Bleacher Report - Articles by Richard Newpol

Broken Wings: Why Can't the Pittsburgh Penguins Fly?

Richard Newpol — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:05:41 -0500

With the top players in the game, including the NHL's leading scorer, some expected the Pens to trample the East—so what's the deal?

A couple weeks ago, we wrote about the impact of goaltender Fleury's return (see 'Fleury to the Rescue?'). As expected, he did provide a bit of a spark, but his return has not turned the Pens around. In the previous analysis, it was pointed out that a lack of physical presence around the net is limiting the scoring options the Pens have.

In fact, that is a tone you hear even from Penguins players—when a player talks about the "willingness to play hard" or "paying the price" to get goals, that is generally what they mean. Because if you hang around the opponent's net, you are going to get beat upon—sticks and elbows have a funny way of finding your hands and face with startling frequency in that cozy crease.

It's not that the Penguins aren't willing to pay the price—hey, every NHL player has already paid a physical price just to play the game—it's just that they don't seem to have any players who are good at that part of the game. Do the names Gary Roberts, Ryan Malone, and Georges LaRaque sound familiar?

Unlike some commentators, I am not second-guessing the Pens for not re-signing any of those guys. I have no doubt that GM Ray Shero would have loved to keep all the same players from the Stanley Cup runner-up team of last year, but there's that darn salary cap we all wanted so badly. So now what? Both Shero and Coach Therrien have publicly supported the current cast of players, even as lineup changes continue. (Do they really have a choice?) The truth is, the Penguins are losing their identity.

They should be the hot young team, hungry and talented, with just enough experience to make them lethal. However, injuries and personnel turnover have conspired to produce a team that has been called weak and easy to play against. You just know that can't sit well with Mr. Crosby and company. Their current slump can't be totally blamed on poor goal-tending (although there was some of that), lackluster effort, or substantial new injuries (that we know of).

Nope, what has happened is that the razor-thin margin between winning and losing in the NHL is just above the heads of this young team with its current cast. Expect to see a new face or two in the lineup at some point to add that grit around the goal, and then when all the key Penguins (Sergei Gonchar, anyone?) get healthy, we may see the team everyone expected to see this year.

The Penguins know what they have to do, and there are plenty of games left to play. Look for the Pens to make a few player changes, finish the season strong, and be a force in the playoffs once again.

Marc-Andre Fleury to the Rescue?

Richard Newpol — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:43:09 -0500

Here we are, about a third of the way through the season, and some Penguins fans are getting nervous.

The Pens seem to be falling a bit short of expectations, and injury problems are plaguing them again, for the second season in a row.

Backup goalie Dany Sabourin, whose play has been stellar at times, has looked downright mortal lately.

The return of Marc-Andre Fleury can't come soon enough. He has already missed more games than observers expected, when he sustained an undisclosed injury after the win against Buffalo on Nov. 15.

At the time, there was little reason for concern; the Penguins were hot, confidence in Sabourin was high, and the Pens seemed to be coasting along. The team was hardly missing the defensive contributions of Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, both out due to injury.

But now the Pens are stumbling a bit, losing leads, and generating lackluster play. Fans are shifting in their seats as the Pens are slipping in the standings, hoping that this slump is a short one.

When Fleury went down, it didn't seem that he would be out for very long—an undisclosed lower body injury that didn't even get him yanked from the game in which it occurred couldn't be too serious, right?

The "mystery" injury seems to have turned into a moderate groin pull—a tricky injury to rehab for a goalie—but his return is finally imminent. Barring a setback in practice, he should start when the Pens meet Atlanta on Thursday (Dec. 18).

So now what? Dany Sabourin is a capable backup, and even though he struggled a bit at times as the fill-in starter, he isn't solely to be blamed for most of the losses the Pens have incurred with him in the net.

Side Note: Baby Pens goalie John Curry raised his stock value considerably, with strong performances during his first NHL stint. Figuring out what to do with him might be a pleasant problem for GM Ray Shero after the season.

Most hockey analysts (and this writer) believe the Pens' poor showings have more to do with basic hockey: lack of muscle in front of the net on both ends of the ice. Here is where the Pens miss Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone, not to mention a healthy Hal Gill.

The return of Fleury will obviously be a morale boost and should inject a bit more jump in the team for a few games. But in the long term, Shero may have to help Coach Michel Therrien find ways to beef up the Penguins' presence around the net.

Besides having an all-world goalie in net, one of the best ways to improve the number of goals you give up is to posses the puck more. It's no secret that the Penguins have an astonishing amount of talent up front, but there is a flip side.

When elite players enter the zone they try to make elite plays—i.e, "tic-tac-toe" plays—and that's a good thing.

