Arm-Chair GMing: Part 1, the Goalies

I would guess that almost every person writing or commenting on any hockey website is an arm-chair GM at heart. I know I am. To that end, I think I am in the mood to resurrect a tradition I broke last season and resume giving unsolicited advice to a Penguins Management team who no doubt has no idea of my frustration with this team.

After this past season, a season that saw Head Coach Mike Sullivan post the worst Win-Loss record since the Eddie Olczyk/Michel Therrien disaster of 2005-2006 when the team went 22-46-14, there is a lot of material here with which to work. I will not even attempt to do this in one fell swoop. Instead, I will simply start with how I would try and fix what perhaps was the most devastating factor keeping this team from the playoffs.

No, not the power play. No, not the Defense. No, not the lack of grit. I agree these are areas of serious holding this team back from being a true Cup contender, but Goaltending was the biggest factor keeping this team from getting to the big dance.

It is not that this team has a dearth of good young Goaltenders. Our Pittsburgh Penguins are blessed with some really promising prospects.

The problem is the choices management made with which to hitch this cart, Tristan Jarry.

Sullivan convinced GM Kyle Dubas to sign this millstone to a 5-year, $5.375 million contract last offseason, a contract Jarry never earned and certainly muffed on this season. Our ersatz netminder saved his most pathetic efforts for when the game was tied or when the team was only up by 1 Goal (G).

Jarry’s Save Percentage (Sv%) was 0.887 when the game was tied, more often than not, putting the team behind the 8-ball, giving up the go-ahead goal. Compounding his inept Goaltending when the game was tied, the Goalie for which Sullivan vouched turned in a 0.890 Sv% when our favorite flightless fowl held the slimmest of 1 G leads allowing opponents to wipe out leads with regularity, so that they could then grab the lead themselves with a second chance at Jarry’s horrible play when the game was tied.

The first step I would take to fix this team is shed this team of that Jonah named Jarry. I know he has a modified No Trade Clause (mNTC) but I would not overvalue this chump. I would take a broken stick and a bag of used pucks if I could get rid of his contract and keep any Coach from playing him.

Next step, any close reader of Penguin Poop knows how much I like Joel Blomqvist. In the only time I can remember that the team did what I proposed (and no, I am under no delusion that I had anything to do with the decision – total random chance) the very trade for the draft pick and use of that draft pick to pluck this gem. The young Finn earned a 25-12-6 record in his first pro season in North America, with our AHL affiliate Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins, thanks to a 0.921 Sv%. Blomqvist excellent play in his rookie AHL campaign was recognized with a Second Team All-Star roster spot.

However, I would not want to throw this kid to the wolves, back stopping our parent club – not as a plan A. I would prefer to ease him into an NHL roster spot.

For that purpose, I would do my best to sign any of the following 2 Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) Laurent Brossoit, Kevin Lankinen, Alex Nedeljkovic, or Anthony Stolarz, and use those 2 players as a bridge until Blomqvist is ready to assume the mantel of Number. Until that time, I would have my Coach play Goalie by Committee, riding the hot hand and giving Blomqvist sheltered minutes.

I don’t see any need for any real exigence to run out and get any high-priced veteran Goalie. Goaltending could very well be a strength of this team if their Coach and development personnel manage the prospects they have, rather than waste time on a self-centered, bad attitude, undisciplined, technically poor Jarry.

Not only did Blomqvist star in the AHL, but Taylor Gauthier (a Ron Hextall signing – give credit where credit is due), who was banished by a stream of useless veterans, to a role with the teams ECHL affiliate Wheeling Nailers, starred in a league for which he was too good to have been playing. Gauthier notched a 24-16-1 record to lead the Nailers into the playoffs, thanks to his 0.923 Sv%.

And across the pond another Penguins prospect was beyond stellar. Twenty-year-old Sergei Murashov rocked a cameo appearance in the KHL with a 3-1-2 record, 1 Shutout (SO) and a Sv% of 0.925 for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and dominated the Jrs league over in Russia, the MHL with 24-4-2 record with 4 SOs and a Sv% of 0.930 in the regular season. Then in 19 MHL playoff games he went 11-8-0 with 2 SO and a 0.926 Sv%.

The only drawback with Murashov would be to get him out of the KHL and into the NHL, no easy feat.

Because of the difficulty in getting players out of Russia and into the NHL, I would grab Marcus Gidlöf with either our Penguins own 2^nd round draft pick or if the Carolina Hurricanes fail to make the finals and our own hometown heroes must settle for the 2^nd round pick Carolina got from the Philadelphia Flyers.

Gidlöf is projected to be the 1^st Goalie taken in the draft, but projects to still be around near the time the Penguins draft. He is an 18-year-old 6’-6” 212lb Goalie from Falun Sweden. He played in for Leksands IF J20 of the J20 Nationell league in Sweden. The big Swede played 26 Games with a record of 14-12-0, 2 SOs, and a Sv% of 0.923.

If you are asking the question, “Why I would use a draft pick on another Goalie if I think our Penguins have a great stable of prospects?”

My answer is,

• No team can have enough good Goalies.
• I would always trade up. Even though I really love what I have seen in Blomqvist, by the time Gidlöf is NHL ready, Blomqvist may price himself out of Pittsburgh.
• If Blomqvist, Gauthier, Gidlöf, and Murashov all develop as I would believe they will, I could always trade 2 of them for more draft picks or profits to keep the prospect pipeline flowing.

Odds and Sods

• The player I think will be the gem of the Jake Guentzel trade, Ville Koivunen scored in his AHL debut last night. Unfortunately, the G came for naught. The Hershey Bears manhandled our Baby Penguins, out shot them 32 – 22, and beat them our kids 2 – 1.
• Our Baby Penguins at least fought back (unlike the Parent Club) but they still were pushed around.
• Blomqvist, the Goalie I have been raving about bought the loss. The first Goal Against GA, snuck in, at his feet from a short side shot. The 2^nd GA came on a rebound where his defenders were outmanned by attackers.