Hockey basics, you win games when you are able to score at least 1 more goal than your opponent. That means you first have to be able to score at least 1 goal and then second slow down or prevent the other team from scoring more goals than you have.

The main function of your top 9 Forwards is to score the goals with the heaviest burden for scoring placed on the top 6. In today’s NHL, Line 4 still has to contribute some in the scoring department, but their main focus is on giving the top 9 time to rest and wearing down the endurance of the other team.

The main function of the Defensemen and Goalies is keeping the other team from scoring. The Goalie draws the main task of stopping the opponent’s shots. The Defensemen are charged with limiting the number of shots and scoring opportunities.

It seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Granted picking the right players may get a little complicated in Cap era hockey (as opposed to Howard Baldwin, buy the best players regardless of cost era). A team may only be able to spend big money o 5 or 6 players and then fill out the rest of the roster with up and coming younger players still on cheaper contracts but it really still is a simple concept.

Rant 1, Hope 0 (Trading places?)

So, for my first question I have for Penguins’ GM Jim Rutherford and a vocal portion of the rumor mill bloggers is this, (and I have asked many times before in varying ways) why do I keep seeing news bits about the team undervaluing a top 6 Forward at Right Wing (RW) that may be a little weak defensively (which is not supposed to be his main task) but who has scored the more points than any other player on the Penguins’ team not named Sidney Crosby over the last 3 years and who has the 3rd highest Points per 60 Minutes (P/60) over that stretch only behind Evgeni Malkin, who leads with the team with 3.71 and Crosby who has averaged 3.44 P/60. In fact the next closest player to said RW’s 3.27 P/60 is Jake Guentzel at 2.64.

In my mind everyone is tradable, so yes, given the right price for Phil Kessel I would trade him. Had Rutherford been able to trade up in the draft using Kessel as trade bait, I would have taken it, but for Jason Zuker, no!

Why is so much energy being spent on trading a forward that does score and not on a Defenseman who doesn’t know how to play defense? Kris Letang’s 1.79 P/60 may be pretty good for a Defenseman but it is dropping down close to half of Kessel’s 3.27 and said Defenseman isn’t that much better at preventing goals as Kessel is; they both gave up 3.1 team Goals Against per 60 Minutes (GA/60) last regular season. In the playoffs Letang was worse. Kessel was only on the ice for 2.4 GA/60, while Letang was on the ice for 3.9 GA/60 including the Game Winning (WG) in Over-Time (OT) in game of the playoff debacle against the Islanders when the veteran roving Defenseman decided to try and split 3 Islanders during a line change rather than dump the puck to allow the fresh bodies onto the ice.

Olli Määttä only played in 1 of the 4 consecutive losses to the Islanders. He wasn’t the problem with the team defense, Letang was. Once Justin Schultz got back, Letang was an offensive redundancy and a defensive liability. At best Letang really is only about the 3rd most effective Defenseman left on this Penguins Roster, and that number is only buoyed up by the fact that Erik Gudbranson is only now learning how to play with high octane Crosby and Malkin and Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola are still young and learning. (Why hasn’t Ethan Prow, an AHL second team All Star from last year been offered a contract? He may also be more effective than Jekyll/Hyde Letang.)

The old saying is believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear, so I am trying not to let the rumor mill slanted against Kessel really angers me. I am trying to consider the source of this talk and remind myself that these writers propagating such rumors evidence their own lack of hockey acumen when they try and push this stupidity forward.
However, if there is basis for these rumors and Rutherford is truly focusing all his energy on trading a forward that is doing his job and at a reasonable $6.8 mil Cap Hit (Since Toronto is picking up the rest) all the while over-valuing a Defenseman who can’t play defense at $7.25 million Cap hit, then Hall-of-Fame or no Hall-of-Fame, fire him.

