Goal Assessment: Game 48 - Pens 8 Hurricanes 3

Link to Game 48 Thoughts:  The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Malkin): + for

• Fleury – passes the puck all the way to the offensive blue line for Neal
• Neal – skates the puck deep into the zone, then turns and passes back to Malkin
• Morrow – plants himself on the crease to screen Peters
• Malkin – dekes around a defender and slides a puck along the ice that beats Peters

2nd Goal For (Neal): + for

• Kunitz – hustles back to the blue line to keep the puck in the zone and passes it down to Letang on the half boards
• Letang – takes the pass and waits for Neal to slide into an open area of the ice before passing to him
• Neal – skates towards the net and rips a shot past Peters’ glove

1st Goal Against (Westgarth): - for

• Kennedy – misses a pass interception and falls behind the play
• Martin – tries to poke check the puck at the blue line but misses and gets burned by E Staal, then fails to tie up Westgarth on the rebound
• Letang – gets caught out of position and can’t recover to make a play on E Staal or the rebound

3rd Goal For (Jokinen): + for

• Letang – corrals the puck in the defensive zone and moves it up to Iginla in the neutral zone
• Iginla – taps the puck up to Dupuis
• Dupuis – taps the puck over to Jokinen and enters the zone on a 2 on 1 with him
• Jokinen – puts a wrist shot on Peters that he can’t handle and then scores on the rebound

2nd Goal Against (Ruutu): - for

• Despres – has the puck bounce off of his skates directly to Ruutu in front of the net

3rd Goal Against (Westgarth): - for

• Sutter – loses the faceoff cleanly in the defensive zone
• Murray – can’t get out to Westgarth quick enough to disrupt his shot
• Martin – has the puck deflect off of him past Fleury

4th Goal For (Neal): + for

• Iginla – pokes a loose puck behind the net to Neal, eventually passes the puck back and forth with Martin up high
• Martin – moves the puck back and forth with Iginla before returning it to Neal
• Malkin – returns the puck back to Neal for a shot
• Kunitz – skates in front of the crease to distract Peters as Neal is setting up his shot
• Neal – moves the puck up high for Martin, then sends it down low to Malkin when Martin returns it, then takes Malkin’s pass and beats Peters on his stick side

5th Goal For (Neal): + for

• Murray – takes the puck in the defensive zone and passes it to Kunitz at the blue line
• Kunitz – chips the puck off the boards up to Malkin entering the zone on a 2 on 1
• Malkin – carries the puck in and passes it across to Neal
• Neal – one-times the pass in for the goal

6th Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Cooke – backhands the puck to the net and it ends up on Sutter’s stick
• Sutter – passes to Morrow at the backdoor of the crease
• Morrow – initially carried the puck in and passed it to Cooke, taps Sutter’s pass into the net

7th Goal For (Cooke): + for

• Despres – chips the puck in the defensive zone to Martin on the boards
• Martin – moves the puck up to Morrow on the boards
• Morrow – moves the puck up to the offensive zone where Cooke can chase it down
• Cooke – gets to the puck, slides it with one hand through Faulk’s legs, and beats Peters

8th Goal For (Jokinen): + for

• Letang – corrals the puck at the defensive blue line and moves it up to Jokinen
• Iginla – returns a pass to Jokinen
• Dupuis – drives to the net, causing a 2 on 1 situation and the defender to back away from Jokinen
• Jokinen – passes the puck to Iginla entering the zone, tries to backhand it to Dupuis and has it go into the net off of Faulk

Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

Goal Assessment: Game 40 - Pens 5 Hurricanes 3

Link to Game 40 Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Corvo): - for

• Adams – in the box for slashing
• Kunitz – in the box for tripping
• Sutter – clean defensive zone faceoff loss

1st Goal For (Bortuzzo): + for

• Kunitz – chips the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone
• Adams – forechecks and keeps the puck in the offensive zone
• Dupuis – follows up the forecheck by Adams to pick up the puck and then pass it across the crease to Bortuzzo
• Bortuzzo – gave the puck to Kunitz originally in the defensive zone and streaks up the ice to tap in the pass from Dupuis

