Jayson Megna whirls around the Devils’ Marek Zidlicky for a short-handed chance Tuesday. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
And that, hockey fans, is why smart general managers don’t make significant trades in December.
Or January.
Or even early February.
Or even when half the roster gets ravaged by injury, illness or random meteor showers.
Which might actually be a fair way to assess the Pyrrhic state of these first-place Penguins at the moment: Tuesday opened with Kris Letang placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Sidney Crosby and Robert Bortuzzo, both ill, were declared unlikely to be ready for the nighttime faceoff with the Devils. And when those two surprisingly took the ice for warmups, Chris Kunitz didn’t. It was later revealed he has a fractured foot and will miss at least a couple weeks, leaving the roster without two top wingers. (Or three, if anyone still counts Beau Bennett.)
Am I forgetting anyone?
Oh, yeah, even the emergency reinforcements weren’t immune: Poor Scott Wilson, fresh off a hasty drive across I-80 from Wilkes-Barre and making his NHL debut on what he’d joyfully called “one of the best days of my life,” didn’t last two periods of what wound up a 1-0 shutout victory.
“Leg injury,” Mike Johnston called it, offering an uncharacteristic specific, the sort usually associated with something serious. “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Of the growing list as a whole, the coach added, “We’re missing some bodies, no question.”
Right. All ‘upper’ or ‘lower.’
But here’s hoping that, even in that violin-backed context, even though the public will demand immediate solutions in the form of trades, Jim Rutherford will be that smart GM who resists. Because no matter what manner of misfortune might befall your favorite team, all that’s relevant is remaining in comfortable position to make the Stanley Cup playoffs and, from there, shaping the roster properly for the postseason.
That doesn’t happen now. It can’t happen now.
Fans will fuss that one or more of the many defense prospects in Wilkes-Barre should be moved. Brian Dumoulin, the youngster recalled in Letang’s stead Tuesday, is mentioned most often. This is crazy talk, at least for now. NHL GMs, unlike their brethren in other sports, are anything but smitten with prospects. Ask any of them — and Ray Shero used to talk about this a ton — and they’ll tell you their counterparts don’t care much how a player fares in the AHL. They want to see him in the NHL, and they want to see it sustained. That’s why Simon Despres stayed put, even though Shero might as well have hung a price tag around his neck. And the same will apply to Dumoulin, Scott Harrington, even a top offensive defenseman like Derrick Pouliot.
That doesn’t mean you’d get nothing for them. It simply means you won’t get what you can.
If you think that doesn’t matter, because all that matters is the here and now, I’d be happy to take you on a tour of the Penguins’ overwhelming organizational depth at forward.
Thought not.
Teams that make trades from a position of weakness — or injury, illness and meteor showers — tend to make losing trades. And then they lose games, including those that count the most, because that’s when the rosters with the superior depth and youth make their long runs through the spring. A wealth of talent is needed, not just a collection of Band-Aids that helped carry you through a rough patch early in the season.
I know the local hockey fan, though, and I’m fairly confident this is all wasted breath. For every mention of the Penguins’ spectacular 17-5-2 start, there are five for how they need to make trades, trades, trades. For every mention of a pleasant surprise such as Blake Comeau’s revival, there are five for how they need to make trades, trades, trades.
Maybe it’s Shero’s fault for all the theatrics he pulled off that it’s part of the culture of the Penguins’ following to expect an annual rush to the airport to greet the next Jarome Iginla. Shero was very good at that, including once at Rutherford’s expense in the Brandon Sutter/Jordan Staal heist. But it also should be noted that, while Shero was wearing a cape and saving our city from supervillains, he also was ignoring just about every lower-level problem he was creating.
That can’t happen any longer with this franchise. It just can’t. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are first and fourth in the league in scoring, respectively, but they aren’t children anymore. They can’t do it by themselves. They need a bona fide supporting cast, not a Band-Aid one, to get to that second Cup. And that won’t happen with continued quick-fix trades. It will happen with smart management of the youngsters at hand and making the right moves at the right time.
That time, again, is not now.
Now will take care of itself just fine, if you ask me, as we all witnessed again Tuesday.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for his fifth shutout, putting him one shy of his career-best season total before the turn of the calendar. And should he hit a bump at some point, Thomas Greiss has been terrific.
“I felt pretty good out there, but this was a good team effort,” as Fleury put it. “The guys played great in front of me. We were really together.”
