In the world of professional sports, it doesn’t take long for word to get around. Show even a hint of weakness or vulnerability to certain tactics? You can be pretty sure everyone and their grandmother will be testing you.
The Boston Bruins may have exposed a chink in the Penguins’ heretofore seamless armor last night at TD Garden. Aping the Big, Bad Bruins of yore, Zdeno Chara and Co. got in the Pens’ collective grille and seemed to throw them off their game. Kept them off the scoresheet, too, as evidenced by the final score of 4-1.
Did the Bruins lay down a blueprint for the rest of the league to follow?
I’d say yes. Pens captain Sidney Crosby seems to think so, too.
“We’re going to see that a lot,” Crosby said. “That’s not the first team that’s going to try to be physical.”
I’ve touched on this many times, but I think it bears repeating. Especially with a combined seven games with division rivals Washington and Philadelphia looming after the all-star break.
In terms of “playing” toughness, the Pens are second to none. They’ve got loads of grit and character, as witnessed by their 18-6-4 record with Crosby on the shelf. Nor do our boys shy away from contact, as our 1340 hits (fourth in the league) will attest.
Yet there is a missing element. The ability to give tit-for-tat when the goin’ gets rough and push comes to shove. As presently constructed, our Pens aren’t built for that sort of action.
I’m especially concerned about the Capitals. DC marauder Tom Wilson’s a loose cannon who loves to take liberties, especially when he knows he won’t be challenged. Radko Gudas is a straight-up, in-your-face-hitter…kind of a modern-day Ulf Samuelsson. If he takes out your knee in the process? Too bad.
Alex Ovechkin’s been known to trample a foe or two. Second-tier tough guy Garnet Hathaway was involved in a spitting incident earlier this season. Even scorers like T.J. Oshie play with an edge.
You get the picture. Don’t expect the Caps to play nice.
General manager Jim Rutherford’s tried to remedy the shortcoming in the past by acquiring heavyweights. Indeed, Ryan Reaves, Jamie Oleksiak and…most recently…Erik Gudbranson, have all taken turns riding shotgun. Each is well-schooled in the fine art of pugilism on ice. In the end, they didn’t skate well enough to mesh with Mike Sullivan’s fluid, puck-possession style.
Too, Sullivan appears to have some sort of personal bias against guys who can fight, perhaps due to his college hockey roots.
No, acquiring a fourth-line sluggo or bottom-pairing defensive hammer isn’t going to work. Nor can we hope to match teams like the Caps in terms of physicality or should we. It’s not our style.
Yet I do think we need to be better equipped to compete in these sorts of chippy, high-intensity games where the temperature runs a few degrees hotter than normal. Especially since we’re liable to see these type of tactics employed more and more as we enter the stretch run and teams are battling for their playoff lives.
As an aside, I’ve long envied the Columbus Blue Jackets in that regard. They have a slew of guys, Nick Foligno, Josh Anderson and Boone Jenner among the most prominent, who play a hard-nosed, physical game. While none is an enforcer in the traditional sense, each is capable of dropping the gloves when called upon to stick up for themselves or the team.
In my mind, the Pens could use a player or two of that ilk.
That’s why the Rangers’ Chris Kreider appeals to me as a possible trade target. Yes, he’s a pending UFA and would likely be a rental. But at 6’3” and 216 pounds, he’d add a power element to the Pens that’s missing, while at the same time blending with Sullivan’s preferred style. He can skate, hit and score (15 goals and counting) and…yes…fight if the situation calls for it.
The Pens may also have an in-house option. Anthony Angello, a hulking 6’5” 210-pound power forward, has been coming on with the Baby Pens. He’s got 15 goals…the same as Kreider…employs a physical game, and can play either center or right wing. I don’t know about his skating, which could be a drawback. But at this stage I’d be willing to sit a water-bug like Andrew Agozzino to give him a look.
Rick
I think you know how I feel about the lack of toughness. I just don’t see
us getting by the Caps, Bruins etc…etc….in a physical seven game series.
On another note – Sully needs to have Simon and Aston Reese come in
everyday and learn how to take a pass cleanly “Jesus” they fumble every
puck that hits their stick. I realize Ashton Reese is a 4th line player but he’s
in the NHL.
