Hi all. Not much to see here. But I wanted to point out an excellent article on Pensburgh by Hooks Orpik titled, “Moving the puck should be a vastly improved area for the Penguins.”
Hooks details how the addition of Norris Trophy winner and prize catch Erik Karlsson should dramatically help our ability to transition the puck out of our zone and onto the waiting sticks of our forwards. Which should, in theory, help us play a faster, more potent offensive game.
One of the most interesting features of the article? A chart courtesy of Corey Sznajder that displays the 34 worst defensemen in the league last season in terms of botched retrievals and failed zone exits. No fewer than four black-and-gold blueliners made the list…Brian Dumoulin (13th worst), Pierre-Olivier Joseph (20th worst), Dmitry Kulikov (22nd worst) and Jeff Petry (34th worst).
Yikes! It goes a long way to reinforcing the fire-drill feel to our defense last season.
For the full impact, be sure to read Hooks’ article.
Step Aside Reavo, There’s a New Sheriff in Town
Not to poke fun at a serious incident (although I guess I just did). But former Pens winger Daniel Sprong has been accused of assaulting former IndyCar driver Zachary Claman DeMeo at a Motor City nightclub.
Sprong, who signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Red Wings on July 1, has a reputation for being a prickly pear, but he’s hardly a goon (166 hits and 44 PIM in 268 NHL games). And we certainly don’t know what precipitated the alleged incident.
However, Detroit executive VP and GM Steve Yzerman is known to place a premium on character. A commenter on a Red Wings blog mentioned (tongue in cheek) that Yzerman’s released players for infractions as minor as a parking ticket.
Depending on how things shake out, could Sprong become available? And if so, would Kyle Dubas have any interest?
There are rumblings that Dubas is seeking extra scoring depth. Well, the one thing Sprong can do is shoot the puck. He sniped 21 goals for Seattle last season while skating predominantly on the fourth line (11:25 ATOI). And he was tied for eighth among NHL players who played in at least 25 games in 5v5 goals/60 (1.45).
Over the course of his career, the former second-round pick’s averaged almost 21 goals per 82-game season, and that includes time with the Pens early in his career when he barely touched the ice.
Although it probably won’t happen, the thought of Sprong playing for Mike Sullivan…who basically ran the Amsterdam native out of town on a rail…makes me smile.
P-O on the Go?
I want to be clear…this is pure speculation on my part. But if Dubas is still looking to make a deal, I wonder if the aforementioned Joseph might be used as a trade chip.
While his cap hit is hardly onerous ($825 K), elements of P-O’s play certainly are. According to JFresh, his defensive WAR sits at a wobbly 11 percent. Along with his documented difficulties with retrievals and zone exits, it supports my eye test that Joseph struggled mightily at times deep in his own zone and in the battle areas around the net.
With equally inexpensive in-house options such as puck-movers Ty Smith and Will Butcher available, I wonder if POJ is expendable?
Rick
One quick comment. How much of a factor do you think our failure by our Forwards to
win one on one board battles impacts our poor numbers of exiting the zone. Just a
conversation piece.
Hey Mike,
It’s kind of hard to quantify one-on-one battles won and lost. But going by the eye test…we sure lost our share, which certainly contributes to the chaos in our own zone.
Not to pick on him…obviously his job isn’t to check guys to a standstill a la Zach Aston-Reese. But I swear every time I looked at Jake Guentzel in the ‘d’ zone he was on the wrong side of the puck. An observation that’s supported by his even-strength defensive WAR of 1 percent (ugh).
Rick