Question. How many undersized, non-physical, puck-moving defensemen can you stuff into one organization? Apparently, the Penguins don’t have enough, because they signed Christopher Merisier-Ortiz to a two-year minor-league deal on Wednesday. All 5’11”, 172 pounds of him.
Add him to prospects like Clayton Phillips (5’10” 182) and Cam Lee (6’0” 183)? We have the makings of an imposing defense (not) down the road.
Did I mention the seven d-men who dressed for Tampa Bay during the playoffs averaged 221 pounds?
You’ve probably guessed by now where my somewhat cryptic lead-in is heading. Yes, to my favorite nit to pick. The Pens’ lack of toughness.
Anyone who’s read PenguinPoop over the years knows I’ve banged this gong more times than Big Ben has struck midnight. If I seem to be turning into a one-trick pony these days…well…I almost feel like I’m being forced into it.
I’m still mystified and frustrated beyond belief as to why the Pens haven’t added some much-needed beef to the lineup this summer. Especially since heavies such as Ryan Reaves, Rasmus Ristolainen and Jarred Tinordi now roam the Metro. Oh, and Columbus signed physical forwards Sean Kuraly and Zac Rinaldo, a rabid screw-loose version of ex-Pen Brandon Tanev.
As presently constructed, we have no deterrent whatsoever. No one to make foes keep their heads up and take notice. No one to answer the bell when push inevitably comes to shove.
Yes, I know. We’re tight against the cap, which has limited general manager Ron Hextall’s options to an extent. But with a little creativity we could’ve landed someone…anyone…who can do some bangin’ and defend the team’s honor if necessary.
We’re down a right-side defenseman. Erik Gudbranson would’ve (and would still) do nicely. Apparently, the Pens have no interest, even though the big guy played his best hockey for us a couple of years back and could probably be had for a song.
I don’t know if we were in play for heavyweight power forward Nick Ritchie or not. (Probably not since he hits and fights.) Instead, we signed middleweight Brock McGinn, for more money and more term. For the record, Ritchie outscored McGinn 15 goals to eight last season.
Heck, at this stage I would’ve settled for a pure fighter like Scott Sabourin. Alas, the fast-swinging lefty signed with Ottawa on Wednesday.
I’m well aware that coach Mike Sullivan prefers gritty to heavy. What did he say following our ouster at the hands of the Islanders? “We didn’t lose this series because we weren’t big enough.”
Maybe that wasn’t the only reason. But it sure was a major contributing factor.
For the record, the Pens were the second-smallest team in hockey heading into the offseason, a condition we did nothing to remedy with our free-agent signings. Given our Smurfish dimensions, maybe it’s no coincidence we’re the second most injured team in the NHL since 2010-11. When two bodies collide, usually the larger one’s going to win the battle. It’s a matter of physics…and physiques.
Okay, I’ll stop my ramble and get to the point. Sullivan’s obvious bias aside (and, strange as it seems, perhaps Hextall’s, too), I’m truly mystified as to why the Pens as an organization don’t value toughness. Especially with Brian Burke, a well-known proponent of physical hockey, serving as president of hockey operations.
Yeah, I know we’ve traditionally emphasized skill over sock. A culture that certainly has reaped significant rewards, not to mention five Stanley Cups. Over one glorious 26-season span, black-and-gold megastars Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin claimed the Art Ross Trophy 15 times…a truly staggering total. But it’s all-too-easy to forget that toughness played a vital role in our success, too.
Talented as they were, the 1990-91 Pens were floundering until in-your-face addition Ulf Samuelsson kept the crease clear and belted every opposing forward in sight. Ditto the following season with the arrival of warrior winger Rick Tocchet and hulking d-man Kjell Samuelsson.
One of the first things former GM Ray Shero did when he arrived in 2006 was to make us harder to play against. In short order, he imported landsharks Jarkko Ruutu, Georges Laraque and Gary Roberts. We went to the 2008 Final with those guys handling the policing chores and won a Cup the following season with Eric Godard serving as sheriff and Bill Guerin riding shotgun for Sidney Crosby.
The 2010-11 team was arguably the toughest in the league. Godard, Mike Rupp, Deryk Engelland, Arron Asham, Craig Adams and Brooks Orpik were aided and abetted by second-tier scrappers Matt Cooke, Tyler Kennedy, Max Talbot and Joe Vitale.
If you like a team that stands up for itself and then some, those were the good ol’ days.