Malkin was no less effective from front to finish, bullying the Devils over all 200 feet and scoring the lone goal on a sizzling rush with Comeau and recent callup Jayson Megna. It might not be the ideal alignment for a superstar, but it’s good enough for now.
Heck, Megna should have had another assist had Malkin not shanked a tap-in.
Couldn’t help but tease the kid on that count:
Nothing wrong with that view of the forwards in the minors there. If anything, it should be sufficient for the time being. There absolutely will be enough scoring, so long as power plays continue to be generated. That’s paramount.
The defense, of course, is deepest of all: Letang’s most pivotal role, on the power play, is extremely easy to replace with able point men in Paul Martin, Christian Ehrhoff and Olli Maatta. His absence on penalty-killing might actually prove a blessing in disguise, as it will finally force Johnston and Gary Agnew to get Despres involved. He logged nearly two short-handed minutes Tuesday and didn’t look a bit out of place with that long reach.
And I could have invested this whole column on Bortuzzo’s evening — covered instead in this video commentary — but suffice it to say he no longer looks like anyone’s seventh defenseman.
The only addition needed in this entire equation is patience across the board.
Ask the Kings if they care where they finish every year. In the regular season, I mean.
DK, you nailed it as usual. Any trading partners at this time would know the Pens "need" wingers and there is no way we would get the proper return at this time.
Any thoughts on this? Lifted directly from the Bob Smizik blog:
Bob Smizik1 hour ago
"I won't do it again, I promise.
And here's something I have never done and will never do:
Make a lengthy complaint about another journalist using a quote of mine. I would let it slide and not say a word.
And if you work in the industry, Bill, tell me if you've ever heard of a journalist complaining at length about not getting credit for a quote. Until today."
That's just embarrassing. I think he would have been better off not "apologizing". Because it's obvious from this whine that Smizik thinks DK is just terrible for pointing out this unattributed use of his material. Good grief, his own readers are telling him his response is "lame"...
I recall some time back hearing hosts on 93.7 the Fan complaining that certain writers, which they did not mention by name, were constantly using material from their on air interviews without sourcing them. With this attitude I'm betting here we have a culprit... I've noticed that if DK hears something on the Fan, he says he heard it on the fan.
What also irritates me is that DK did NOT make a "lengthy complaint" or "complain at length". One retweet from the subscriber who noticed the whole thing to begin with, and 3 sentences buried in a column do not make it a lengthy complaint.
Smizik is a hack and an ass. And you're right aerow, DK made no lengthy complaint- in fact, I thought he was restrained in his reaction. Its a big deal in journalism...
Wally - I may not have all the context here, but Smizik is anything but a hack. He is a genuine and committed sports journalist. His articles/columns are thoughtful and welll written. They are insightful - as evidence, they often receive more than 300 comments within 12 hours of being written. Compared to most sports writers in this town at the two newspapers, DK and Smizik are miles apart. I have no desire to insult anyone in particular, but when is the last time you saw a piece of genuine analysis in the sports pages of the Trib (since DK left) or the PG? You don't. So, while there may have been an error here on attribution or whatever, (I have no idea), no reason to personally insult Smizik. Like DK, he is a rare resource and asset to Pittsburgh's sports fans.
Gonna start calling you Midas DK, cause everything you touch or write is "gold Jerry, it's gold."
Spot on, want drama look at the hockey team that plays on Broad St. across the state.
They fire Berube and hire Bylsma? (Madden suggested this yesterday and I admit I salivated a smidge at the idea of such a next chapter in the rivalry...)
"Ask the Kings if they care where they finish every year. In the regular season, I mean."
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
I'd rather roll into the playoffs as a lower seed (especially in the East), battle tested, with experienced depth, than finish first and lack chemistry.
Gotta say, the lack of talent available led to great results using guys on special teams. Simon looked great on both the PP and PK, and Sill/Ebbett had an awesome shift on the PK.
That being said, Sill might have found his niche on the PK. That allows him to be his usual hair-on-fire maniac without having to contribute offensively.
If a team is good, then really, they are just jockeying for position in the playoffs. As has been proven, probably more in hockey than any other team sport, being the best in the regular season is no guarantee. Whoever is playing the best hockey in April, May and June is the one who will usually win the championship.
You won't find me complaining in any way over a record that is one of the tops in the league right now. Every team has injuries and it's no time to panic.
It did look like Bortuzzo got the shoulder and elbow up a bit on that hit. Unfortunate and probably unintentional but I can see at least a fine coming out of this.
