Assessing the 2014-15 Penguins: Part 2 - The Bottom Six

Assessing the 2014-15 Penguins: Part 2 - The Bottom Six

The bottom six is one area that Rutherford made his mission to improve when he came into office last summer and I would agree that it has been improved compared to the previous roster. The Penguins have endured a lot of injuries which has meant that there has been a large number of reinforcements from Wilkes-Barre Scranton. I'm going to go through players who have appeared in the bottom six mostly.

One of the more interesting moves in the off-season was the signing of Steve Downie to a one year contract. Downie is a known agitator and that has been evident this season. This is a small problem as it does attract attention from referees and earns him "reputation" penalties. For his cap hit though his production outweighs the negatives as he enjoyed his best season since 2010-11. He does need to work on his vocal attributes to ensure that he doesn't put him team a man down when it is avoidable. Do that and continue his production and he could be a really effective player to have in the bottom six. His contract is up and I would re-sign him to another one year contract.

The fourth line centre spot was interchangeable throughout the season and possibly the biggest stalwart was Marcel Goc. Goc struggled offensively, partly due to his line-mates, his ice time and just not being good enough. The biggest problem with Goc was that he wasn't physical enough, hence why he was traded for Maxim Lapierre. Lapierre is a lot more physical and able to withstand more hits, weighing 215lbs compared to Goc's 197lbs. Lapierre is also someone who revels in the play-offs and throughout the series with the Rangers he was a constant thorn in their side irritating them to no end.

The other two to appear in the fourth line centre spot throughout the season on a regular basis were Craig Adams and Andrew Ebbett. Craig Adams isn't going to be brought back next season, which is a huge relief. He is too slow and has a big problem on the penalty kill of being able to clear the puck out. Not to mention that his offensive output is non-existent. Ebbett was brought up from the AHL in relief when injuries occurred and he did a better job than Adams. However, neither compare to Lapierre.

Three players to also appear from Wilkes-Barre Scranton in the season were Bryan Rust, Scott Wilson and  Jayson Megna. Megna had a good spell with the Penguins last year but this year, in a shorter spell, he slumped. He possesses great speed but nothing else that would make him a worthy candidate to replace someone in the bottom six. Wilson and Rust are two players who are still works in the making but both did well in their spells considering they were thrown in the deep end due to injuries. All three should spend next season with WBS and go from there.

The last person to appear on the fourth line, sometimes in the centre but mostly just where needed was Zach Sill. Zach Sill might be the worst hockey player I have seen. He can't do anything. He can't hit, he can't shoot, he can't pass. Why the Leafs traded for him I do not know and I am glad we don't have to worry about him becoming the new Adams on our team.

Elsewhere the two most offensive players in the bottom six were Nick Spaling and Brandon Sutter. Spaling was acquired in the trade that involved James Neal and Patric Hornqvist and for his cap hit I would say that he has been a decent depth acquisition. Spaling is able to chip in when needed and this year he enjoyed his second best season in his career. Elsewhere, Sutter had a late season burst with four points in the last five games. However, this season was hit and miss and there were times when Sutter seemed to "disappear" creating a void on the third line. Due to Spaling's ability to play in the center it makes Sutter a potential trade target.

In the coming days I will put up my thoughts on the top six and the teams rankings. Apologies if I have missed any players. 

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Assessing the 2014-15 Penguins: Part 1 - The Defence

Assessing the 2014-15 Penguins: Part 1 - The Defence

This is the first of a three part series where I will be looking at the 2014-15 Pittsburgh Penguins and assessing their performances. The other two parts will be on the offense, the coaching and the management corps. The defence has previously a big issue with the Penguins going into the playoffs. Looking back at the Columbus, Islanders and Flyers series in the past three years shows that. This year however there was an improvement which was noticeable even in a brief playoff run.

Goaltending

Marc Andre Fleury continued his good performance from the regular season  after setting a club record 10 shut-outs, breaking the previous one set by Barrasso in 1997-98. Fleury has been one of the leagues leading goaltenders this season and enjoyed a career best season. This was despite facing an increase in shots faced from last season up to 1831 from 1774. However, the playoffs are where Fleury's demons have traditionally been but this year he pitched a fort.

Statistically, it was Fleury's best playoff season since the 2007-08 season when Pittsburgh lost in the finals to Detroit. Fleury had huge problems against the Flyers in 2012 (4.63 GAA & .834 SV%) and the Islanders in 2013 (3.52 GAA & .883 SV%). However, last year against the Blue Jackets marked a change with Fleury eliminating a lot of the puck control errors that were in his game and he has continued to improve.

Against the Rangers the Penguins were kept alive thanks mostly to Fleury and this has been widely acknowledged in the media. If Fleury can continue as he is now then the Penguins have a strong goaltender who they can have confidence in, which can be key if you want to go deep. Fleury was given relief during the season by Thomas Greiss, who was an off-season signing. Greiss has failed to live up to what the Penguins would have hope from him with his second worst season to date. Thankfully though the Penguins have strong goaltending prospects waiting in the wings. Overall this season, I'd give the goaltending a B-.

Defence

The defence has seen some changes throughout the season this year due to injuries to key players such as Maatta and Letang which have affected the make up of the team. The team also made two trades at the deadline, one of which was excellent. The other was terrible.

