A few days before the trade went down, I posted an article questioning whether or not the Penguins should trade Tristan Jarry. After all, he’d been one of the leading contributors to our surprisingly strong start and our recent (at the time) 4-1 run.
My sense? If we traded Jarry, it might considerably dampen our playoff aspirations.
I know it’s only one game. But if first impressions count for anything, my concerns were spot on. Perhaps a classic case of losing the battle but ultimately winning the war.
In his first start sporting the black-and-gold, Stuart Skinner proved to be no match for his former mates, as the Pens emerged from last night’s contest on the short end of a 6-4 score. While Jarry wasn’t exactly Vezina-worthy himself (.867 save percentage on 30 shots), he made the key saves when it mattered the most.
The game also reinforced my overall impression of Skinner, gleaned from watching a smattering of his performances, mostly in the postseason. Big guy, takes up a lot of net, not especially athletic. Handles the puck as if it were a live explosive. Sorta kinda reminds me of former Pens netminder Matt Murray.
Another impression? If we elect to ride a tandem of Skinner and Arturs Silovs in goal? We could be in for a long, ugly second half.
Puckpourri
To borrow from one of the TNT announcers, the Pens wrapped up their “homestand from h-e-double hockey sticks” with an 0-2-3 record. On the heels of the previously mentioned hot streak, we’ve now lost six in a row (0-2-4).
Wish I was more upbeat about our chances. However, I don’t see this jarring run of ineptitude ending any time soon. Not to overstate the obvious, but the team desperately misses centers Evgeni Malkin and Blake Lizotte. Without the latter, the PK is slipping and our overall defensive structure is crumbling like an earthen dam during monsoon season.
Is it me? Or have things gotten away from rookie coach Dan Muse in a hurry? He seems a little deer-in-the-headlights at this stage. I’m no tactician, but I’m not seeing any of the in-game adjustments he was noted for in prior coaching assignments. I know a coach is constrained to a large degree by the talent at his disposal. However, it’s like watching (a bad) Mike Sullivan re-run.
As for the game itself? Tommy Novak, Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust and Danton Heinen scored for the Pens. One of the precious few bright spots of late, Novak collected an assist as well. He has four goals and 10 points in his last 10 games.
Sidney Crosby assisted on Karlsson’s power-play goal. He’s one point shy (1722) of Mario Lemieux’s franchise record. Speaking of, the big guy was in the house last night, always a most welcome sight.
Muse shuffled the deck and made several lineup changes. He benched unproductive kid Ville Koivunen in favor of Heinen and swapped out his third defense pairing of Ryan Graves and Connor Clifton for newcomer Brett Kulak and Jack St. Ivany.
I’ve been pulling for the latter to get a shot but admit was disappointed by what I saw. To my eye, he looked an awful lot like Graves at his worst…big, a touch on the slow side and unsure. He and Kulak each registered a team-worst expected goals for percentage of 10.33.
Up next, a getaway (perhaps much needed) to the Great White North to take on Ottawa (Thursday) and Montreal (Saturday) before a return match with the Habs here on Sunday.
Standings-wise, we’re tied for fifth in the Metro with the Devils and one point out of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
My word, is Connor McDavid DYNAMIC. To draw a baseball analogy, trying to defend against his otherworldly speed would be like attempting to hit a 120 mph fastball.
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View Comments
Rick
Quick couple of comments:
Hayes has to go "sorry for beating a dead horse"
Muse needs to find a spot for Imana in the lineup.
Hello Mike, and good to hear from you.
I'm 100 percent with you on both matters. By all accounts, Hayes is a great guy and beloved by his teammates. Even has a bit of skill. But he's so painfully slowwww.
One hundred and ten percent with you about Imama. Love his toughness and aggressiveness on the forecheck. Simply put, he provides an element we don't have and IMHO need. He definitely provides some juice, jam and emotion. And, honestly, I think he can play. No offense to Danton Heinen, but shift Acciari (or Dewar) to center and plug Boko in on the fourth line.
Hope all is well!
Rick
Hey Rick,
I loved the Jarry trade and still do. Unlike Kyle Dubas and apparently many would be Hockey experts writing bogs elsewhere, I was never under impression that Skinner was going to establish himself as a topflight Goalie here in Pgh. What I love about the Jarry trade is getting Jarry out of Pgh. The 2nd rnd pick in 2029 was icing on the cake. Being forced to take on Skinner and Kulak necessitated the draft pick addition.
The most important part of the trade should be the removal of the roadblock. At least Skinner should have immediately waived and sent to WBS along with Silovs. I will say this again, Blomqvist is the best Goalie in the Organization and Murashov is the 2nd best. They should be playing in the NHL.
Dubas should have never traded for Silovs
And I don’t want to hear the hypocritical excuse of don’t go with two kid Goalies, it is talking out of both sides of your mouth if you don’t also say Kindel and Brunicke should have been sent straight back to Juniors. The risk-to-reward for those two is skewed far more to the risk side. Furthermore, it has failed to change this team’s fortunes.
Also, look at last night’s game, Jarry didn’t play great (4 GA on 30 SOG), he only played well enough to beat Skinner. Who knows, if the skates were reversed and Jarry had to face McDavid and Draisaitl, in game 6 in 1- days, Jarry may have been the one giving up 5 GA on 22 SA.
Hey Other Rick,
I'm with you on the Jarry trade. That's what I meant when I wrote about losing the battle but winning the war. Short term, I think it weakens us in goal, but long-term, I agree it clears the road blocks to promoting Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov...when it's time.
There, we may disagree. I won't dispute your contention that the kids are the best goalies in the system. I do question whether they're ready. During his 12-game run last season, Blomqvist posted an .885 save percentage and 3.81 goals against average.
His shutout aside (and I'm truly not trying to minimize that achievement), Murashov has an .875 save percentage in his other four appearances this season.
Yes, they've posted fabulous numbers in the AHL. However, as impressive as that is, there's a significant gap between the two leagues, especially in terms of speed.
One day, both may be very good NHL goalies. Stars even. I just don't know if the time is now.
As we've learned with Ville Koivunen and, to a lesser extent, Harrison Brunicke, younger doesn't necessarily guarantee success. At least not right out of the chute. In most cases, there's a development curve involved.
Rick
Rick, the interesting thing about Blomqvist is that in Oct and early Nov before he was sent down, when the team was at its defensive worst, the Penguins Goalies Sv%s were,
Blomqvist 0.901
Nedelkjovic 0.887
Jarry 0.792
Then when Dubas sent him down on Nov 11, the kid wasn’t even getting playing time in WBS. He only played once per week or less. Big surprise that his numbers were weak when he was brought back up
A. He wasn’t getting regular TOI
B. The entire team in front of him had already given up
As for Murashov, let’s look at his last start, the kid was given the unenviable task of backstopping a team on the back end of back-to-back games and the team in front of him only managed 16 SOG on 30 SA, while giving a middling Mammoth team 36 SOG in 77 SA.
And furthermore, it is extremely hypocritical to say Blomqvist and Murashov are too young but defend Kindel’s presence on the team. Blomqvist and Murashov are head and shoulders better than Jarry, Skinner, and Silovs, while Kindel is rather vanilla adding very, very little to the team (One game aside)