Perhaps the title of this article should be, “How many different ways can Buker broach the same subject?” Lol.
I couldn’t help but notice the defending Metro champion Hurricanes spent their free-agent dollars this summer on guys who can play and provide some bite to their lineup. Indeed, forwards Michael Bunting and Brendan Lemieux and defenseman Tony DeAngelo, all noted for their abrasiveness, make an already difficult foe that much tougher.
The ‘Canes weren’t alone in seeking aggression. Toronto procured a healthy splash of mustard by inking Todd Bertuzzi, Max Domi (Tie’s son) and our old friend Ryan Reaves (pictured above).
“All three of those guys can play with snot,” said Leafs star forward Mitch Marner. “They bring a lot of intensity to our whole roster, three guys who aren’t afraid to get in peoples’ faces and down and dirty.
“At the same time, they bring a lot of pace and can do a lot of things around the net, add a lot of different qualities to our team and they all have that grittiness. What Ryan does is going to make people not want to get down and dirty too much with our team.”
It’s no secret teams that employed a physical style went deep into last spring’s playoffs. The Cup-winning Golden Knights boasted a cadre of “quiet” tough guys in William Carrier, Keegan Kolesar, Nicolas Hague and Brayden McNabb. The runner-up Panthers…Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, hard-hitting Radko Gudas and spitfire Ryan Lomberg.
As for our Penguins? True to form, we’ve added a token physical player in Noel Acciari, a kamikaze forward cut from the Brandon Tanev cloth but by no means a heavyweight. At the same time, we bled off Jason Zucker, arguably our most physical (197 hits) and inspirational player. One whom coach Mike Sullivan noted, “…has the ability to drag us into the fight.”
It’s as if there’s some unwritten rule or quota that prevents us from employing more than one player with a physical bent.
Maybe there is…in Sullivan’s mind.
“If we were to try to copy the Stanley Cup champion every single year, we would be all over the map with the style of play, a philosophy of play, an identity of what Penguins hockey actually looks like,” Sully said. “I think it’s more important that we’re true to our group.”
Perhaps. But other teams, including some of the most successful, don’t seem to be operating under the same constraints.
I’ll wrap up by paraphrasing an observation from another site. The commenter lamented that we aren’t hard to play against (totally agree) while noting this wasn’t always the case. He specifically mentioned players like Matt Cooke, Tyler Kennedy, Chris Kunitz, Brooks Orpik and Max Talbot. Guys who played with an edge.
Indeed, when Ray Shero took over as GM back in 2006, one of his first priorities was to make us harder to play against.
Sure wish we had that mindset now. Or to quote new Maple Leafs GM, Brad Treliving, “As much as the game’s changed, some things have never changed. At the most important times, the rink shrinks. There’s no space. You need courage. And we wanted to add players like that.”
Amen, Brad. Amen.
Playing Chicken
At the risk of riling my esteemed colleague, Other Rick, by broaching a sensitive subject (or “poking the bear” as we at PP are fond of saying), it appears Pens boss Kyle Dubas and Sharks GM Mike Grier are locked in a high-stakes game of chicken regarding l’affaire Erik Karlsson.
In the battle of wills, who’ll flinch first?
Complicating matters, Jeff Petry, a likely component of a potential trade, is rumored to have nixed the idea of playing in San Jose. Part of the reason he consented to coming to the ‘Burgh in the first place was to be closer to his family and Michigan home. But I digress.
Will Dubas ferret out a third team willing to take on Petry’s cap hit ($6.25 million for two more seasons)? Among potential suitors that check all the boxes, the rebuilding Blackhawks have nearly $13 million in cap space and a need for an established veteran presence on their blue line.
Then there’s the not-so-small matter of what it’ll cost us for the Hawks (or another team) to take Petry off our hands. Namely, a first-round pick?
Well, I am not surprised at all…. it’s been this way the past number of seasons…”just play”.
Look at the past couple of drafts.. Tristan Brotz and Brayden Yaeger….both under 6 ft.
If Sullivan can’t see that you need both size and skill with speed.. than he is not that good of a coach.
Hey Rick,
Second; Poking the bear, well you asked for it.
1) In October 2015 I began banging the “Fire Mike Johnston Drum!”. Your responses: “He is a smart Coach”, then “Who would you get to replace him.”. Finally, in December the team took my advice and started truly winning.
2) In February 2016 I started hinting that I thought the team was a team of Destiny while almost to person, PP was still wallowing in the depression of the Bylsma/Johnston era.
3) In the summer of 2016, I said “sign Bonino to an extension while you have a chance.” The response from everyone but Jim was it is too soon.
4) In October of 2016 I said sign a throw away veteran NHL Goalie so you don’t have to expose either MAF or Murray to the expansion Draft
5) In the summer of 2017, I said “Don’t sign Sheary at all let alone to a big contract. He was a liability most of the playoffs.” Everyone said no he is too good, give him the money. Sheary had to be traded in one of the worst one-sided trades in Pgh history.
6) In the summer of 2017, I also said do not trade a first-round pick and a big grit Center for a pugilist and St. Louis’ 2nd round pick – Sullivan won’t use him. “No” everyone but Jim said. Our first-round pick is just about a 2nd round pick anyway and Sundqvist will never make it in the NHL anyway. I wanted Hague with that 1st pick, Jim wanted Klim. Sundqvist has proven to be a solid bottom 6 C, Hague has proven to be a very good LHD, Klim is starting to make a name for himself as a grit player, Louzon, the player we drafted no. 2 is out of hockey and Reeves was never really used and then traded. Nothing now remains in the Organization from that trade.
7) In the summer of 2017, I also said Noooo, don’t sign Hunwick to a 3yr $6.75 million contract, sign Markov to the 2 yr $4 million contract. Hunwick stunk out loud and had to be part of that horrible Sheary trade to Buffalo which was more of a trade of kindness than anything else, while Markov had 2 really good seasons in the KHL.