The Penguins best performer was without a doubt Kris Letang who earnt his $7.25m cap hit this season. At one point in the season he was in contention for the Norris trophy but that ended after a late Shane Doan hit. Regardless, he was a big player for the Penguins this year and bore the brunt of the offensive pressure from the defence. He still has work to do on the number of turnovers that he generates and I would like to see him removed from the top PP unit in favour of Cole.

Christian Ehrhoff was signed in the summer to, at the time, a bargain deal. Ehrhoff has had problems with injuries this year and is still battling concussion issues to the present day. There is a question to be made that the Penguins brought him back too soon and this had adverse affects. When he did play it was below what was expected. If he was available on a cheap deal, then the Pens could look at it. But if there is no discount then they should look elsewhere. Like Ehrhoff, Martin is also an unattached free agent this summer. Martin has been below par this season and that can't be blamed on injuries. He has looked slow at times and his offensive production has fallen a bit. One final thing that goes against the Penguins re-signing him is his age. He is 34 and will want a 2 or 3 year deal. The Penguins need to get younger.

At the trade deadline the Penguins made two trades to give their defence a shake-up. One trade saw Robert Bortuzzo and a 7th being traded for Ian Cole from the St.Louis Blues. Ian Cole has been excellent since arriving and his powerful shot has been a highlight. Aside from his shot he is also a superb possession player and has been strong at stripping the puck from the opposition. Bortuzzo was a nice, physical 7th D but Ian Cole is a big upgrade.

The other trade was a poor one in my opinion. Simon Despres for Ben Lovejoy. The official line is that the Penguins traded for Lovejoy for experience. That shouldn't mean you give up someone who was having a break-out season like Despres. Lovejoy's performances have been terrible since he returned, the only "benefit" is that he is good for a quote or two. Another player who hasn't really shone this season and should be looking for a new team next season is Rob Scuderi. Scuderi has been a liability on the ice at all times and always brought down his line mate, whoever that was. His cap hit isn't conducive to his play and the Penguins would do well to get rid.

Lastly, due to the injuries the Penguins have had to rely on back-up from the Wilkes-Barre Scranton/Penguins in the AHL. One of the most impressive players to step up was rookie Derrick Pouliot. Pouliot jumped straight from a top pairing role to top four duties with the  Penguins and he made the transition look effortless. Much like Maatta he has breathed some new life and his style of hockey is attractive and enjoyable to watch. I'd like to see Pouliot used on the powerplay in the future as he has a good shot and one of his strongest traits is being able to QB a powerplay.

Pouliot was also joined by Taylor Chorney, Brian Dumoulin and Scott Harrington. Out of the three, Chorney looked the more at ease but that is no doubt down to his experience at this level and in general. He improved as the games went on and upped his game when required near the end of the season. In comparison Dumoulin and Harrington showed glimpses of promise and generally looked calm and composed. Dumoulin was the better of the two, scoring his first NHL goal and I think out of the two he would be the most likely to be on the roster next year.

All in all I think the Penguins defence has seen a slight downturn this season. But I think a lot of that is due to the Penguins missing some key players for big periods of the season. There are one or two changes that I think need to be made but whether the  Penguins will make them is another question. Overall, I'd give the defence a C+. In a round-up article of the whole team I will post my grades for the whole team.

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Pens need to be calm, not chaotic

Pens need to be calm, not chaotic

After the Penguins back breaking OT loss to the Rangers last night to drop a 1-3 record in the series Dejan Kovacevic, a noted Pittsburgh media member uploaded a post about something that I think all Pittsburgh fans could heed from. His original article can be found on his website; here.

This offseason will be a big one for the Penguins much like the last one was with the removal of Bylsma and  Ray Shero. There will be some knee-jerk reactions if/when the Penguins lose the series to the Rangers and that is expected. Some people handle these things differently and see things differently. But I believe the Penguins should avoid from doing anything drastically massive with their roster or management.

Mike Johnson has enjoyed a tough first season but I don't think anyone thought it would be easy. This team had problems which lingered over from the previous season and they're still being fixed. Rutherford has made some good moves which have helped us improve both our top and bottom six. Our bottom six was especially a cause of concern last season and it has been improved with the addition of Spaling, Lapierre, Winnik and Downie. The Penguins top six is slightly better but they have been hampered by injuries to Dupuis which affected the team make-up.

The only downgrade or bad mark I would put against Rutherford would be the Despres for Lovejoy trade which didn't make sense then and it still doesn't now. One of the best things to see has been Fleury playing with a lot more confidence and belief in his own abilities. Part of this is down to the system that is in place and also to the personnel. However, despite the above there are a few changes that I think need to be made.

Right now there are 9 players listed as an unattached free agent in this upcoming off-season. Those 9 are Downie, Adams, Comeau, Lapierre, Winnik, Martin, Ehrhoff, Chorney and Greiss. From that list I would let Adams, Martin and Ehrhoff walk. Ehrhoff has been unlucky with injuries this season but he will likely command around $4m next season and for his performances he hasn't warranted it. Adams is too slow in my opinion and just isn't effective as he used to be on the fourth line. He has also been replaced by the introduction of the likes of Lapierre, who I'd keep.

