The Penguins await the handshake line with the victorious Rangers Friday at the Garden. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
Welcome to Tuesday 10 Qs, our cyber-chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers readers a chance to carry the conversation. The format is simple: Use the comments below to submit an entry. I’ll pick from those, as well as the ones that arrive once the session goes live.
UPDATE 9 a.m.: And off we go …
rajankaliral: The Penguins now lack young forwards due to aggressive trade deadline deals over the years. However, is Ray Shero to blame or was he simply following orders from management?
DK: Whoa there, Rajan! Your question there implies that your first sentence is indisputable.
If you go over Shero’s more ‘aggressive’ deals, to borrow your term but presuming you mean the headline-grabbers, those have next to nothing to do with the current lack of young forwards. What was sent out for the likes of Marian Hossa, James Neal and Jarome Iginla — the three biggies that come to mind — was, in order, a bunch of failed prospects, defenseman Alex Goligoski, and two zero-level prospects because Calgary’s hand was forced. None of those had any discernible impact on the current quality of forwards.
Some draft picks have been lost along the way in lesser deals, and I’ll assume that’s what you intended to reference, but even there, it’s no excuse for the mostly bad drafting under Shero with the picks the Penguins did keep, nor for the bizarre policy of taking nothing but defensemen in the early rounds as trade chips. Behold Joe Morrow being taken ahead of Brandon Saad. It was sheer insanity, as people who are still with the Penguins can attest.
To your actual question now, it’s hard to paint Shero and ‘management’ as separate entities. Shero ran the place. The whole place. Even the locker room, to an extent. I’ve never seen a GM with such authority, actually, in all my years of covering Pittsburgh sports.
That’s not necessarily a criticism, mind you. Just stressing that his decisions were almost entirely his own at all levels. And he wasn’t fired until he stood too firmly behind Dan Bylsma, from what I’ve heard, and pretty much left ownership no choice.
Prop B: Is it really fair to blame Shero for the lack of youth? Of the few opportunities he had with first-round picks, he didn’t really ever draft a bust. (The jury is still out on Beau Bennett). It doesn’t seem like Jim Rutherford is really doing things much differently than Shero.
DK: Oh, my.
In 2006, Shero drafted Jordan Staal one pick ahead of Jonathan Toews. Staal was no bust, obviously, and was an integral part of the 2009 championship. But he’s no Toews.
In 2007, Shero drafted Angelo Esposito, who never made it to the NHL. That’s the very definition of a bust.
In 2008, Shero had no picks until the fourth round. Fair enough.
In 2009, Shero drafted Simon Despres.
In 2010, Shero drafted Bennett.
Whatever anyone thinks of Despres or Bennett — and they’re both hot-button topics — many, many superior prospects were drafted shortly after them. Bennett, in particular, came with the same question marks at the time that he still has to this day.
In 2011, Shero drafted Morrow. Bust.
In 2012, at long last, Shero had a productive first round with not one but two finds in Derrick Pouliot and Olli Maatta.
What were we talking about again?
Oh, yeah, Rutherford. All he did in his first draft was to select Kasperi Kapanen, the first truly skilled, high-end forward the Penguins have taken in a decade. So I’d definitely place that in a category as doing something different than Shero.
skeeziks7: I know this is a random question and probably gets asked quit a bit … but which team do you think will win the next championship: Steelers, Penguins or Pirates?
DK: You’re right that it does get asked a lot, and I usually pay it little mind because it obviously requires oversimplifying complicated situations. But hey, thought I’d change that up this morning and finally give it a shot today: It’s the Steelers first, Penguins second, Pirates third.
And I say that mostly because of the teams’ respective leagues. Winning a championship generally requires taking multiple shots at that title with a really good group. The Steelers’ and Penguins’ most recent championships are evidence of that. Maybe we’re seeing that with the Pirates having twice knocked at the door, but Major League Baseball’s imbalanced economics just don’t allow teams in their payroll range to hang around for too long. The Pirates are better equipped than most, especially with a potentially extraordinary value in their everyday outfield, but it still won’t be a 4-5 year thing.
The Steelers, as yesterday’s column tried to illustrate, already have one dominant facet in their offense. And it’s a mostly young facet at that. The defense is nowhere near championship-caliber, but you’ll take their half of the equation anytime in the modern NFL, which is all about passing and points.
The Penguins, of course, have the stars and the four-man core under control for a long time. Fans who get tired of barking at the same names each spring might not appreciate how much value is there, but it gives the team a legit shot every year provided the supporting cast gets built up and instructed the right way.