Just wanted to mention that I hate the way the league website does these game recaps now. I liked how it was before when they put together the clips into one package and you could hear the game announcer. I think it's a waste having this hired help stumble through. Especially someone related to Boomer Esiason. Yuck!
I know what you mean. I switched to the NHL's YouTube recaps only because they're compatible with ALL platforms for our site. Some app users couldn't see the direct embeds off NHL.com. Worth the trade, I hope.
Glad to see them winning these low scoring defensive games. This is how thy will win in the playoffs. I can't believe how on fire Flower is. Never have I seen him this good.
This. I really like how this team seems more balanced than previous incarnations, way more "responsible". Sample size is still small, of course, but I surely hope it's for real.
How could you not love Borts tonight? He gave Jags the AJ to Hanley Ramirez treatment in physical form as opposed to verbal. I am getting a 404 error on the Borts video link though. I don't know if that's my browser or what, but wanted to mention it DK.
As long as the Penguins continue avoiding the dreaded 2-game losing streak, the fans will mostly be quiet about trades. But, as soon as they lose back to back in regulation and drop 4 points, sports talk will stir up the Chicken Little fans into a sky-is-falling frenzy.
Hard to say a guy with an MVP & scoring titles is having a "coming out" party, but Malkin is playing better than ever! What a "bully". I'd heard that some of the guys called him that, but it is really playing out on the ice right now. He seems confident, aggressive & sure of himself.
If the Pens Gm could make a good deal for the Pens he would do it. The reality is very few teams are out of the playoffs hunt in their mind and certainly don't want to send a signal that they are yet. Also the cap space is a factor in the NHL as to trading in general so the right deal is more than talent or fit. lastly the Pens being in the east are not pressured to out man anyone, at least not yet.
For such a snoozer of a game in the first half of it, things sure had drama down the stretch. Already commented on Dejan's video piece, but of course the Jersey coach had a hissy over Bortuzzo hitting Jagr like he did. What's the coach gonna do but defend his guy? Last year I don't think the league would have reacted much at all, but this is a new year, so, who knows what they'll do?
Smizik is a waste of paper and bytes and has been for quite a while. Forget Beast Mode. Geno in Bully Mode is a terror. What a game by Bortuzzo! It's about time we see an opposing star pushed around on Consol ice instead of one of our own. JR seems content to stand pat and that's fine with me. But don't be too harsh with hindsight. Iginla/Morrow was a potential knockout punch. Hard to blame Shero for the final outcome on that one - Bylsma has to own that turd.
I agree 100% with what was said in the article above. The Pens have been guilty for far too long of putting too much of an emphasis on regular season points and standing. They absolutely, positively do not NEED to make any moves right now.
However, what if the potential trading partner is even more desperate? I've been reading on several national and Canadian sites that Edmonton is exceptionally desperate. IF a reasonable trade can be had for such young and talented wingers such as Jordan Eberle, David Perron and to a lesser extent, Nail Yakupov, should it not at least be considered?
I actually agree with DK in not rushing out to make a move, even with how pathetic our forward group is right now (looking past 87,71,72,16). But thats the blessing of an 82 game season, players get hurt, fringe playoff teams get desperate. If you can pounce on a desperate team needing a shakeup, then the time IS right. As long as you aren't the one making the move out of desperation.
Since I'm a subscriber, I obviously enjoy your writing, DK, and I've always been a big fan (yeah here comes the "but"), BUT, man, I can do without the constant digs at Beau Bennett. The kid, who is from everything I've ever read a good guy and a hard worker, has had a string of bad luck to start his career, but your comments about him make it seem like you think he's a jerk who deserves contempt for getting hurt. I'm sure you don't feel that way, just saying that's how it sounds. I for one am rooting for BB since he seems like a cool guy in addition to having potential to be a world class player, and if it turns out that he never overcomes his streak of injuries, then that will be a shame for him and us as hockey fans. I just wish you'd display a little empathy here, DK, that's all.
Perfectly said, as usual, on the trade front. On aother note, Fluery's work this year has been quietly stunning. He made last night's shutout look pretty easy, when it was far from it. His contract extension is the Front Office's best move of the year., So, let's ride that one for the time being!