There are also 2 restricted free against in Beau Bennett and Ian Cole. I would keep Ian Cole but I am torn on Bennett. The guy has had some horrible luck with injuries which makes me think he deserves another chance with a bridge contract. On the other hand, when he has played he has been below par and not taken his chances. I would probably lean towards to letting him go depending on who you can replace him with.

Lastly there are two other players that I'd be interested to see traded or bought-out. Chris Kunitz has been terrible this season compared to last and with there still being another two years on his contract I would explore trade options. However, if there aren't trade options then I would move him down the 3rd line.

The second player is Rob Scuderi who has been awful. I would think it is fairly to safe that he is the most disliked player now that Adams doesn't really play. If bought out Scuderi's cap hit would carry a $1.29m cap hit next season followed by $1.79m and then two years of $0.917m. This would free up $2.1m next season and also give room for some of the younger players to play.

In all with the players that I would let go there would be savings of $16.5m. This would give us ample room to find replacements. The most likely location of these players would be from the free agency pool. If we use the above then the Penguins need a top six forward, two if Dupuis is unable to return. They also need a bottom six forward. Lastly, they would also need a single top four defenceman.

I'm not going to go into the analytics of the players in this post, that will come, but I would target the following from the free agency list. Matt Beleskey, Michael Frolik, Justin Williams and Jiri Tlusty for the forwards. There is also one player in the KHL who I would keep an eye on in Panarin, a young energetic player who could be a good coup.

In terms of defence the free agency pool is quite bare but I'd look at Jeff Petry and Andrej Meszaros. Both will likely be signed for their respective current teams but if available they would be good options. I don't really see anyone else on that list that would be suitable.

Doing the above I get something like the following. I haven't included cap hits as I haven't got a cap calculator handy. There are also a handful or permutations based on the players I've identified above;

Perron - Crosby - Hornqvist

Tlusty - Malkin - Panarin

Beleskey - Spaling - Comeau

Winnik - Lapierre - Downie

Letang - Maatta

Petry - Pouliot

Cole - Lovejoy

Chorney

Fleury

Greiss

I think the above is achievable but I do have doubts in this organisation buying out Scuderi and worryingly, letting Adams go. Even though he is being effectively sent out to pasture a part of me won't count the chickens until they've hatched. With the above I believe we would have cap space for contracts rises and we'd have a much deeper team. Of course it is likely that the free agents will re-sign, but then they might not, who knows? I will look to do pieces on the potential free agents in the near future.

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Penguins drop game 3 to the Rangers, 2-1

Penguins drop game 3 to the Rangers, 2-1

The Penguins came out flat in a Game 3, 2-1 loss to a spirited New York Rangers team that came out all guns blazing. The Penguins looked flat and struggled to get a hold on the game until a late reply in the third period to close the gap to one goal. The Penguins going into this game were on a high after a excellent performance in Game 2 in the 4-3 win. Fleury again played well but was let down by a poor defensive performance in front of him.

One thing that was noticeable in the game was the lack of a consistent or effective breakout plan by the Penguins. The  Rangers had an answer to the Penguins seemingly dumping the puck at every available opportunity instead of carrying it into the zone. This is part of the reason as to why it took the Penguins just over 15 minutes to get their first shot on goal and had just 11 shots through the first two periods.

Another reason for the low shot count is the Penguins seeming insistence on passing instead of shooting sometimes. There were a few prime examples in the past two games, mostly on the powerplay, where players have passed up opportunities to shoot. Scuderi is one example in Game 3 where he had a clean chance at a point shot but passed it to a defenceman on the boards. Crosby also had a great chance in Game 2 on the powerplay which he passed up. The Penguins need to take more chances. In all the Penguins effort was noticeably increased in the third period and if they had played the whole series like that it could easily be 2-1 to Pittsburgh heading into Game 4.

At the other end of the ice the Penguins defence went to sleep in the first gifting Carl Hagelin a simple chance which he took despite Fleury's best efforts. The Penguins went for a change and the two defenceman parted like the Red sea leaving a clean lane for Hagelin. Without any pressure there was plenty of time for him to pick his spot, which he did, five hole. I think criticising Fleury for anything in this game would be unfair, he has been the goalie we expected him to be so far. Aside from the first goal in the series which was scored off a bad rebound he has looked solid.

 After the game there was a bit of a ding-dong between general manager Jim Rutherford and the Trib beat write,  Rob Rossi.  Rossi isn't popular amongst fans due to his seeming infatuation with Bylsma and Shero and also a very pessimistic view of the teams through even good times. Not to mention that the local paper seems to be very aggressive against the Penguins sometimes. As evidenced by their recent "lost stars" cover before Game 2.

Rutherford is quoted as calling him a "f*****g jerk" whose "opinion is s**t". I don't think many people would disagree but for some reason Rossi decided to make this part of an article after the game which is unneeded. As Dejan Kovacevic mentioned, it was an off-record comment and not something that will get you great favour telling tale to the masses.

All in all, the series isn't over. If the Penguins can use the same drive and effort in the third period then this has the chance to be tied going back to Madison Square Gardens on Friday.