2nd Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Jokinen – skates from deep in the offensive zone back to the blue line to grab the puck before 4 Hurricanes’ players around him do, then makes a perfect backhand pass to Morrow
• Morrow – moves the puck to the left around Faulk and fires a perfect wrist shot to the top corner of the net

2nd Goal Against (Sanguinetti): - for

• Bortuzzo – ices the puck with all of the forwards in front of him
• Adams – loses the defensive zone faceoff cleanly

3rd Goal Against (Nash): - for

• Engelland – gets beat to the puck off of a clean faceoff win
• Sutter – loses LaRose behind the net
• Bortuzzo – fans on the puck in the slot and doesn’t get a stick on Nash either

3rd Goal For (Bennett): + for

• Engelland – makes the stretch pass up to Bennett
• Adams – follows up Bennett when he can’t take the pass from Engelland, keeps the puck in the zone, and then eventually feeds Bennett
• Glass – goes in with Bennett on a 2 on 1, drawing McBain away from the puck
• Bennett – goes in for a backhand on Peters and has the puck bank off of McBain and in

4th Goal For (Malkin): + for

• Kunitz – keeps Gleason honest when entering the zone so the Pens have a 3 on 2 which they isolate into a 2 on 1 as Gleason sticks to Kunitz
• Iginla – intercepts the puck at the neutral zone, feeds it to Malkin entering the zone, gets the puck on net when Malkin returns the pass
• Malkin – feeds the puck back to Iginla, scores on the rebound of Iginla’s shot

5th Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Dupuis – intercepts the puck in the neutral zone and puts it into an empty net

Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

There's a Guy in the Slot? Pens Lose to Carolina, 4-1

Postgame thoughts here: http://thepensnation.com/tpn/uncategorized/thoughts-game-21/

As I make my transition to The PensNation, I'm going to start putting my thoughts on their site and the full +/- assessments on this blog (with links on each page).  Also, if you are going through podcast withdrawal, subscribe to theirs here.  Meanwhile, here are highlights and your goal assessment (if you have no clue what I'm doing with this goal assessment, visit http://www.crosbyftw.com/p/plusminus-spreadsheet.html).

+/- Assessment:

1st Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Niskanen – leads breakout through the neutral zone
• Crosby – takes puck into the offensive zone and passes to Kunitz
• Neal – draws defenders deeper into the zone to open up a passing lane
• Kunitz – one-timer goal

1st Goal Against (E. Staal): - for

• Crosby – left his guy (Staal) after the faceoff and then doesn’t keep up with him going behind or to the net
• Letang – over-pursues Tlusty for a hit instead of playing the puck

2nd Goal Against (Tlusty): - for

• Crosby – doesn’t follow Staal / miscommunicates with Niskanen
• Niskanen – miscommunicates with Crosby / gets caught between Staal and Tlusty

3rd Goal Against (Skinner): - for

• Vitale – turnover in neutral zone
• Adams – turnover in neutral zone
• Bortuzzo – misses puck on a bad step up at the blue line, then has a tough time getting to Dwyer on pass to Skinner
• Martin – doesn’t step up to Skinner in the slot

4th Goal Against (Tlusty): - for

• Bortuzzo – gets manhandled and loses the puck
• Crosby – skates to empty area and doesn’t get back in the play
• Neal – leaves passing lane between Semin and Tlusty
• (Martin was not at fault for this goal, he was tripped on the crease and couldn’t do anything)

Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

Staal Saga Ends, Shero Makes Waves at 2012 Draft

Friday started with Pens fans still reeling from the Staal contract rejection news.  Would he be traded?  Would he be signed?  What could the Pens even get for him?  When would all of it happen?  How was his wedding going?

Oh the NHL Draft...more drama than a family  reunion.
Wait a second...

Well, the answers came flying in quickly on the first day of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, during his wedding.  The draft was simple and ordinary through the first seven picks as only small side deals were made, none involving 1^st rounders.  But then came the Carolina Hurricanes with the 8th pick, quickly followed by the flashing sign of “Trade Alert” on the screen behind Gary Bettman.  The crowd oooed and awwwed before even hearing the trade, and then a bombshell came down.

