This article has absolutely nothing to do with the plight of our Penguins as they struggle to keep pace in the race for an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Or maybe it does.
Be forewarned. I’m about to launch into my annual rant about our lack of toughness. Hockey purists and fans of Olympic-style hockey needn’t read any further.
For the uninitiated, I have an awful time watching our guys get mauled, dating way back to a preseason game on September 29, 1973. As I watched TV news clips in muted horror, a Mongol horde known as the St. Louis Blues literally massacred our guys in battle after battle.
During a particularly shameful point of the proceedings a cluster of Blues…led by swashbuckling future Pen Steve Durbano…menaced our game but undersized “policeman,” Bryan “Bugsy” Watson, as he was serving time in the penalty box. Finally, Bryan Hextall attempted to intervene. He was promptly picked off and pummeled by one of the Blues. No one else on our bench budged an inch.
For an impressionable 16-year-old who was just discovering the sport, it was literally like watching an assault unfold before my eyes. The images stayed with me all these years.
Had I been the Pens’ general manager that day, I would’ve uttered the same words as Flyers owner Ed Snider after watching his team absorb a similar beating from the Blues.
“Never again.”
No small surprise, then, that I nearly blew a gasket on Thursday night while watching our guys take it on the chin…literally and figuratively…during a dismal loss to San Jose. Especially during the wild five-on-five melee that broke out in front of the benches during a TV timeout.
The Sharks had Brendan Dillon, Micheal Haley and Evander Kane on the ice…tough guys all. The shield carrier for the black and gold…Sidney Crosby. While I so admire Sid for the way he fearlessly waded into the fray (has there ever been a better leader?) he’s not the guy I want fighting the team’s battles.
A similar event played out during last night’s discouraging Stadium Series loss to the Flyers. Fearing no retribution whatsoever, Philly forward Wayne Simmonds buried a shoulder into Brian Dumoulin’s noggin, resulting in an instant concussion. Kris Letang attempted to answer the bell, only to be twisted around like a soft pretzel and slammed to the ice by Shayne Gostisbehere. Exit our top defensive pairing in one ugly swoop.
Yet another case of a superstar trying to stick up for the team.
That’s because our brass has stripped virtually any semblance of fighting toughness from our lineup. We’re vulnerable to clubs that display even a modicum of physicality. Basically, every other team in the league.
Hey, who needs Ryan Reaves, Jamie Oleksiak or even Garrett Wilson? After all, we gotta find room for Dominik Simon.
I’m not trying to pick on Simon, a decent little depth forward.
I am being sarcastic.
It takes all types of players to make a hockey team. Right now, we have too many Simons.
The Penguins, it seems, have an almost pathological need to divest themselves of toughness in pursuit of that last extra morsel of skill. Well, Simon has seven goals this season. The aforementioned Reaves has eight, not to mention a ton more hits and battles fought and won.
I wonder who our guys would rather have beside them entering a dark alley. Or more to the point, a key divisional match-up.
I’m betting on Reaves.
It’s an organizational blindness that’s carried on for decades. Tired of watching his club get emasculated on a nightly basis by nasty foes like the Flyers and Blues, then-GM Jack Button imported Durbano and the Bobs…Kelly and Paradise…to ride shotgun in 1973-74. The Pens responded with their first winning season the following year.
In 1975-76, new GM Wren Blair traded Durbano, Paradise and 6’4” Harvey Bennett while adding Ed Gilbert, Stan Gilbertson and Simon Nolet (four minor penalties combined). Although an offensive juggernaut, the Pens got bounced from the playoffs in the first round by an infinitely tougher Toronto squad.
In the early ‘80s we boasted Kevin McClelland and Marty McSorley, two of the better fighters in the league. Eddie Johnston dealt both to Edmonton, where they served quite successfully as Wayne Gretzky’s bodyguards for a number of years. Which meant there was no one on hand to shield phenom Mario Lemieux from abuse that contributed to his career-threatening back issues.
There are countless other examples of the Pens adding muscle, only to pull an abrupt u-turn and defang in relatively short order. The most recent involving Reaves and Oleksiak. I’ll include stout defenseman Ian Cole, too.
I’m aware it’s a different game than it was even a half-dozen years ago, when the Pens boasted sluggers like Eric Godard, Mike Rupp, Arron Asham and Deryk Engelland. It’s more about skill and speed and less about bump and grind.
Still, Washington employed a consistent physical game to dethrone us last year. And, as these recent incidents so clearly attest, we need to be able to defend ourselves when push comes to shove.
Right now, we’re defenseless.
Please place a sticky note with yourself that Rutherford wants to sigh Marcus Pettersson to contract extension as well.
Penguins needs better supporting cast just a little bit on fowards positions.
Main reasons fowards are struggling on this team because of weak D and bad coaching with weak defensive schemes..it get worsened..
You cannot make this damn crap up
Chris Wideman.
I would have thought Faulk or Pesce to this team. Something else. In reality Rutherford needs to do better and had better chance to do with other players on trade bait.
Mario Lemieux needs to step in and stop this maddening slow bad situation ..
Jim Rutherford is evolving into his bad last Carolina tenure with a coach who isn’t doing that great either with players.
A lot teams are getting better and serious about strengthening weak parts of their teams.