In both of the latter cases, we’re talking about cap leagues, too. That can’t be stressed enough.
emoneypitt: Why are the Pirates being so secretive about Andrew McCutchen’s knee? If it is something that can be fixed by surgery, wouldn’t it be better to take care of it now, especially with the Cards losing a couple of key players to injury? He’s obviously hampered by this injury, whatever it is.
DK: It could, indeed, finally be coming to a head, and that adverb is italicized for emphasis because the Pirates and McCutchen have been dealing with this issue since the second week of spring training. That’s when Neal Huntington was telling us in Bradenton that it’s a ‘lower-body injury’ in borrowing the hockey vernacular, and soon thereafter it became a topic no one, including Cutch, felt comfortable discussing out loud.
Well, it’s coming across loud and clear now: Cutch is 1 for his past 21, including an 0-for-4 last night in Chicago, and his season is average is .175, lowest by far among the Pirates’ everyday eight. Clint Hurdle continues to play it cool, repeating to reporters at Wrigley that “this is just one of those stretches,” and, in fairness, Cutch has had at least a handful in the past.
But add the slump on top of Cutch saying last week at PNC Park that he’s playing at 80 percent, and concern has to be real.
I won’t play doctor, and I’ve got no additional specific info yet on his knee. But I will say that most knee surgeries aren’t major anymore, certainly nowhere near as severe as they once were. If the Pirates felt back in the spring that Cutch had one of the minor varieties, the kind that takes an arthroscope and some cleaning out, he probably already would have had the procedure.
And since he hasn’t …
Andy: DK, given the glaring need at outside linebacker … I know character issues are a concern. However, Randy Gregory and Shane Ray are both top-10 talents who are sliding due to off-field concerns. In my view, they are worth the risk given their talent level, considering Le’Veon Bell rebounded from a similar incident. Do you see the Steelers rolling the dice with a guy that can be an impact on this D right now?
DK: Yes, but in the proper context. Kevin Colbert was asked about such a possibility, albeit without any names attached, yesterday on the South Side, and his response was that the Steelers take each player’s circumstances separately. So not every pot possession, DUI or any other transgression would get simply lumped into a pile with other pot possessions or DUI. The level of study and analysis regarding character, he said, runs much, much deeper.
There’s evidence in the recent past, of course, of the Steelers going against the grain in this regard by taking Mike Adams in the second round after he had his own mental lapse shortly before the draft, as both of these two prospects had. That, of course, hasn’t panned out. Adams hasn’t been much of a player. But here, too, it’s important to separate whether he’s a bad player because of character or because he’s just not very good at what he does. Lumping everyone in a pile doesn’t work.
So yeah, I do see the Steelers openly considering players such as these. There are a million different ways to answer the question Colbert got, but he answered it his way in both word and deed.
Jon New: Do you think any of the Penguins’ buyout candidates such as Chris Kunitz or Rob Scuderi can be traded? Even for a draft pick?
DK: No, I really don’t. The return isn’t the issue. It’s finding a team to take on two more years of onerous contracts. Not going to happen.
I reported in a recent Friday Insider from New York that the Penguins will look at this route — without specifying players because I was not told of anyone in particular — and I haven’t heard anything since that would suggest that stance has changed.
Andrew Straley: Not necessarily a question but, boy, would I love to have had the Pirates’ current pitching coaches and their expertise at resurrecting pitchers about 10 years ago when we had Oliver Perez. What great potential. actually looking back. Wonder if they could have helped Kip Wells, Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny … they all seemed to have one phenomenal year, then flamed out.
DK: Spin Williams was a very good pitching coach. He didn’t have a second in command the quality of Jim Benedict, who does the heavy restructuring work under Ray Searage, but he had a near-universal reputation around baseball as getting the best from his staff.
But, as Spin once told me in one of my very first interviews of anyone when taking that beat, “I know I’m going to be hired or fired based on how Ollie does.”
Well, wouldn’t you know?
So Perez strikes out 239 one season, starts selling tickets to PNC Park pretty much on his own for the nights he started, and is pumping the radar gun at 98-99 mph. That prompted many to envision greatness in him, and I’m not too proud to confess I was among those who fell for it hook, line and sinker, as you can find in some of the now-absurd comparisons I made in this extensive piece for the Post-Gazette from 2005.
Yuck. I can’t even look at that thing.