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Oilers win lottery for McDavid

Oilers win lottery for McDavid

The Oilers have defied the odds and landed the 1st round pick in the 2015 NHL draft after winning the lottery last night. The Oilers had just an 11.5% chance of winning it opposed to Buffalo, who were last, 20%. This means that the Oilers have had four first overall picks in six years which is unprecedented. The Oilers are one of, if not the worst development team in the NHL right now. It is all about offense and their team is horrendously imbalanced because of it. Drafting McDavid could be the thing that changes that but until they improve their defence and goaltending they will be finishing outside the playoffs.

Whilst the Sabres faithful will be naturally disappointed at missing out on a player touted as a generational player. The consolation prize though is Jack Eichel and that isn't a bad runners-up prize to receive. The Sabres are going about their rebuild fine and Eichel fits it. Naturally, McDavid was very receptive of the idea of being drafted by the Oilers, he is hardly going to say otherwise, but the awarding to Edmonton raised a few questions from fans. Why should a team get such an embarrassment of riches and if not, how can it be avoided in future?

The draft is there to serve teams the chance to draft their potential future franchise players. The lottery serves to try and prevent teams from deliberately tanking in certain years to draft incredibly gifted players. Right now the lottery is fairly straight forward with each team getting a certain % and the nearer to the playoffs you are, the lower your percentage. However, when you look at the fact that the Oilers have been rewarded three times before and haven't been able to drag themselves nearer the playoffs then you do question whether they deserve another top player like this.

Ideally the NHL would make a change to the draft and what I would like to see would be a similar drafting scenario to when the Crosby draft took place. That occurred just after the lockout and it was different to what we have now. Each team had three balls and lost one for each playoff performance or 1st overall pick in the previous three seasons. Something like that would work now as well I believe. It could do with some tweaks, perhaps give more balls to those who have missed the playoffs in those seasons to increase their chances but I think it would work better.

The idea of the above is to prevent the same team hoarding picks and to spread them out but to also ensure they go where they're deserved, so you would be very unlikely to see teams such as Los Angeles win after missing the playoffs like this year. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on this potential method.

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Game 1 roundups

Game 1 roundups

As mentioned on my twitter account I will be doing a brief round up every two days with regards to the previous games played. I will aim to do it when every series has had a set of games played. The first game in all eight match-ups are completed and in the books and there were some big talking points in both conferences.

In terms of personal interest the Penguins v Rangers game was obviously the one that mattered the most to me. The Penguins didn't really appear in the first period and were quickly behind from an early Brassard goal. Fleury was caught out and gave a bad rebound which the Rangers potted. The Rangers would score a power-play goal in the first. Fleury put his shaky start behind him and settled to stop 36 of 38 shots. The Penguins play from the second period was a lot better and they were rewarded with a goal from Blake Comeau. Crosby didn't have his best game but the Penguins struggled to keep the puck out of their zone and if you're not in the oppositions zone then you are not creating chances.

The series between the Canadiens and Senators got off to a flyer with Subban being ejected from the game for a dirty slash on Mark Stone which resulted in a micro-fracture on his wrist. Subban didn't receive any supplemental discipline for the slash which I think is wrong. I believe he should have been suspended for Game 2. In Game 1 the Canadiens scored four goals in the second period to take the game 4-3. 

In the other Eastern Conference match-ups the Washington Capitals flopped on home and limped to a 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders who were led by a two goal night from Brock Nelson. Braden Holtby looked a little shaky, especially on the opening goal and there are rumours that Grubauer will take Game 2 after he was recalled from Hershey in the AHL. Elsewhere Detroit took their chances against the Lightning winning 3-2 despite being out shot 46 to 14. A bright point for the Lightning was a SHG by Boyle and Nesterov's first ever playoff goal, but they'll be expecting to score more on that number of shots.

To the Western Conference now and the Chicago Blackhawks spirited a comeback against the Nashville Predators to win on a Duncan Keith shot in double overtime to take a 1-0 series lead. The Predators took a 3-0 lead in the first and chased Corey Crawford to be replaced by Scott Darling who put in a 42 shut-out performance. At the other end of the ice the Chicago Blackhawks showed what they can do although they were benefited by two of their goals coming on power-plays. 

The Calgary Flames broke Vancouver hearts by taking the first game in the battle of Western Canada with just 30 seconds left. The game was fairly tied with both teams having 30 shots, but a rasping Kris Russell shot late in the third was the difference giving the Flames a huge win. The Anaheim Ducks came back with three unanswered goals with huge games from Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf. Winnipeg will be looking to improve their penalty kill having let in two goals on three opportunities and if they can refrain from taking any needless penalties then they will have a chance of taking a game back to Winnipeg. 

Lastly, the Minnesota Wild defeated the St.Louis Blues 4-2 thanks to the continued performances by Devan Dubnyk who has rejuvinated his game since moving to the Wild and he was a big part of why they qualified for the post-season. St.Louis will be looking for a stronger defensive performance to tie the series before they head to Minnesota.

Game 2 starts tonight with Montreal vs Ottawa and Washington v New York. 

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Stanley Cup Western Conference predictions

Stanley Cup Western Conference predictions

Much like the Eastern Conference I have also made Western Conference predictions, based on my bracket on the NHL.com website. My predictions are below;

St Louis Blues v Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are a dark horse team who I think could go far if they continue to receive great goaltending from a rejuvenated Devan Dubnyk. Mike Yeo was under pressure this season to get results and they stepped up to the plate with a 100 point season to earn the first Wild Card spot. The Wild were the 6th winningest team in the West and have had an increase in scoring this year compared to last with 231 goals for against 207 last year. Most of this came from Parise who finished with 62 points for his best season since his 2011-12 season with the Devils.

