Jon Pennline —
The Penguins are currently eight points ahead of the Boston Bruins for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Even more impressive, they are seventeen points ahead of the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers in the race to claim the first Metropolitan Division championship in league history.
And yet, that all means diddly squat.
Why? Because this team has nearly reverted back to the 2012 Penguins, a team that filled the net but often hung their goaltender out to dry.
Yes, the goal differential is awesome (best in the East and fourth best in the NHL). And, yes the Penguins have been collecting points left and right regardless of who they have played. But we’ve seen this happen before and the end result is still an early exit in the playoffs.
The problem isn’t a lack of talent on the blue line but rather a lack of discipline; more specifically, Brooks Oprik and Kris Letang are the two major issues on this team.
With Orpik, you don’t have to look any further than the game against the Edmonton Oilers this past Friday. The Oilers scored the game-tying goal when Orpik left his position to try and make a huge hit. In doing so, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins found Taylor Hall wide open in the middle of slot. When Orpik isn’t waving the stick around, or taking himself out of position to make irrelevant hits, he’s standing in front of his own net, watching the play transpire.
And yet, he’s a breath of fresh air compared to what the defense has been getting from Letang.
In terms of raw talent and pure athleticism, you could argue Letang is one of the best in hockey. He can skate, hit, pass, shoot like an elite defenseman. Unfortunately, his hockey intelligence leaves something to be desired.
Letang missed almost a month with an infected elbow and when he returned, he picked up right where he normally leaves off. On his first shift, Letang pinched in the offensive zone on a play that had no chance of developing. The puck went the other way and before you knew it, Evander Kane was off on a breakaway.
That is the biggest problem with Kris Letang. He tries to do too much and it gets him in trouble.
If Letang would focus on defense as a priority, and understood that a team with two of the top players in the world doesn’t need someone to try and be Paul Coffey, he would likely be a better defenseman.
Look, it’s tough to rain on the parade, especially when the team is winning at such an amazing rate. But we’ve all seen this before and it is pretty obvious that the goal is to win the Stanley Cup, not just be champions of the worst division in hockey. The Penguins are 4-0-1 in their last five games, but they have given up sixteen goals in that span.
So what do the Penguins do? They can’t trade Letang after giving him such a monster contract and Brooks Orpik won’t be moved since he’s a favorite of Dan Bylsma. What they can do, however, is limit the minutes for both players every game. Instead of having Kris Letang on the ice for 27-28 minutes, cut it down to 22 minutes and let the other defensemen share time. The plus side of this unit is that they are extremely deep; use it.
Instead, Bylsma will likely continue to give Letang an obscene amount of ice time and Brooks Orpik will be one of the main penalty killers. The cycle will repeat as it has for the last five seasons.
Michael Waterloo —
In first place by eight games in the Eastern Conference and up by 17 points in the Metropolitan Division.
Seems like everything is find, doesn’t it?
But, of course, we have to find something to complain about, so why not tackle the defense of the Pittsburgh Penguins?
The Penguins have a unit that has so much talent, that they can send down a top-four defensemen because, well, they can.
Simon Despres was recently sent down, signaling the return of Paul Martin from his leg injury. That begs the question that when the Penguins are fully healthy, is their defense good enough to lead them to a Stanley Cup win?
The answer in undoubtedly yes, in my mind.
With a top six of Kris Letang, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi, Matt Niskanen and Olli Maatta, can you name a better defensive corpse in the league? No? OK, didn’t think so.
The big glaring holes, as Mr. Pennline mentioned, are Orpik and Letang. Mind you, those “holes” are a member of Team USA and a Norris Trophy finalist. Now, those recognitions are enough to win an argument alone, I get it, but they can’t be ignored either.
The issue with Letang is, in my opinion, he’s been trying to do too much since signing the big offseason contract. He’s as athletically gifted as any hockey player, or athlete, for that matter, but it’s mental with him. Against Washington, he set the Capitals up for their first goal with yet another bonehead play.
But, on the other side of the ice, he showed what he can do, as he tied up the game to make it Letang 1 – Penguins 1. Sure, the pass by Sidney Crosby was excellent, but Letang showed what he can do as a two-way player. The key is for him to slow down and just do what he’s supposed to do.
Pairing him Scuderi, although he’s looked his age a bit this year, is the key for the Pens. Scuderi is a defensive specialist, and can pick up the slack that Letang gives on defense.
The same goes with Martin and Orpik. You could make an argument that Martin has been the MVP of the team, when healthy, other than Sidney Crosby. It took a couple of years, but Martin showed his talent last year for the Penguins.
Then, you have the third pairing of Niskanen and Maatta. Remember how everyone wanted Niskanen traded during the offseason for cap relief? Yeah, cool story, bro.
All he’s done since then is be on the ice for 45 of the Penguins 96 goals, and has only been on for 22 goals allowed. Not too shabby, if you ask me. Maatta showed what he can do against the Capitals, as well, with his late goal.
The Pens defense has a nice blend of outlet passing, defensive zone awareness and mobility, that they are able to attack both sides of the ice, and protect their net.
The Pens are plus-16 on the season (ninth-best) and have a 2.40 goals against (10th-best) this season. Say what you will about the defensive play of Orpik and Letang, but when healthy, focused and with minutes split up more (I agree with Pennline there), the Pens defensive is more than suited to carry them to another Stanley Cup.