It’s one game – It will be interesting to see how we play them on Sunday.
Go Pen’s
Rick and I were just talking about that a couple hours ago Mike.
I agree with the 2 of you. Even with Home Ice the Pens are going to find it tough to get by those 2 teams but if they don’t get home ice, it may be down right impossible.
The problem comes down to this, even if the team gets a tougher player, he may not get enough TOI to help.
Hey Rick,
When I saw the title of your article, I thought maybe you were talking about Pettersson. Wow did he look out of place against the speedy Bruins. I’m guessing Sullivan can do a better job of hiding him at home when he has the line match ups. Galchenyuk didn’t look so good last night either.
Pens picked up a defensive prospect from Dallas today. That was part of my Pettersson thinking also.
I’m not going to let one game sway my opinion on the Pens. I didn’t really notice a big physical difference, but it is definitely something to watch for.
Hey Phil,
I honestly don’t think it has anything to do with Pettersson. I find it hard to believe that Nyberg will be in a Penguins sweater any time soon or ever, under Sullivan. His scouting report says he is a defensive defenseman, a defenseman who prides himself on Defense, not really Sully’s type.
When Aston-Reese was thrown in the box after standing up for Tanev (Retaliation), but Marino through the same kind of hit and was thrown in the box rather than the Bruins for retaliation, I knew it was going to be a tough night.
After that, it seemed that the Pens were playing on their heels, not attacking but playing tentative.
Hey Phil,
No, I wasn’t referring to Pettersson. But while we’re on the subject, I’ve been mildly disappointed with his development. I guess I was expecting him to take a step up from his very good rookie season. To the contrary, he seems to have plateaued and perhaps even slipped back a notch.
This is strictly going by the eye test. I didn’t think he meshed all that well with Justin Schultz, and he seems to be dragging John Marino down a bit, which ain’t easy to do. I didn’t watch him all that closely last night, but in the past I noted that he’s been susceptible to a hard forecheck.
I’m certainly not ready to put a fork in him. But maybe Pettersson’s more a third-pairing guy than a top-four. I guess time will tell.
Rick
Hey Phil,
Just a little add-on. I did some brushing up on John Nyberg, the defenseman we acquired from Dallas.
There really isn’t much out there about him. From what I can gather, he’s got a long stride and covers the ice pretty well (sounds eerily like Pettersson in that regard). He’s reputed to have a bomb of a shot, but is said to focus primarily on his defensive chores.
I couldn’t get a read on whether he has a physical aspect to his game. I did find two fight videos on HockeyFights.com. He fights like…well…a Euro. No surprise there.
Just a thought. But I wonder if Sergei Gonchar saw something in him a la Jamie Oleksiak? Speaking of, I can’t help but think all of this would be moot if we’d just held onto the “Big Rig,” but that’s water well under the bridge.
Regarding Galchenyuk…he just doesn’t seem to be a good fit here, does he?
Rick
Quick Update – Jr traded the 2nd coming of Sergei Plotnikov, Oula Palve to Dallas for a 6′-3″ 203lb Swedish Left Handed Defenseman John Nyberg. Nyberg has no NHL experience – it appears to be an all AHL move. Nyberg is to big to ever play on the NHL roster.
Hey Rick,
I am not a fan of the old Broadstreet Bullies, but I agree 100% with you when you say that the lock of opportunities afforded to Reaves, Oleksiak, and Gudbranson could be problematic. If you go back, Sullivan’s allergy to playing physical guys was one of the biggest reasons I objected to the Reaves trade in the 1st place. Sestito was never the best fighter but in those few games he did play against the Caps, Wilson hid on the bench, but Sestito rarely got call-ups so why trade for a player that wouldn’t play, I argued.
I am not a fan of trading for a rental, so I am not as much in agreement with you over Kreider. Even if Sullivan has learned his lesson, Rentals never work out. The only way I would trade for Kreider is if I had every intention of signing him and worked out the details ahead of time.
