Now that the dust has settled and the Pittsburgh Penguins are pretty much done free agent shopping, it is a good time to look at the roles of some of the new additions, especially in terms of newly signed defenseman Christian Ehrhoff.
More specifically I wonder if the Penguins’ power play will be even better with the addition of the 32-year old veteran.
There’s a good chance that it will.
Those are lofty expectations considering that the Pens led the NHL in power play percentage last season, connecting at a 23.4 percent clip during the regular season.
The expectations are even bigger considering that Matt Niskanen is now wearing a Washington Capitals sweater.
Niskanen turned out to be a key part of the Pens’ power play last season, finishing the year with 15 points on the PP, good for sixth on the team. Niskanen also led the Pens in PP points during the postseason with six.
The fact that Niskanen played a key role on Pittsburgh’s successful power play unit was also a big factor in the Capitals willingness to throw $40.25 million Niskanen’s way.
But in Ehrhoff, the Pens get a power play veteran, who has been extremely effective when his team has had the man advantage.
Paul Martin is certainly a candidate to share top power play honors with Kris Letang, and yes the Pens should use two defensemen on the power play, but I like what Ehrhoff can bring to the table.
Ehrhoff has more of an offensive game and an outstanding slap shot that, paired with Letang and a trio of outstanding forwards, should lead to instant rewards next season.
He only had 12 power play points last season, but look more closely and that wasn’t a bad mark for a horrible Buffalo Sabres team. In actuality it was the third best mark on the Buffalo team.
All you have to do is take a look back to the 2010-11 season when Ehrhoff was in Vancouver. He was a key cog in the Canucks’ PP and finished fourth in the NHL among defensemen in power points.
The similarities is that season Ehrhoff manned a power play that featured the Sedin brothers and Ryan Kesler up front. In Pittsburgh he gets to go to work with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and likely Chris Kunitz as the top forwards on the power play.
That is a big step up from Cody Hodgson, Steve Ott and Tyler Ennis.
At the end of the day, while the Penguins certainly will miss the production with the man advantage that Niskanen gave them, there is a real good chance that the power play will be even better with a veteran like Ehrhoff.
I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see him net 25-plus power play points on the season if he is indeed on the top unit.
Now if we could just eliminate Letang’s countless turnovers, the Penguins power play could be outstanding in 2015.
Phot Credit: Getty Images
