Pens down Jets before getting shutout by the Capitals

Pens shows promise against Jets before failing against the Caps.

I don't think you could find a bigger difference between two games this season for the Penguins if you tried. Pittsburgh started it with a strong win over the Winnipeg Jets with a depleted line-up that saw  Brandon Sutter as the teams 1C. Crosby then returned for NBC's Wednesday Night Rivalry game against the Capitals but was just one of many who didn't turn up and embarrassed themselves in a 4-0 shut-out loss. 

Starting  with the Jets game, Kris Letang set a career high for himself with a 5 point night, all of them being assists. Since records on Hockey Reference go back to the 1987-88 season only 2 other players have had such dominant position from the blue-line, those being Gonchar and Coffey. His return from a brief injury sustained from the hit by Rinaldo which earned him an 8 game suspension was evident through his 65.85 CF% and 68.75 FF%. Against the Jets the Penguins also welcomed back Hornqvist who returned after 11 games on the sidelines with a foot injury. Hornqvist's return was keenly felt with an empty net goal near the end of the third period which sealed the win. 

The Jets had originally come into the game on a five game winning streak which makes the  Penguins win more impressive when you consider that the Penguins were missing 4 key players in Malkin, Crosby, Comeau and Maatta. With regards to the Jets I think they look a good bet to secure their play-off spot. I hope they make it as their fans deserve it and it will be an insane place to be in a play-off atmosphere.

Now, to move onto last nights inept performance. Crosby returned after having a week off through an injection to battle against a lower body injury he sustained in the Montreal game. He might as well not bothered as no-one else turned up. It was a completely inept offensive performance and the defence left Fleury out to dry. 

Something that completely baffles me is how Ovechkin continues to score and get numerous opportunities from the same play on the power-play. It happens whenever they go on the man advantage and you can't blame them for using it as it works. Ovechkin sets up in a spot on the left hand side and floats around in free space waiting for a pass to release a one-timer. Unfortunately for the Penguins on the ice for their Penalty kill when Ovechkin scored were Ebbett and Sill. Two players who I look forward to being removed from the roster.

Lapierre didn't have the best of games being a -1 and a 33.33 CF% but it is his first game and he has to be given time to adapt to a new system. I think Johnston knows that Sill and  Ebbett don't deserve to be on the roster but with our injuries they are sadly the best players, in his mind, who can fit that role. When Comeau and Geno return we should see both sent down. The Penguins face the Devils next. They need a good win.

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Penguins trade Goc for Lapierre

Penguins make late night trade for  Maxim Lapierre

The Penguins made a trade after the game against the Jets last night with the St.Louis Blues trading fourth line center Marcel Goc for a more physical, similar role player in Maxim Lapierre. Lapierre is a confident and physical play-off performer which is something that Johnston has mentioned in the past as a skill set that we need to bring in. Lapierre has 137 points in 579 games along with 15 points in 75 play-off games. 

Marcel Goc has the same number of points in 59 play-off games but has struggled to produce with the Penguins since being traded from the Florida panthers with 8 points in 55 games. This is partly due to him being hampered with poor line-mates, something which Johnston and Rutherford have set out to change with more forward depth.

Goc's most common line-mates this season have been Craig Adams with 148:29 TOI and Zach Sill at 98:01 TOI. Together Goc has just two points with them. Sill and Adams are both offensively inept and Goc actually pulled them up in terms of on ice-effectiveness. Looking at their CF% we can see that Adams improved his from 47.4% to 53.3% but Zach Sill's reduced from 48.3% to 42.1%. That reduction for Sill is no surprise when you consider it took over 50 games to get his first point.

Goc will fit well on the Blues as will Lapierre on the Penguins. His gritty, physical play will be vital come the play-offs and will also help the Penguins in the highly physical battles against their intra-division rivals. Lapierre's biggest asset will be his ability on the penalty kill. Lapierre is a game time decision to play tonight against the Capitals.