However, grinders are the guys that will hold the puck in the offensive zone by chipping it deep, forechecking hard, and generally outworking the opponents in the corners. All this while someone body-wrestles his way in front of the net, looking for table scraps—that is a rebound or a deflection.

While all that is going on, your goalie is not having to block shots. Although you might see Crosby and sometimes Malkin working hard in the corners, that kind of play is not the strength of the Penguins' top two lines, and it shouldn't be.

The problem for the Penguins might be more of a PR one. They are really good at highlight reel hockey—and I for one can never get enough of that—but the blue-collar part of their game needs some work.

Basically, it is time for the Penguins' third and fourth lines to start stepping up and owning the puck, to go along with the occasional brick wall performance needed in net, to produce consistent winning hockey.

So here is the cure for what ails the Penguins: a large dose of grit, about 220 pounds of muscle up front, more dirty goals, and yes, a dash of Fleury.

Will the Pittsburgh Penguins Express Derail Early in 2008?

Richard Newpol — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:38:41 -0400

Was it really only two seasons ago that the hockey world gave the Pittsburgh Penguins so little chance of making the playoffs?

Coming off a horrible season, the loss of veterans, and the re-retirement of Mario Lemieux, it looked like playoff contention might be a couple of years away for the talented-but-young next generation of Penguins.

After a slow start in 2006, the Penguins caught fire down the stretch. As the regular season wrapped up, they made the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference. Although they were rudely dispatched in the first round by an experienced and determined Ottawa Senators team that went on to the Stanley Cup Finals, the vast improvement over the previous year was downright historic.

By 2007, it was clear that the young guns had bought into Coach Michel Therrien's system and that Pittsburgh was on the rise—so much so that the fans were elbowing for room on the shiny new Penguins Bandwagon.

Ticket sales shot up—way up—the next year, leading to a first-ever waiting list for Penguins Season Tickets. The stated goal in 2007 was contending for a Cup. Once unthinkable, that goal now seemed realistic, at least to the team and its fans—even if a bit of a stretch to everyone else.

Unexpectedly perhaps, Pittsburgh stumbled out of the gate last season. The talk quickly shifted from winning the Cup to just making the playoffs. Then, when Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury were both lost for an extended time, the mainstream thinking was that they just had to find a way to hold on to their dwindling playoff hopes until the superstars could return.

Hockey analysts concluded that the Penguins would not match the regular-season record from the year before, and suggested the playoffs might slip away.

However, Pittsburgh flourished during the next month or so, playing so well that some folks actually wondered if the return of Crosby and Fleury might disrupt that success. I would venture to say that 100 percent of coaches in the league would be willing to take that chance.

The final twist in the eventual success story of the 2007 Penguins was the last-minute acquisition of Marian Hossa to play alongside Sidney Crosby. That brilliant trade paid dividends in the playoffs, and Pittsburgh stormed through the Eastern Conference with a vengeance, only to fall in the end to the stronger and vastly more experienced Detroit Red Wings.

Even though the Pens seemed to get their feet under them after Game Two of that series, the eventual outcome was never really in doubt.

At the time, some folks questioned the Hossa deal, and when Hossa signed with the Red Wings after last season, they questioned it even more. Make no mistake—put that deal squarely in the "brilliant" bucket. Pittsburgh didn't lose anyone significant in their near-term plans except Colby Armstrong—the true cost of the deal—but how can you put a price on the experience gained rumbling through the Eastern Conference playoffs and playing for the Stanley Cup?

Simply put, the value of that experience is huge. If they learned about playoff hockey in 2007 against Ottawa, think what they learned about Stanley Cup hockey facing Detroit.

Here comes 2008-09, and with it, even higher expectations. Anything short of a Stanley Cup victory parade might be seen as a disappointment, given the rapid rise to the top for these Penguins. Last season's Stanley Cup Finals loss is still a bitter taste in the mouths of these hungry young players, and Sidney Crosby makes no effort to hide it.

So will we see a 10-0 start to this season's campaign? Doubtful. It is more likely we will see another slow start for Pittsburgh as the team shakes off the short offseason, the cross-continental travel to start the regular season, and gets used to the new faces in its lineup.

Nonetheless, the Penguins are a better team right now than they were a year ago. Not so much in personnel or talent, but in experience and motivation.

Last year, there were lingering questions about Marc-Andre Fleury, a suspect defensive corps, and as to how long it would take the team to mature into a true contender. Those questions are history, and the taste of the Stanley Cup Finals has made this team downright bloodthirsty.

Assuming a few more exceptional personnel moves during the season from general manager Ray Shero, and you have to consider Pittsburgh as the favorites to win the East again. Now that may be an easy pick right now, but let's see who sticks to that pick two months from now if the Pens stumble out of the gate.

I, for one, will stay the course, even if there happens to be considerably more legroom on the Penguins Bandwagon after a dozen games are in the books.