And that’s because, the next we saw of Perez, he was struggling to get his fastball up to a barely ordinary 92 mph. With no apparent health issues. With no other excuses or explanations made by him or the team.
In fact, Perez never again threw anywhere near 98 mph.
I won’t go any further with that. All I’ll say is that old Spin didn’t suddenly become some terrible coach.
criswemw: Now that Malkin is healthy enough to play in the Worlds, what are your thoughts on his postseason performance?
DK: It obviously reflects terribly. As I think you’re suggesting, I gave Malkin every benefit of the doubt down the stretch for his terribly unproductive play, and I did so on the premise that he didn’t look healthy.
In fairness, he wasn’t healthy and probably still isn’t. He acknowledged as much both in New York after Game 5, then again upon returning to Pittsburgh. But that clearly wasn’t serious, and his zero-point dud, not to mention finishing on a career-worst broader run of 15 games without a goal … it looks awful. Nowhere for him to run or hide on that count.
Independent of that, I’ve always loathed the IIHF World Championships. It’s the most nonsensical event in sports, one that seldom gains any traction outside of Europe and not even much when it’s there, as this one will be in Prague. The Olympics are the banner for international success in the NHL until they aren’t, and this is silly filler that uses rosters made up of NHL players whose teams are eliminated early. I find it ridiculous that their countries ask them to participate, even more so that the players agree after a long NHL season.
Would dearly love to see this change.
DC-Steeler36: If Mike Babcock becomes available after Detroit’s season ends, do the Penguins make a play for him?
DK: They aren’t making a coaching change. They just aren’t.
BurgherInBoston: Realistically how long/large is this Pirates team’s window for a championship? I know the Cubs are the Cubs, but they’re retooling and look dangerous, the Cardinals are always in the mix (I bet they won’t miss much of a beat without Adam Wainwright), and the Brewers and Reds seem to alternately get hot and piece together a solid season.
DK: The outfield will remain fully intact through 2018. Most of the rest of the everyday diamond is intact for a while, too. So I’d look much more toward the starting pitching for a glimpse. Any contender generally needs to have three big-time guys, and the Pirates have that in Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano right now, exempting A.J. Burnett only because of his age. Tyler Glasnow, the No. 1 prospect, is off to a ridiculous start in Altoona, with two earned runs and 17 strikeouts through 16 2/3 innings of his first three starts. He looks increasingly real, and it would be immense for the organization if he is.
I hope the answer above about which Pittsburgh team will be next to win a championship isn’t taken as some kind of slam on the Pirates’ short-term future. This actually looks bright. It’s, once again, much more about the respective economic systems and all that entails. You mention the Cubs, but just look at what they’ll be able to do with a combination of a smart foundation and virtually endless cash once they get going. It’s a big variable, and one the Steelers and Penguins never have to counter, as they both spend to the max of their respective leagues.
PensPal: DK, I can fathom keeping Rutherford and Johnston, but keeping Rick Tocchet after the power play that he led underperformed, and the “project” in Steve Downie was a failure (refs simply hate Downie)? Some change is needed. Maybe this small piece is it?
DK: It won’t be. Tocchet will be back.
But I’ll agree with you that the power play was miserable and, for the most part, unimaginative. Some of that was due to stubbornness around Tocchet, in fairness, but that wouldn’t have become an issue had it kept clicking anywhere near the way it did in the early going. It would be right and fair for the Penguins to find ways to help in this area, even if that just means contributing ideas.
I’ll disagree, at least to a small extent, about Downie. If you ask me, he came exactly as advertised and delivered exactly as advertised. He had 14 goals, 14 assists and 238 penalty minutes. That’s who he is, who he’s always been. He took way too many silly minors and hurt the team big-time on more than one occasion. But that loose-cannon nature, I dare say, also kept opponents at least enough on edge that the amount of outright liberties taken against Crosby and Malkin — like we saw in last year’s playoffs, for example, were far lower this time around. Opponents knew they’d have to pay at some point. And I’ll cite as evidence that I can’t recall the Rangers’ Marc Staal, who spent last spring on a head-hunting exhibition, raise his stick once in this past series. And as for refs, they didn’t start hating Downie this season. He wasn’t a rookie.
Tocchet can do better, though, no question. Especially on the power play.
That’s it for this week. Heading up to Consol now for Rutherford’s season-ending press conference. I’ll file a report from up there shortly afterward.
