Two days into free agency and with nine signings under our belt, it’s time to take a step back and see what Kyle Dubas has wrought.
The Penguins sure are different. Deeper, too, at least for the time being.
Are they better?
I do like the fact that we’re bigger. The additions of monster forwards Anthony Mantha and Justin Brazeau should make us more difficult to handle, particularly in the high-traffic areas. As the saying goes, go big or go home.
I also like that we brought back scrappy Connor Dewar and slippery Philip Tomasino. I rather like the gamble on one-time Canadiens flash Rafaël Harvey-Pinard.
Even though he wasn’t a free agent, I love the addition of abrasive Connor Clifton to the right side of our defense.
Oops…I mentioned the discouraging word.
Defense.
Therein lies my worry. Okay, nightmares.
Barring any further activity, the left side of our defense is shaping up as some combination of Owen Pickering, Ryan Graves, Parker Wotherspoon, Ryan Shea, Vladislav Kolyachonok, Caleb Jones and/or Alexander Alexeyev.
At first blush, that’s a frightening proposition. Although Pickering displays some promise and Graves a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away was an effective player, there really isn’t anyone there you’d call accomplished.
What makes it scarier still? The fact that you’ve got ambivalent and unmotivated Erik Karlsson and a declining Kris Letang in the top two starboard slots. Are they capable of serving as an anchor for whomever their partner might be, instead of being the ones who regularly need to be bailed out?
Truly, the only guy I feel good about in his role is Clifton. One outta six or however many d-men we plan to carry ain’t so hot.
If there’s any faint flickering of hope, it’s that Pickering should continue to develop. Perhaps like the Six Million Dollar Man of ‘70s TV fame, Graves can be rebuilt by the new coaching staff. Wotherspoon (great WAR), Kolyachonok and Alexeyev could possess an untapped upside.
The fact that Alexeyev played under new assistant Todd Nelson at Hershey leads one to believe a recommendation was made.
Still, that’s a whole lot of hopin.’ Especially when you consider one of Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov is likely to be in the goaltending rotation now that Alex Nedeljkovic’s been dealt. Or both.
Not to cast stones or dispersion, but this past season Blomqvist seemed wholly unprepared for the onslaught he faced behind our chaotic defense.
The fact that this season’s group could be just as bad if not worse?
A completely unsettling thought.
Did You Know?
Fast fact. Mantha is the grand-nephew of former Penguins great Jean Pronovost, one of the team’s early stars.
An industrious, two-way winger who played for the Pens for a decade (1968-78), Pronovost is fifth on the team’s all-time goal-scoring list (316) and eighth in points (603). Skating on the famed “Century Line” alongside fellow all-stars Syl Apps and Lowell MacDonald, “Prony” became the first Penguin ever to score 50 goals in season (’75-76).
He served as the team’s captain in ’77-78.
Exceedingly popular with teammates and fans (not to mention Civic Arena organist Vince Lascheid), Prony was regularly serenaded with chants of “Let’s Go Pron-o-vost!”
In addition to the trade deadline, now less than 48 hours away, there’s a weightier…
Every once in a while life prevents me from doing a full recap of a…
I was reading some articles about the Penguins’ possible approach to the looming trade deadline…
When the Golden Knights got the jump on our Penguins this afternoon at PPG Paints…
I have a confession to make. I didn’t watch today’s nationally televised matinee matchup with…
I just read that hockey insider Jeff Marek has proposed a trade involving our Penguins…
View Comments
Hey Rick,
I am not sure if this team is any better than last season’s team, but at least there is hope. That hope isn’t in any of the additions that have been made to the team but in the subtractions. The removal of the arrogant stumbling block Sullivan means that there just may be a change in strategies and tactics.
I am sorry but several of the additions you mention leave me nonplus. Mantha is passed his prime and Brazeau and Harvey-Pinard are at the extreme end of their prime and Harvey-Pinard is a smurf. Tomasino is beyond a streaky player and may net 6 or 7 Goals in the first 20 games so that many will say look what a great addition he is and then only get 4 or 5 more games over the back 60 odd games.
Mantha’s and Tomasino’s best contribution to this team may be in getting them on a roll and then trading them for picks or prospects. Perhaps Harvey-Pinard could also be parlayed into a prospect or pick off Papa Smurf, Sullivan and the New York Rangers.
The only 3 signings that seem to make any sense are Dewar, Wortherspoon, and Alexeyev. Dewar is a known quantity, energy guy, Wortherspoon and Alexeyev are big young Defensemen with the former just entering his prime and the latter still two years from his prime. Also, the LHD has been pathetic (possibly system but none the less pathetic), so they could do no worse.