Penguins Update: Tatar to Avs, Potluck with Pitlick?

In NHL news yesterday, the Avalanche rained on my parade a bit by signing forward Tomáš Tatar to a one-year deal for $1.5 million. A bargain rate, indeed, for a seven-time 20-goal scorer. In the process, squelching hopes among Penguins faithful that Kyle Dubas would somehow perform another miracle and land the play-driving forward.

Count me among those who thought Tatar would’ve looked mighty nice sporting the black and gold. 

As I wrote the other day, I’m concerned about a lack of scoring depth and a possible regression among our top-six. IMHO, Tatar would’ve been a great add while serving as an insurance (or INsurance as they say in the south) policy for our offense.

Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk. What’s done is done.

Speaking of offense, might there be a player under our collective noses who could provide a Tatar-ish impact?

The answer would appear to be yes.

When Dubas acquired forward Rem Pitlick from Montreal as part of the return in the Erik Karlsson blockbuster, I immediately checked his tale of the tape (5’11” 186…sigh) and glanced at his boxcars. Which were okay, but nothing to write home about.

Then I took a gander at his JFresh WAR chart.

Downright ghastly. I confess, I immediately dismissed him. That is, until fellow PPer Caleb Di’Natale weighed in, calling the former University of Minnesota star an intriguing get with possibilities.

I decided to delve a little deeper. Poking into Pitlick’s stats, I discovered something shocking. During a 20-game stint with the Wild to open the 2021-22 campaign, the Ottawa native tallied six goals and 11 points, including a natural hat trick against the Kraken on November 13. Solid production when you consider he only averaged 9:42 of ice time.

Then I noticed his shooting percentage…and was blown away. A shade over 46 percent (46.2 to be exact)!!! I had to do a double and even triple-take to be sure I wasn’t seeing things. In all my years of following hockey, I’ve never seen a shooting percentage that high for such an extended period.

Ah, but there’s a caveat. Despite Pitlick’s garish accuracy, hard-line Wild coach Dean Evason had little use for him. Which led to Pitlick being placed on waivers and claimed by Montreal in January. It marked the second time he’d been waived and claimed that season. The Wild had plucked him from the Predators, the club that drafted him, that fall.

With his shooting percentage leveling off to a still excellent 17.3 percent with the Habs, Pitlick tallied a respectable nine goals and 26 points in 46 games north of the border. Giving him 15 goals and 37 points on the season.

Used more in a bottom-six role last season, the former third-round pick started slowly with a lone goal in his first 15 games, which earned him a demotion to the Laval Titan of the AHL. Recalled in January, he managed an okay five goals and 14 points in his remaining 31 games.

His underlying 5v5 metrics were, to be kind, dreadful. A 38.98 Corsi, a 33.33 goals for percentage and a 35.04 expected goals percentage. Yet remarkably, his shooting percentage remained stellar at an even 20 percent.

So what can we reasonably expect? Given his defensive impacts (or lack of), the 26-year-old would appear to be ill-suited for the prevent-‘em-from-scoring dynamic we’re trying to create in our bottom six. It’s equally difficult to see him cracking our top six, at least on a full-time basis. But the ability to snipe and score a la former black-and-gold prospect Daniel Sprong are there.

Perhaps Pitlick fills a utility role, playing up and down the lineup and plugging gaps the way Bryan Rust once did. In the process providing some much-needed scoring depth. Or maybe he’ll be sent to the Baby Pens or waived again.

One of the many lingering questions that’ll be answered come training camp.