Sully Sez: Size Not Important to Penguins

Contrary to the title of a recent article on another site, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan didn’t actually come out and say size isn’t important.

Rather, he spouted some deftly worded Sully-speak to explain his stance.

“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 looks like. I think it’s more important we’re true to that group.

“And our group has certainly shown—and there’s plenty of evidence—that we can be a competitive team when we surround these guys with the right people and we put a game on the ice that sets us up for success.”

That ‘game’ as Sully puts it? In a nutshell, an aggressive forecheck, playing fast, possessing the puck and activating the ‘d.’ Nothing inherently wrong with any of that. But to totally ignore a now-established trend toward a hybrid style that blends speed and skill with a large helping of heavy?

Pure folly.

One I’m afraid our newly minted prez of hockey ops Kyle Dubas is falling for hook, line and sinker.

Sully clearly believes we can win with the approach that produced back-to-back Cups in 2016 and ’17.

I beg to differ.

Our Cups were in many ways a lot of divergent elements all blending together in a perfect on-ice storm. A gifted core in its prime with something to prove. A passel of hungry young kids filling support roles. Near flawless roster construction by GM Jim Rutherford. And, yes, Sullivan and his fast-paced system.

Executing his speed game to a T, we caught a slower, heavier NHL by storm. Other teams simply couldn’t keep up. Too, that group possessed a considerable underpinning of grit with the likes of net-front battlers Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz and shot-blocking warriors Nick Bonino and Ian Cole, not to mention leader supreme Matt Cullen.

However, by our second Cup year the league was already catching on…and catching up. Utilizing their superior blend of size and speed, the Capitals totally dominated us in the second round, imposing their will to the tune of something like 63 percent of the 5v5 shot attempts.

It was only by the grace of God, and a superhuman performance between the pipes by Marc-Andre Fleury, that enabled us to survive the series and go on to win that second Cup.

However, the Caps would kibosh our hopes for a three-peat in ’18 and capture a Cup of their own by playing the hybrid style I referenced earlier. As did the Blues in ’19, the Lightning in ’20 and ’21 and the Golden Knights this past campaign.

The only stylistic blip, the Avalanche, who raced to the ’22 Cup with a pure speed game reminiscent of Sullivan’s. However, even the Avs boasted a core of sizeable skaters.

Recognizing the trend, Rutherford began to adjust accordingly, adding heavyweights Ryan Reaves and Jamie Oleksiak to the mix. Following an adjustment period, the Pens found their rhythm and barreled through a 16-4-1 run leading up to the ’18 trade deadline.

But Sullivan couldn’t tolerate Reaves and stopped playing the big guy. In essence, forcing or at the very least contributing to the disastrous Derick Brassard deal that cost us Reavo, Cole and our potential goalie of the future Filip Gustavsson. The Pens never regained their momentum and bowed to the eventual Cup-winning Caps in the second round.

We haven’t won a series since.

After being swept by the Islanders in the first round in ’19, Rutherford caved in and acceded to his coach’s wishes. Slower, heavier players like Olli Määttä and Erik Gudbranson were shown the door. Enter a passel of small, speedy types like Dominik Kahun, Brandon Tanev, Conor Sheary and Evan Rodrigues. Dominik Simon was given a prominent role, often skating next to Sidney Crosby on the top line. (Shades of Kip Miller and Jaromir Jagr.)

Following a solid regular season, the lightweight Pens dissolved down the stretch, losing eight of their last 11 games. (Another trait of Sullivan small-ball teams…fading down the stretch.)

Then came the postseason. We were literally muscled out of the qualifying round by the much larger Canadiens.

Featuring a heavy, Vegas-esque defense that included the likes of Shea Weber, Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak and present Pen Jeff Petry, the Habs defended the house and shoved our undersized forwards to the perimeter, denying them access to the prime scoring areas between the circles.

For all our vaunted firepower, we produced an anemic eight goals during the four-game set. None in the series finale, when we managed to squeeze off a paltry 22 shots on goal.

Our speed didn’t matter a damn.

Fast forward to the night of April 11, 2023. The lowly Blackhawks thrashed the Pens, 5-2, and ended our 16-year postseason run because they protected their goalie and denied us access to the prime scoring areas.

Sounds like a broken record, doesn’t it?

Think a little size and jam might have helped our cause?

Apparently, Sullivan doesn’t think so.

Worse yet, I greatly fear that Dubas, who oversaw a similar speed-and-skill team in Toronto, is drinking Sully’s Kool-Aid.

That would be a tragic mistake.