Grit. Merriam-Webster defines it as firmness of mind or spirit; unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger. Noted psychologists such as Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania have devoted entire fields of study to grit while explaining its importance in achieving our goals.
It’s a trait our present Penguins possess in spades.
Forced to play without cornerstone skaters Sidney Crosby, Brian Dumoulin, Justin Schultz and…until recently…Patric Hornqvist, our Pens have not only survived but thrived to the tune of a sparkling 10-2 record in December.
On a personal level, words can’t begin to express how impressed I am with the team’s character and the way the guys have banded together in the face of adversity. The on-ice epitome of the Three Musketeers famed motto all for one and one for all.
I truly felt we had a great chance to recapture Lord Stanley’s glorified punch bowl. In fact, with their riveting speed and relentless hustle, this group reminded me very much of the 2015-16 squad that blazed its way to a Stanley Cup.
Then all-star winger Jake Guentzel went down with a season-ending shoulder injury. In my mind, dashing our Cup aspirations. After all, there’s only so much adversity a team can face down. And our guys had already overcome so much.
Short of acquiring a big-time scorer from another team, there’s just no way to replace Jake. A feel-good story if there ever was one, he’d become the straw the stirred the Pens’ Gatorade. It isn’t a stretch to say the blond-haired winger was a legit MVP candidate. He was having that kind of impact…that kind of season.
Surely, the wheels would fall off the black-and-gold wagon.
Yet much to my very pleasant surprise, the Pens haven’t flinched. They’ve stared this horrific turn of events in the eye and gone 2-1-1 sans Guentzel, including a thoroughly gritty (there’s that word again) 4-3 victory over the streaking Vega Golden Knights last night in Sin City.
Taking full advantage of a shaky Marc-Andre Fleury, the opportunistic Pens potted three goals on their first nine shots to sprint to a commanding 3-0 lead. They’d need every inch of that cushion and then some, as the Knights rallied to dominate the final 40 minutes while holding the sputtering Pens to a paltry eight shots on goal.
Fortunately, Tristan Jarry was up to the task. The freshly minted all-star out-dueled Fleury while making 31 saves, many of the clutch variety. The Pens continued to get contributions throughout the lineup as 11 players recorded points. Hornqvist, Evgeni Malkin, Dominik Kahun (two points) and Brandon Tanev each tickled the twine, the latter notching the game-winner off a beautiful stretch pass from Kris Letang early in the third period.
It was probably the only thing pretty about an otherwise ugly win. Then again, you don’t get points for style. You get ‘em for scoring more goals than the opposition. And against all odds, that’s what our Pens continue to do.
“It’s not always pretty; tonight was an example of it,” said coach Mike Sullivan. “But for the most part, our guys have played pretty competitive hockey and have deserved a lot of the points we’ve accumulated at this point.”
How long can the Pens continue to win with a depleted lineup? It’s hard to say. But one thing is certain. Win or lose, our guys will give it their all.
Let’s Make a Deal
According to the rumor mill, GM Jim Rutherford is actively seeking a scoring winger to replace Guentzel. Among the most prominent names being bandied about are Chris Kreider of the Rangers and Mike Hoffman of Florida.
Kreider, a 28-year-old power forward, would be an intriguing addition. He stands 6”3” and weighs 216 pounds and skates well for a big man. A consistent 20+ goal scorer throughout his career (with a high of 28), the former first-round pick has a cap hit of $4.625 million. He’s set to become a free agent following the season.
Hoffman, likewise, has a knack for scoring goals. The 30-year-old center/left wing tallied a career-best 36 (and registered a career-worst minus-24) for Florida last season. He earns $5.1875 million on a contract that, too, expires at season’s end.
The Kitchener, Ontario, native would come with some baggage as well. His wife was involved in a much-publicized dispute with Erik Karlsson’s wife in Ottawa, a spat that led directly to her husband being dealt south of the border.
Perhaps not the best of fits for a class organization like the Penguins.
Hey Rick,
Gotta love how most of these kids are responding. Last I saw they were 5th in the league. 5th in the league, that ain’t too shabby.
The loss of Guentzel is tough. I was hoping to see something resembling a full/healthy line-up with Crosby, Dumoulin and Guentzel part of it, but sans some of the under-performing veterans (Simon, Galchenyuk, and Bjugstad) before the season is over, but that isn’t going to happen.
