Puck Talk with Popchock: In Ray We Trust
By Matt Popchock
Maybe I'm naive, but I'm not worried the Penguins have to endure another injury prior to tonight's meeting with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Mark Letestu was the latest casualty, said Dan Bylsma after practice today. The up-and-down rookie forward traveled back to Pittsburgh to have his "lower-body injury" examined.
Don't you just love how the NHL protects its players by undermining the media's First Amendment rights? But I digress...
This is the time of the year when all 30 NHL teams want to be at full health, and the Penguins are quite the opposite. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, though progressing, still aren't back, and Letestu, who has provided much-needed energy despite inconsistent numbers, is now gone.
Nevertheless, the Penguins have managed to scrape points together and stay on the tail of the Flyers, even though their hated rivals have played lights-out hockey while the Pens have struggled to find their way without their two top guns. That's because Ray Shero is the right man for his job.
There are plenty of on-ice heroes responsible for keeping the Penguins afloat while Sid and Geno recuperate, but the Penguins' general manager might be their biggest off-ice hero at the moment.
Bringing in Alexei Ponikarovsky turned out to be a mistake, and though, in retrospect, it's not entirely fair to pass judgment on longtime invalid Mike Comrie just yet, the same could probably be said for Mr. Hillary Duff. Then again, predecessor Craig Patrick once traded the future franchise player of the Vancouver Canucks for a forgettable Russian who couldn't put the puck in the ocean and had his career cut short before one could properly say "Stojanov." It was also he who carried out the heavy-hearted task of granting Jaromir Jagr's wish to be dealt, but did so for a handful of players who stood about as much of a chance in the NHL as Lizzie McGuire.
The point is, even the most brilliant executive swings and misses from time to time. Shero, who had to follow one of the greatest legacies of all-time, hasn't done it much, which is why the patchwork Penguins are where they are.
The Penguins' offense went cold in the playoffs against the Canadiens last spring, but the final game of that series also exploited the shortening shelf life of Sergei Gonchar, their franchise defenseman. Furthermore, Marc-Andre Fleury looked human, often because of less-than-stellar play in front of him. So rather than add an expensive forward to an imbalanced bunch that would imbalance his checkbook, he recognized what a bad summer it was for inexpensive skill players and instead got where the getting was good.
He signed free agents Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to long-term deals and let Gonchar test the waters, thus making the defensive corps of his team exponentially better in a matter of moments. Michalek has been invaluable to the Penguins' penalty kill, which has a legitimate shot at ranking tops in the league for the first time in franchise history, and Martin, despite some claims he isn't fitting into Bylsma's very different and very un-Devil-like system, has logged 22 minutes a game and a plus-8.
Gonchar, who sits near the bottom of the league with a minus-17, is floundering in Ottawa after the Senators awarded him a big multi-year deal. Kris Letang, whom Shero had the wherewithal to lock up with a long-term contract of his own, has seamlessly transitioned to the role of number one D-man with 34 assists and a plus-22 rating, one of the top ten in the NHL. The Penguins' defense has allowed 114 goals, second-fewest overall.
Anyone still miss Sarge?
The Penguins have won five of their last six without Crosby, and later, Malkin, allowing just nine goals in that span. That's a credit to the blue-liners and to franchise goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, most of whom, thanks to Shero, are under contract for the foreseeable future. Youngsters Alex Goligoski and Ben Lovejoy were Shero draftees, and Deryk Engelland, who has also contributed, was signed by him as a free agent.
Although the offense remains top-heavy, Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis have both elevated their games. Shero not only brought Kunitz here from Anaheim, but got future Penguin Eric Tangradi to come with him and signed the former through next season. The Marian Hossa deal that brought Duper to Pittsburgh didn't work out the way the organization wanted, but he has brought speed and efficiency to the Penguins' first line simply for the price of Colby Armstrong and an expendable first round draft choice, Angelo Esposito.
Tangradi represents organizational depth, which Shero also built. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton continues winning at an incredible clip despite a revolving door of personnel. Defenseman and 2009 first-rounder Simon Despres has flourished. Letestu's replacement, Dustin Jeffrey, has been the tennis ball of the franchise, bouncing back and forth repeatedly, and all he's done is lead the Baby Pens in scoring when he's not bringing the same energy in Pittsburgh that Letestu brings to the big club.
Byslma, lest we forget, became the first midseason replacement in nearly 40 years to lead his team to a Stanley Cup, and was Shero's hand-picked successor to Michel Therrien. In a business where such men are hired to be fired, it would have been easy for Shero to question Bylsma's leadership early in the season, when the Pens picked up where they left off from last year's mediocre finish. But the GM never said a bad word about Disco Dan, and he has looked all the better for it.
For the Penguins to succeed amidst dire straits, they need men who not only bring in talent to surround the likes of Crosby and Malkin, but are good evaluators of talent as well. One thing we can take from the Pens' recent hot streak is that Shero is both.
The Penguins need new heroes right now. Whether it's Alex Goligoski scoring twice to beat Montreal, Chris Conner scoring on a penalty shot to beat Detroit, or Craig Adams getting his nose dirty to beat the Islanders, just to name a few, they've gotten heroic performances in the absence of their best players, and the Flower has been almost unbeatable. All those men are here helping the Pens stay within reach of the best record in hockey, and they all have Ray Shero to thank for that.
Don't expect any major deals at the trade deadline, especially if the Pens stay consistent. However, if there's a conceivable way to upgrade this team without ruining itself financially the way teams like New Jersey and Chicago have, Shero has proven he can do it. Since arriving in Pittsburgh in 2006 his Penguin teams have won in the present, frequently with the help of under-the-radar players, without him mortgaging the future.
The Pens will be fine without Crosby and Malkin, however much longer the duo may miss, because Shero has left them well prepared for it.
After all, none of the guys Patrick traded for had their own Dijon mustard...
For more of the latest news and views on the Penguins, be sure to tune into "The Penalty Box with Tom Grimm," Saturday mornings on SportsRadio 93.7 The Fan, and check out the "Puck Talk with Popchock" video blog on 937thefan.com!