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The World Cup of Hockey could be perfect but it needs tweaks

The World Cup of Hockey could be perfect but needs tweaks

Gary Bettman today announced the long awaited return of the World Cup of Hockey which was last contested in 2004, 11 years ago. The return was greeted with optimism but there were two teams that have rightly struck an unhappy cord with some. Within the 8 teams that have been announced in the World Cup of Hockey to take place in 2016 are a Team Europe and a Team of Young stars. Forgive me if I shudder at this.

A Team Europe (Or Rest of Europe) as some have described it is an insult in my opinion to the European Hockey nations who haven't been chosen as an outright playing nation because they don't have a high enough number of NHL players to make a proportion of a team. Why should nations like Switzerland and Slovenia miss out in place of a gimmick such as above? Both nations have proved themselves somewhat at the recent Olympics in 2014 and another nation, Slovakia, did excellent at the most recent World Junior Championships. Not that it should mean an instant acceptance at the top table but it shows potential for growth in the game there. Co-incidentally, Switzerland and Slovakia are 7th and 8th in the World Rankings which would make a real "top 8 teams".

The World Cup of Hockey should be used to not only promote the sport through excellent on ice competition but to also help grow the game in its non-traditional or less prosperous areas. Giving Europe a team helps sure but do they really think that a Slovenian is going to be interested in that as much if Kopitar is playing than if there was an individual Slovenian national team? There is also the question of how you decide if a player should play in the Young Stars team or the national team for Canada or USA? For instance, by the time the tournament takes place McDavid could be one of the best players in the NHL yet be forced to play in the Young Stars team rather than the National one. There have been rumours that these teams will be one offs which is good but they shouldn't even be happening, there are teams who can take their place just waiting in the wings who will actually matter to people and interest more people.

Now, other changes or rather tweaks I make include the above removal of the two gimmick teams but also a change in the format of the tournament and how it will progress in the future. I'd like to see the tournament expand to 12 teams and have three groups of four. The top two from each go through to the knock-out and it is straightforward from there. How would I get those extra four teams? Well I would have the 6 nations mentioned for the 2016 edition along with Switzerland and Slovakia mentioned above. I would then have four qualification places to try and help make it a really true World Cup of Hockey.

Now, people are probably expecting me to say that teams from all four corners of the globe should be there but that'd be stupid as you'd end up with a team from Africa getting demolished. What the qualification places should be are for 3 European Teams and 1 Rest of the World team. By Rest of the World I mean a team from Asia, South America, Africa or Australasia. This would be likely be one of South Korea or Japan, which isn't terrible. 

The qualification would be fairly straight forward for the European teams and be similar to that used in Olympic qualification where it is in two stages. The first three European teams outside the top 8 would host the final qualification group stages which would consist of three groups of four. Next, 6 spots would be taken up by the next top 6 ranked European nations. This would leave a space in each group. To fill these groups the next 12 ranked European nations would take part in a tournament in a similar format to above (Three groups of four) with each group winner advancing. The Rest of the World qualification would be two groups of four with the top two winners facing each other for the right to play in the World Cup. If teams from the Rest of the World improve then you could give them two places and take one from Europe or increase the number of teams that take part.

In all, the World Cup of Hockey could be great and it has the potential to be a brilliant way to grow the game and create some of the best hockey seen. The NHL or whoever the organising body ends up being should look at the original Canada Cup's and look to try and replicate that in this tournament if they truly want to make it memorable and a tournament worth having in pre-season before the start of the season. I look forward to it but I'm not enamoured with the idea of the two gimmick teams.

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Crosby isn't attending the All-Star game and the criticism is wrong

Crosby isn't attending the All-Star game and the criticism is wrong

So, you have probably heard by now that Sidney Crosby isn't attending the All-Star Game in Columbus this weekend. This means that Crosby will have been to just one All-Star game, shown in the picture above in the 2007 game in Dallas where the West won 12-9. The Penguins announced that he would miss the 2015 edition late on Thursday with a lower body injury which immediately brought scorn from some who felt that he was missing it deliberately to rest up rather than take part. Today the Penguins released a statement that said he had received an injection to help with his injury which was sustained in the game against Montreal and he had subsequently tried to play through it.

Originally I could understand the criticism as it did sound quite vague but now that more information has been released that criticism should cease as it is clear that he is injured and it isn't being hidden like some suggested. One of the notions that has been bandied around is that Crosby is letting the league down and showing a lack of class. I've even seen some suggest that he owes the fans his attendance.

