Penguins Update: Lack of Toughness Still a Concern

Evander Kane, Zack Kassian, Darnell Nurse. Ryan Reaves, Jacob Trouba, Barclay Goodrow. Corey Perry, Pat Maroon, Zach Bogosian. Josh Manson.

Wanna take a stab at what these guys have in common?

If you said they’re all physical players, you’re correct. If you said they’re all playing in the Conference Finals, you get a gold star.

Yes, if you haven’t guessed by now, it’s time for my biannual (bimonthly?) rant about the Penguins’ lack of physicality.

Again, to make a distinction, it isn’t that our guys lack grit or courage. And it isn’t that they don’t compete in the dirty areas. To the contrary, we compete as hard as anyone. In a perfect world where hockey is played strictly by the rule book and no one strays over the line, maybe that’s enough.

Except we don’t live in a perfect world, do we? Anyone who’s watched Trouba deliver head shots with the frequency of gumballs spewing from a dispenser at a Chuck E. Cheese can attest to that.

I maintain that his takeout of Sidney Crosby with a brutal chicken-wing elbow in Game 5 was the turning point of our First Round series. At the time of the incident the Pens held a 3-1 series lead a 2-0 edge on the scoreboard. The Rangers were dead in the water. The hit, legal or not, gave them new life.

It was painfully clear from the get-go Trouba and his mates felt emboldened to take liberties, knowing full-well we had no one who could serve as an effective deterrent. It came to a head (literally) in Game 5 when Trouba elbowed Jake Guentzel early and then Crosby without a whimper of retaliation.

Of course, all of this is by coach Mike Sullivan’s design. Just play. Easy to say when you don’t have an elbow planted in your ear.

Even on the rare occasions when we draft size, we don’t draft tough. Our 2019 first-round pick, Samuel Poulin, is a classic example. It’s almost as if the organization believes skill and toughness are mutually exclusive. Pick one, because you can’t have both. Which of course, is a load of bunk.

Although it may be heresy, I watch the Rangers with envious eyes. To me, they possess the optimal blend of toughness and skill. On defense Ryan Lindgren, Braden Schneider and, yes, the much-hated Trouba, play an effective all-around game that blends skill with bite. As a group, they move foes away from the net and keep the sight lines clear for all-world goalie Igor Shesterkin, making his job a helluva lot easier.

Can you imagine that happening here? Neither can I. Not with 177-pound Marcus Pettersson serving as our backline thumper.

Up front, Goodrow and Reaves provide tensile strength and backbone. And in the case of Reaves, a sure-fire deterrent against opponents taking liberties. As long-time PenguinPoop reader and commenter, Mike, so aptly noted, it frees the Rangers’ stable of stars and young up-and-comers Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafrienere to concentrate squarely on their game, secure in the knowledge that any unwarranted attention from opponents will be quickly and effectively discouraged.

Contrast that with our Pens. For the past seven seasons…certainly since Sullivan has held the coaching reins…toughness has been mostly an afterthought if that. Former GM Jim Rutherford tried at several junctures to add functional muscle to the lineup in the hulking forms of Reaves, Jamie Oleksiak and Erik Gudbranson. All were shown the door following ridiculously brief stays. Squeezed from the lineup by Sullivan like so much toothpaste from a tube of Crest.

All have found gainful employment elsewhere.

Since Reaves and more recently, Gudbranson, departed we haven’t had anyone to afford our stars cover. Rendering Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang as virtual sitting ducks, left to fight their own battles or turn the other cheek, as Sullivan seems to prefer.

I can only imagine their collective frustration at having to deal with the abuse heaped upon them. Which manifested in Malkin cross-checking Nashville baddie Mark Borowiecki in the mush and drawing a four-game suspension.

I don’t blame Geno for lashing out at his tormentor. Enough is enough.

Unfortunately, our brain trust remains unmoved. Better to have a star miss four games…or a crucial playoff game…than employ someone who might actually serve as a deterrent. Heaven forbid.

To his credit, Brian Boyle tried to offer some protection this year. However, his 37-year-old body wasn’t up to the task. On January 13 he dropped the gloves with Nathan Beaulieu (who we later acquired) to avenge a hit from behind on Brock McGinn. While I give the big guy an A for effort, he begged out of the proceedings midstream with an apparent injury to his left hand/arm/shoulder.

In the playoffs, “Boyler” ran Trouba hard into the end boards early in Game 6 in retaliation for the hit on Crosby, but suffered a knee injury in the process.

It’s liable to get worse before it gets better. Going forward, there’s no one…and I mean no one…under contract beyond July who can play an effective physical game and provide some pushback. The only guys remotely capable of handling that type of heavy-duty duty…Anthony Angello, Beaulieu and Boyle…are slated to become UFAs this summer. With the possible exception of Beaulieu, who predictably didn’t see any game action with the black and gold after being acquired from the Jets at the deadline, it’s hard to imagine them coming back in the fall.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to mimic the ostrich with its head stuck in the sand. And we’ll continue to lack a key component critical to postseason success.