It’s the lifeblood of the Penguins’ game. Speed. Coach Mike Sullivan wants forwards who can get on the opposition and wear ‘em down with a hard forecheck.
On the back-end, he likes defensemen who can skate and move the puck to the forwards quickly and efficiently.
It’s an approach that’s paid off handsomely for the black and gold during the regular season, not to mention when we won our back-to-back Cups.
On the down side, those returns have greatly diminished in recent postseasons. We’ve endured four-straight early playoff exits…the past three in the opening round.
In each instance we lost to a heavier, more structured team.
As new PenguinPoop commenter Lightning so aptly noted, the Pens’ speed and energy provides a definite advantage during the long grind of the regular season, when intensity levels vary greatly from game to game.
However, in the postseason, when the intensity gets ramped up along with hitting and physical play, the Pens’ advantage seems to be greatly diminished. There’s generally less room to make plays and you have to fight harder for prime real estate between the circles.
A classic example? Jake Guentzel. I so greatly admire Jake’s heart and courage and, in particular, his willingness to battle through traffic in search of goals despite a less than imposing frame. However, during last season’s playoffs, the larger, more rugged Islanders put the body to Jake and denied him access to the prime scoring areas.
The result? Only one goal in six games for the erstwhile sniper, and that from the comparatively distant high slot.
So what prompted this ramble? In the wake of the Brad Marchand’s attack on Tristan Jarry, a writer on a fellow Penguins blog wrote a rather impassioned plea against the black and gold adding any kind of a physical element or deterrent.
His main argument? The addition of a more physical…and perhaps slower player…would somehow derail our speed game and prevent us from fully executing Sullivan’s system.
My thoughts. Really? I mean, could the addition of one sub-sonic skater have that great a negative effect on our overall game?
I keep cycling back to recent Stanley Cup champions St. Louis and Tampa Bay. Ryan O’Reilly, linchpin of the Blues’ Cup winners, isn’t especially fast and neither is teammate (and former Pen) David Perron. Yet each was a driving force in the Blues’ title run. So were behemoth defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Joel Edmundson. The latter made it to the Final last season with Montreal as well.
Pat Maroon and David Savard aren’t known for their fleetness of foot, yet both skated regular shifts for the Lightning during last spring’s playoffs while providing a necessary underpinning of muscle.
You get what I’m driving at. Would it hurt terribly if the Pens grafted a more physical player into…say…Dominik Simon’s spot? Yes, I know Simon excels at the small details and does a good job of driving possession. But I’m betting those traits get nullified in the postseason along with his effectiveness.
I’m going to digress for a moment. In my mind, our then-two-time defending Cup champs had the perfect blend of players back in the spring of 2018. Ryan Reaves was riding shotgun and liquidating any opponent foolhardy enough to trifle with his teammates. On defense, Ian Cole and Jamie Oleksiak formed a highly effective and physical third pairing.
The team was humming…and I mean humming…at a 16-4-1 clip in the New Year. They’d outscored opponents, 84-52, over that span. 3LIEVE signs popped up all over town. A three-peat seemed a strong possibility.
Then came the damn Derick Brassard trade. Out went Reaves and Cole, upsetting the team’s near perfect blend of skill and muscle. In the pivotal second-round series against Washington, Tom Wilson freight-trained and destroyed Zach Aston-Reese with a crushing hit. It was as if Dracula himself had put the bite on us and drained all of our blood. While we faded, the Caps outscored us, 3-1, to take the pivotal Game 3 and a 2-1 edge in the series. They went on to capture the Cup.
I don’t think we’ve had the right blend of players since, although this team’s close. Jeff Carter is certainly a bona fide power forward and hulking Brian Boyle has done a more than admirable job, especially on the PK, and he’ll drop the gloves when the situation calls for it. However, when we’re healthy (if that ever happens) Boyle’s probably in the press box.
I’d like to see us add one guy who can skate a regular shift and add a little push-back to the lineup. Right wing Josh Anderson of Montreal popped into my head. The ex-Blue Jacket’s big (6’3” 226), can skate, score and fight. Alas, he’s on a pricey long-term deal. Unless he can be acquired for Jason Zucker in a dollar-for-dollar swap…a no go.
Free-agent bust Nick Ritchie was waived by Toronto on January 7 and is in limbo pending a trade. A former 10th overall pick, he’s notched as many as 15 goals in a season, is a big hitter and handles his dukes quite well. However, skating’s an issue. He’d surely wind up in the press box under Sullivan.
I’m not sure who or what the answer is. Only that I’d like to see us add a capable physical player for the postseason. If we sacrifice a morsel of speed in the process, so be it.
Rick,
Well said and thanks for the shout out!
The Islanders knocked us out of the playoffs twice and were a fast team with a big , punishing 4th line (Martin and Clutterbuck ) that are in line with your thinking. Sullivan has opted to bring in larger taxi squad guys like Agostino but how fair is it to expect an AHL player to perform at a high level in the NHL playoffs. Plus he used Lafferty at bit more and he’s gone.
The playoffs illicit max effort from all teams and the Pens definitely suffer from frustration (and the associated penalties that come from a retaliation to a big hit (especially Geno)) as well as the negative psychological element of intimidation and frustration that comes with being manhandled. As a rule , the refs also tend to keep their whistle in their pocket more during the playoffs as well. All a recipe for early round exits.
Lastly, with the max effort that comes with do or die in the playoffs, comes lots of blocked slapshots during the game. While I can’t prove it, I gotta think big guys can absorb more punishment from pucks as well.
While I appreciate the dedication of Sidney Crosby trying to block slap shots during a regular season game, it’s a recipe for getting our captain on the IR.
Your highlighting the Ian Cole trade still smarts. The Ian Cole for Derrick Brossard goes down in my book as the worst trade in the past decade.
As a total aside, the game against the NJ Devils was entertaining. The devils striped uniforms made them look like a team of Hamburglers. Maybe the worst throwback “Jersey” I’ve seen
Hey Rick,
Really great question!
I do feel like Mugato in Zoolander though with all of the Smellivan defenders and their constantly crediting our Penguins door keeper with winning 2-Cups.
The team Pierre Culliford took over was very well balanced; there were puck moving D-men like Letang and Daley, stay at home, gritty D-men like Ian Cole (who didn’t stick waive at pucks and opponents but gave his body up to block shots and taking the opponents body to clear the crease). Those Cup teams had thoroughbreds like Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel, speed merchants like Hagelin and Rust, lunch pail gritty forwards like Hornqvist, lunch pail defensive forwards like Bonino, size like Fehr, Kuhnhackl, and a touch Sundqvist.
But just like in Zoolander, our own version of Ben Stiller/Derrick Zoolander – Mike Sullivan – he has reduced this team to 1 – look. All we have is Blue Steel.
That is why when we get to the Walk Off, we continually give ourselves a wedgie and watch David Bowe tap us out.
And don’t get me started about the human pylon, I don’t want to go off on another rant against that useless ersatz winger.