Looking back it is sad to see that Crosby has missed four All-Star Games now. In 2008, 2009, 2011 and now 2015. He missed it in 2008 after sustaining a knee sprain in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning which cost him 21 games. He then missed the 2009 All-Star game in a similar circumstance but took part in the fan activities and media events. The more recent before this years he missed because of lingering effects of his concussion he received in early 2011.

Going back to the people who said he owed the fans his attendance. He doesn't. He didn't ask to be put on the pedestal at the top because of his talents and he gets enough attention through the media as it is. This is without mentioning that he does do a fair amount of work for fans but maybe we should appreciate that he prefers a more private life, as anyone would at his level of publicity. Aside from this Crosby still does a lot of fan work and is no doubt in high demand but when you consider that from September to May/June he is busy is it really any surprise that he wants just a couple of days off?

Finally, with the way the league has treated him with the refereeing of the constant abuse he got in the last play-offs. Along with the fact that the Penguins have been on the receiving end this season of a lot of questionable calls makes me hope that this is also a two fingered salute to them for this. All in all, it would have been nice to see him there but the Penguins season and a healthy Crosby is more important.

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Pens start All-Star break on the back of SO loss to Chicago

Pens start All-Star break on the back of SO loss to Chicago

The Penguins will start the All-Star Break on the back of a spirited 3-2 loss in the shoot-out to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Penguins were without Kris Letang, who was held out for precautionary reasons and Evgeni Malkin who had an upper body injury. This upper body injury sadly means that Malkin will miss the All-Star Game in Columbus at the weekend but there will still be two representatives in Crosby and Fleury.

Historically the Penguins have a poor record against the Blackhawks with 43 wins out of 127 games for a 0.338% win percentage. Chicago are one of the toughest teams to score on as well with a rate of 3.05 GF Per Game and one of the more costly at 3.55 GA Per Game. Chicago are currently in a play-off spot but Pittsburgh do have a good record against Western Conference teams this season at 8-2-1 so they generally do well.

Brandon Sutter in action - curtsey of Getty

Chicago took a lead in the first period through Rundblad with assists from old Pittsburghite Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews. It was a blast of a shot from the point and I don't think you can really put the blame on Fleury as he just couldn't have been able to react it although you do ask if he had his view blocked by the players in front of him. Chicago then doubled it on the PP after a holding penalty committed by Perron on Nordstrom. Surprisingly the Blackhawks are only 14th in the league when it comes to the power play ability at 18.9%. Chicago draw the third highest penalties behind only Detroit and Tampa Bay so when you add that in to the fact that only two divisional opponents, Winnipeg and Colorado are in the top ten when it comes to the PK as well.

Zach Sill then scored his first NHL goal to prove a point I made yesterday wrong. A nice shot from just outside the face-off area over Crawford's shoulder. He was only the fifth Penguins forward to not have a goal after 50 games. Later in the period Downie tied the game with a close finish after driving to the net which gave Arcobello his first point as a Penguin. Looking at the game overall I'd feel satisfied despite the loss in OT. With several key players missing and a few young defenceman the Penguins managed to take one of the top teams all the way which bodes well for when the likes of Hornqvist, Comeau, Malkin and Letang return.

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Pens lose to the Flyers to the shock of no one

Pens lose the Flyers to the shock of no one

There are some things in the world that just go together. Gin and Tonic, Strawberry's and Cream and lately the Pens losing to the Flyers is one thing. This despite a dominant start against a team that outside of their top line has nothing much going for it. The Penguins entered this game on the back of two horrid games against the Islanders and Rangers which saw a pair of losses with a combined scored of 5-11. Thankfully, for this game at least, Greiss was given the start.  It was his first start since the 3rd January contest against the Lightning.

Greiss played a great game on his way to a .925 SV% game off of the 40 shots the Flyers put on the goal.  It is quite a surprise that the Flyers actually managed to put up that many shots when you consider that they ended the first behind in the shot count 17-3. Yet, they led 1-0 after a suicide no look pass by Bennett gifted Schenn the puck in no-mans land. Something was clearly said as the Flyers dominated the next two periods on the shot clock 31-18.