Unfortunately, that brusque bunch may have unwittingly contributed to our present pacifist state. Following the infamous “Fight Night” brawl with the Islanders on February 11, 2011, owner Mario Lemieux engaged in a verbal sparring match with the NHL office over the officiating. Mario called out the league higher-ups and they responded in kind, noting…rightfully so…the Pens weren’t exactly a bunch of choir boys.
Whether that incident altered Mario’s perspective on physical play and fighting, it’s hard to say. The tragic and untimely deaths of enforcers Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien may have contributed to a change of heart, as well as Crosby’s career-threatening concussion. But the team began a gradual 180 Lady Byng-spin in the aftermath toward a more gentlemanly approach.
And, yes, we won those back-to-back Cups in ’16 and ’17 sans a legit physical presence, although our champs were girded by hard-rock gamers Ian Cole, Chris Kunitz and Patric Hornqvist and were tougher than they appeared on paper.
Now the siren’s sounded. The league is clearly trending toward a more physical game. It seems everyone’s muscling up. Boston signed ex-Blue Jacket Nick Foligno. Toronto got Ritchie and re-upped Wayne Simmonds. The Lightning corralled Zach Bogosian and Corey Perry. Montreal…hulking d-man David Savard. Even skill-first teams like Colorado (Kurtis MacDermid) have gotten into the act.
Everyone, that is, except our Pens. Kind of feels like we’re an ostrich with our collective heads stuck in the sand.
No offense to the dearly and recently departed, but it’s enough to make “Bugsy” Watson roll over in his grave.
Hey Rick,
For the 10 th to 15th time in the past 4-5 years Rick I find myself once again having this same discussion about the size and the skill level of the Roster and like all the times before nothing will be done about it.
As you said we were the second smallest team in the NHL last year and the team now looks out of place in the bigger,badder NHL. The young crowd in the NHL today are bigger, faster and in some ways tougher than the current crop of the 30 plus generation. We have 3 aging center men 34, 35, and 36 years of age.There not physical types of players and you can not expect them to be at this stage of their careers.
Their wingers are not elite players either that can help them in a physical play off series. Jake G. was non existent in the playoffs against the Islanders.Their entire line was non existent really.The Islanders out played them. Again.
Nobody wants to hear the truth and that is Mario will NOT BREAK up the Core and he will sign Kris and Geno to outrageous contract extensions that will just lead to the demise of the franchise once again. I get so frustrated to see other lesser franchises do a major rebuild and in 2-3 years they are back competing for a Cup run. Why can’t we ??? This is not Hextal’s fault as I have written before. Even Pen’s President of Hockey operations Brian Burke, said to a Canadian media outlet ” We can only afford to shop at K Mart”..!!! Let that sink in for a minute Rick… To my American friends , here in Canada K Mart went out of business decades ago..So for us that statement has a more serious meaning. In closing Rick I am terrified what we will look like this time next year….We, ( You, Coach and others) have had this conversation many times before. Nothing ever changes.We get a year older.We have no money to spend.No new young elite talent to build on.They fire a Coach or a GM and everyone thinks it is 2017 again…. I hope I am wrong this year… I want to see Sidney win another Cup before he retires in 4 years.
Cheers
Jim
Hey Jim,
The sad part about this is, the team didn’t have to sink this low. Had management accepted that it was time to sell off assets several years back, when stocks were high they could have stock piled draft picks and prospects to keep the pipeline full.
Unfortunately, JR, like many fans, never acknowledge that it was time to retool. Like a typical gambler with an addiction, he never learned when to fold them. Furthermore, he was buoyed up by ownership and fans that cannot think outside the box but prefer to wallow under the Ptolemaic assumption that the sun revolves around the earth and that a team has to completely fail before retooling. So, in their limited thinking capacity they kept trying to prop up the team with rejects, high priced veterans in positions that should have been going to younger, cheap guns from the farm system.
The matter was made worse with Sullivan’s lack of vision; his insistence on unbalancing his team with a bunch of smurfs cloned from the pathetic DNA perennial AHL journeymen. What was it that our boy Sully told JR last season at this time? Something to the affect that Caleb’s boy Evan Rodrigues was going to score tons of goals for the Pens last season. Like the Sitcoms of old, JR should have always done the exact opposite of what Sullivan wanted, if JR wanted to win. Sullivan was never more than just a passenger on the Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Murray and Fleury bus. Let’s not forget that those players were able to prop up Mike Johnston for a season and a half. In fact they did such a good job of propping up that other Mike, many fans still disagreed about the firing of Johnston when it happened.