Carolina receives: Jordan Staal

Pittsburgh receives: The #8 pick overall, Brandon Sutter, and Brian Dumoulin

Within 5 days, the Staal saga turned from far-fetched rumor, to a contract offer, to a contract rejection, to a statement he didn’t want to negotiate right now, to a plane ticket out to Carolina.  Goodbye Jordan, thanks for the memories – especially in 2009, and I hope it didn't ruin your wedding (since he found out during the reception while with half the Pens).

I'll miss your PK, your defensive abilities, your shot...
but most of all, I'll miss your "WOOOOO!!"

The Pens used the #8 pick to draft defenseman Derrick Pouliot (weird, another defenseman) and continued on their regular path after shocking the crowd.  At #22 the Pens took, oh you guessed it, another defenseman in Olli Maatta, and that was it for their draft.

But Ray Shero was not done making waves, rumors started flying again as the draft neared an end.  Shero was getting awfully friendly with the Coyotes table.  The Coyotes were talking about moving Keith Yandle, could this be the move?  No, it wouldn’t be.  Instead, Shero threw out an aftershock by completing the following deal.

Phoenix receives: Zbynek Michalek

Pittsburgh receives: Harrison Ruopp, Marc Cheverie, and a 3^rd round pick (81^st overall)

Who?

Saturday morning and afternoon went quietly, and now we have a new team heading into the week before free agency starts on July 1^st.

One step at a time though, how do we feel about how Day 1 went?  Here are my thoughts:

A moment that Jordan will never have to worry about again.
Also, Marc Staal's new re-occuring nightmare.

Staal Trade:

I flat out love this deal.  Ray Shero had no business getting a decent return on Jordan Staal after the past week’s events as I wrote on Thursday.  Carolina had all of the leverage, Jordan Staal had a lot of leverage, and Ray Shero had very little.  To that, Shero said “eff this” and did everything his way, somehow still getting a great return for Staal.

Logically, Staal said he only wanted to extend with Carolina, and he didn’t want to negotiate with Pittsburgh right now.  Carolina could have waited as long as they wanted to for this trade.  They could have waited a year and signed Staal as a UFA – his intentions were clear.  But somehow, Shero managed to pick up three assets for a player who was already leaving.  Good for you Ray Shero.

I am a big Brandon Sutter fan.  This started in his first full season, largely because the girl I was dating then was a Hurricanes fan so I watched them a lot, but I’ve been a huge fan of him since then.  He is a very smart two-way center.  Sutter is great positionally, shows a high amount of discipline, and still has some offensive touch.  In my head, he has always been Jordan Staal with less shot power and less size (though 6’3, Sutter only weighs 180ish).  He’s not a gritty guy, but he knows where to be at all times and he will intercept a lot of passes and create turnovers.  He’s a perfect true 3^rd line center for the Penguins, though he could generally be a 2^nd line center on many teams.

Has Staal ever done this?  No, no he hasn't.  Point Sutter.

Brian Dumoulin fits the mold of a Ray Shero defenseman lately.  He is a bigger guy at 6’3-6’4, but a very fluid skater and offensively minded.  He is a two time NCAA champion with Boston College and should slide right into WBS at the AHL level this year.

The first round pick was used to take Derrick Pouliot.  Pouliot is a smaller defenseman, only 6’0, but of course is offensively skilled.  He is a solid puck mover and can QB the powerplay in the future perhaps.  It is likely he won’t turn pro for another year though and he has some positioning issues.

In the end, after the interviews, we now know that Staal eventually wanted to play with his brother and the 10 year deal scared him away.  He fully intended to test free agency at this point and wanted to play with Eric eventually. Shero did the best he could with what he had.

Trade Winner:  Carolina.  Let’s be honest, Staal is the best player in this deal and Carolina is immediately better.  Pittsburgh is immediately worse for this deal.  Carolina wins the trade.

Trade Winner under the circumstances: Even.  The Pens simply could not have done any better than they did here.

And then there were two...

1^st Round Pick:

With their original pick in the 1^st round, the Pens selected Olli Maatta at #22 overall (Insert joke about player with aa in his name being a Penguins roster requirement).  Maatta is considered a skilled two way defenseman that is very reliable in his own end first.  He can add some offensive prowess, but his strengths are in the defensive zone.  One thing to note about him – he has spent some time playing with Pens prospect Scott Harrington as well.  Maatta was expected to go higher and this was a great value (and in my opinion, need) pick for Shero.