However, I am 100% with you on giving Angello a shot but alas that won’t happen. Sullivan will never bring up anyone that may have a better scoring touch than Simon. That way he can keep justify deploying that Gnat on the 1st line. Actually, gnat may be giving him more credit than he deserves. At least a gnat can get under your skin, bugging you. Simon can only score against the Italian, French, and English national teams, and Dubnyk.
Also, Hallander is skating again, and playing for his European team. He has 4 points in 8 regular season games in the SHL, 3 points in 4 games during the International jr Tournament, and 4 points in 6 games of the Champions HL Tournament. He is a bigger player too with a scouting report that says he is strong in all 3 zone.
tOR,
I finally agree with you the Pens need to get rid of Simon. I realize he was the only Penguins player last night that was in the plus column, but that doesn’t mean squat.
And so what if he is paid league minimum and has put up way more points than any other Penguins player per dollar earned the last two years. The Penguins need more higher salary players to use their salary cap space rather than these annoying minimum wage guys taking their spots and putting up points. I can’t stand Simon for that reason alone. Get rid of him.
All these people who talk about the Penguins needing secondary scoring from the minimum wage guys don’s have a clue what they are talking about. Probably have never watched hockey.
Simon Sucks.
With Crosby Simon is a +4, Without Crosby he is a -4 at Ev Str
With Crosby Simon is a +4 in HDC, Without Crosby he is a -7 at Ev Str
When Crosby and Simon are on the ice together at Ev Str the Team S% is 9.38%, when Simon is on the ice without Crosby to carry him the team has a S% of 6.10%
10 of Simon’s 18 EV Str points have come when Crosby is on the ice, over half of them, while his ice time with Crosby at Ev Str only represents about of 1/3 of his ice time.
Sorry Phil, Simon is a Millstone. Keep playing him with Crosby and Crosby is going to aggravate and re-injure his hernia from carrying the dead weight.
Oh and add to that Simon went from Oct 29 until Dec 27 without a goal, 2 days shy of 2 whole months w/o a goal.
He went from Nov 30 until Dec 27 w/o a point, not even a secondary assist.
Yes I would say that qualifies as stinking out loud.
Players have been bench, sent to the minors, traded and waived for far less.
I suppose if we subtracted out the 31 games in which Simon did absolutely nothing, no points what so ever and only looked at the 16 games that he did pick up points we could make a case for Simon playing on the top line for you, Sully, and Crosby.
tOR,
No need to keep making these incredible points. I agree.
I also believe that the NHL should do away with the assists stats altogether. Talk about a wasted stat. I’ve always thought what if the Penguins stopped passing all together? Just get the puck skate up and shoot. They would have way more shots. All that cycling and passing is just a waste of time.
Players like Adam Oates were soooooo overrated it’s ridiculous. Also overrated, hustling. Useless in my opinion.
Penguins should also think about getting rid of all of their minimum wage guys, not just Simon. Only keep the guys that make more money. Why use filler guys, 100% stupid in my opinion.
I also heard that Simon actually hit Crosby on purpose before he made Crosby carry him which in turn gave him the sports hernia. Get rid of the guy.
You know what is really funny Phil?
Comparing Dominik Simon to Adam Oates, even if there was a point to the sarcasm it self imploded right there.
Fortunately there wasn’t.
How does the song go, nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’ and that is exactly what Simon brings, nothin’.
Any other forward would be gone when going 2 months without a goal, or 1 month without a point, but Simon gets a promotion. All the sarcasm in the world cannot obfuscate that one.
I was only saying how useless players that pass are. Simon is horrible. Throw Galchenyuk on Crosby’s line, you know he’s better because he’s paid more.
Hey Phil,
You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you? Lol … 🙂
Rick
🙂
Hey Rick,
Sullivan won two Cups with the Hockey first, stay away from the fighting scenario. The Pens looked different the last two games. Maybe they instantly went back into the rely on Crosby too much thing or the players played different the last two games because there fathers were there. We’ll probably have to wait to see
I guess we will find out tomorrow whether we have another case of Sullivan babying Matt Murray again. It is set to be one of the most telling starting goaltender decisions of the season.
If the Penguins are shopping Murray that’s a whole different ball of wax.