This idea that we don't need Bennett or that he's not a top winger has become the dumbest narrative I can remember. It's almost as bad as DK trying to sell us on No Play Willie Gay. It's so tiresome. Kunitz is finished. That has been obvious for a while. Comeau had one good game and even that wasn't very impressive. He doesn't beat anyone. Duper was playing his tail off and is sorely missed. This leaves us with 4 skill players of any value, of which Bennett is one. Will we be able to make a trade for any real value? Probably. Are Geno and The Kid enough to sustain us til... when exactly? I'd sure like to know when the "cavalry" is arriving because this is not a Stanley Cup team as it's currently built. That's reality.
Find where I wrote that the Penguins don't need Bennett or couldn't use him. Sole point: HE NEVER PLAYS. That's not an opinion.
While you're at it, find where I tried to sell anyone on Gay. Because I lauded his efforts to assist battered women? Was it that? If so, guilty as charged.
Find these. We have a search tool up there. I'll wait.
We can clearly see at this moment why Shero got fired. He left the club in a bad position. Only drafting 7 wingers in 8 years as GM, and only 1 of them were in an early round. You simply can't ignore a position that long. Secondly, since we have Pouliot, Harrington, and Dumoulin playing a waiting game in the AHL, they aren't of any use to us. If the goal all along was to trade defenseman for forward help, why not just draft some forwards instead. Left us in a precarious position.
"In Sunday’s column here, I called for more Willie Gay, which is to say more than just nickel back. "
There's a comment that should never be said by anyone, ever. Tez might be shell shocked but he at least has talent. We've seen the talent. I'd rather him play through his struggles to find the player we know he can be than let Gay continue to be the player we know he IS, which is just plain AWFUL.
And perhaps you never said we don't "need" Bennett, but it's the cynicism that mystifies me. It isn't as if he wants to get hurt. Why aren't you throwing jabs at Duper? He will now miss essentially two consecutive years. You never snipe him. I don't get it. It's as if you think Bennett did something wrong.
Frankly, without Bennett, we can't win, so I would think everyone would be clamoring for his speedy recoveries, rather than ridiculing him. As I said... mystifying.
Context is everything. It was Gay vs. a corner who was completely falling apart. And it's not cynicism regarding Bennett. It's fact. Count games played vs. games eligible to play, then mix in the various body parts injured. That's all. Opinion-free formula.
There's no mystery. Perfectly natural to get a little frustrated with a skilled player who seemingly can't stay on the ice for more than 2 games at a time. He was injury prone in college too though, so he carried the injury risk before the Pens even drafted him. Willing to bet though people DO wish for his speedy recovery, and I'm sure there's no one out there more frustrated than Bennett himself is.
As long as the Pens keep playing their system well, there's no reason to panic about trades. The division already looks like a two team race between Pens and Isles. Paul Martin could be traded before the season is over. Ehrhoff is on a one-year deal, so he, too could be a trade candidate later on. As for the young defensemen in WB, I'm happy they have cut their teeth playing regular minutes down there. Next year's top 7, assuming no free agents are signed, could be Maatta, Letang, Bortuzzo, Despres, Scuderi, Pouliot and either Harrington or Dumoulin. That group could grow together and become something really special, especially with Scuderi and Letang as mentors. And they'll be reasonably inexpensive as a whole, which should allow for some flexibility to sign a forward or two.
December 3, 2014
Column: Best move for banged-up Penguins? None
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Penguins
Jayson Megna whirls around the Devils’ Marek Zidlicky for a short-handed chance Tuesday. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
And that, hockey fans, is why smart general managers don’t make significant trades in December.
Or January.
Or even early February.
Or even when half the roster gets ravaged by injury, illness or random meteor showers.
Which might actually be a fair way to assess the Pyrrhic state of these first-place Penguins at the moment: Tuesday opened with Kris Letang placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Sidney Crosby and Robert Bortuzzo, both ill, were declared unlikely to be ready for the nighttime faceoff with the Devils. And when those two surprisingly took the ice for warmups, Chris Kunitz didn’t. It was later revealed he has a fractured foot and will miss at least a couple weeks, leaving the roster without two top wingers. (Or three, if anyone still counts Beau Bennett.)
Am I forgetting anyone?
Oh, yeah, even the emergency reinforcements weren’t immune: Poor Scott Wilson, fresh off a hasty drive across I-80 from Wilkes-Barre and making his NHL debut on what he’d joyfully called “one of the best days of my life,” didn’t last two periods of what wound up a 1-0 shutout victory.