8) Trade deadline 2018, I said do not trade for Derick Brassard, “Now that you ignored me and traded for Reaves keep him and use Cole as a rental player. I also noted that I felt Gustavsson was the best goalie in the system. The only player on Ottawa worth anything is Pageau.” Pretty much everyone here said Nooo, we need Brassard. Despite the fact he was a total redundancy everyone but me was ecstatic when JR traded a 1st round Pick, a 3rd round Pick, Cole, and Gustavsson to Ottawa for Brassard, Dunn and a 3rd round pick. And as part of that deal to make it work, Reaves and a 4th round pick to Vegas for Lindstrom. Gustavsson was 3rd in the Vezina voting this season and the 1st round pick traded to Ottawa was subsequently traded to NYR and used to draft K’Andre Miller. The Pens have nothing left from that deal in their system.
9) Trade deadline 2018, I also said trade Hornqvist for a draft pick or picks and let Reaves take his place on the PP. If you really want him, re-sign him in the off-season like the team did with Recchi a couple of times at the end of his career. Chances are there would have been no bad contract to try and unload for Matheson’s equally bad contract. (Although Matheson wasn’t the turnover machine I envisioned and I would concede was the best LHD during his tenure, I like the way my defense would have developed)
10) In October 2018 I said that Sprong may be a head case, but he certainly was better than Simon, many here said I was daft. Sprong is still scoring Goals in the NHL and Simon is …well… Chechia?
11) Early 2019 I said, nooo don’t trade Oleksiak. Many said yes go ahead he is useless since he got sucker punched by Wilson. Oleksiak seems to be doing well.
12) Summer of 2019, I said sign Mikheyev, Kaski, and Reideborn. Instead, we signed Palve and Larmi. Palve was worse than Plotnikov. At least Plotnikov played some NHL games.
13) I also complained heavily leading up to this point about Sullivan constantly in the media, complaining about Kessell. Because of this, all that could be acquired in a trade was Galchenyuk and POJ. The hatred of the enemies of Kessell defended the whole debacle.
14) I then said don’t trade for Zucker, just eat Galchenyuk’s contract, it will be over at the end of the year. In the end Zucker did have 1 decent season but several very forgettable ones and now is gone in FA, as is Calen Addison and another 1st round pick thrown away. However, everyone here said I was crazy and Zucker was going to be an impact player for the Pens. (yep 1 season and then he was gone.)
Do I need to go on Rick?
I tell you now, if Dubas can figure out a way to get Karlsson, which I no doubt believe he is trying to do, that trade will go down as a worse trade than the Brassard trade.
Hey Coach,
I think you pretty much summed it up nicely,But I am surprised that you did not mention your favorite point all these past years….. “It did not have to end like this !!” . I fully agree….
The only thing I can add and I have done so in the past, but the fan base can not stand any one who criticizes Mario….Most of these troubles you mentioned since 2016-2017 were really the owners fault because they wanted to sell the Team.They were short sighted. I said it before and until my dying days I will always blame ownership for a lot of our current troubles. They were focused on creating the illusion that we were always going to compete for the Cup when the last 5 years have shown otherwise.
Rick does make a great point that our division is bulking up,getting faster and generally younger.We going the other way.
Cheers
JIM
Amen Jim, Ownership’s game to create the illusion that the team was worth more than it was contributed heavily to its current state of embarrassment.
As you and I have said many times, it didn’t have to end like this. This team could have still been a serious playoff threat. It could have had several more Finals appearance (before Sully and with Sully) than it had. The team need not be mooning over a “One more Cup run” for Crosby, Malkin, and Letang. That trio could have had their names on that Cup many more times, and MAF could have been there too for all the sentimental types drink to. It could have been the 4 amigos rather than the 3 amigos.
Unfortunately, just like all the PT Barnum suckers looking for that magic diet pill, rather than doing the work in the gym, ownership, media, and fans alike, at the trade deadline and off-season keep looking for (ownership), or asking for (media and fans) the next snake oil to fool themselves with,
Hey Rick,
First, I never realized this before, but Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan is a legitimate stand up comedian.
You noted Jason Zucker, arguably our most physical (197 hits) and inspirational player. One whom coach Mike Sullivan noted, “…has the ability to drag us into the fight.”
Zucker has taken a total of 4 Major Penalties in his career or and averages of0.02 Major Penalties per 60 minutes played. Of those 4 Majors, 3 have occurred in Milquetoast Sullivanburgh. This tells me that the only reason he took those Penalties was because our Coach won’t employ the proper players to fill that role.
Since Sullivan’s first full season (2016-2017) Sullivan’s Penguins rank 4th lowest in terms of 5-minute Major Penalties with only 80. Third lowest if you throw out the 2-year-old Kraken.
Our Penguins simply don’t fight. They aren’t getting dragged anywhere.
Sully is a funny man.
You also Cited Sullivan saying, “If we were to try to copy the Stanley Cup champion every single year, we would be all over the map with the style of play, a philosophy of play, an identity of what Penguins hockey actually looks like,” Sully said. “I think it’s more important that we’re true to our group.”
Yet the league hasn’t changed in years. Grit and goaltending have always been the key factors to winning Stanley Cups. Even when our Coach was riding the Crosby-Malkin-Murray-MAF bus to sneak his name onto that trophy, the coat tails of the team he was riding had a significant amount of grit and enormous Goaltending.
What Sullivan is doing is deliberately using a strategy that has never won a Stanley Cup, a team devoid of grit and Goaltending.
Let me add a third joke of the Penguins funny man; “Zach Aston – Reese plays a heavy game”.
LOL
Our Coach is hysterical.