And let’s face it, there is no-one out there that the Penguins can trade for that can possibly hope to fill Guentzel’s skates; Kreider, Hoffman, Karlsson, Saad, Pageau, none of them. Perhaps the only rental (although Saad wouldn’t be a rental but a $6 mil Winger for next season), that may have been capable of filling the void left behind Guentzel may have been Hall and has already been traded. So I am hoping that the team makes no moves to fill Guentzel’s role from without.
As the trade deadline approaches, the cost to acquire the remaining rentals just keeps going up and up. If I could get Kreider or Pageau or Saad for any or all of the following weak links or redundant players I would; Simon, Galchenyuk, Bjugstad, and/or Schultz, I would pull the trigger but let’s face it, none of the above players holds enough value to acquire any of the above players.
I would not trade Poulin, Legare, a first round pick, or even Addison for any of the above players, but that is the most likely beginning asking price.
Let’s remember that these kids, and/or newcomers, Kahun, Tanev, Marino, Jarry and Lafferty have seriously added to the considerable efforts of Malkin and Rust and are carrying the team. I do believe that if this team, this 5th place team without Crosby and Dumoulin can be in 5th place now, that they can at least hold that spot when those two come back provided that Sullivan doesn’t get completely stupid and try and give Simon top 6 minutes on Crosby’s line (probably re-aggravating his surgically repaired sports hernia by having to carry that Simon millstone that no doubt caused that peculiar condition in the first place) and at least dropping Jack Johnson back to a 3rd pairing or at least somewhere other than Letang’s partner.
When not getting to pairing minutes Johnson was looking very serviceable but with Letang who tends to be the best offensive weapon on both teams on the ice, he just can’t cover-up the other’s glaring miscues.
If the team deals at the deadline, I am one who is hoping that they just look to strengthen the some bottom depth or positions itself for the off-season (dealing UFAs Schultz and Galchenyuk at least and wishful thinking says RFA Simon – I can deal with Bjugstad as a spare, defensive forward). Schultz may net a descent prospect or draft pick at the deadline and Galchenyuk may still get a middling pick or prospect.
Hey Rick,
Just saw an interesting name that I may look harder at than the above names if I were to trade. PHN quoted an athletic story by Russo suggesting that JR and Guerin are talking about Jason Zucker again. Zucker has a NTC (10 team no trade – can’t imagine the B-n-G is on that no trade list) abd has 3 more years on his Contract at $5.5 mil/yr.
If true, I may be on board with that idea depending on what the team gives up, but I still don’t like that NTC with the expansion draft coming up soon (not this summer but next). I don’t like being dictated too over who I have to protect when that player has no real history with the team and may still end up being a dud.
However, I am still not sure who/what I would give up and Zucker is injured right now. More important, although Zucker could prove very useful this season, he could become a bottle neck if Poulin is ready next season.
Again, I find this name interesting, particularly with Zucker having 12 goals in 34 games so far this season, but I am not sure how I feel about the idea yet.
Hey Other Rick,
Excellent points.
With Guentzel, I felt we had a legit shot at contending for the Cup. Without him, I think we need to add an established scorer to stay in the hunt.
Zucker is intriguing…especially since he’s signed at a fairly reasonable rate through 2022-23. He led the league in plus/minus in ’16-17, so he knows how to play defense. And he’s a consistent 20-30 goal guy (with a high of 33). However, he’s listed at 5-11, 183…which would make him another small guy on an already smallish team.
Even though he might be a rental, Kreider (or a player of his ilk) tops my wish list. I think the Pens could really use a guy who combines size and speed and I really like his game…very north-south, very straightforward…tailored to Mike Sullivan’s style. He’d add an element we really don’t have…power with skill.
On the flip side I, too, would be leery of giving up Poulin or Legare to get him…or anyone else. The Pens are going to need some young studs to flesh out the top six in a couple of years and these guys seem to have the pedigree.
Sometimes it’s easy to overrate young talent (Derrick Pouliot). But Poulin’s having an impressive season across the board (16 goals and 37 points in 25 games, plus-21) and so is Legare (19 goals, 40 points in 39 games). As we glimpsed in preseason, the latter can really shoot the puck.
Then again, there’s the nagging issue of going all in. If you have a shot at the Cup…especially with Sid and Geno advancing in years…do you grab for the brass ring, even if it means trading away your top prospects?
It might be prudent to wait and see how the team responds when Crosby returns. After all, he is the best all-around player in the game. But my sense is, we’ll still lack the offensive volatility and production Guentzel provided.
