Throughout the Penguins offseason, most of the attention of the fans, the media and the front office was the team’s group of forwards. General manager Jim Rutherford took great strides forward in his second offseason with the club, bringing Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino, Sergei Plotnikov, Eric Fehr and Matt Cullen to an already-talented group of forwards.
What wasn’t addressed was the team’s defense. Through five preseason games, it seems that it may be an issue. They’ve given up 12 goals in the last three games, against potential playoff opponents in Detroit, Columbus and Montreal.
The defensive corps was expected to have growing pains, but none of the trio of young defenders trying to carve out a niche – Adam Clendening, Brian Dumoulin and Derrick Pouliot – has done anything so far to impress the coaching staff.
“It’s still little details in the game that our defense have to be better at,” head coach Mike Johnston said on Monday, while specifically addressing Pouliot. “I thought they got caught on the wrong side of the puck at times. On our breakouts, they weren’t clean. There wasn’t good communication between (defensemen).”
The biggest problem that the Pens have is that when they decided to go with a youth movement on defense, their cap situation didn’t allow for a Plan B.
Veterans Rob Scuderi and Sergei Gonchar haven’t done much to prove that they’ve still got it. The rest of the team’s depth is just that, players that probably belong in the minors.
With that being said, Rutherford should be proactive in attempting to find a solution on defense. At this time of year, as general managers face tough decisions on which players will make their squads and which players will not, a serviceable veteran will often become available through trade or waivers.
A year ago at this time, defensemen Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy were traded in a pair of deals by teams seeking cap relief and Nate Prosser was claimed on waivers.
It doesn’t have to be a major move, but if Rutherford can give Johnston a better option on the blue line, it will help both the team and the development of the team’s young players.
Photo credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
