The Penguins – Shoring Up The Defenses:

I am pretty sure that everyone here on Penguin Poop knows my opinion of the Penguins’ Defense. I have not been that shy about expressing it. In fact I have probably been guilty of over-stating my opinions at times, to make a point. However, believe it or not, I am not one who likes to listen to people criticize anyone or anything unless at some point they offer a reasonable solution. Therefore, I do try to offer ideas to address my criticisms.

Looking at the Penguins’ situation in general and their Defense in particularly, there are many obstacles. There really isn’t all that much Salary Cap Space. According to Cap Friendly the Penguins only have $4,782,500 to be allocated to pay Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) Carter Rowney, and Restricted Free Agents (RFA); Riley Sheahan, Dominik Simon, Bryan Rust, Tom Kuhnhackl, and Jamie Oleksiak if there is no raise in the Salary Cap. To make matters worse, there are a great deal of UFAs and RFAs in the minors, including Daniel Sprong who GM Jim Rutherford has said will be on the NHL roster next year, but Coach Mike Sullivan has remained aloof.

The point here being, barring a trade clearing a certain players $7.25 million, the Penguins’ are in no position to try and compete with the Capitals for their UFA John Carlson or any other big named Defensemen.

I really wasn’t thinking all that hard about this. Actually I really was thinking I should wait until later, maybe the beginning of July to start looking around to offer up my ideas of where the Penguins should look. (Not that Rutherford or Sullivan really care about my thoughts). However, while my active attention was focused far from hockey a thought popped into my head, spurred on by the memory of a recent tongue-in-cheek reply I made regarding that millstone $7.25 contract I alluded to above. I quipped that the Penguins should consider trying to trade that weighty contract to a team in the KHL (can they really do that?, does anyone know?). Anyhow, I decided to take a look at what some of the Defensemen over in the KHL did this past year to see if there were players the Penguins could possibly target.

Now I am not sure about if these players are under-contract over there or not and/or how the Penguins can make this work, but outside of finding a way to keep Andrey Pedan in Pittsburgh next year, I found myself 3 players that I will have to definitely look to see if I could sign to reasonable contract here in the NHL. Knowing that Sullivan prefers more offensive Defensemen I limited my search to those at the top of the KHL scoring list. For my own purposes I also set age (less than 32), +/- (+10 or better), and Height (Originally I was looking for players at least 6’-2” but settled on 6’-1”).

Name	Country	Shoot	Hgt	Wgt	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	PG	SG	WG
Larsen, Philip	Dane	R	6′-1″	185	54	11	27	38	10	16	7	0	2
Hersley, Patrik	Swede	R	6′-3″	209	43	14	21	35	18	20	10	0	4
Mozik, Vojtech	Czech	R	6′-3″	201	55	9	21	30	14	46	3	0	2

Philip Larsen
Philip Larsen may not be my first choice. His size was under my original search criteria. However, after looking at his scouting reports, size, and statistics, he may be the type of player that Sullivan would give a legitimate shot, so I will start here. He has NHL experience and led the KHL in scoring for Defensemen last year. Coming up when Dallas had some good teams and as a 22yr old he had 11 points and was a +11, with an even strength CORSI of 51.0% in 55 games. Then Dallas started to decline and Larsen moved on to some bad teams in Edmonton and Vancouver. Last year in the KHL he had 11 goals, 38 points and was a +10, in 54 games. His scouting report says that he has good speed and technical skills as well as very good hockey sense. The report I read also suggests that he is a smart player who sees openings that many other players aren’t able to see and that although his offensive skills are his forte, he is solid in his own zone.

His last NHL contract was for $1.025million Perhaps, if there is a way, the Penguins could bump that number up a bit to lure him back to the NHL, even if it is on a 1 yr contract to prove himself over here and then go for the big money.

Patrik Hersley
Patric Hersley is the oldest of the 3 Defensemen at of which I would focus, but perhaps the one I would go after first if I were the coach. Hersley is listed as 6’-3”and 209lbs. Last year he scored 14 goals had 35 points and was +18 in only 43 games. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 2005 but hasn’t played in the NHL. Hersley’s scouting report says that he is a sound 2-way player with a cannon shot from the point, handles the puck well, reliable in his own end, has good hockey sense, and can play a physical game at times.

Vojtech Mozik
Vojtech Mozik is the youngest of the 3 Defensemen at 25 years of age. Like Hersley he is listed as 6’-3”. His weight is listed as 201. He played 7 games in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils and 2 years in their farm system before jumping to the KHL for a 1yr deal. He is an RFA so the Penguins would have to work a deal with the Devils to get him but maybe they can unload Conor Sheary for his rights, that way they can free up $3 million in Cap room as well.

Last year, in the KHL Mozik had 9 goals, 30 points and was a +14 in 55 games. Mozik also picked up 46 PIM while playing over there.

The KHL isn’t the NHL, so who knows if these players games will translate into anything here in the NHL. However, it is hard to imagine that they could do any worse than certain players masquerading as NHL Defensemen in Penguins’ Jerseys last season. Furthermore, I would think that the chances would be slightly better that one of them would have a better season than a “bounce back” season from a player already on the Penguins’ roster.

These players aren’t the only options the Penguins may have. This was more of an exercise in thinking outside the box, to address the weakest area on the Penguins’ roster. Shoring up the Penguins’ Defense needs to be priority number 1, to get back to the Cup.

Odds and Sods
Noted head hunter Tom Wilson is now crying foul and whining to the NHL to suspend Anton Stralman for giving back to the Capitals’ goon extraordinaire a taste of his own medicine. Isn’t it funny how quickly a criminal cries foul when the shoe is on the other foot.