New Players are Welcomed Additions to the Team

These players have definitely made the Penguins better as a team and will most definitely be a part of taking our Pens to the playoffs [SCF] this year!

Alex Goligoski

Goligoski has finally proved he deserves a spot on the Penguins roster at training camp this season and finally made it to the NHL. Goligoski has significantly contributed to the team's power-play and the Pens are very much dependent on his skills since he currently plays the left point on their top power-play unit. He has also scored 2 of the Penguins 8 power-play goals so far this season and averages 5:54 of PP time per game which is more than any other Penguin except for, of course, captain Sidney Crosby (averages 6:12).

Mike Zigomanis

Nobody really knew much about this guy until Penguins GM, Ray Shero, picked him up from the Phoenix Coyotes for "future considerations." What a gem this one turned out to be! He was picked up for the very reason we are thanking Shero now for this "sleeper" trade: he has made the Penguins a better face-off team which is really quite remarkable considering they were last in the league finishing last season with a 46.1 winning percentage (especially knowing they were ranked 11th in the league so far this season going into last Monday's game against the Bruins - that's 52.2% of face-offs won)!! Even though Zigomanis is a major part of why the Penguins have become better at winning face-offs, other Penguins who actively take face-offs have also elevated their performance in this area as well according to PPG. Players such as Max Talbot (58.2%, 45% last season, Sidney Crosby (55.4%, 51.4% last season, and Jordan Staal (43.5%, 42.2% last season) appear to have a noticeable difference in winning face-offs.