Penguins ‘Is ‘n’ ‘At

I had nothing in particular to write about today but felt like posting something all the same. So I thought I’d scrape together a few random thoughts and toss them out there…kind of a hockey Mulligan’s Stew.

For those not nuanced in Pittsburghese, “‘is ‘n’ ‘at” translates to “this and that” in the Queen’s English.

Without further ado, the first (and perhaps last) installment.

Barclay Plager Would Be Proud

In the late 1960s and ‘70s St. Louis defenseman Barclay Plager earned a reputation as a fierce, no-nonsense competitor. Along with his equally aggressive brothers, Bob and Billy, he provided an intimidating presence on the Blues’ back line while helping to fuel his team’s early success. In particular, his battles with Penguins tough guys Bryan “Bugsy” Watson, Glen “Slats” Sather and Bryan Hextall (Ron’s dad) are the stuff of lore.

As a frequent pugilist and NHL penalty king, “Barc the Spark” also offered one of the most famous quotes on fighting.

“It’s not who wins the fight that’s important,” he offered. “It’s being willing to fight. If you get challenged and renege, everyone wants to take a shot at you.”

The embodiment of Barclay’s philosophy could well be present-day Pens defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Although by no means a heavyweight at 6’3” and 177 pounds, the lanky rearguard has dropped the gloves with the toughest of the tough, including the Flyers’ fearsome Nicolas Deslauriers and Capitals hit man Tom Wilson. While “the Dragon” hasn’t won the fights, he’s displayed enormous heart and courage just by stepping up.

For more on Marcus and his willingness to battle, be sure to read Seth Rorabaugh’s article on the Trib.

Hard or Soff?

Despite coach Mike Sullivan’s stated desire that he wants us to be hard to play against, we remain one of the most physically unimposing teams in the league.

It reminded me of when Ray Shero took over as GM back in 2006. Having inherited a team then-coach Michel Therrien famously labelled as “soff,” he too, wanted make us harder to play against. Unlike our present brain trust, he backed up his words with deeds.

During his eight-season run at the helm, Shero reinforced the Pens with a bevy of heavies and tough customers, including Craig Adams, Arron Asham, Matt Cooke, Hal Gill, Tanner Glass, Eric Godard, Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, “Big” Georges Laraque, “Scary” Gary Roberts, Mike Rupp, Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Thorburn. A virtual Who’s Who of tough guys from that era.

They were aided and abetted by gritty homegrown battlers such as Colby Armstrong, Deryk Engelland, Tyler Kennedy, Ryan Malone, Brooks Orpik and Max Talbot.

Heck, even backup goalie Brent Johnson could throw ’em.

Talk about hard to play against! The total antithesis of our current bunch, which needs to be led into the fray by our 36-year-old captain.

What I wouldn’t give to have even a couple of those guys skating for us now.

The Mark of Zo(horna)

Great to see “the Big Z,” Radim Zohorna getting another shot. Whether he can help fix our ailing bottom six remains to be seen.

Count me among those who think the big fella has untapped potential. During his brief stays with the Pens he’s displayed soft hands and a good hockey IQ, not to mention excellent wheels for a player of his considerable bulk (6’6” 220).

What we haven’t seen? Zohorna putting it all together on a consistent basis, although to be fair he hasn’t exactly received prime ice time (9:55 ATOI in the ‘Burgh).

Kind of the chicken or the egg conundrum. A player has to produce to earn playing time. But it’s tough to score from the end of the bench.

Here’s hoping Big Z excels…

Kessel Run Redux?

…if not. With the Pens playing bottom-six roulette and not having much success, I wonder if Kyle Dubas has given any thought to signing Phil Kessel.

Last season “the Thrill” tallied 14 goals for the Cup-winning Golden Knights while filling a supporting role (12:49 ATOI).

The cons? For starters, he’s 36 years old and doesn’t skate as fast as he used to. Defense, attention to detail and physical play?

Fuggedaboudit.

As for the pros? He most certainly can still pot the occasional goal, an ability not demonstrated to date by any of our bottom-sixers. He knows how to run a power play and can still distribute the puck. He’d come cheap, too.

To borrow from C+C Music Factory, Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…

The Process Cup

You hear so much about process and metrics these days. In fact, some folks think they’re the be-all-and-end-all when it comes to gauging a team’s success.

Yet as author and philosopher Mark Twain once noted, “There are three kind of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

Need proof? Look no further than our third defensive pairing of Chad Ruhwedel and Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Going strictly by the numbers, they’ve been solid 5v5, with a positive Corsi (50.98) and Fenwick (54.05) and an extraordinary expected goals for percentage of 65.34. They’re in the pink as well in terms of scoring chances and high-danger chances. Fueled in part, by a heaping helping of offensive-zone starts.

However, the eye test, not to mention the bottom-line, tells an entirely different story. The duo has a 5v5 save percentage of 83.33, far and away the worst of our primary pairings. The other night they struggled mightily against the Red Wings, leading to a pair of crucial goals against. A performance that by all indications has earned one (or both) a seat in the press box tonight when the Pens visit St. Louis.

As for the metrics mavens? Perhaps the NHL should come up with a new trophy. We could call it the Process Cup. It could be given each season to the team with the prettiest underlying numbers that misses the playoffs.

Kind of like our Pens did last season…