The biggest talking point was the Zac Rinaldo hit on Kris Letang that led to a 5 minute major for boarding and a subsequent hearing with the Department of Player Safety from the  NHL for  Rinaldo. It was a dangerous hit and based on his history of suspensions you would think that due to the nature of the hit (Late, left feet, didn't slow despite the puck not being available and Letang being injured) would carry at least a 5 game suspension. However, these days you can't really tell what they'll do as they seem to make it up as a they go along. Letang is having a concussion test today ahead of the game against the Blackhawks. Even if he passes I wouldn't play him, let him have a week off. In the actual game itself the 5 minute power play that the Penguins were given was pitiful and serious questions need to be ask about it as it has been poor for too long.

One of the worrying things that came about after the Rinaldo hit was that despite having Sill, Downie and Farnham on the ice none of them made their presence known afterwards in a hockey legal way. Sure, there were scuffles but they needed to have more of an impact in actual live play. Farnham has since been sent down after he played in place of Goc, how Sill wasn't sent down ages ago is a mystery. I would say that Sill is a young Craig Adams but even Adams is able to get points on the board and is a fairly adequate PK'er. Sill doesn't bring anything. 

I think that in Sill there is an essence of a pet project by Johnston which has now gone on too long. Sill has played 50 games in the NHL now and put up a grand total of 1 point. Now, I know 4th liners aren't noted for their productive skills but that is atrocious. Most players can probably luck themselves into more points than that in a similar span. Going back to the "pet project". Look at the TOI in OT. We we're on the PK sure, but Crosby saw just 7 seconds! whilst Bennet and Perron had nothing. It was no wonder we lost if we're going to limit our star-players ice time like that. I'm not saying that we should always role out 87-71 on the PK, but they should be given more time as they are some of the best offensive defensive players out there. 

It is worrying that we seem to not only struggle against the Flyers but also allow them to get into our head. It is also worrying how bad our record against the division is this year which currently stands at 6-8-4, especially when you consider that we have to go through the division if we want to go far in the play-offs. After the game Pouliot was called up which presumably means Letang won't play tonight but I think the Pens on a whole need this break as they looked mentally fried last night. Tonight's game against Chicago is the last until next week, end it on a win.

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A statistical look at the Hornqvist (+ Spaling) for Neal trade so far

A statistical look at the Hornqvist (+Spaling) for Neal trade so far

One of the biggest moves in the summer was no doubt the trade of James Neal to Nashville for Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. It happened during the 2014 NHL draft and created a stir and some strong debate about whether it was a good trade by Pittsburgh or not. Now, 7 months after the trade and over half-way into the season I think we can start to look at how it is going so far and start to compare. 

One of the sticking points for Penguins fans was that they would lose the chemistry and scoring ability that Neal had when paired with Evgeni Malkin, specifically on the PP where 37.7% of his points came from. With a percentage as high as that it is no surprise to know that Neal was the Penguins third most productive player on the PP in terms of points and second in terms of shots per 60 minutes (16.91 to Malkin's 17.89) on the man advantage. 

The biggest problem with Neal was that he would go missing in the play-offs and struggle due to the increased physicality which saw a reduction in penalties called. That is actually a misconception though as his on 5v5 ES his production grows from 70% in the regular season to 71.4% in the play-offs. 

The one other thing that appeared to stick with Penguins fans was his frequency to take poor penalties and in his 38 games with the Penguins in the play-offs he commited to 50 PIM's. At 1.31PIM's a game for a player that is meant to be on the top six is too much as it makes harder for him to be effective in such important games. It is worth comparing him through the same time period from 2010-2014 to the other two key players on the Penguins. Crosby had 22 PIM's in 33 games and Malkin with 40 PIM's in 34 games. Both are lower than Neal.

The main reason I think that Neal was traded was that a change in the culture of the club was needed which followed after Bylsma and Shero's firings. Rutherford wanted to make his own mark and change the way the team played and one of the ways to do it was to trade one of the most valuable players. Hornqvist was brought in to replace Neal and add more of an all round game aside from just the pure goalscoring. Spaling was if anything a sweetner and added some depth scoring which the Penguins had struggled with in the past thanks to poor roster decisions and system employment.

