body and can find the back of the net and find it with regularity.

      The Road-runners would be Kessel, Rust, Hagelin, and either Simon or Sprong.

      I would then assemble them around Crosby, Malkin, Brassard, and Sheahan.

      If done properly I would think all 4 lines would then be serious scoring threats.

      I would like to do the same thing on “D”, put 1 banger out there, but that would be a tall order to fill. So although Phil makes a good point in that Czuczman is having a solid season down on WBS, I think I would give Pedan and Tinordi first crack at the 6th spot giving 2 “D” pairings some grit.

      In the off-season, if Sullivan really doesn’t want to give Sprong a legitimate shot and a team with good young “D” men gets the top pick, I may try and pry that pick off them by trying to deal them Sprong and our first round pick for theirs. I would then take Dahlin.

      Since Kane and Grabner are UFA I would also consider making a play for them, assuming I have any Cap space left to deal. I would take a bag of pucks to get out from under that $3mil contract to Sheary) I would consider it doubly important if I had to deal Sprong to get Dahlin.

      Of course I wouldn’t be so covetous of Dahlin had the Pens not lost their 1st pick in this past draft for a player who is no longer on the team. Nicolas Hague has 30 goals, 36 assists, and 95 PIM in 59 games. He is the guy I would have loved for the Penguins to have gotten this past summer.

      That doesn’t mean he would transition seamlessly into the NHL but his numbers aren’t disappointing me.

  3. Great stuff, Other Rick!

    I was all set to respond when I decided to pull my comment back and make it into a full-blown post. But, needless to say, I agree with a lot of what you say.

    Hope the Pens can pull it together. Yikes, they’re playing lousy … 🙁

    Rick

  4. I’m hearing a lot of talk about the Penguins losing their toughness & grit. It is almost exactly the same talk I heard not too long ago when the Pens traded Bortuzzo & Despres a few years back.

    While Hunwick does look horrible, Oleksiak was a -4 last night. Sullivan mixed the defense up all night to try to get decent combinations.

    Rick Buker eluded to this, but I watched the last four games of the Toronto playoff series last year and Hunwick brought his ‘A’ game. I know everyone is down on him, but when Toronto took the Caps to 6 games last year Hunwick played a Letang like 25 mins a game for Toronto.

    I’m not saying Hunwick is playing good by any means, I just hoping he is a playoff guy. If not, on top of the guys you mentioned, there is also 6’3″ defenseman Kevin Czuczman in WBS they can bring up. He played in the NHL right out of college for the Islanders then never got a chance again.

    It was dumb trading Ian Cole especially without a backup plan. Especially when you look back at it and know that Columbus picked him up for a 3rd rounder.

    I’m not really sure how much the Pens needed Brassard. What I do know is that Brassard brings it all in the playoffs. Sort of the way Kunitz used to. I, like you, hope the Pens still make the playoffs.

    Just one other thing, Sullivan needs to put the Rust – Malkin – Hagelin line back together. That line was magic and it wore down other teams defenses.

    1. Hey Phil,

      Pairings are very important, a certain guy may play better with one player than another and in one system better than another. Oleksiak was a +8, second best on the club before Cole was traded. Although he played a lot with Cole he did play with other players as well and Cole was only a +3, so Oleksiak brought his own to that pairing, however, since the banishment of Cole and saddling him with Hunwick, Oleksiak is a -5. For the Penguins sake I hope I am wrong but logic seems to say Hunwick is the problem. The NHL website actually allows you to go back and look at the exact players on the ice at the time of a goal. I wish I had the time to do the analytics to see what each player looks like with and without certain players, but I don’t.

      Maybe Hunwick played well in Toronto’s system or with his Partner up across the boarder, but the team is inconsistent at best with him out there but more often than not they really struggle. Perron is another player that played well elsewhere but never found his footing in Pgh,

      I know I usually elide Czuczman when I talk change, I don’t know why, he does seem to have some good +/- numbers and isn’t small by any stretch of the imagination. He was even brought up for a whistle stop at one point but sent back down without ever touching the ice in game conditions, like Bleuger a few weeks back, so there are some options, but not a whole lot of them to audition for that 6th “D” spot.

      I agree about Brassard, I really do like what I see from him, and if Bonino could explode in the playoffs with Kessel, imagin what Brassard could do with Kessel and a competent LW come playoff time as the third triad of that hydra.

      And let’s not forget about how Sheahan is still playing, what a blast he ripped past Rask.

      I always have liked the way Rust worked with Malkin . With Rust and Hagelin flanking him Geno has speed to burn on that line, to create tons of pressure on opposing “D”. Furthermore, Crosby’s line may need Hornqvist’s grit more than Malkin.

      Let’s hope they find their legs again tomorrow.

  5. thanks for your truthful article.
    I worry for our star players who seemed to be cautious in the last three games and certainly got push / cross checked around by Boston. Yes the defense is terrible but the offence is firing on all cylinder. We do not have a forward over 200 pounds. Hard to intimidate and fore check with 175 pounders

    1. Appreciated dalew,

      This is the NHL, not a sport of kitty-cat petting so a reasonable amount of pushing is expected, but as you note, when you have as many under-sized players as the Penguins do, it only seems to embolden players that have little qualm about crossing the line. Worse than that, we are no entering the part of the season, where the referees put their whistles in their pocket and let anything short of a play resulting in an injury go. (and even then they still tend to only give 2 minute penalties, preferring to influence the out-come in favor of the team that breaks the rules rather than the one that respects the rules). So it is only going to get worse.

      That is why I want the Penguins try and give Oleksiak some help by bringing up Pedan or Tinordi to replace the inept Hunwick rather than ask Oleksiak to slide over to LD and insert Ruhwedel. I don’t dislike Ruhwedel but the whole team needs to get bigger and in particularly the D needs to start putting opposing Fwds on their wallets rather than letting them have free reign in front of our Gs.

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