Getting back to our favorite Riverboat Gambler JR (cue up Kenny Rogers) not only did he not learn when to fold them, he also never learned to bluff, so even when he did try and trade off an asset, he got ripped off. The poster child trade here being JR (and our idiot coach) whining in the media about Kessel, even though Kessel was very much a candidate for the Conn Smythe with Sid and Murray in 2015-2016. Their pathetic scapegoating of Kessel made it virtually impossible to get any good return for Phil the Thrill even though the RW was coming off his best points per game season.
Galchenyuk and POJ, really? Even POJ is several, several seasons away from being physically mature enough to compete in the NHL. He is still way too light. The only reason POJ may hold any attraction here in Pgh is that there isn’t much in a way of options ahead of him; Matheson, Pettersson, and Riikola.
(I hate putting Riikola in the same breath as the other 2 because he has never been given a chance to show what he can do. Everyone simply accepts what Pierre Culliford, I mean Mike Sullivan says without question, despite the rapidly downward spiral this team is caught up in as Sullivan etches his mark deeper and deeper into the team with each succeeding season he soils this teams legacy with his inept coaching)
Truthfully Jim, I am hoping for our Penguins to bottom out now. A crash and burn is the only way to get out from under Sullivan’s midget ideal and it will give the team a shot at drafting Shane Wright whose scouting reports make him sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Yes, I know Jim, those scouts were saying that about Owen Power, Alexis Lafrenière, Jack Hughes, Rasmus Dahlin, and Nico Hischier over the last five seasons and so far only Dahlin seems to even be close to what the scouts have said but as we both have noted for some time, there isn’t much else out there in the Pens farms. Nathan Légaré may be the best player right now in the system and he was a 3rd round pick.
Sorry, just venting.
Anyway, great to hear from you JIm
A great response as always my friend.You add so much depth and knowledge to our discussions and I always have to reread your posts several times to let the flow of information sink into my brain.
Very well crafted Coach..
Thanks.
Jim
Hey Jim and Other Rick,
Unfortunately, I don’t have time for a longer response. But just outstanding thoughts and sentiments…and very well expressed. You’ve both been advocates all along of making changes midstream so we didn’t crater, and now it looks like we’re about to pay the piper in terms of a difficult rebuild.
Again, outstanding stuff. I really have nothing to add. You guys said it all.
Rick
Thank you Rick for those kind words. It is you who needs to be thanked for the amazing job you do week in and week out with this Web Site. God Bless you Rick..
Jim
Rick
I so want to comment but I’m still in a state of shock. To respond would be singing to
the choir. Hextall’s unwillingness to not only add muscle but flat out refuse to protect
Crosby and company defy’s logic. To allow Crosby and Malkin now in their mid 30’s
to defend themselves is beyond outrageous it’s negligence on management’s part.
IMO it’s inexcusable. I’m still holding out hope that this gets rectified before the team
heads to training camp.
Hey Mike,
I’m right there with you. I’m so frustrated that I can’t move off the subject as you can see. It’s like a nervous tic…I keep writing about the same thing. Combined with the fact that I think we’ve taken a not-so-small step back this off-season? For the first time in a long, long while I’m apprehensive about our chances. I can see us struggling just to land a wild-card spot, let alone doing any damage if we do make the playoffs.
I agree with your point about not having anyone on hand to protect our stars. Hell, just having one guy (Gudbranson) on hand would go a long way to keeping order. He wouldn’t even need to fight that much. His presence alone would help keep things settled.
The way our brain-trust acts, you’d think it would destroy the franchise (and cause the fall of modern civilization) to go out and get a guy like that. Exasperating to say the least.
Rick
Hey Mike,
Given the Pens’ aversion to tough guys, this is probably a waste of keyboard. But a guy to maybe keep an eye on is Brett Ritchie of Calgary. Nick’s older brother by three years, he’s not nearly as accomplished an offensive player as his sibling. But he’s big (6’4″ 220), can fight and hit and has surprisingly good possession numbers (a career Corsi of 55.7). Could probably slot in as a fourth-line right wing. At $900,000, he wouldn’t break the bank.
Don’t know if the Flames would consider moving him (perhaps for Angello, who I like but who doesn’t seem to fit into Sullivan’s scheme…surprise). Maybe down the line…if they’re out of playoff contention. Although we might be, too.
Would still love to pry Deslauriers out of Anaheim. But I’m sure that’s a pipe dream.
Rick