Rant 2, Hope 0 (Archaeology 101)

Question 2 may not be for Rutherford, but to the Fans and Bloggers who keep bringing up FA names like Wayne Simmonds and Corey Perry. Granted Perry will no doubt sign for considerably less than the $8.625 million that his old contract was worth and Simmonds will also sign for less than his the $5 million of his last contract but each of these players will also sign for more than it would cost to sign 2 – 3 younger players who could/will contribute far more than either of these aging veterans would for the Penguins.

Perry is 34 years old and hasn’t top 20 goals in a season over these last 3 seasons and would no doubt be a millstone around the neck of Crosby or Malkin. Neither Crosby nor Malkin are as young as they once were either and they do not need any more pylons dragging them down then they have already suffered.

Wayne Simmonds is younger, only 30, but he is a Power Play (PP) specialist, where would the Penguins play him? The Penguins already have Patric Hornqvist to fill that role. Unless the Penguins were to trade Hornqvist there is no room for Simmonds and Hornqvist has a full No Trade Clause (NTC). Furthermore, unless the team sheds its real problem, Mike Sullivan, Simmonds will more than likely never see the ice. Hasn’t anyone learned their lesson from the Ryan Reaves deal? Sullivan won’t play big/physical players.

Also, and I direct this straight at Rutherford, why is there talk about Matt Cullen resigning? Nick Bjugstad, Jared McCann, and Teddy Blueger all played better than Cullen last year. Cullen may have been better than Dominik Simon, but that may have been the only young player he truly was better than. And let’s skip the leadership discussion, Crosby and Malkin have 3 Stanley Cup Wins in 4 appearances. There is no more need of older players to log jam younger, fresher legs.

Finally, let’s stop with the digging up of fossils. The team has at least given lip service to the idea of getting faster and hungrier. Players ranging from 30 to 42 years old will provide neither of these intangibles. Looking at the list of FA names popping up as suggestions and rumors hearkens me back to the Penguins’ Dark Ages when they kept trying to resurrect players like Pat Falloon, Stephane Richer, and Stephen Leach to help fill the void left behind the Jaromir Jagr and Alex Kovalev type players, rather than playing cheaper, younger players. The skills of those once bigger named players had deteriorated to be about the same as the younger players but cost far more.

Rant 2, Hope 1 (the Entry Draft)

Now that I got my rants out of the way, let’s talk about the Entry Draft. Rutherford didn’t draft the guy I wanted and who was still around when the 21st pick, the Penguins’ first pick came around. I wanted Raphael Lavoie. However, Samuel Poulin was a pretty good pick. He may need to work on his acceleration and may not need another year in the Juniors but he should be wearing an NHL jersey soon.

Rutherford also made a great move in giving up several really low picks to get Nathan Legare. Legare like Poulin is a big sniper who isn’t afraid to get physical.

Things may change, players mature at different rates and some never really get better. Some have already peaked. However, given that the Penguins didn’t get a pick until 20 other teams drafted, and at this early stage, I would have to give the team a B on their drafting this year.

Rant 2, Hope 2 (Kids developing)

Reports from the Penguins Developmental Camp is that Jordy Bellerive has gotten most of his strength back in his hands and is able to fire the biscuit again. If true, training camp could get interesting with Bjugstad, Blueger, and Bellerive, the 3 Bs vying for the bottom 2 Center spots.

Or am I kidding myself. Will Rutherford and Sullivan opt to dig up a couple of fossils instead of giving these kids a chance? Will they talk Cullen into playing another year, bring back Chris Kunitz and sign Perry for their 4th line, their energy line? Maybe they can also talk Brooks Orpik and Rob Scuderi out of retirement for a reunion tour.

Well, I guess there is nothing to do but wait and see how things play out. Will the Penguins actually make real, substantial changes after getting their posteriors kicked last year? Will they realize that when a whole team quits on a Coach, it is the Coaches fault and not the players? Or will we be subjected to status quo and diminishing returns and another interminable summer next year?