The St.Louis Blues are one of the best teams to be eliminated early in the past few years in my opinion, this is due to them being paired with possibly the worst teams they could. Chicago in 2014 and Los Angeles in 2013. In both instances the opponent went to the Western Conference Final. The Blues made some trades at the deadline and didn't look back finishing 2nd in the Western Conference. St.Louis big strength is their strength in offense, if they can get all lines to chip in they could be deadly.

Prediction: St Louis 4-2 Minnesota Wild

Nashville Predators v Chicago Blackhawks

The Predators are a surprise package this season under a new coach, Laviolette. They made a big move trading for James Neal in the summer and have had a renewed look. Forsberg has also had a great season and as ever, Rinne is holding fort.

The Chicago Blackhawks are built for the play-offs and will have been given a great boost with Patrick Kane being cleared to play in the first round match. They will be looking to go better than the Western Conference Final defeat last year. With  Los Angeles not making it they are by far the favourite to come out of the West. 

Prediction: Nashville 3-4 Chicago

Anaheim Ducks v Winnipeg Jets

The Anaheim Ducks have won the Pacific division and been given a tough assignment to the Jets. Bruce Boudreau has been a great coach for the Ducks and they made some interesting trades that have improved their team, the additions of Jiri Sekac and Simon Despres giving them some extra depth. Ryan Kesler joined last summer and will looking to go far to prove the move was the right one. The Ducks are the fifth best home team in the play-offs, they'll be hard to beat there.

The Jets have qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1996 and the MTS Center will be rocking. They will be hard to beat as they play a physical game with a lot of determination and belief. Pavelec has come on strong recently with a good shut out streak and I think many would say they didn't expect them to make it this season. The fact they have is testament to their talent and determination to prove people wrong and show the NHL that they were wrong to remove the team from Winnipeg in the past. Their inexperience may be their downfall but they will be happy just to be here. 

Prediction: Anaheim 4-2 Winnipeg

Vancouver Canucks v Calgary Flames

The Vancouver Canucks have had a great season being led by the Sedin brothers once again proving that their age is not slowing them down. Vrabata was a superb off-season addition having a career year at the age of 33. The Canucks have had some goalie controversies in previous years but Lack and Miller have a clear understanding of where they are and that will remove some of the issues that affected the team in the past. A good run by the Canucks wouldn't surprise me.

The Calgary Flames were not expected to make the playoffs even less so when Mark Giordano was ruled out for the season. Their young team has defied expectations being led by Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau who are part of the most dominant line in the season (Gaudreau-Monahan-Hudler) which combined for 202 points this season. The Flames don't have as much depth as the other teams and I think that could cost them but the experience will be invaluable.

Prediction: Vancouver 4-2 Calgary

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Stanley Cup: Eastern Conference predictions

Stanley Cup: Eastern Conference predictions

The Stanley Cup playoffs begin in earnest on the 15th of April, Wednesday. In this topic I will give a brief run-down on my thoughts on the Eastern Conference match-ups. I will follow this up with the Western Conference match-ups tomorrow night. I've already talked about the Penguins and Rangers series so  I won't discuss that again, but instead I will concentrate on the other three in the East. Starting with;

Montreal Canadiens v Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are the inform team at the moment having gotten into the playoffs of the back of the Hamburglar (Andrew Hammond). Hammond has put up some great numbers, a 1.79 GAA and .941 SV% in 24 games. The 20-1-2 record he managed to put up is the big reason why the Senators even made it to the play-offs. The Senators have had help up front though, mostly from Mark Stone who has had a breakout year and leads the Calder race. He combined with Hoffman has given the Senators an influx of youth exuberance. I think the biggest worry for the Senators will be the fact that this is the first play-offs for a few of their key players and nerves could play a part. If they remain composed and can continue their good form they could be a big threat.

Up the other end of the ice is the Montreal Canadiens who have enjoyed a spectacular season from Carey Price in net, setting a record for the most wins in a season in the process. Montreal are traditionally a tough team to play in the playoffs, buoyed by the rampant home crowd. With Subban having a great season in a strong defensive unit which saw them concede the joint fewest amount of goals in the season with the Blackhawks. The only problem for the Canadiens is that they are the joint worst offensive team to make it to the play-offs, along with the Penguins. 

Prediction: Montreal 4-2 Ottawa

Tampa Bay Lightning v Detroit Red Wings

The Tampa Bay Lightning have chased the Montreal Canadiens all season at the top of the Atlantic and only missed out on the top spot by 2 points. The Lightning have enjoyed seeing some of their drafted prospects come big and have especially enjoyed the trio of Kucherov, Palat and Johnson who have each had their best seasons to date. All of them put up 60 + points and when you combine Stamkos and Filppula you have to admire the offensive options.

The playoffs wouldn't be the same without the Detroit Red Wings in what is their 24th straight post season appearance. They are firmly in first in that category. The Red Wings backed into the playoffs with a slump at the end of the season but two wins against the Hurricanes were enough in their last few games. The Red Wings are in transition with some of their old guard nearing the end and their new crop making their way through. I don't see the Red Wings making too much of a challenge against the Lightning. They're middle of the road in terms of defense at 16th with 221 goals conceded in the season. I think against the Lightning's offense they will struggle.

