Penguins Update: Just Play? No Way.

Maybe I’m guilty of overreacting. It wouldn’t be the first time and it probably won’t be the last. But I’m still fired up over the Sidney Crosby–Mikey Anderson crosscheck incident. Not to mention what I consider an ill-conceived comment on the blog suggesting that goons and tough guys have gone the way of the dodo, along with an even more laughable suggestion that Sid needs to learn how to defend himself.

Yes, that’s just what we need. Our cornerstone player potentially breaking his hand while slugging an antagonist’s rock-hard helmet. All so we can avoid employing a player whose stock in trade is physical play. As if that’s the worst possible thing that could happen.

I’m not sure if the commenter was a refugee from another site that shall go nameless, one that rejects the notion that toughness is an important element. And normally I don’t like to call people out over their comments. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and it sincerely isn’t my aim to put down or ridicule. If I do in this case, I apologize. But they twanged the wrong nerve.

On to the first part of the assertion…goons and tough guys have gone the way of the dodo.

Goons, yes.

But tough guys?

Let’s see. In the Metro alone, there’s Tom Wilson and Garnet Hathaway (Capitals), Kevin Bahl, Nathan Bastian, Brendan Smith and Miles Wood (Devils), Barclay Goodrow and Ben Harpur (Rangers), Matt Martin (Islanders), Nicolas Deslauriers, Zack MacEwen and Rasmus Ristolainen (Flyers) and Erik Gudbranson and Mathieu Olivier (Blue Jackets). I’ll exclude Ross Johnston of the Islanders, who’s strictly a fighter or “goon” in the commenter’s parlance.

The Bruins…check that…the league-leading Bruins…employ three rugged forwards, Trent Frederic, A.J. Greer and former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno. All can play and all will defend a teammate at the drop of a hat (or glove). The Bs also boast three very sizeable defensemen in Brandon Carlo, Derek Forbort and Hampus Lindholm and a host of other players who are at perfectly home in a physical game, including scorer/agitator extraordinaire Brad Marchand.

I watched some fight clips of Frederic, Greer and Foligno and it made my blood boil even more. Foligno, in particular, brooks no indiscretions against his teammates. A true blood ‘n’ guts player, not to mention leader, in every sense of the word.

Two months ago he fought Colorado’s Andreas Englund to avenge a hit on Tomas Nosek. There was no hesitation on Foligno’s part. He went right after the bigger Swede and beat him pretty good in a long and spirited battle. The reaction of his teammates and the fans? Absolutely electric. Talk about standing up for your team and making a statement.

The Pens made a statement the other night following the crosscheck on Sid. They collectively melted away like warm butter.

Wish to God we had Foligno…or someone of his ilk.

I’m tired beyond tired of watching our stars get assaulted without a whimper of retaliation.

It’d be great if someone manned up, like Mark Friedman did the previous night against the Ducks when he challenged Kevin Shattenkirk after the Ducks’ d-man sent Jake Guentzel sprawling to the ice with a trip. For the record, Friedman was on the ice at the time of l’affaire Crosby-Anderson but didn’t respond, inaction that prompted Tribune-Review columnist Mark Madden to call him out.

It was later revealed that Friedman had suffered an upper-body injury, which may have prevented him from intervening. But I wouldn’t be shocked if coach Mike Sullivan had pulled the edgy defenseman aside following his actions against the Ducks and cautioned him against overly aggressive play. Heaven forbid he take an aggressive penalty. (For the record, traditional Penguin penalties such as tripping and hooking are tolerated.)

Frankly, I see Sullivan as the root cause of our passivity. He obviously has a thing against fighting…and fighters. He wants his team to play aggressively, yet he weeds out guys who bring the very qualities that are necessary to fuel the style he wants to play.

It’s like sifting wheat and removing all the grain, fiber and nutrients. All you’re left with is white flour.

You can’t parse things that finely. Nor can you turn hockey playing lambs into lions on demand. It simply doesn’t work that way.

We desperately need a player or two who’ll hit and fight and light a fire under this team, a mix as stale and bland as that white flour I mentioned. But we’ll never have ‘em as long as Sullivan’s in charge.

And make no mistake, Sully’s in charge. The worst thing we did from a personnel standpoint was to double-down on him in the offseason with a three-year extension that runs through 2026-27. Now GM Ron Hextall and president of hockey operations Brian Burke are trapped into feeding him the kind of players he prefers. A trap they’re wholly complicit in setting.

So much for “long pants hockey.”

The last team we had that was built to Sully’s specs? The Smurfish 2019-20 squad that got shoved to the perimeter…and out of the Qualifying Round of the playoffs by the infinitely larger and more physical Canadiens.

Frankly, I’m sick of the whole thing.

It’s time to show “just play” the highway.