“Leg injury,” Mike Johnston called it, offering an uncharacteristic specific, the sort usually associated with something serious. “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Of the growing list as a whole, the coach added, “We’re missing some bodies, no question.”
Right. All ‘upper’ or ‘lower.’
But here’s hoping that, even in that violin-backed context, even though the public will demand immediate solutions in the form of trades, Jim Rutherford will be that smart GM who resists. Because no matter what manner of misfortune might befall your favorite team, all that’s relevant is remaining in comfortable position to make the Stanley Cup playoffs and, from there, shaping the roster properly for the postseason.
That doesn’t happen now. It can’t happen now.
Fans will fuss that one or more of the many defense prospects in Wilkes-Barre should be moved. Brian Dumoulin, the youngster recalled in Letang’s stead Tuesday, is mentioned most often. This is crazy talk, at least for now. NHL GMs, unlike their brethren in other sports, are anything but smitten with prospects. Ask any of them — and Ray Shero used to talk about this a ton — and they’ll tell you their counterparts don’t care much how a player fares in the AHL. They want to see him in the NHL, and they want to see it sustained. That’s why Simon Despres stayed put, even though Shero might as well have hung a price tag around his neck. And the same will apply to Dumoulin, Scott Harrington, even a top offensive defenseman like Derrick Pouliot.
That doesn’t mean you’d get nothing for them. It simply means you won’t get what you can.
If you think that doesn’t matter, because all that matters is the here and now, I’d be happy to take you on a tour of the Penguins’ overwhelming organizational depth at forward.
Thought not.
Teams that make trades from a position of weakness — or injury, illness and meteor showers — tend to make losing trades. And then they lose games, including those that count the most, because that’s when the rosters with the superior depth and youth make their long runs through the spring. A wealth of talent is needed, not just a collection of Band-Aids that helped carry you through a rough patch early in the season.
I know the local hockey fan, though, and I’m fairly confident this is all wasted breath. For every mention of the Penguins’ spectacular 17-5-2 start, there are five for how they need to make trades, trades, trades. For every mention of a pleasant surprise such as Blake Comeau’s revival, there are five for how they need to make trades, trades, trades.
Maybe it’s Shero’s fault for all the theatrics he pulled off that it’s part of the culture of the Penguins’ following to expect an annual rush to the airport to greet the next Jarome Iginla. Shero was very good at that, including once at Rutherford’s expense in the Brandon Sutter/Jordan Staal heist. But it also should be noted that, while Shero was wearing a cape and saving our city from supervillains, he also was ignoring just about every lower-level problem he was creating.
That can’t happen any longer with this franchise. It just can’t. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are first and fourth in the league in scoring, respectively, but they aren’t children anymore. They can’t do it by themselves. They need a bona fide supporting cast, not a Band-Aid one, to get to that second Cup. And that won’t happen with continued quick-fix trades. It will happen with smart management of the youngsters at hand and making the right moves at the right time.
That time, again, is not now.
Now will take care of itself just fine, if you ask me, as we all witnessed again Tuesday.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for his fifth shutout, putting him one shy of his career-best season total before the turn of the calendar. And should he hit a bump at some point, Thomas Greiss has been terrific.
“I felt pretty good out there, but this was a good team effort,” as Fleury put it. “The guys played great in front of me. We were really together.”
Malkin was no less effective from front to finish, bullying the Devils over all 200 feet and scoring the lone goal on a sizzling rush with Comeau and recent callup Jayson Megna. It might not be the ideal alignment for a superstar, but it’s good enough for now.
Heck, Megna should have had another assist had Malkin not shanked a tap-in.
Couldn’t help but tease the kid on that count:
Nothing wrong with that view of the forwards in the minors there. If anything, it should be sufficient for the time being. There absolutely will be enough scoring, so long as power plays continue to be generated. That’s paramount.
The defense, of course, is deepest of all: Letang’s most pivotal role, on the power play, is extremely easy to replace with able point men in Paul Martin, Christian Ehrhoff and Olli Maatta. His absence on penalty-killing might actually prove a blessing in disguise, as it will finally force Johnston and Gary Agnew to get Despres involved. He logged nearly two short-handed minutes Tuesday and didn’t look a bit out of place with that long reach.
And I could have invested this whole column on Bortuzzo’s evening — covered instead in this video commentary — but suffice it to say he no longer looks like anyone’s seventh defenseman.
The only addition needed in this entire equation is patience across the board.
Ask the Kings if they care where they finish every year. In the regular season, I mean.