This post could also be titled Eating Crow—Part (I forget how many times I’ve had to do this now…lol).
Although I’ve never played the sport, having been a rabid fan for close to 50 years (and having a bit of an ego) I like to think I know a little something about hockey. In particular, the mix of players required to build a successful team.
Along those lines, I posted a couple of articles following the expansion draft and start of free agency questioning general manager Ron Hextall’s moves. I was quite dismayed that he hadn’t added the size/power element I felt we needed to compete in an NHL that’s trending back toward a heavier game.
I was okay with re-upping Evan Rodrigues, who grew on me last season, and adding free-agent forward Brock McGinn, although I would’ve much preferred ex-Bruins and present Maple Leafs power forward Nick Ritchie and made no bones about it.
In particular, Hextall’s signings of Danton Heinen, whose numbers had been declining since a strong rookie season with Boston in 2017-18, and ex-Pen Dominik Simon left me stone cold. Especially since neither brought a hint of the physicality I felt we needed.
Reality check 1. In six games Ritchie’s a minus-three with no points and five shots. He does have 16 hits. McGinn has a goal and four points in five games to go with a plus-three and 10 hits. If he’s not exactly making me forget Brandon Tanev, the former ‘Cane’s carving out an identity as a responsible two-way player with a bit of sand.
Reality check 2. Heinen’s been terrific. Following a strong preseason, he scored goals in each of his first three games for the locals and presently leads the team in scoring with five points. He’s fast, skilled, versatile and smart, with a knack for arriving at the right place at just the right time. Someone (can’t remember who) referred to him as a “stealth” player. I agree. A steal at $1.1 million.
Reality check 3. Rodrigues and Simon have been better than imagined. Filling in as the top-line center, the former tallied a goal and an assist in the recent rout of Toronto. E-Rod’s tied for the team lead in scoring (3+2). With four points (1+3) Simon’s been solid thus far in limited ice time. He made a really nice, under-the-radar play on the Pens’ sixth goal the other night, picking Jason Spezza’s pocket and quickly transitioning to offense before setting up Brian Boyle with a pretty saucer pass.
Hextall’s other additions since taking the GM reins have worked out equally well. With four points in four games, Jeff Carter’s picked up right where he left off last spring. Waiver pickup Mark Friedman’s proving to be an astute addition. He’s fearless, feisty and surprisingly good at jumping into the play. He’s been on the ice for 58 shots attempts for and only 36 against at 5v5, the best mark (no pun intended) among black-and-gold defenders.
Oh, uber-promising goaltending prospect Filip Lindberg has posted a microscopic 0.98 goals against average and .968 save percentage in his first two games for the Baby Pens (both wins). And Boyle is proving to be an inspirational not to mention much-needed physical presence on the fourth line.
Yes, it’s early and there’s a lot of season left. And it’s entirely possible that some (or all) of the newcomers will fizzle before all is said and done. But for now, I’d say Hextall’s batting 1.000 with his moves. All the more impressive when you consider how little cap space he had to work with entering the offseason.
Okay. Pass the crow please.
Sorry…if we’re giving credit at this stage then it’s fair game to look at Seattl’es top 2 scorers (McCann 4+3 7gp; Tanev 5 goals in 7 games) and absolutely CRUCIFY him for one of the biggest cases of mismanagement and stupidity from a GM in any sport recently. Keeping McCann was a no brainer as everyone saw this coming (despite an equally piss poor job of coaching and development from the Pens…”coach”, Head Cooch Mike Sullivan) yet apparently they couldn’t cobble together a collective brain between the decision makers. To screw it up even further by losing a 2nd asset…one of whom has more points and the other has more goals than any Penguin, is not something one can defend.
And honestly, nobody in coaching or management gets an ounce of credit for O’Connor as they were forced into playing him and he was literally Sullivan’s last resort/choice. Sully will throw out Rust for 20 minutes to watch him fail to score unless with either Sid or Geno rather than give young talent a legit shot.
If we’re eating crow this early, then do it as a well rounded meal and examine the obvious blunders because 5/6 games of this doesn’t do near enough and nothing will ever erase the gaffes made this off-season as they’ll always be gaffes.
It’s a long season though so the biggest non move of keeping Sullivan around to keep the team from being it’s best with another round 1 loss/miss the playoffs is the prediction from the summer that I’m sticking to, pessimism be damned
Hey Stardog,
Super point! When assessing the off-season moves we have to look at least 2 if not 3 dimensional – it isn’t just a question of who we brought in but who we lost. Furthermore, it is way too early for definitive assessments. However, after teams settle into who they really are, we need to ask ourselves are the Pens better off with Brock McGinn or would keeping Brandon Tanev have made them a stronger team – Did Danton Heinen bring more of a offensive punch or did Filip Hallander provide enough NHL level utility to justify Jared McCann’s loss?
