Anatomy of Frustration – The 2018-2019 Penguins Review: Part One

I’ve got pieces of April but now I’ll be mourning in May! (To paraphrase David Loggins)

With the 2018-2019 Penguins’ season one week in the rear view mirror and all the kneejerk reacting out of the way, I thought I would dissect the remains and like Dr. Frankenstein, maybe look to see how it could be sewn back together for next season.

Rather than try and tackle the whole team at once, I will contain myself to one position at a time and start with a look at the Penguins’ Centers. After my last, less-than-flattering look at the Coach and GM, I wanted to start somewhere where I could find something positive to say without straining too hard.

For more than a decade, the Center position has been an area of strength for our tuxedo attired avians and this past season was no exception (at least during the regular season). However, just like the rest of the team, it sort of soured when the second season came around. If I had to give the position as a whole a grade, the Center position earned a B for the regular season and a D for the playoffs.

Name	Regular Season	Post Season
Sidney Crosby	A	D-
Evgeni Malkin	B-	D+
Nick Bjugstad	C+	D+
Teddy Blueger	C	Incomplete
Matt Cullen	C-	D

Sidney Crosby started the season off a little slow (compared to the rest of his regular season) as Coach Mike Sullivan rotated failure after failure across his Right Wing (RW). However, the Penguins’ captain hit the 100 point total for the 6th time in his career. Adding to his offensive game, the Penguins’ 200’ game center played so well defensively as to get his name tossed about in the Selke trophy discussions. Unfortunately, like the rest of the skating sphenisciform seabirds he all but drowned trying to swim against the riptide of the Islanders’ clogging defense. Crosby only managed 1 point in 4 games and tied for the worst +/- at -4.

Evgeni Malkin started the season off with a roar but went out like a lamb. If the season ended November 1st I would have given the big Russian Center an A+ for his performance. Unfortunately, once Sullivan turned his attention (and revolving door) to Malkin’s line, frustration seemed to set in. During December and Dupuis-gate Malkin’s season dropped. He still put up fairly decent numbers when it came to points but his +/- was an abysmal -25. When the playoffs started, he did manage to lead the team in points with a paltry 3 and his +/- was at least a little better than Crosby’s.

After Derick Brassard failed as the Penguins’ 3rd line Center in what may go down as Jim Rutherford’s worst trade, the Penguins’ GM appeared to redeem himself a little by trading Riley Sheahan and Brassard to Florida in exchange for Jared McCann and Nick Bjugstad. McCann started off playing more Center than Wing but shifted to Wing while Bjugstad started playing more Wing but seemed to find his niche as the Penguins’ 3rd line Center. He managed to score as many goals as Brassard (9) in 8 less games and pick up 1 less point (14 to Brassard’s 15). However, unlike Brassard he meshed really well with his new teammates.

Perhaps it was his and McCann’s desire to be in Pittsburgh, evidenced by their epic odyssey to join the team – racing from the rink of their last game played for Florida to catch a plane to suit up just in time the next day for their first game as a Penguin that made their transition so seamless. Regardless of why, Bjugstad became a serious upgrade almost immediately.

Many People thought Teddy Blueger earned himself a spot on the Penguins’ opening night roster. Unfortunately for Blueger, Sullivan wasn’t one of those people. He banished the young Center to Wilkes Barre Scranton (WBS) to start the season, opting instead to play a laundry list of also-rans. For his part, Blueger made the most of his time when he got his chance.

After picking up 21 goals and 18 assists in WBS while posting a +20, Blueger came up and scored 6 goals and added 4 assists in 28 games, while notching a +7. His regular season numbers per game beat all other pylons that littered the Penguins’ pivot position. Unfortunately, he was never given a real chance come the second season, hence the incomplete grade.

Matt Cullen was a very integral part of the Penguins’ back-to-back Cups. He wasn’t much help, though, this season. Had the crafty veteran Center been deployed as an insurance policy while Blueger gained experience, then his season would have been a bonus for this team but as it stood his 7 goals in 72 games during the regular season and 0 points in the playoffs added very little to the team. Agreed, 7 goals from a 4th line Center isn’t the end of the world, if the Center is a young kid trying to grow into a bigger role on the roster, but he wasn’t a kid and the team got nothing but a delay in the development of its future.

Now for the Future:

Going into next year, the Center position will still be the strongest position on the team.

Some fans, in their frustration over last season, have wanted to offer up Malkin as a scapegoat and trade bait. Granted, I am of the mind that everyone is tradeable, even Malkin and Crosby, but let’s face it; no team is going be asking about the availability of either player with Matt Duchene, Kevin Hayes, Brock Nelson,Joe Pavelski, Joe Thorton, and Brian Boyle available on the free agent market. Chances are no team will want to pay the price to get them.

Some fans have suggested that Bjugstad at $4.1 million per season for the next 2 seasons could be trade bait, to free up some cap space. I wouldn’t be one of them, at least not until I could see how, Jordy Bellerive, Nikita Pavlychev, and Justin Almeida have developed and/or in the case of Pavlychev, untested as yet in professional hockey waters.

Bellerive’s scoring dropped a little last season in the WHL (down from 92 points to 83) but that may have been because he was working on his defense, his +/- climbed from a -2 up to a +27. However, his first professional regular season’s games were less dynamic not picking up any points in 3 games while posting a -3.

Almeida added more scoring to his resume (Bumping up from 98 points up to 111). However, he was sort of the opposite of Bellerive, who dropped in scoring while increase his +/- while Almeida increased his scoring while his +/- dropped (42 down to 28).

Pavlychev had 14 goals in 39 games at Penn State but has 1 more year of college eligibility. A friend of mine, a Penn State alum who follows the team told me that Pavlychev was not given the captaincy, so maybe he will turn pro, but he is still an unknown quantity for the most part.

If the Penguins start the season with Crosby, Malkin, Bjugstad, and Blueger as their Centers, the Center position will once again carry the forwards. If Bellerive or one of the other prospects can step it up and pass one of those 4 then the team may be able to once again push deep into the playoffs. (I must confess I am hoping Bellerive wows the team again, like he did during his first training camp, and shows he has totally recovered as well as matured.) However, unless the team makes a coaching move, I am not holding my breath. Although the position would still be a strength, Crosby and Malkin may waste another season under Sullivan’s line-tampering.

Odds and Sods

While writing this piece, I looked online to see that the Penguins signed Oula Palve from the Finnish Elite League. I am impressed. He was a player I was looking at last weekend along with along with Jakob Lilja (LW), Jesse Virtanen (LD), b (G), Ville Leskinen (RW), and Otto Leskinen (LD). Palve is a 27 year old 6’-0” tall, 176 lb Center who shoots left. He notched 16 goals adding 35 assists in 53 games. He also picked up 79 penalty minutes and was a +5. Welcome to the ‘burgh, Oula!