Prediction: Tampa 4-1 Detroit

Washington Capitals v New York Islanders

The Washington Capitals have had a good season and finished with more points than I thought they would. They've enjoyed the emergence of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin as ever has been dominant with another 50 goal season. The Capitals have some depth in scoring with players able to chip in at regular intervals but during the regular season they only had three players finish with 20 + goal seasons. Mike Green will be a player to watch on defence alongside Braden Holtby who has had a career year. The Capitals had a slight betterment over the Islanders in the regular season with the only regulation win in the four game series. They also earned 6 points as opposed to the Islanders 5. So it was close but slightly in favour of the Capitals.

The New Islanders are a fast team and are vastly different from the teams of two or three seasons ago. They have added pieces that have complemented their team well and have a strong offense which is capable of scoring at will, evidenced by them being the 4th highest scoring team over the course of the season. The problem for the Islanders has been their defence which is 22nd in the league and the worst playoff team in terms of goals conceded. Recently, Halak put in a great performance against the Penguins and if he can replicate that then the Islanders will be a much tougher team to face. One thing that is in the Islanders favour is the Nassau Coliseum. It gets loud and that will roar the players on.

Prediction: Washington 3-4 Islanders

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Penguins v Rangers: Stanley Cup 1st round

Penguins v Rangers: Stanley Cup 1st round

The play-off matchups are set and the Pittsburgh Penguins are to face the New York Rangers in round one of the 2015 Stanley Cup play-offs. The Rangers probably aren't the team that the Penguins would have wished to have played most but it is who they have been rewarded with and they must deal with it. The Penguins backed into the play-offs with a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 82 and expectations are currently low.

The series between the two teams went in favour of the Rangers with them winning three out of the four games between the two. The one that the Penguins won was a 3-2 shoot-out win on November 5th. The only point the Penguins obtained was a 4-3 OTL on December 8th. The other games ended in 5-0 and 5-2 wins for Rangers.

How can we beat the Rangers?

The Penguins can beat the Rangers. To say otherwise would be defeatist and as long as you're in you have a chance. Each team is beatable and the Penguins shouldn't completely write themselves off. They're underdogs in this match-up and there is no pressure or expectation on them to win. That is on the Rangers. To beat the Rangers the Pens need to go back to basics. They need to keep it simple and not try anything stupid, like no look passes.

The best bet the Pens will have of beating the Rangers is if they play a trap. I hate that the Pens would have to play one based on my dislike of playing against the Devils and other teams that have employed it against the Pens in the past, but if we want to progress, we have to. A 1-3-1 system would be best I think. Most of our defenceman are not offensively gifted. Right now Martin is the only one who I would feel fairly confident of being able to score, I wouldn't say the same about the rest.

Scuderi scored his first goal in over 180 games against the Islanders on Friday, Chorney has one NHL goal way back in the 2010-11 season. Harrington and Dumoulin between them have yet to score. That leaves Cole and Lovejoy. Lovejoy has one goal so far with the Penguins, 11 throughout his career whilst Cole is one worse off. If Ehrhoff comes back it might give us a bit more help but I wouldn't expect our Defence to score, it would certainly help though.

The Penguins need to also make sure that they control the puck. It sounds stupid but the more we keep it the less we're at risk. The Penguins Corsi over the season was 52.8% compared to the Rangers 49.5%. It is one area where we have an advantage. Keeping the puck and slowing the game by clogging the lanes will frustrate the Rangers as they look to utilise speed from their forwards a lot. If we're going to be beaten then why not try and be as annoying as possible?

One last thing that can help the Penguins is discipline. We need to keep our calm and not get involved in any games that could put us on the back foot. It is something that creeps into our game sometimes when we go behind in big games (Usually in the Flyers matches) and it is a way that teams have used to get us off our game. Keeping calm and not taking stupid penalties will help. Let the Rangers make undisciplined mistakes.

How do I see the series playing out?

If I'm being honest,  I don't see us advancing. I think the Rangers will be too strong for us, but I think we will be able to grab a game at least. If we can get the opening game then who knows, maybe it will give us a momentum boost and spur us on for the rest of the series to get revenge for the 4-3 series loss last year. We need players to step up their game and others to keep on the straight and narrow that they are now. Fleury, for instance has been brilliant in the regular season this year and if he can carry that through to the play-offs then he gives us a better chance, but he will need help from his defence. He can't do it on his own.

We will need our secondary scorers to come to the fore as well. We have missed it during the regular season and it has been the sole reason that we have scored just 45 goals in the 21 games since March 1st, which includes some games against lottery teams at the bottom of the standings. Crosby and Malkin will need help as they can't be expected to do it on their own. If we are able to get scoring from other areas we can take pressure of those two and make it harder for the Rangers to simply stop our offense by shutting them down.

The series will be a big one and a good one with some great hockey. I'm looking forward to it whatever happens and as long as the Penguins are in the play-offs I will believe we have a chance, no matter how small. Game one is Thursday at 7pm EST. Let's go Penguins.