Looking at the above we can see that last season Hornqvist had a much greater net presence than James Neal with a higher proportion of shots near the blue paint. These are typified by the dark green hexes, the darker the better. Hornqvist had 248 shots last year which is 10 more than Neal's 238 so the Penguins to pick up a player who has been shooting more than Neal recently and also been getting into the goalkeepers kitchen.

Looking now at this season and seeing how they're doing we can see that Hornqvist has 29 points in 33 games of which he has scored 13 goals. Comparatively Neal has 27 points in 37 games of which he has scored 15 goals.  Hornqvist was also brought in to replace Neal on the PP and we can see that so far Hornqvist has 9 points in his time this season which totals for 27.2% of his production compared to 37% for  Neal last season.

However whilst there has been a reduction in the powerplay activity this can be put down to a reduction in time for Hornqvist due to injury. There is also the fact that Neal only played 59 games last year, with a larger number of games that number could very well have been reduced. The Penguins powerplay last year as 23.4% compared to the same number right now however the Penguins have had some serious injury issues to their forward core so for it to be that high is surprising. With a fully fit roster I would expect that to be higher.

All in all I think that the trade works for both teams but helps Pittsburgh more due to Hornqvist being a more rounded player which will help more in the play-offs. We'll find out whether he will disappear like Neal in April but so far it seems to be working for both parties. When you consider that the Penguins also obtained Spaling to add to their depth you could argue that in terms of production the Penguins won but for the teams needs both got what they wanted. I'll do a complete review at the end of the play-offs.

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Penguins woes against divisional opponents continue

Rangers chase Fleury in 5-2 win

It has been said in the past that the Penguins don't do well in early afternoon games and that was evident in the 12:30PM game against the New York Rangers this Sunday. The Penguins defence continued its poor performance from their recent outing against the other New York team even taking to score on themselves. It has been noticeable in the recent games that Fleury has been struggling lately. This is because he has been over-worked lately, today being his 6th game in a row. He has struggled against the Rangers and Islanders recently, specifically the Islanders. With the Penguins playing two more games against the Blackhawks and Flyers before the All-Star break I'd like to see Greiss get some games to see if he can handle the workload under pressure should anything happen to Fleury in the play-offs.

The Rangers are a well structured team and hard to break down if you don't work them. They have a good D system which sees them channel the oppositions shooting lanes into the center where they can block them and also make it easier for Henrik in goal by giving him a clearer line of sight. With players like Girardi and Staal this is something that has been part of the Rangers identity in recent years, preceding Alain Vigneault. This is something which was evident in their game today as can be seen in the picture below produce by war-on-ice.com

As we can see in the above the Penguins were mostly restricted to shooting from the middle. The only chance they got to shoot from the wings where on the PP which was obviously easier due to the use of the extra man advantage. Crosby's goal game from a net presence rebound and Perron's game from him taking on his man. Both goals came from just outside the paint. To score against the Rangers you have to get in Lundqvists's kitchen and the Pens didn't do enough of this.

The Rangers have the ability since the play-offs to shut the Penguins down and they just don't adapt. Since Game 5 of the play-offs the Penguins have been outscored 26-11. That's 11 goals in 7 games. When you consider that 2 goals were scored today then that is even worse. It is something that needs looking at, are the Rangers a kryptonite to us? The Rangers deserved their win, they dominated for large periods and enjoyed the majority of puck possession. The Penguins gave away a large number of penalties but whether this was the referees being over-zealous I don't know but it definitely made it harder even if they killed 5 out of 6. 

If you want to look for positives from tonights game then I suppose Crosby getting on the scoresheet and Perron continuing to be deadly is about as good as it will get. Which doesn't really say much for the rest of the teams performance. The Penguins next two games will be tough. The Blackhawks and Flyers. It will be interesting to see what the response is.

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Penguins fall short against the Islanders

Four goal Okposo lead Isles past Pens

The Penguins were defeated by the New York Islanders on Friday Night thanks mostly to the top line efforts from the New York Islanders and in particular Kyle Okposo who had the first goal game for an Islander since Matt Moulson's four goals against the Dallas Stars in 2011.

