Penguins Update: Game On…and Soon

The National Hockey League and NHLPA hammered out an agreement on Sunday calling for a 56-game season that starts right quick…January 13 to be exact.

Due to the covid pandemic and travel restrictions instituted by our neighbors to the north, the NHL will re-align into four new divisions for the coming season. Here’s how those divisions look:

East: Penguins, Boston, Buffalo, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Washington

Central: Carolina, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay

West: Anaheim, Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles, Minnesota, San Jose, St. Louis, Vegas

North: Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Training camps for the seven non-postseason teams can begin on December 31…for all others January 3. There will be no exhibition games.

Teams will play exclusively within their respective divisions. This means our Pens will square off against their division brethren eight times. It should make for some heated rivalry games, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the days of the old Patrick Division in the early 90s.

Or as the old saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt.

It should be wonderful for fans. But for the team itself? Maybe not so much.

Here’s where the Pens overall lack of size and physicality and stubborn instance on clinging to their speed game may finally come back to bite them. The Bruins, Flyers, Islanders and Capitals all embrace a heavier, hybrid style that combines skill and toughness.

We’ve seen how well our Pens have fared against these types of teams the past three postseasons.

Too, the added passion may lead to increased hitting and chippy, intense play. Before all is said and done, we’re sure to get a snootful of Alex Ovechkin and fellow DC marauders Tom Wilson, Garnet Hathaway and Brenden Dillon on a regular basis. Hardly a comfort.

While our Pens have spunk and compete as hard as anyone (fourth in the league in hits) their determined style also took a rather sizeable toll in man-games lost last season. Something about physics and a larger body colliding with a smaller one…or vice versa. And lest we forget we’re down kamikaze winger Patric Hornqvist, our physical heart and soul.

Could be a clear-cut case of being in the wrong place with the wrong style at the wrong time. Kind of like wearing a tuxedo to the running of the bulls.

Oops!

Too, the playoff format is as straightforward as it is unforgiving. The top four finishers in each division qualify for the postseason. That’s it. No wildcards. No cross-over seeding to account for the strength of the competition. No short series.

The first-place team plays the fourth-place team, the second-place team squares off against the third. The division winners then square off against each other to determine who plays in the Final. I’m not sure how those matchups will work, especially since the North (Canadian) division will eventually factor in.

Based on last season’s records, the Pens would’ve finished fourth in the East…six points ahead of the Islanders. They would’ve drawn the Bruins as their first-round foe. And we thought Montreal was bad…

The playoffs are hardly lock. Not with young phenom Alexis Lafreniere leading a burgeoning stable of young talent on Broadway. Buffalo, too, should be greatly improved, with Taylor Hall and Eric Staal to teaming with oh-so-lonesome superstar Jack Eichel. Even New Jersey possesses a talented young core (Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier).

There will be no pushovers. The Pens will need to earn every point.

Taxi Squad

Borrowing a page from the NFL, the NHL has authorized teams to carry four-to-six man “taxi squads” in addition to the regular 23-man roster to plug gaps in the event of injuries and/or covid infections.

Teams are required to carry a third goalie as part of the squad…Pens GM Jim Rutherford indicated Maxime Lagace will fill that slot. Others filling out the squad could range from minor-league veterans such as Frederick Gaudreau and Zach Trotman to prospects such as Cam Lee and Drew O’Connor.

Nolan invited to Camp

JR spent part of his Monday videoconference talking up Jordan Nolan, a hulking 6’3” 219-pound left wing whom he signed to a minor-league deal back on December 6.

An eight-year NHL vet, the 31-year-old Nolan spent six seasons with Los Angeles, where he won two Stanley Cups while filling a physical, fourth-line role for the Kings. The son of former Pen and NHL coach Ted Nolan was a member of the 2018-19 Blues champions as well, although he didn’t qualify to have his name engraved on the Cup.

A player of modest skills (24 career goals), Nolan hits like a freight train and fights at least reasonably well (picture Tom Sestito).

“We like this player. We will see how camp goes,” Rutherford said. “At any time, we can flip his American League deal to an NHL contract. He brings a dimension to his game that is important for teams.”