Rob Gray-Imagn ImagesIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the thick of the struggle. After a rousing first five periods of the season, which led to a pair of wins, the team has been in absolute free fall.
Counting a shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, which was more like a theft of a point from the hockey gods, the team has lost seven of eight games. Their lone respite in the oasis of clean hockey was a 2-1 shootout win over the Dallas Stars.
The four-game road trip was not going to be easy. Colorado, Vegas, and Utah are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.
The Penguins played poorly against each of those and also lost to the hapless Chicago Blackhawks on the front game of the trip. Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson noted the team has been through this before.
Last December was a dark few weeks in which it looked like the bottom would drop out, but the team had stacked plenty of wins prior to their struggles, so they had a cushion. Unlike December, there is no cushion this time, and as the struggles intensified, the reactions on the inside have been scattered.
Some look like the world is ending. Others are angry.
While still more players are in disbelief. A four game sample should not provide firm conclusions, but it was a continuation of the season as a whole.
Or hole. Thoughts From the Road Trip 1.
The team is slow. Almost terribly slow.
There are numerous parts to the astounding lack of a forecheck, from the poor breakouts to stubborn puck possession even in confrontation with defenders. But the consistent underlying issue has been the lack of speed to retrieve pucks.
It’s pretty tough to be a puck possession team without the puck. As constructed, the team is neither putting pressure on opposing defensemen going back to get the puck and their not providing much obstacle for opponents on the rush.
The third line has been especially poor with a rotating cast of wingers beside Ben Kindel. Andrei Kuzmenko isn’t going to be effective at providing pressure, so it’s up to Kindel and the right wing, but between all of the players tried in that slot, nothing has worked.
The second line with Tommy Novak in the middle hasn’t been effective either. That’s not the forte of Novak, Egor Chinakhov, nor Evgeni Malkin.
The lack of speed bumps has created a highway into the Penguins’ zone. The Penguins badly need some speed on the wings.
And more on defense wouldn’t hurt either. Right now, the only above average skater on the blue line is Erik Karlsson.
The effects of their lack of speed and quick retrievals are evident in the breakouts, too. 2.
TERRIBLE structurally. Inexcusably so.
Last season, PHN detailed coach Dan Muse’s hybrid defensive zone scheme which deploys a zone coverage at the top of the D-zone and a man-to-man coverage in the lower zone. Last season’s team had no issue with it, and used it to great effect.
Defensemen Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea didn’t get enough credit for their mobility and ability to adapt from tight coverage in the slot to hard net-front battles. Not only are the Penguins losing net front battles, but their d-zone coverage is haphazard.
Opponents are getting wide open at the net, in the slot, and in the circles. Worse, the Penguins’ trackback has been stunningly shoddy.
It’s a fundamental part of the game, but the Penguins have taken the wrong man, leaving opposing rushers open to torture goalies wearing the Penguins crest, or been slow to get back, also leaving opponents breathtakingly open. It’s not Muse’s fault and it is mostly the assemblage of players who aren’t good defensively.
3. Arturs Silovs is a different goalie Silovs put in the work during the offseason.
He looks like a different goalie, a much better goalie than last season. He’s not spraying rebounds or serving pizzas, but instead playing a good, controlled game.
Perhaps he received a hefty boost of confidence from nearly helping the Penguins pull out of that 3-0 series hole to the Philadelphia Flyers, too. Of course, with the loose and sloppy team defense in front, no goalie would have positive stats.
So, Silovs won’t get much credit, but he is vastly improved. 4.
Kindel needs linemates. He’s battling.
Before Kindel suffered the medical episode Tuesday, he had been playing well but his efforts were fruitless. From Andrei Kuzmenko to Hendrix Lapierre, Filip Hallander, Ville Koivunen, Nick Robertson, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, and Connor Dewar, all have taken turns on Kindel’s wing.
The transient nature of the line, combined with the struggles of some of those players, kept Kindel without any regimen or chemistry. No predictability.
Still, the kid was playing some ferocious hockey. He tried to stick up for Declan Carlile Monday.
He was also roughed up a few times on the trip, including being tossed into the net in Chicago and getting pounded in Vegas. 5.
The Penguins know. The team knows that general manager Kyle Dubas is making calls to sell some of them to the highest bidder.
They don’t want to talk about it, but they’re human, too. In private chats, or group chats they won’t share, they know.
And that won’t make their job any easier. This current round of trade rumors is a MUCH different situation than Bryan Rust hearing the trade rumors two summers ago because then he knew that Dubas didn’t want to trade him.
Rust spent that summer in Canada, so it was nearly every day that he saw his name on TV as being shopped, but he knew it wasn’t true, at least in the context of the media discussion. For many of the veterans, this time, it is true.
Dubas cannot be patient or continue to set a sky-high price on players whose value is dropping. The market shifted.
It happens. NHL teams don’t want players in their 30s right now.
It’s an odd line to draw, especially as more players extend their careers well beyond 35, but no one has ever accused the whole of sports executives of having too much independence. The prices on players in their 30s are low.
very high. The juxtaposition means Dubas isn’t going to win the moves that come next.
So, remember that little nugget as Dubas must clear some space to get to the next era. He’s probably not going to win the next trade.