The Penguins had started the game brightly racing into a 2-0 lead with both goals coming on the Powerplay from Crosby and Perron. Crosby also picked up a helper on Perron's goal with some great movement on the PP to open him up. On his own you can state that Crosby had a good game as he enjoyed scoring another goal late in the second period from a redirect off Martin to send Pittsburgh 3-2 up into the break. However, on a whole his line played quite poorly together and really you could make a statement that the only line that showed up was the second line of Spaling-Malkin-Bennett.

The first line was the dominant line and it showed with all being above 50% in Corsi and with an average of 63.8CF%. It was quite a visible display as well from Evgeni Malkin who had an assist but deserved much more through his dominant puck control and cycle control in the game. Bennett and Malkin have created excellent chemistry since they were thrown together so when Hornqvist comes back it will be interesting to see what Johnson does with the lines. My hope is that Perron switches to the Left wing with Kunitz taking the Left wing spot on Malkin's line.

Back to the game and it was evident that the speed was again taking its toll. The Islanders were not only quicker on their feet but also on the puck. Tavares enjoyed making Despres a statue on the Islander's first and for the rest of the game the Islanders seemed to frequently get to the puck first in and around the blue paint. The Penguins seem to often been matched well when playing the Islanders which is something that should give for another good play-off series should they meet.

Something that happened in the game that was disappointing was Steve Downie's penalty incident near the end of the game. With the game tied at 3-3 and 17:19 into the third period he took a needles penalty after slashing Brock Nelson. The Islanders promptly went on the Powerplay and scored 10 seconds in before finishing it with an  EN. Downie has been great for us but needs to learn when to control his anger.

Overall a game in January won't matter too much but it is always nice to beat your current division rivals. Roll on Sunday against the in-form Rangers.

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Penguins claim Mark Arcobello off waivers

Penguins claim Mark Arcobello off waivers from Nashville

The Pittsburgh Penguins have claimed forward Mark Arcobello off of waivers from the Nashville predators. He was listed on the waivers by the Predators who have had some contract number issues in recent months which saw them also waive Derek Roy. Whilst the Penguins have claimed Arcobello they have also sent down both Bryan Rust and Taylor Chorney. This presumes that Arcobello will be replacing Rust on the third line alongside Sutter and Downie. Chorney's demotion is a bit odd as it means the Pens don't have a 7th D although the next game isn't until Friday night so there is plenty of time to bring someone up.

Arcobello originally started the season on the Edmonton Oilers and he has some similarity with the other recent Penguins acquisition in David Perron. Together they had 248:06 minutes TOI which saw  Perron is the most common line-mate for Arcobello outside the goaltender Ben Scrivens. At ES Perron and Arcobello had a CF% of 53.0% which better than when both are separated which sees their respective CF% drop to 48.3% for Arcobello and 51.4% for Perron. I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson is aware of their chemistry and double shifts Perron with Arcobello a few times. 

Lastly, comparing the scoring ability of Arcobello to Rust should also be undertaken as according to Pierre LeBrun it is the main reason the Penguins claimed him. Rust has a S% of 2.6 this season which is terrible whilst Arcobello is at 14%. The Penguins need more depth scoring and this will certainly help that.

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Pens host the Wild

Pens host Wild

The Pittsburgh Penguins host the Minnesota Wild tonight in the second of a two part series this season. The Penguins were boosted slightly by the news that Comeau and Hornqvist would be a few weeks which is a shorter time span than originally feared. There was bad news though in that  Olli Maatta may miss the rest of the season due to a recurring shoulder issue which originally was thought to have been fixed with off-season surgery. 

The Penguins made a change before today's game calling up Taylor Chorney from Wilkes-Barre Scranton and sending down Derrick Pouliot. Kris Letang is expected to be fit to go for tonight so Chorney has been brought up as the extra body rather than waste Pouliot's time and development by sitting him in the press box. Marc-Andre Fleury is the starter for tonight and he has a poor record against the Wild; 0-5-0 with a 0.853% SV and a 3.76 GAA. On the bright side though he is yet to allow a PP or SH goal.