For JS Dea
Wideman was looking to be a great defenseman in the NHL until Malkin took him out and he missed most of 2017-2018. Malkin also took out Riikola in practice today. I think Riikola is ok.
I love you guys articles. Can’t wait to see new ones.
Hey Rick,
I guess Rutherford still reads your column.
Pearson to Vanvouver for Gubransson
Wilson/Gubransson fight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=NfjtKzpf9mk
Hey Everyone,
Obviously I do have a lot to say. I will just wait to comment on TOr’s new articles.
Penguins never protect their stars Malkin and Crosby that well at all. Penguins are the only team that’s been that way in the league. I can add that other players that mean much to the team has not been protected well either.
They have a coach that doesn’t want to do it and run very good players out of town that means that much to them and had some physicality that make them feel very comfortable on the ice.
Penguins traded for Erik Gubransson from Vancouver Canucks.
I don’t like the trade. Gubransson is horrible.
Hey Phil,
Yes.
It’s sad and inexplicable. Penguins has better options to go after all the time. To get better prove players that will help Crosby and Malkin.
Penguins could’ve went after RHD from Carolina or something with Ahl deserving players to play up with the team. Someone else better.
Hagelin,Reaves, Cole, and Oleskiak should be playing here. Once Erik Gubranssom starts fight he will get bench among other things.
It’s so hard to break down the things I know around the organization and what I see with this team.
Crosby and Malkin 6-8 years are being wasted…
Hi Phil,
I totally agree with you. Gubransson is slow, has a big – 27 and has very limited offense skills. Maybe he can bring some physicality but that’s about it. I just hope that JJ and Gubransson won’t be paired together!! That would be the last straw!
Agree Phil.
Jamie O was much better and half the price. Go figure….
Great comments, all.
I just had a brief conversation with Other Rick, and he summed things up more eloquently and directly than I did in my article.
To quote tOR…”We’re the only team in the league that doesn’t protect its’ stars.”
Sadly, how true.
Rick
PS–Another hockey buddy commented that the Pens don’t seem to have an identity. To my eye…squarely on the mark.
I agree with ya! Although Rutherfords not oppose to any good trade, I really hated to see Ryan Reaves get traded & other teams start their liberties vs our stars! Right now we are down two defensemen with few free agents on the free market! I guess we have to wait n’ attitude!
Hi Rick!
I enjoyed reading your article. In the NHL these days, toughness does not generate a lot of buzz. Skills, speed and quick transitioning are words often heard when describing the game. However, I would say that toughness is still part of the game.
That toughness must be diligently used, especially when parity is at stake. I watched the two last games and we must admit that the Pens were outmuscled. I would even say outplayed at times.
When you see Sidney Crosby sticking up for his teammates, there are two possible reactions:
1- Wow, Sid is a real trooper! This is what I call leadership! Kudos Sid!
2- Man, the Pens don’t pay Sid for participating in scrums. What the hell is that?
Ryan Reaves is paid for that! The Pens upper management is sleeping at the
switch! (Canadian idiom that means to sleep profoundly)
When I saw Sid and Tanger involved in the latest scrums, I was really upset! First, they can injure themselves. Letang does not control his emotions very well. He does not have the physicality to compete against guys like Simmonds. I thought that Tanger made a fool out of himself out there. He was warned by the Pens management not to play too physical. But that guy is stubborn! He will never learn! It is sad to say but it was a disaster waiting to happen…
Sid’s and Geno’s body language is very revealing in that regard. I think they are fed up with the way other teams are taking liberties at them. As you mentioned in your article, the Pens (or rather Sullivan) got rid of players with stamina, strength and personality. If Reaves or Cole had been playing with the team, I’m not sure that Simmonds would have retaliated. Or he would have thought it twice! I am curious to know what Mario Lemieux thinks about that situation…He is certainly not happy about what he sees.
There was a lot of talk about the lack of consistency from the team and the inability of the coaching staff to adapt to the current NHL. I also question GMJR’s contract extension and the professional scouting. GMJR has not been very successful in the last two years in strengthening the team, especially the bottom six. I am not sure he has a good understanding of what it takes to compete against other teams. The management may have overevaluated the team. There was a lack of vision right there.
I am not pessimistic by nature but I don’t think the Pens will make the playoffs this year. If they do, it will not go further than the 1st round. The 2015-16/ 2016-17 momentum is gone. I wouldn’t say the word reconstruction but a retool would be appropriate.
Hi Rick
I watched the last 2 + periods of last nights disaster. I really thought the Pen’s had the game. Playing with 4 d as well. I was pleasantly surprised.
Then the wheels feel off the bus. 3 quick ones and it was over,
Maybe it was the rain or the wind but Murray certainly let a few soft ones get by him. On the JVR goal the Pen’s were simply out muscled. He is a big boy with a long reach. That is where a 6’7″ 260# could have helped. But unfortunately as you noted, Size and grit are not traits the Pens owners want on their team.
I am secretly happy that our top defensive pair went down so easily last night because NOW the Pen’s brass have to address the serious problem.The toughness issue. They have no choice. 1 day before the trade deadline!
What will they do?
I think last night is the catalyst needed to spur real change. There now will be some serious negotiations to detirmine the future make up of this team.
Without Dumo and concussion prone Letang our season is over.
Should be fun in the next 24 hours.
I think this is an opportunity to really shake things up !!
Cheers ..