I don’t envy JR…it could cause him some sleepless nights mulling this one over…
Rick
A PS to my previous comment.
I did some reading on Dobber Prospects about Poulin and Legare. The reports were remarkably similar. Both play a power game and finish their checks with zeal, both compete hard and have a great attitude, both possess a great shot.
In particular, the site raved about Legare’s shot…I guess he’s got a howitzer of a slapper and a great wrist shot, too.
The knock on both is skating. From what I read, Poulin has a ponderous first step or two (shades of Olli Maatta and Sergei Plotnikov?) while Legare’s missing a top gear once he gets going. Also interesting to note that while Legare’s leading his team in scoring, he also has far and away the worst plus-minus (minus-20).
A reflection of his skating deficiencies?
Given the Pens’…and more to the point, Mike Sullivan’s…preferred speed game, does this make these guys expendable in a trade?
You could drive yourself nuts thinking about it.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sully/JR trade either or both player (Poulin or Legare) You know I am not one of those who has deluded himself into thinking either GM or Coach is a genius. In fact, my opinion is considerably south of that superlative.
Poulin didn’t impress me all that much in preseason but I wasn’t totally disappointed and I can’t argue with the numbers he is putting up.
The early scouting reports I read when he was drafted must have been those Dobbler reports (about slow speed) however, later reports I have read say “He is very good at handling the puck with speed and is a complete power forward” (Future Considerations 2019). Unfortunately he is listed as 6’1″ 217 way to big for Sullivan.
As for Legare, he did impress me in preseason. Preseason isn’t regular season, there are a lot of players who won’t make an NHL roster there, but there are more players playing an NHL preseason game taht will eventually compete in the NHL than there are in the QMJHL. So what Legare did in preseason means more to me than what he is doing in jrs this year. With Lafferty and Bjorkvist, during preseason he average 5.54 team GF/60 at 5 on 5 while giving up 2.77 team GA/60 at 5 on 5. I am not all that worried that he can play Defense
There are a lot of other variables that could be playing into Legare’s -20 other than speed. As we saw last year Malkin was a -25 for the season, 12 of those minuses came because of stupid coaching on the PP with the coaches expecting Malkin and Kessel to bring tghe puck up on the PP, inviting other teams to take advantage of 2 Fs and 11of those minuses came against an empty net. In other words 23 of Malkin’s -25 weren’t really lack of defensive effort on his part but more attributable to game situations he was put in and poor team strategies (No true D man back on the PP).
Furthermore, McKeen’s Hockey 2019 noted “He keeps his feet moving, takes large strides, and changes direction pretty well”.
Sullivan may be willing to sacrifice both of these kids but not because of their skating. He may use that as his excuse (Sundquist?) but that will just be lie. If they are sacrificed it will be because of their size. (Legare is listed as 6’0″ 205lbs)
Hey Rick,
Did you see hockey guru JRs comments in the Trib? Tim Benz quotes the boy genius “Evgeni Malkin — “Geno is such a great player. But there are some nights where he will play a more risky game than we would like from a team point of view. But he has worked hard to adjust his game a little bit, play the game the right way. And, for the most part, he has done a good job with that this year.”
For the most part he has done a good job? Malkin is netting 1.33 Pnts/Game, 7th in the league for regulars. That is only “for the most part doing a good job”?
“adjust his game a little bit” Malkin is a +14 this year and winning over 51% of his faceoffs. He was a -25 last year and has never won 51% of his faceoffs, but that is only “adjusting his game a little”?
I joked about it just a few hours ago, but I wouldn’t put it past this “Genius” to try and trade Malkin to Buffalo for Sheary so he could reunite Crosby with Sheary and Simon as his line-mates when he gets back because Sheary and Simon play the game the “right way” and Malkin only plays it mostly right.
Sheary and Simon would look good on the top line…lol… 🙂
Seriously, I hear ya’. I think Geno’s been terrific this season. I wasn’t sure he’d be able to dial it back in at age 33, but he’s played extremely well.
Rick
Rick
After watching the game last night theirs no doubt the Pen’s need
to add one and possibly two players to there lineup. I think Kreider
would be great but I also believe it’s a huge long shot unless J.R.
can involve a third team outside of the Metro Conference.
Also, theirs a chance Crosby may play on the current trip. A healthy
and well rested Sid could alleviate a lot of the Pen’s problems.
GO PEN’S