April 28, 2015
Tuesday 10 Qs: Shero, Cutch, Colbert, Geno, Tyler
by Dejan Kovacevic • Tuesday 10 Qs • Penguins, Pirates, Steelers
The Penguins await the handshake line with the victorious Rangers Friday at the Garden. — GETTY
BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC
Welcome to Tuesday 10 Qs, our cyber-chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers readers a chance to carry the conversation. The format is simple: Use the comments below to submit an entry. I’ll pick from those, as well as the ones that arrive once the session goes live.
UPDATE 9 a.m.: And off we go …
rajankaliral: The Penguins now lack young forwards due to aggressive trade deadline deals over the years. However, is Ray Shero to blame or was he simply following orders from management?
DK: Whoa there, Rajan! Your question there implies that your first sentence is indisputable.
If you go over Shero’s more ‘aggressive’ deals, to borrow your term but presuming you mean the headline-grabbers, those have next to nothing to do with the current lack of young forwards. What was sent out for the likes of Marian Hossa, James Neal and Jarome Iginla — the three biggies that come to mind — was, in order, a bunch of failed prospects, defenseman Alex Goligoski, and two zero-level prospects because Calgary’s hand was forced. None of those had any discernible impact on the current quality of forwards.
Some draft picks have been lost along the way in lesser deals, and I’ll assume that’s what you intended to reference, but even there, it’s no excuse for the mostly bad drafting under Shero with the picks the Penguins did keep, nor for the bizarre policy of taking nothing but defensemen in the early rounds as trade chips. Behold Joe Morrow being taken ahead of Brandon Saad. It was sheer insanity, as people who are still with the Penguins can attest.
To your actual question now, it’s hard to paint Shero and ‘management’ as separate entities. Shero ran the place. The whole place. Even the locker room, to an extent. I’ve never seen a GM with such authority, actually, in all my years of covering Pittsburgh sports.
That’s not necessarily a criticism, mind you. Just stressing that his decisions were almost entirely his own at all levels. And he wasn’t fired until he stood too firmly behind Dan Bylsma, from what I’ve heard, and pretty much left ownership no choice.
Prop B: Is it really fair to blame Shero for the lack of youth? Of the few opportunities he had with first-round picks, he didn’t really ever draft a bust. (The jury is still out on Beau Bennett). It doesn’t seem like Jim Rutherford is really doing things much differently than Shero.
DK: Oh, my.
In 2006, Shero drafted Jordan Staal one pick ahead of Jonathan Toews. Staal was no bust, obviously, and was an integral part of the 2009 championship. But he’s no Toews.
In 2007, Shero drafted Angelo Esposito, who never made it to the NHL. That’s the very definition of a bust.
In 2008, Shero had no picks until the fourth round. Fair enough.
In 2009, Shero drafted Simon Despres.
In 2010, Shero drafted Bennett.
Whatever anyone thinks of Despres or Bennett — and they’re both hot-button topics — many, many superior prospects were drafted shortly after them. Bennett, in particular, came with the same question marks at the time that he still has to this day.
In 2011, Shero drafted Morrow. Bust.
In 2012, at long last, Shero had a productive first round with not one but two finds in Derrick Pouliot and Olli Maatta.
What were we talking about again?
Oh, yeah, Rutherford. All he did in his first draft was to select Kasperi Kapanen, the first truly skilled, high-end forward the Penguins have taken in a decade. So I’d definitely place that in a category as doing something different than Shero.
skeeziks7: I know this is a random question and probably gets asked quit a bit … but which team do you think will win the next championship: Steelers, Penguins or Pirates?
DK: You’re right that it does get asked a lot, and I usually pay it little mind because it obviously requires oversimplifying complicated situations. But hey, thought I’d change that up this morning and finally give it a shot today: It’s the Steelers first, Penguins second, Pirates third.
And I say that mostly because of the teams’ respective leagues. Winning a championship generally requires taking multiple shots at that title with a really good group. The Steelers’ and Penguins’ most recent championships are evidence of that. Maybe we’re seeing that with the Pirates having twice knocked at the door, but Major League Baseball’s imbalanced economics just don’t allow teams in their payroll range to hang around for too long. The Pirates are better equipped than most, especially with a potentially extraordinary value in their everyday outfield, but it still won’t be a 4-5 year thing.
The Steelers, as yesterday’s column tried to illustrate, already have one dominant facet in their offense. And it’s a mostly young facet at that. The defense is nowhere near championship-caliber, but you’ll take their half of the equation anytime in the modern NFL, which is all about passing and points.