Michalek Trade

As of right now, I do not like this trade but that depends on what it turns into.  This was clearly a salary dump.  Michalek wasn’t incredibly comfortable in Pittsburgh after this year, Phoenix missed him, and it all worked out to a trade where the Pens picked up no NHL salary in return.

Michalek was the Penguins only true defensive defenseman who was a minutes-eater.  Orpik is not a shutdown defenseman necessarily and is on the decline.  For this reason, I am slightly concerned about trading him away without knowing what we will have in the future to replace him.  He got a bad reputation in Pittsburgh as he was often-injured and struggled at times, but he was also a key reason that the Pens survived the Crosby and Malkin injuries a year ago.  I certainly did not want to see Michalek go.

Thanks for taking the abuse, Z.

Ruopp is a youngster at the age of 19 who still has improvements to make if he wants to be an NHLer.  He is a very tough defenseman, both in terms of hitting and fighting, with pretty much no offensive upside.  I don’t expect much of him, especially given the Pens depth with young defensemen.

Marc Cheverie is a goalie that was drafted by Florida in the 7^th round in 2006.  He is currently in the ECHL and grew up in Cole Harbour with Sidney Crosby.  He adds depth for WBS and Wheeling, but that’s all that needs to be said about him.

The 3^rd round pick was used to take Oscar Sundqvist from Sweden.  He will likely spend another year in Sweden and fill out more before coming to the US.  He’s 6’3 and has an aggressive game, but is too far from the NHL to predict well or scout out for me.

Winner: Phoenix.  They gained a strong defensive defenseman and gave up a lot of nothing.  The Pens may have wanted to dump salary, but there is no question the Coyotes won the deal, especially without knowing what happens with extra room under the salary cap.

So that was it for transactions and the 1^st round pick (I won’t go through all of the picks because frankly, there are better sites for you to read about that on).

The feeling you get when you realize Martin still makes $5 mil
and Staal and Michalek are gone.

How did the Pens fare? Plain and simple, this team is worse than it was going into Friday. The current day roster gave up Jordan Staal and Zbynek Michalek for a return of Brandon Sutter. That is something everyone needs to remember and understand before the free agency frenzy begins. This team is absolutely worse than what it was.

With that being said, now the rumors have begun.  Shero appears to be after both Ryan Suter and Zach Parise.  Parise has a link to Crosby.  Suter has a link to Parise.  The Pens will likely make a hard push on July 1^st for both.  I, along with all of you, hope that it works out.  I hope we get Suter more than Parise because defense is a much bigger issue than scoring on this team.  Parise may be flashy, but the biggest weakness is the defense – Suter is far more valuable to this roster.

But, if the Pens get left in the dust on Suter AND Parise, what happens?  And don’t just argue this by telling me Shero will get it done; actually take the time to think about it.  The free agent market is awful this summer.  Here is a list of your top free agents.  After Parise and Suter, the only guys I would like on that list are P.A. Parenteau, Bryan Allen, Jason Garrison, and that’s it.  Don't forget 29 other GMs are in on this too.

With Craig Adams, Sutter, and Parise, the Pens may
finally surpass most teams in literacy.

If Shero finds a good use for the cap room he just created, then the Pens will ultimately look back at the 2012 Draft as a win.  But it’s not a win until that has happened, so stay tuned for a wild July 1st, and hope to everything you believe in that the Pens get who they want.  Because if not...

The Jordan Staal Saga

For anyone who cares about where Jordan Staal will call home in the future, this week has been a crazy one.  FYI – that group includes Pens fans, NHL media, some NHL fans, and oh yeah, his fiancé that he will marry today.

Sorry puck bunnies, he's off the market.
Sorry Pens fans, he might be on the market.

It all began on this past Monday, when the Trib’s Rob Rossi reported that he had heard Carolina made a rough offer of Brandon Sutter, Justin Faulk, and the 8th overall pick for Jordan Staal. Fan reaction went crazy, which was rather hilarious to watch. Canes fans felt they were giving up too much. Pens fans felt it wasn’t enough. Regardless, the questions about Staal’s future went into overdrive. (Personally, I’d take that deal in a heartbeat.)