Hey Stardog,
In the beginning, I was right there with you. I hated losing McCann and Tanev. Especially the latter, who in his own way is as unique a player as the Caps’ Tom Wilson. In fact, it was a recurring theme in several of my posts up to and including my season preview.
In Hextall’s defense, it’s hard to remember now just how bad of shape we were in, cap-wise, at the beginning of the summer. I’m going from memory, but CapFriendly had us over by about $2.1 million and Puckpedia only gave us about $1.7 million of free space. And that was before we signed any of our free agents.
We wound up gaining $6.4 million in cap space by losing McCann and Tanev. Hextall was able to parlay those $$$ into McGinn ($2.7 mil), Aston-Reese ($1.7), Heinen ($1.1 mil), Rodrigues ($1 mil). He was then able to use the previously existing cap space (along with some finagling) to squeeze in Boyle, Lafferty, Simon and Zohorna.
A depth we’ve obviously needed with all the injuries.
In terms of the logic, I’m guessing our brain trust felt we’d lose McCann in the draft or wouldn’t be able to re-sign him after this season. Maybe they thought Tanev might flame out playing his hell-bent style. I won’t argue that losing him stinks and still does. Love Turbo.
I guess I’ve just come to accept and embrace that we are where we are. And I’ll stand by what I wrote. Hextall’s additions have all done well. And all things considered, I think he’s done a good job.
Rick
I get all of that and I know where we were Cap-wise.
But a 24/25 year old who just had a massive breakout year, who turned a corner, who was arguably the teams 2nd best 2-way forward, who became (and would remain) a weapon, and one who didn’t depend on either Crosby or Geno to become such a weapon, and who at 2.9 million was a MASSIVE bargain is DEFINITELY, ABSOLUTELY the player you keep. No brainer. ESPECIALLY with the talks regarding 87/71 age, you need to lock him up for years.
Then McCann, whose chemistry with Carter gave us a massive mis-match in 3 legit lines which can score like a top line and gave the Pens the best depth seen in years…one which our coach of course, failed to utilize or exploit.
So we keep a dime a dozen player like Teddy instead.
So we trade a valuable asset for a meager prospect and a 7th.
Then a week later…well, you know.
All I’m saying is it’s way to early to even consider the possibility of this summer as one where Hextall did anything but a piss poor job based on early returns. He was so awful that his moves need to over compensate for a while to get me on the bandwagon
Hey Stardog,
You make some good points. I didn’t see signing Blueger as a priority, either. I thought Freddy Gaudreau could’ve handled the fourth-line center role on the cheap. McCann certainly had/has demonstrated a strong upside…excellent observation about he and Carter. I agree Hallander isn’t remotely in the same zip code.
It is kind of tough to see McCann and Tanev running 1-2 on the list of Kraken scorers. How about “Turbo” with six goals! Sheesh!! I confess, I didn’t see that coming. But again, this kid has taken a step forward every season he’s played. Hard to imagine that he actually graded out, metrics-wise, as one of the worst forwards in the league during his rookie season in ’16-17.
Wish we still had him. We sure could use a dose of his spirit and spunk right about now.
Rick
Good Stuff Rick, as always.
I am not going to retract anything I have written so far Rick; at least not yet. Although I have been critical of the Coaching staff, the harshest thing I have said about Hextall is that I don’t see the rhyme or reason behind some of his moves. But, then again, I don’t need to understand what he is doing if it works.
That doesn’t mean I am endorse Hextall either. It is way too early yet to comment on anything.
Let’s face it, Florida is the only team our Pens have faced that is doing well and we lost to them in OT (Tied for best Pnts%, 5th best GF/60, and 6th lowest GA/60).
Dallas is a middling team right now and we lost to them in a SO. (20th in terms of Pnts%, 32nd in GF/60 but 12th lowest GA/60)
Chicago is arguably the worst team in the league right now. They are tied with Arizona in terms of Pnts%. They rank 31st in terms of GF/60, only Dallas is worse. And no one, but no one gives up more GA/60 then Chi.
Toronto ranks 24th in the league in Pnts% and got pasted again last night 4 – 1, even with rest. In terms of GF/60 and GA/60 they are 26th. With all of that alleged fire power (on paper) to be bottom of the league right now in GF/60? – no wonder there is a lot of talk out of that city.
Tampa, who we play tonight (coming in on the backside of back-to-back games) checks in at 22nd in the league right now – and, like Toronto, got destroyed last night by Buffalo 5 – 1. After losing the bulk of their role players to Cap realities they have fallen to 28th in the league in GF/60 and despite Vasilevskiy they are only slightly better defensively at 27th in the league.
I really didn’t want to write the above Rick, but you just keep poking the bear. Unless you have developed a taste for Crow, you may want to wait a moment before anointing this team or any of its players.