The Penguins, of course, have the stars and the four-man core under control for a long time. Fans who get tired of barking at the same names each spring might not appreciate how much value is there, but it gives the team a legit shot every year provided the supporting cast gets built up and instructed the right way.
In both of the latter cases, we’re talking about cap leagues, too. That can’t be stressed enough.
emoneypitt: Why are the Pirates being so secretive about Andrew McCutchen’s knee? If it is something that can be fixed by surgery, wouldn’t it be better to take care of it now, especially with the Cards losing a couple of key players to injury? He’s obviously hampered by this injury, whatever it is.
DK: It could, indeed, finally be coming to a head, and that adverb is italicized for emphasis because the Pirates and McCutchen have been dealing with this issue since the second week of spring training. That’s when Neal Huntington was telling us in Bradenton that it’s a ‘lower-body injury’ in borrowing the hockey vernacular, and soon thereafter it became a topic no one, including Cutch, felt comfortable discussing out loud.
Well, it’s coming across loud and clear now: Cutch is 1 for his past 21, including an 0-for-4 last night in Chicago, and his season is average is .175, lowest by far among the Pirates’ everyday eight. Clint Hurdle continues to play it cool, repeating to reporters at Wrigley that “this is just one of those stretches,” and, in fairness, Cutch has had at least a handful in the past.
But add the slump on top of Cutch saying last week at PNC Park that he’s playing at 80 percent, and concern has to be real.
I won’t play doctor, and I’ve got no additional specific info yet on his knee. But I will say that most knee surgeries aren’t major anymore, certainly nowhere near as severe as they once were. If the Pirates felt back in the spring that Cutch had one of the minor varieties, the kind that takes an arthroscope and some cleaning out, he probably already would have had the procedure.
And since he hasn’t …
Andy: DK, given the glaring need at outside linebacker … I know character issues are a concern. However, Randy Gregory and Shane Ray are both top-10 talents who are sliding due to off-field concerns. In my view, they are worth the risk given their talent level, considering Le’Veon Bell rebounded from a similar incident. Do you see the Steelers rolling the dice with a guy that can be an impact on this D right now?
DK: Yes, but in the proper context. Kevin Colbert was asked about such a possibility, albeit without any names attached, yesterday on the South Side, and his response was that the Steelers take each player’s circumstances separately. So not every pot possession, DUI or any other transgression would get simply lumped into a pile with other pot possessions or DUI. The level of study and analysis regarding character, he said, runs much, much deeper.
There’s evidence in the recent past, of course, of the Steelers going against the grain in this regard by taking Mike Adams in the second round after he had his own mental lapse shortly before the draft, as both of these two prospects had. That, of course, hasn’t panned out. Adams hasn’t been much of a player. But here, too, it’s important to separate whether he’s a bad player because of character or because he’s just not very good at what he does. Lumping everyone in a pile doesn’t work.
So yeah, I do see the Steelers openly considering players such as these. There are a million different ways to answer the question Colbert got, but he answered it his way in both word and deed.
Jon New: Do you think any of the Penguins’ buyout candidates such as Chris Kunitz or Rob Scuderi can be traded? Even for a draft pick?
DK: No, I really don’t. The return isn’t the issue. It’s finding a team to take on two more years of onerous contracts. Not going to happen.
I reported in a recent Friday Insider from New York that the Penguins will look at this route — without specifying players because I was not told of anyone in particular — and I haven’t heard anything since that would suggest that stance has changed.
Andrew Straley: Not necessarily a question but, boy, would I love to have had the Pirates’ current pitching coaches and their expertise at resurrecting pitchers about 10 years ago when we had Oliver Perez. What great potential. actually looking back. Wonder if they could have helped Kip Wells, Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny … they all seemed to have one phenomenal year, then flamed out.
DK: Spin Williams was a very good pitching coach. He didn’t have a second in command the quality of Jim Benedict, who does the heavy restructuring work under Ray Searage, but he had a near-universal reputation around baseball as getting the best from his staff.
But, as Spin once told me in one of my very first interviews of anyone when taking that beat, “I know I’m going to be hired or fired based on how Ollie does.”
Well, wouldn’t you know?
So Perez strikes out 239 one season, starts selling tickets to PNC Park pretty much on his own for the nights he started, and is pumping the radar gun at 98-99 mph. That prompted many to envision greatness in him, and I’m not too proud to confess I was among those who fell for it hook, line and sinker, as you can find in some of the now-absurd comparisons I made in this extensive piece for the Post-Gazette from 2005.
