Penguins Training Camp/Final Roster Thoughts

With a day off today and the final roster set, here are my final thoughts on Penguins training camp and the black and gold scrimmage last night.  Thoughts on the final roster at the end.

FORWARDS

Eric Tangradi

Will he "protect" Malkin and Neal at least?

Mon:  Tangradi looked quicker than in previous years, especially with his first step, but still looked unnatural on the 2^nd line next to James Neal and Evgeni Malkin.  It looked like the Neal and Malkin show with Tangradi tagging along hoping to be included.  That being said, I don’t fully blame Tangradi for that, it’s on his linemates as well.

Scrimmage:  Tangradi had the majority of time on Malkin's line with Neal and looked okay but wasn't exactly a great fit.  He did look stronger in front of the net, even taking down Bortuzzo cleanly at one point to screen Fleury, but he was unable to create or take advantage of anything there.

Beau Bennett

Tues:  Bennett looked very comfortable with Malkin and Neal.  He clearly has the skillset to play with them and I personally felt he had much more chemistry with the two than Tangradi.  

Scrimmage:  He had time with both Malkin and Crosby.  He showed some very nice creative abilities in his first few shifts but slowed down as the game went on.  He did score a goal but I discounted it as Samuelsson was clearly over-matched by Bennett and it was a bit of a weak goal by Fleury.

DEFENSE

Robert Bortuzzo

Mon:  Bortuzzo was very strong in 1 on 1s and had phenomenal positioning through Monday.  He was very aware of his surroundings in the defensive zone and always kept himself between forwards and the net.

If Bortuzzo holds his ground better, he will be very effective.

Scrimmage:  He had an awful start in the 1^st period.  He was weak on the puck and couldn’t hold his space in front of the net (getting knocked over by Tangradi ).  Bortuzzo improved drastically in the 2nd and 3rd periods though as he got comfortable with the speed of the game.

Brian Strait

Tues:  Strait had a very strong set of 2 on 1s on defense and showed great positioning and physicality at the same time.  He’s the least flashy of the defensive options, but the effort and work ethic are definitely there.  He can be quite a pest on defense.

Scrimmage:  Strait played serviceable defense and did nothing to really help or hurt his attempts to get a roster spot.

Simon Despres

Mon:  Despres was better than I was expecting from all of the AHL reports.  He was positioned well and kept up with the play.  He looked very awkward defending 1 on 1s (especially with his skating style), but was successful nonetheless.

Despres will be on for many goal celebrations...
just maybe for both teams.

Scrimmage:  Despres looked not ready for the NHL.  He showed better positioning and foot speed in last year’s playoffs.  He flat out looked lost at times during the scrimmage.  He spent most of the time paired with Kris Letang, and if they are that out of sort for a scrimmage against the 3rd and 4th line, I'd hate to see them paired against a top line.  Brandon Sutter also completely undressed him in embarrassing fashion in the 2nd period.

Ben Lovejoy

Mon:  Lovejoy was paired with Engelland for line rushes and the two looked flat out awful together.  They were bailed out multiple times by backchecking forwards and could not clear the zone on their own.

Scrimmage:  He showed a lack of defensive awareness at times, highlighted by a 2 on 1 at center that turned into a breakaway as he lost track of Riley Holzapfel sneaking past him.

Deryk Engelland

Mon:  Engelland had a rough day in my opinion.  Forwards kept taking him to the outside and skating around him during 1 on 1s with ease.  Also refer to the Lovejoy comment above.

Tues:  Engelland showed a drastic improvement from Monday to Tuesday, looking unbeatable on 2 on 1s and improving his 1 on 1s greatly.  He needs to be physical to look good, but had issues when forwards were a little further away from him.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Powerplay

Mon:  Formation - Neal at the left point, Letang at the right point, Kunitz on the crease, Crosby/Malkin splitting time at the right half boards and the right goal line.  There was a lot of movement with Neal and Letang both skating deep into the zone at times.

Tues:  Crosby carried the puck up from behind the net on every rush for the first line.  Kunitz crossed the ice at the offensive blue line to create space.  For the 2^nd line, Martin carried with Sutter crossing.  The first powerplay is based completely on movement.  It frequently shifts to one man on the point, usually Letang or Neal.  At times though, both players would dive into the zone and Malkin would leave the half boards or Kunitz even left the crease to cover at the point.  It’s clearly a powerplay that requires a lot of awareness to work.

Scrimmage:  The powerplay can definitely be effective when it gives players room to skate with the puck. The Pens had issues bringing the puck into the zone and setting up though.  Also, aggressive PK's are going to feast on it as the Pens sometimes take away their own passing lanes with too much movement.

Penalty Kill

Tues:  Sutter was dominant on the PK, intercepting a Crosby breakout pass and also causing turnovers in the defensive zone.

Scrimmage:  The PK sometimes looked passive, and sometimes looked aggressive.  Aggressive was far more effective than passive.

Final Roster

As we found out today. Jayson Megna and Beau Bennett have been sent down to WBS.  Brian Strait was placed on waivers.  That means Despres and Bortuzzo make the team (for now) as does Tangradi.

Between Tangradi and Bennett, I would have picked Bennett but it was clear the organization leaned towards Tangradi throughout camp.  It makes sense, Tangradi is running out of chances and Bennett is very young and is undoubtedly a future top 6 forward on this team.  My only issue with this is the Pens should be assembling the best team possible during Crosby and Malkin's prime years, and they are simply not doing that right now in my eyes.

Let's just try to avoid this situation.

Moving to defense, I would have ranked the back end of the defense as such:  Bortuzzo, Engelland, Strait, Lovejoy, Despres.  I don't believe Despres is ready to play a regular shift at the NHL level yet and don't see any point to him being a healthy scratch either.  One thing to consider is that Despres has been so complacent at the AHL level that it might be time to move him up just to continue his development...but...I think he has some learning and improving to do that could have been achieved with WBS.

I don't expect Strait to clear waivers because there are a lot of NHL teams looking for depth defensemen right now and Strait fits that role very well with his style of play.  I hope Shero finds a way to move Lovejoy, because he is running out of time with this team as well.  One plus with Lovejoy, I have no qualms about keeping him as a 7th defenseman to be scratched or used when necessary; development won't be an issue there.

New podcast tonight.  Full roster preview on Friday.  Season predictions on Saturday and GAME DAY.  LET'S GO PENS!!!