Timing, timing, timing Rick. I would love for you to be right. I would love for everything to be hunky-dory. I would love for what has turned into a very serendipitous patsy starting schedule to give this team enough swagger to carry them through the season, but I will wait before handing out any kudos. There is still plenty of hockey left to play. Kicking teams when they are down doesn’t equal being able to beat teams that are standing and bragging about beating up on the Little Sisters of the Poor could get the hockey gods pissed at you.
Hey Other Rick,
Your points are well taken. We’ll see how we do when we face some of our divisional foes.
Still, I’m going to flip things around on you a bit. If I’d have told you we’d be missing Crosby, Malkin, Rust and now Carter and Letang to start the season, what do you think the odds are that we’d have started 3-0-2? A million to one?
As for the quality of opposition, you still have to play the games and you still have to earn the points, which the Pens have done. You cite Florida as an example as a tougher foe. We darn near beat them, too, and may have if Jarry had been in goal.
Give a little credit where credit is due. In my opinion Sullivan , Hextall and the players have done a terrific job under trying circumstances, from cap constraints to injuries and illness. Yes, we may eventually come back to earth. But for now, the team’s showing a lot of moxie and spirit. I choose to enjoy it …
Rick
Hey Rick,
I am not trying to be negative or anything like that, there are times a ripple can turn into a tidal wave. As I noted in my reply, the hockey gods sought to give us a soft schedule to start the season while our stars were out and this easy wins could give the team to carry them through the season; that is why I advise humility rather than crowing lest the powers that be turn against us.
Actually Rick, the Penguins track record shows that when Sullivan is forced to use his kids they win but when he gets to put the team he wants on the ice they lose. Therefore I would have set the odds closer to 50/50 that the team would do well. The more times the sun comes up in the morning the more the odds would favor another sun rise.
As for the opposition, if everyone else is beating up on those teams, there is nothing to celebrate, everyone is doing it. Yes, you still have to play the game, and it would be far worse to have losses against most of the teams on the Pens schedule at this point, but there really is nothing to shout about yet. Let’s remember, Simon scored tons of points against France and the UK in that world tournament a couple of seasons ago and then when he had to play against Russia, Finland, and Canada, that handed him his head. He was like a -10 by the time the dust settled.
For me, I am still in wait an see mode on Hextall. There are some good signs to be sure, but the matter is far from settled. For Sullivan, his track record of losing when the team he wants takes the ice is too, too fresh in my memory.
With Tampa Bay playing as bad as they are right now and on the back end of a Back-to-Back, what would you set the odds at the Penguins winning to night? I think it is only fair to tell you that the last line I saw had the Pens by 1.5.
I never talk about Shut Outs or No Hitters while the outcome is still in doubt and I try to subtly advise others around me to do the same. Failing that, there are times I come out and say it bluntly. I would prefer to see the team keep riding this wave but you seem bound and determined to put your curse on it.
Hey Other Rick,
Now, now. There’s no need to drag the PenguinPoop curse into it… lol.
I guess I’m just choosing to dance while the band is still on stage and the music’s still playing. I honestly wasn’t expecting us to play this well…certainly not with the big guns out of the lineup and maybe even with them healthy. It’s given me renewed hope for the season…that perhaps we’ll be more competitive than I thought.
I’ll repeat one more time that I think Hextall/Sullivan deserve a lot of credit. GMRH for bringing in players on the cheap who’d fit our system…Heinen in particular looks like he was born to be a Penguin. And Sullivan for getting the most out ’em.
Rick
Rick,
I am not arguing with you that certain kids have been a surprise; as you note the Heinen signing as well.
Heinen can’t control who he has played against but he surely has done the most with his ice time. When he was signed, I wasn’t thrilled to say the least. However, watching him in the preseason, I did see a glimmer of hope from within him – hope not certainty. I like what I have seen so far from O’Connor too.
Puustenin has also been playing well down in WBS and Svejkovsky has been fire in the OHL.
But to quote Led Zeppelin, the Song Remains the same. We have seen this all before, Sully is forced to play the Kids but when the Vets are healthy he takes the kids out instead of sitting the high priced under performing veterans.
Watched him do it in Philly too. I suggested at the beginning of the preseason to give him time. He’s pretty good at this stuff.
Hello Dennis,
Good to hear from you.
I confess, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well Hextall’s moves have worked out. It isn’t a stretch to say his additions have fit seamlessly into the fabric of the team…and even improved it over last season’s version…which I didn’t think was possible at the time the moves were made.
A lot of credit goes to Sullivan and his staff, but a lot goes to Hextall, too, for identifying the right guys (I’m sure it was a collaborative effort). And doing so while shopping in the bargain basement. I mean, he had little to no cap space to work with and precious little margin for error.
Again, a job well done.
Rick