Chris Kunitz's drop in production is a worry

Chris Kunitz's drop in production is a worry

To say that Chris Kunitz's play has dropped recently would be an understatement. For someone who is quite often a permanent fixture in the top six his offensive production has effectively disappeared after a decent start to the season. Right now Kunitz is seeing regular ice-time in the top six, but in reality he should be seeing third line minutes which more befits his play. Right now he is in a rut, not doubt, but can you call it a rut if it has gone on since late December?

Kunitz has played 61 games this year and currently has 16 goals and 23 assist for 39 points. He is currently 112th in the league in points behind players such as David Perron (40 & 106th) and Tyler Bozak (41 & 96th). Kunitz is currently on pace to finish with 43 points and have his worst full-season since the 2009-10 season where he finished with 38 points. Compared to last season he is on pace to finish with a 42% decrease in offensive production.

Looking deeper at Kunitz's production this season there is a correlation that links to the Penguins power-play when it was dominating and clicking at a near 40% to start the season. This stopped and it reduced a lot near mid-November. Looking at Kunitz's stats we can see that Kunitz started off excellently with 16 points in the first 13 games and of those 9 came off the Power-play compared to the remaining 7 at even strength. In the following 48 games he had 6 and 16 at even strength. In comparison his ES percentage has gone from 38% to 33% and his PP percentage has gone from 57% to a shocking 13%. There has been some rumbles in the local Pittsburgh media that Kunitz has been treated for an iron deficiency since January and hasn't been the same since the Olympics last year. There is no doubt that if true that would affect him, but iron deficiency is something that can be battled with relative ease thanks to the research that has gone into it. I don't think anyone can really can just use that as a reason for a reduction in play. If he is suffering then, why has he not had his ice-time reduced to help cope?

In all honesty being fair, Kunitz isn't the only player to see a reduction in their Power-play production this season. The power-play has been futile and how Rick Tocchet still has a job running it is beyond me. There has been little to no change in the personnel equipped or the play system when on the man advantage and teams have figured it out. To beat the Penguins power-play you just have to put pressure on the puck-carrier and put your body on the line. One of the biggest issues with the Penguins power-play is the inability to keep it in the zone and this is usually a result of the pressure put on them from the other team but also a lack of concentration.

In all, some people may think I am being harsh singling out Kunitz, but he is meant to be a top player so more is naturally expected of him. I wouldn't say that Beau Bennett has been great lately and in his first 82 games for the Penguins he had 31 points. However, he too is in a funk lately with just 5 points in 2015. What makes it tougher to take with Kunitz as well is his contract. The reason is that for a team that depends on Crosby and Malkin a lot to get offence having $3.85m being used in this way is hard to accept when it could be better used.