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Skelleftea to face Vaxjo in the SHL final

Skelleftea to face Vaxjo in the SHL final

Skelleftea are into the SHL play-off final again, for the third year in a row. This should be a surprise to no one but their dominance is remarkable and they have made this league there's continuously. They will be facing off against the Vaxjo Lakers with the series starting on the 12th of April at the Skelleftea Kraft Arena. The Penguins will have some interest in this with Oskar Sundqvist taking part looking to add his second SHL play-off title before he makes the potential move to North America.

To explain Skelleftea's dominance it is best to display their play-off record through the last three seasons. In those three seasons they have gone an incredible 32-4 and have swept four rounds during that run. Skelleftea last lost a play-off game at home on March 28th 2013. Since then they have gone 17-0 in games at the Skelleftea Kraft Arena. If we include all games in the last three years at home then their record is 19-1. Just incredible. That loss against Linkoping on the 28th March 2013 was in over-time, to find the last regulation game at home they've lost in the play-offs you have to go back to April 14th 2012. In other words, beating Skelleftea at home is pretty hard.

Sundqvist has really benefited from being on a successful team I think. He isn't a top six player at Skelleftea and is projected to be a 3rd line center most likely for the Penguins, but his game has improved immensely over the past two seasons. Some of that will have to do with the winning attitude which breeds confident performances. When a team players well, its players do and for those learning the game and developing like Sundqvist that can be vital. In terms of production alone he has seen an increase from 16 points in 51 games last season to 19 points in a smaller sample of 41 games this season. His performances haven't gone unnoticed with Sweden's national team as well, who gave him his first two appearances for the nation.

The connections to the Penguins don't end there as Skelleftea have ex-Penguin Janne Pesonen on their books. He played for Pittsburgh in the 2008-09 season with a brief seven games in the NHL. Since then he has spent most of his time in the KHL but signed for Skelleftea on the 30th of December 2014 and since he has been a great addition with 26 points in 20 games in the regular season and seven in nine in the play-offs. Skelleftea also have Rob Schremp on their books who was briefly involved with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins back in 2006-07.

Vaxjo also have their own connections to the Penguins. They currently have forward Nick Johnson who joined as a free agent after leaving the Boston Bruins last summer. He is finished the regular season as Vaxjo's third highest scorer with 38 points in 55 games. At the other end of the ice they have Noah Welch who was drafted by the Penguins way back in 2001, 55th overall. Welch was a University graduate and spent four years at Harvard before spending two seasons in the Penguins system. He moved to Vaxjo in 2012 after spending the previous season with HV71.

Penguins fans will no doubt be hoping for Skelleftea to win the series so that Sundqvist can take part in the American Hockey League play-offs with some momentum behind him. If Skelleftea sweep Vaxjo then he could be ready to take part in the above late in the first round where he will be able to join fellow Scandinavian, Kasperi Kapanen. Good luck to Skelleftea and Sundqvist.

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Penguins v Ottawa - A brief look

Penguins v Ottawa -  A brief look

The game this Tuesday against Ottawa is huge and is effectively a preliminary one game play-off match. If the Penguins win in regulation then they will clinch a spot in the 2015 Stanley Cup play-offs. A regulation loss would open the door for the Senators and a win in Overtime or beyond would mean that the Penguins would need just one point. When you consider that the Penguins final game is against the Sabres, you would think that would be assured but this is the Penguins. They don't do it the easy way.

The Ottawa Senators are a hot team right now despite their shoot-out loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night. Since February 1st they are 20-7-4 which is a strong stretch and has been good enough for 44 points which has made it possible for them to be where they are. The biggest reasons for this is the performance of Andrew "The Hamburglar" Hammond in net. Coupled with the performances of some of their younger players, Stone and Hoffman, it has seen the improbably made nearly possible. 

On the other end of the scale the Penguins have limped into the play-offs and their position at the post-season table is now at threat, due to their 3-6-1 record in their last 10 and a propensity to struggle to score. The Penguins have not had the secondary scoring that they have badly needed and as such they have suffered. The Penguins have scored just 19 goals in those 10 games whilst conceding 30 a differential of -20. One bright spark recently on the back-end has been Ian Cole who is currently riding a career best points streak. 

The Penguins have also been dealt a bad hand with injuries to Kris Letang recently. If you're missing two of your top players like that then your performance will drop, not that it is acceptable to perform as they have done. I do wonder what the reaction would be from the hierarchy if the Penguins miss the play-offs. But, frankly, I don't want it to come to that. Even if I don't think we'll get far. A regulation win against Ottawa would make things a lot easier and maybe give the players a slight boost. 

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Penguins have horrible weekend, lose to CBJ and Flyers

Penguins have horrible weekend, lose to CBJ and Flyers

Not even the return of Evgeni Malkin against the Flyers on Sunday could help the Penguins break their rut. Not even a dominant performance by Sidney Crosby against the Jackets could get the Penguins two much needed points. The Penguins have relied too much on their star players in the past and it is catching up with them based on a bare fact. The depth isn't there.

The nightmare weekend started on the Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets who were riding an eight game winning streak and looking to extend it to a franchise record nine. The Penguins had a good first period and scored a nice tic-tac-toe goal from Crosby just after the mid-way point. After a Brandon Sutter goal in the second it all went pear shaped. The Blue Jackets scored four unanswered in 13:04 to give them a 4-2 lead. The Penguins had a late chance after Ben Lovejoy scored his first goal since returning to the Penguins but the chance of even a point were snuffed out by Foligno scoring his hat-trick goal on an empty netter.