There had been several rumors and touchy-feely stories suggesting that Jordan would like to play in Carolina with his brother Eric and that Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford was looking for a player of Jordan’s talents (without naming him, to avoid tampering), but nothing was concrete about anyone’s intentions until Rossi came out with that gem.

Maybe Jordan can teach Eric about positioning.

Less than 48 hours later, Dave Molinari of the PG began tweeting out a different story.  It was one that included a talk with Pens GM Ray Shero.  Amongst the topics: Staal hadn’t told the Pens he wanted to leave, Shero was not negotiating trades even though teams were interested, and Shero wanted to sign Staal (not trade him).  The Trib joined in with the Shero talk and all of the news outlets finally reported that Shero intends to sign Staal and that the masses could calm down now.

The masses did calm down, and Pittsburgh began to prepare for the draft before abruptly being shocked yet again within 48 hours.  TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the worldwide leader in hockey transactions as far as I’m concerned, tweeted out that Staal turned down a 10 year (rumored to be $60 million) deal and told the Penguins he did not want to negotiate now.  His agent would not say more than he did not want to negotiate a contract extension at this time, leaving the NHL masses to start speculating where he wants to go again. 

As of right now, we are left with rumors that Jordan is open to negotiating with Carolina if a trade can be made...but no word on anything else, including the Penguins.

So Jordan, why do you not want to negotiate a contract right now?  Is it because you are a Top 2 center stuck in a 3^rd center’s role?  Maybe you want to go play with Eric?  Perhaps you just want to wait and see what your options are?  Maybe it’s even because you’re getting married in a matter of hours?!?  (I don’t think it’s the latter one, if that was the case there wouldn’t have been a rejection leaked, just no word at all).

Top Pens scorer of the playoffs, doesn't want to stay?

Everything from here on is just my speculation and thoughts:

First off, this news does nothing but hurt Shero’s poker hand a little bit.  Staal’s trade value drops immediately if he won’t negotiate a deal before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Now there are many paths this could take:

1) Shero feels the need to trade Staal now because he is getting the best offers he thinks he may get.  Staal is traded this offseason, life goes on.

2) The Pens continue to negotiate with Staal later this summer and sign him before the season starts.

3) The Pens decide to keep him for his value on the ice and make one last strong push for a Cup with their 3 center system.  Staal either:

a) re-signs next June before becoming a UFA,

b) has his rights traded for a mid to late round draft pick before July 1^st, or

c) walks for nothing on July 1^st.

4) The Pens keep him but decide to trade him at the deadline due to his performance, their performance, or the idea of getting a return on him.  His value will be diminished greatly unless traded to a contender who can sign him long term.

5) Wanting to maximize trade value, the Pens trade Staal this summer with the intentions of trying to bring him back as a UFA next summer.  It is rare, but this move has happened before (more likely for veterans at the trade deadline). 

If I was betting on this, I would certainly favor either 1) or 2) and I would have to be leaning 1) pretty heavily.  Shero has a team to assemble for next year, a captain to re-sign to a long term extension, and a new CBA and potential salary cap to worry about.  He is not going to let Staal sit in the driver’s seat.  The last time he let a player into the driver’s seat, Marian Hossa turned down a long term deal to go to Detroit.  So what do I think Shero will do?  I think he will do what is best for his franchise, which likely amounts to trading Staal this summer rather than risk no return on a very valuable asset.

For those of you that thought Sutter, Faulk, and 1^st rounder weren’t enough for Staal? – get ready for a lower return.  The Pens are destined to lose any possible deal on the sheer fact that Staal will be the best player involved.  Let’s just hope Shero can get a return that helps us win another Cup.

And FYI – I want Staal to stay, I’m a big fan of keeping him around.  I just don’t see that being a likely path unless he decides he’s willing to negotiate a long term deal soon.

EDIT - another interesting note, per Dejan Kovacevic of the Trib...the Pens leaked the news to the media, not Staal's camp.  That's a very interesting move for a team that just hurt their own trade value if that's the case.