The Wild come into this having lost 5 consecutive games and are really struggling to score at the same time and are currently last place in the Central with an 18-18-5 record. The Wild's record against the Metropolitan division is also poor at 2-5-0. One of the biggest problems that the Wild are facing is that they are in need of a goaltender. Darcy Kuemper has been out for a week and Josh Harding is battling his multiple-sclerosis diagnosis.

I'm hoping that tonight Johnston puts Perron back on Crosby's LW where he is much more suited than Chris Kunitz. Kunitz has really struggled this season and is evident in his play. I would like to see Bennett also alongside Crosby on the  RW but I think that the success of him with Malkin would mean we won't see that, he absolutely needs to see more PP time though. The Pens lines I would expect to see are below;

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - David Perron

Nick Spaling - Evgeni Malkin - Beau Bennett

Bryan Rust - Brandon Sutter - Steve Downie

Zach  Sill - Marcel Goc - Craig Adams

Kris Letang - Simon Despres

Christian Ehrhoff - Paul Martin

Rob Scuderi - Robert Bortuzzo

My prediction for this game would be a 4-2 Pens win. Lets go Pens!

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Derrick Pouliot leads charge of D Prospects

Derrick Pouliot is leading a charge of defensemen in the Penguins system which is causing headaches for the coaching staff. The Penguins currently have a strong D line-up with it being centered around Letang, Martin and Ehrhoff. Alongside them is the emergence of both Despres and Maatta. Maatta broke out last year after impressing in a nine-game spell before being given an extended look. Despres has been held back somewhat by poor ice-time management by Dan Bylsma in the past and is finally showing his true potential in a system that encourages puck play. The group is rounded out by the veteran presence of Rob Scuderi and the physical, if somewhat rough edged skill set of Bortuzzo. 

There has been a remarkable improvement in the play from the defensive core this season compared to last year. Part of this is to do with the removal of Brooks Orpik. Orpik was a good, physical player but someone who didn't have the agility and sharpness to stay. Especially at the detriment to a young player like Simon Despres. The Penguins also lost Matt Niskanen to free agency and I have no doubt the Pens would loved to have kept but not at his cap hit. Niskanen leaving did allow them space to sign Ehrhoff however, so it can be seen as a positive move.

The biggest change is the implementation and performance of the young D prospects available in Wilkes-Barre Scranton playing in the AHL. Last season Despres split time between Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh playing 36 games in the AHL and 34 games in the NHL. Despres often sat in place of Orpik or Engelland which hampered his development briefly. Despres rarely played many games in a row which meant he couldn't develop his skills at the level he should be playing at and was often playing in a league (AHL) that he was too good for. The difference between the two seasons is clear to see. Despres's ES corsi improved from 68 to 92 as did his ES PDO slightly from 101.7 to 101.8. 

One thing that has been brought over from the Bylsma and Shero era which has been good for the team has been the abundance of D prospects which we are now starting to see come through. Last season we saw a brief glimpse of Samuelsson, Dumoulin along with the emergence of Olli Maatta. Samuelsson was since traded for Klinkhammer (Who in turn was traded for Perron as part of a deal) but Dumoulin and Maatta have continued their impressive play and be joined at the big table by Pouliot and Harrington.

Pouliot would be the highest rated prospect based on some of the comments from the management who have been impressed with his play and also anticipate a future for him at the Penguins. Pouliot has somewhat benefited from spending his youth career at Portland alongside Johnston so is familiar with the system he employs which has made it easier for him to adjust and fit in compared to others. 

The biggest benefit of course in all of this is that if they pan out there could be some serious cap benefits down the line for the Penguins. Currently they have around $22m on NHL contracted defensemen and with the likes of Pouliot, Maatta, Harrington and Dumoulin having low level contract values it means that it could free up some space for Pittsburgh to spend in free agency on their forward core.

Going forward to next season I see no reason why the Penguins couldn't run;

Letang-Maatta

Despres-Ehrhoff

Pouliot-Dumoulin

Harrington

If their development goes as planned for the rest of this season then they will all be making cases in camp to be on the NHL roster next season.

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