The Penguins didn't have much time to dwell on what happened with an early afternoon game against the Flyers today.  We know how well both afternoon games and ones against the Flyers go, so what was expected happened. The Penguins were dominating the first period and were leading 22-3 in shots. Until Winnik took a needless penalty which the Flyers promptly scored from. After that the usual story took place. The Penguins were unable to keep the same level of intensity up and the Flyers took their chances. For the second game in a week Brayden Schenn had a multi-point game. 

After the game Sutter said something to the effect of; "If we play like we did tonight we'll be fine". Those kinds of comments are worrying. If he is thinking that then how many other players in that dressing room are along the same trail of thought? How can they be happy with how they played, especially when they had nearly 2.5 times the number of shots the Flyers had. I mean, that could be what he is alluding to, but that is a very big straw to grasp. You can have as many shots as you want but if you don't take them then they're meaningless. 

The Senators are currently three points behind and play the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight with a chance of cutting the lead down to one point ahead of their next game on Tuesday. Against Pittsburgh. Oh boy. If we lose that and fail to make the play-offs big changes will be needed.

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Kapanen re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre

Kapanen re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre

The Pittsburgh Penguins today announced that Kasperi Kapanen, the Penguins top forward prospects has been re-assigned to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins and will play some part in their season. He won't be playing tonight against the Worcester Sharks due to him not being at the morning skate but the idea is for him to practice with the team and then take part in the games down the stretch. Getting some play-offs experience, even if the Penguins lose in the first round, is going to be vital to his development and affect how quickly he will adapt to the North American game.

Kasperi Kapanen had spent the season at his fathers owned club, KalPa in the Finish Liiga. This was Kapanen's second season and he finished it after his team were eliminated in the play-offs, losing to Lukko 4-2 in the Quarter-Finals. Kapanen finished the season with 11 goals and 10 assists in 41 games and he also partook in the World Junior Champions in December and January. He was sightly disappointing in that and some had criticised his effort with him scoring just two points in Finland's five games. 

It is worth remembering that Kapanen is only 18, 19 in July. He will still have a lot of work to do on his game. I wouldn't bring him into the NHL yet as I think it would be too much too soon. I think re-assigning him to the American Hockey League is the right move. It allows him to use the remainder of the season to adjust and get up to speed with the organisation and how Wilkes-Barre play. I would say that it is likely for him to spend next season there as well with him being called up to the NHL if his play warrants it.

Elsewhere in Scandinavia, Oskar Sundqvist is still in the SHL with Skelleftea as they look to make it three titles in a row. Skelleftea are the favourites and so far have beaten their opponents, 7-1 in the eight games played so far. They currently lead Linkopings 3-1 in the Semi-Finals and will face either Frolunda or Vaxjo in the final. Sundqvist himself was 9-10 in 41 games in the regular season and is currently 0-4 through the eight games so far in the play-offs. If Skelleftea advance to the final, then Sundqvist's season will finish between the 19th - 25th April. This will be just as the AHL play-offs are starting so he should be able to join as well.

The Penguins have two promising prospects who could contribute at both ends of the ice in the future with different roles. Hopefully they can continue on their current development paths and make the next step up because the Penguins badly need some young forwards for the future.

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Pens continue poor record at home to the Flyers

Pens continue poor record at home to the Flyers

The Pittsburgh Penguins faced off against their inter-state rivals last night, the Philadelphia Flyers and continued their atrocious record at the Consol Energy Center. The Flyers are now 13-2-1 since the Consol Energy Center opened and have outscored the Penguins in that stretch 63-45. Even when they're eliminated from play-off contention they managed to perform better than the Penguins.

One of the big sticking points is that the Penguins are playing with five defenseman at the moment due to the recent injury to Kris Letang in the past game and the absence of Ehrhoff. Per NHL CBA rules as they are so close to the cap they have to play one game with a man short before they can call someone up on the league minimum. This means that before the game against Columbus, Taylor Chorney should be called up. This is quite a tough rule but the Penguins surely could have been able to call up earlier or potentially seen this problem arising? The only person I see them being able to send down would be Adams, but that wouldn't happen. So, they now have to call up Chorney.

As for the game itself, Crosby scored his 300th NHL and his 31st in his career against the Flyers. The goal came from good work on the boards and Crosby benefited from a rebound near the net to tuck it in for an early 1-0 lead. That was about as good as it got for the Penguins would where out-shot and out-worked for the rest of the game. 

There is something about the Flyers when they play Pittsburgh that even when they're in a rut, or having a poor season, they still manage to best us. Is it a mental thing that the players expect to lose or are they just better at these big games than us? Brayden Schenn had a good game and was the focal point of the Flyers offense outside of Raffl with five shots in the game. The Penguins enjoyed the early lead, but soon let it go with Lecavalier scoring just his eight goal of the season and his first since January 3rd. 

I think the main reason the Flyers won last night was to do with the Penguins having five defenseman which tired them out more due to the increase in ice-time and the Flyers exploited that to a beneficial effect. The Penguins have some big games against the Islanders and the Flyers again coming up, they'd be wise to win them.

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