On several occasions over the summer, I took a poke at Penguins POHO/GM Kyle Dubas for overstocking our forward ranks. In the process, leaving precious little room for developing kids such as Rutger McGroarty and Avery Hayes to advance.
Almost on cue, we got walloped by a Biblical one-two punch of injuries and misfortune in the preseason. In the process losing our entire third line of Ben Kindel, Bryan Rust and Andrei Kuzmenko, to say nothing of fourth-line linchpin Blake Lizotte.
So what’s a coach to do?
As my Aussie brother-in-law, Roger, is fond of saying, “No worries, mate.” Indeed, Dan Muse had a trio of ready-made replacements, Hendrix Lapierre, Filip Hållander (pictured) and Ville Koivunen waiting in the wings.
Chomping at the bit is more like it.
The fledging trio proceeded to produce a game for the ages. Back from a season spent in blood-clot hell, Hållander earned top-star honors with a goal and two assists while playing an incredibly solid all-around game. Ex-Cap Lapierre stood out with his speed and playmaking. He tallied a goal and a helper and by all rights should’ve been awarded a game star. Honors that instead went to Koivunen, who tallied a beauty of a breakaway goal and finished a plus-3.
As a unit, they were every bit as dominant 5v5, as evidenced by the fancy stats (an 85.71 Corsi and an xGF% of 96.83).
Of course, this begs the question. What the heck do we do with them when the wounded, most notably the third line, return?
To be honest, I haven’t a clue. All I know is, it would be darn-near impossible to send these guys to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Hållander and Lapierre in particular. They’ve proven they belong in the NHL. Farming them out would be akin to lassoing a frisky young colt after allowing it to escape the corral. There doesn’t appear to be any turning back.
Will Dubas resort to trades to open up more permanent spots? Waivers?
Again, anybody’s guess. But it sure is a swell problem to have.
The Wild, Wild West
I’ve been loosely tracking results and following teams from around the league. Edmonton, in particular, has caught my eye. For all the wrong reasons, I might add.
The Oilers lost their home opener to the rebuilding Canucks, 6-5, on Tuesday night. This after rallying from a three-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime.
Their goalie? Yep, you guessed it. None other than Tristan Jarry. The former Pen yielded six goals on 23 shots, including the OT loser. Good (or bad as the case may be) for a .739 save percentage.
Not wishing to suffer a repeat, coach Mike Babcock turned to backup Devon Levi for last night’s return engagement in Vancouver. The ex-Sabre leaked for seven goals on 22 shots. Sheesh! Only the supreme efforts of Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard enabled the Oil to escape with a 9-7 victory.
Babcock, who preaches accountability and play away from the puck, must be tearing his hair out by its auburn-dyed roots.
In case you were wondering, Frederik Andersen, signed as a free-agent during the summer, is out long-term with a knee injury. Which means barring a trade, the Oilers will be forced to ride Jarry and Levi.
Lotsa luck with that.
Hey all,
A quicky follow-up. Andrei Kuzmenko has returned to the team. Ben Kindel has practiced, although he’s still technically on IR according to Puckpedia. They skated on a “fourth line” in practice with Connor Dewar. So it appears the Hallander-Lapierre-Koivunen trio will remain intact.
Rutger McGroarty has been re-assigned to the Baby Pens. Blake Lizotte is day-to-day and won’t play against the Canadiens on Saturday night.
Rick
Of course Rick, there is a strong, strong argument that there is a level of addition by subtraction with the injuries and that the Kindel is still too light to really be effective at the NHL level and needs big bodies around him like Mantha and Brazeau from last year. That Rust should have been traded last season at the trade dead line (and I like Rust but I understand this thought), while his trade value still could net the team better return. And that Kuzmenko has been inexorably regressing with each passing season.
And there is the counter argument that the Flyers gave the Pens so much time and space to work with the puck and became their own worst enemy (21 Gv) that even you and I could have scored.
In the end I draw no conlusions from a blowout one way or another. A team may get a W that night but only because the other team lost and not due to any efforts of their own. I will wait to watch ow the first month goes and how our opponents fair against other teams. And as you noted in your game recap Silovs was credited with a SO in the Pens opener for the 2nd year in a row. However, even after being gifted a SO in the opener last season, Silovs managed to post a Sv% of 0.887 in the bottom third of the league.