Penguins Update: Gettin’ Carrier(ed) Away

Watching highlights of the Golden Knights’ landslide Game 6 victory over Dallas, I couldn’t help but notice that two of their three first-period goals were scored by fourth-liners William Carrier and Keegan Kolesar.

A pair of twin battering rams, the 28-year-old Carrier (pictured above) goes 6’2” 218, the 25-year-old Kolesar a pound lighter at 217. Together, they anchor a physical, hard-checking fourth line that can also produce.

A former second-round pick of the Blues, portsider Carrier notched a career-best 16 goals this past season (in 56 games) to go with 133 hits. On the starboard side, Kolesar…a former third-round pick of the Blue Jackets…notched eight goals while dishing out a whopping 279 hits, seventh most in the league.

Obviously, they’re no fun to play against. Oh, and both can skate.

They’re precisely the type of player our Pens need for the fourth line but never seem to get. Due in no small part to coach Mike Sullivan’s aversion to genuinely physical players.

To digress, it’s interesting to note that Sullivan and Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy are cut from the same cloth in many ways and have had eerily similar career paths. Both washed out in their first coaching opportunities in the early 2000s, Sully in Boston and Cassidy with the Capitals. The latter re-entered the NHL coaching ranks in 2016-17, a year after Sullivan. Both are driven and intense. Both preach a style based on speed and an aggressive forecheck. Both are highly regarded.

But while Cassidy makes use of all types of players and the talent he’s given, Sullivan prefers to stick to a very narrow mold.

If Sully’s going to remain our head coach, and I’m betting he is, we need a GM who has both the stones and clout to dictate roster construction and, if necessary, player usage to our skipper and not the other way around.

We need to be harder to play against. And we need guys like Carrier and Kolesar.

More on roster construction. In stark contrast to our top-heavy Pens, the Golden Knights embrace the “four second lines” approach. Vegas had only three 20-goal scorers to our six (and no 30-goal men). Their leading scorer, Jack Eichel, would’ve placed a distant fourth on the Pens in points behind Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jake Guentzel. However, the Golden Knights also had a dozen players in double-figure goals to our eight.

It’s pretty clear which blend is more effective.

Too, while other teams focused on adding star power at the trade deadline, Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon shrewdly added middle-sixer Ivan Barbashev. A solid all-around player with grit and a scoring touch, Barbashev’s tied for third on the team in playoff scoring with 15 points in 17 games.

Having hoisted a Cup with the Blues, he knows what it takes to win.

A ray of hope. Kyle Dubas, rumored to be FSG’s choice for our next GM, worked hard to reinforce Toronto’s supporting cast by adding gritty types like Sam Lafferty, Noel Acciari and Luke Schenn to the Leafs’ mix.

Perhaps he’d do the same for our Pens.