The Pittsburgh Penguins announced the signing of Sergei Gonchar to a professional tryout contract in early August, giving the veteran blueliner a chance to earn a spot on the final roster.
While Gonchar enjoyed five productive seasons in Pittsburgh, scoring 259 points in 322 games and winning a Stanley Cup in 2009, at 41 years old, the team needs to break the habit of recycling veteran players and instead, finally allow a younger defensive corps to develop.
With the innate ability to develop offense, Gonchar helped stabilize the Penguins powerplay and scored 37 goals on the man advantage from 2005–10, but boasts only 10 powerplay goals in the last five seasons and none since 2012–13. The argument for bringing back Gonchar to quarterback the powerplay begs the question of whether or not the Russian still possesses the ability to play on, let alone run, the powerplay.
After 21 NHL seasons, Gonchar obviously brings a wealth of experience and a veteran presence to the locker room, but Rob Scuderi and the anticipated return of Pascal Dupuis already give the Penguins veteran leadership up front and on the back end. And keep in mind, Malkin and Crosby turned 29 and 28 in the offseason–not exactly kids anymore.
After recording 14 points in 48 games last season between the Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens, Gonchar currently ranks 16th overall in NHL history in points scored by defenders. Of the 15 ahead of Gonchar, only Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios played at or past 41 years old. Last season, Gonchar finished with a lower points per game average compared to the final season of any of the defenders in the top 15.
Contracts bring about yet another issue. The Penguins roster already includes six one way deals on defense in Kris Letang, Scuderi, Ian Cole, Ben Lovejoy, Brian Dumoulin and Tim Erixon. Olli Maatta makes seven spots on the blue line essentially locked, unless the team makes a trade or tries to let Erixon slip through waivers. Meanwhile, Derrick Pouliot, a highly touted prospect needs to start gaining NHL experience. Adding Gonchar to the roster only gives Pouliot another obstacle.
Interestingly, as a rookie with the Washington Capitals in the 1994–95 season, Gonchar scored two goals and finished with seven points in 31 games. Last season as a rookie, Pouliot scored two goals and finished with seven points in 34 games. Though not accounting for several variables, the numbers show Pouliot, the 2012 eighth overall pick, to be about on par with Gonchar as a rookie, further indicating a need to giving Pouliot a roster spot to develop, hopefully, into the next Sergei Gonchar.
Comparing the two last season, Gonchar bested Pouliot in point shares, or the estimated number of points created by the player, last season at 3.0 to 0.6, but Pouliot finished with positive Corsi and Fenwick ratings while Gonchar finished with negative ratings, meaning the Penguins generated offense to a higher degree with Pouliot on the ice while Gonchar spent higher amounts of time in the defensive end.
The bottom line is that Gonchar fills no need on the roster and needs to hang ‘em up on a successful, Hall of Fame-worthy, career.
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