Yuck. I can’t even look at that thing.
And that’s because, the next we saw of Perez, he was struggling to get his fastball up to a barely ordinary 92 mph. With no apparent health issues. With no other excuses or explanations made by him or the team.
In fact, Perez never again threw anywhere near 98 mph.
I won’t go any further with that. All I’ll say is that old Spin didn’t suddenly become some terrible coach.
criswemw: Now that Malkin is healthy enough to play in the Worlds, what are your thoughts on his postseason performance?
DK: It obviously reflects terribly. As I think you’re suggesting, I gave Malkin every benefit of the doubt down the stretch for his terribly unproductive play, and I did so on the premise that he didn’t look healthy.
In fairness, he wasn’t healthy and probably still isn’t. He acknowledged as much both in New York after Game 5, then again upon returning to Pittsburgh. But that clearly wasn’t serious, and his zero-point dud, not to mention finishing on a career-worst broader run of 15 games without a goal … it looks awful. Nowhere for him to run or hide on that count.
Independent of that, I’ve always loathed the IIHF World Championships. It’s the most nonsensical event in sports, one that seldom gains any traction outside of Europe and not even much when it’s there, as this one will be in Prague. The Olympics are the banner for international success in the NHL until they aren’t, and this is silly filler that uses rosters made up of NHL players whose teams are eliminated early. I find it ridiculous that their countries ask them to participate, even more so that the players agree after a long NHL season.
Would dearly love to see this change.
DC-Steeler36: If Mike Babcock becomes available after Detroit’s season ends, do the Penguins make a play for him?
DK: They aren’t making a coaching change. They just aren’t.
BurgherInBoston: Realistically how long/large is this Pirates team’s window for a championship? I know the Cubs are the Cubs, but they’re retooling and look dangerous, the Cardinals are always in the mix (I bet they won’t miss much of a beat without Adam Wainwright), and the Brewers and Reds seem to alternately get hot and piece together a solid season.
DK: The outfield will remain fully intact through 2018. Most of the rest of the everyday diamond is intact for a while, too. So I’d look much more toward the starting pitching for a glimpse. Any contender generally needs to have three big-time guys, and the Pirates have that in Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano right now, exempting A.J. Burnett only because of his age. Tyler Glasnow, the No. 1 prospect, is off to a ridiculous start in Altoona, with two earned runs and 17 strikeouts through 16 2/3 innings of his first three starts. He looks increasingly real, and it would be immense for the organization if he is.
I hope the answer above about which Pittsburgh team will be next to win a championship isn’t taken as some kind of slam on the Pirates’ short-term future. This actually looks bright. It’s, once again, much more about the respective economic systems and all that entails. You mention the Cubs, but just look at what they’ll be able to do with a combination of a smart foundation and virtually endless cash once they get going. It’s a big variable, and one the Steelers and Penguins never have to counter, as they both spend to the max of their respective leagues.
PensPal: DK, I can fathom keeping Rutherford and Johnston, but keeping Rick Tocchet after the power play that he led underperformed, and the “project” in Steve Downie was a failure (refs simply hate Downie)? Some change is needed. Maybe this small piece is it?
DK: It won’t be. Tocchet will be back.
But I’ll agree with you that the power play was miserable and, for the most part, unimaginative. Some of that was due to stubbornness around Tocchet, in fairness, but that wouldn’t have become an issue had it kept clicking anywhere near the way it did in the early going. It would be right and fair for the Penguins to find ways to help in this area, even if that just means contributing ideas.
I’ll disagree, at least to a small extent, about Downie. If you ask me, he came exactly as advertised and delivered exactly as advertised. He had 14 goals, 14 assists and 238 penalty minutes. That’s who he is, who he’s always been. He took way too many silly minors and hurt the team big-time on more than one occasion. But that loose-cannon nature, I dare say, also kept opponents at least enough on edge that the amount of outright liberties taken against Crosby and Malkin — like we saw in last year’s playoffs, for example, were far lower this time around. Opponents knew they’d have to pay at some point. And I’ll cite as evidence that I can’t recall the Rangers’ Marc Staal, who spent last spring on a head-hunting exhibition, raise his stick once in this past series. And as for refs, they didn’t start hating Downie this season. He wasn’t a rookie.
Tocchet can do better, though, no question. Especially on the power play.
That’s it for this week. Heading up to Consol now for Rutherford’s season-ending press conference. I’ll file a report from up there shortly afterward.