Penguins and Toughness: The “Scut” Farkus Syndrome

This feature was originally intended as a response to Mike and me regarding the toughness issue. I thought it was so well expressed that I coaxed Other Rick into posting it as a commentary. FYI, “Scut” Farkus was the sneering, yellow-eyed bully who terrorized Ralphie and his pals in the holiday classic, “A Christmas Story.”—Rick Buker

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I’m with both of you. The Penguins need toughness and not just Mike Sullivan toughness. There are only so many times you can turn the other cheek before survival response has you looking for a different alley or way home to avoid being bullied by the Scut Farkus’s of the hockey world (e.g.; shying away from the dirty areas and staying on the perimeter).

One of the first things any good self-defense program tries to teach is to stop looking like a victim. Unfortunately, as long as “Sully” is coach, this team will look like victims. His track record shows that he simply will not play pugilists (Ryan Reaves, Erik Gudbranson, Tom Sestito); he doesn’t even deploy size (Jamie Oleksiak).

If given the option of two players of roughly equal skill, he invariably uses the smaller of the two. A bigger, stronger player has to be significantly better than his counterpart to get ice time. Heaven forbid he actually use his size to its full advantage – he’ll be banished to the press box or Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The Pens have been small (in actual physical stature and style of play) for the full length of Sullivan’s tenure. This image now has deep roots throughout the league. Changing impressions won’t be easy. Whether Sullivan buys into Brian Burke and Ron Hextall’s vision of a non-“soff” team or VP and GM move to a coach that shares their vision, the tendrils anchoring how the league views our team will not be pared easily or quickly.

Had Hextall picked up Nicolas Deslauriers or a reasonable facsimile thereof and Sullivan actually deployed him without defanging him, it still would take time before opponents would believe that the change is real and permanent (or at least as anything can be permanent in today’s mercurial society).

Even if Hextall had made a deadline deal for a hired gun, the Tom Wilson’s of the league would have continued to test Sullivan’s resolve to deploy said mercenary, at least into the third round of the playoffs if we got that far. Failing that, sometime into next season.

I certainly wouldn’t believe a real change had come to Pittsburgh just because of a trade-deadline deal and I can’t believe I am the only skeptic in the universe. If I, as a Penguins fan, wouldn’t buy the change, I’m sure several of the 30 NHL coaches and even more of the 600 odd players, regardless of the lip service the team pays to the media, wouldn’t buy it either.

The black-and-gold is going to have to earn that image change the hard way.