Follow me on twitter
The decision to let Matt Cooke walk and sign with Minnesota has left a void on the Penguins third line. In the past year the Penguins have seen Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy, and Matt Cooke all leave the team. The third line used to be the least of the Penguins concerns each year. The Penguins had one of the best third lines in hockey. Now the Penguins third line is one of the question marks.
Can Brandon Sutter step his game up and become stronger on the puck? During the playoffs it became clear that he is not anywhere close to being as strong on the puck as the man he replaced (Staal). While nobody expects him to be Jordan Staal, Sutter does need to improve his ability to win puck battles along the boards.
Jokinen is a jack of all trades, but can he master his third line role for the Penguins?
At least with Sutter and Joknien you know that they are going to be given the opportunity to be part of the solution for the third line. Who is going to get the opportunity for Cooke's empty spot?
After picking through the potential UFA's still remaining only two players stood out to me. Dan Cleary, who Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette said the Penguins were no longer interested in, and Mason Raymond.
Raymond has been rumored to be in talks with the Calgary Flames, but he has still yet to sign with any team.
Mason Raymond's stats are pretty similar from an offensive standpoint when compared to Matt Cooke's over the past number of years. During Matt Cookes tenure with the Penguins (2008-2013) he played in 352 games and had 150 points. That measures out to .426 points per game.
During that same time period in Vancouver Mason Raymond played in 325 games and had 157 points. That is a .483 points per game average.
Seeing as though their offensive numbers are similar enough I wanted to check out what each player's possession numbers have looked like for the past 5 seasons.
The metric that I looked at was Fenwick For (5v5 close)%. This is a percentage measurement of the Fenwick possession stat. Fenwick is the amount of shots plus the amount of missed shots towards the net. Blocked shots are not included in the data.
The "5v5 close" part of the stat means that the data was taken from even strength play when the game is tied or within 1 goal in the first and second periods or tied in the third period. I find that this cross section of data is more useful because it gives a more true value. By taking stats from when the game is still in the balance you eliminate the possibility of score effects that can happen in blowout games, which skews the data.
With that explanation out of the way here is how the two players have done during the previous 5 seasons (2008-2013)
Matt Cooke FF% .504
Mason Raymond FF% .522
The statistics as well as the definitions are courtesy of
Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com
Both players have done a good job with their possession numbers during this time frame. By being above 50% it shows that the puck is flying at the opposition's net with more frequency than it is going towards their own, obviously a good thing. Raymond's numbers may be higher because he has had some top 6 duty in Vancouver playing with Ryan Kesler, but they are good numbers regardless.
Now the all important issue of money. Mason Raymond is coming off of a contract that paid him 2.275M. It was a one year deal. Would Raymond be willing to take another 1 year deal in that 1.7-2.0M range?
Would Ray Shero even have interest in Raymond?
If Shero does not have interest in a player like Raymond I do not see other options available via free agency for the third line. The other option would be to explore finding Cooke's replacement via trade. For this article I will just stick to the scope of free agency.
Should the Penguins fill Cooke's spot with another former Canuck? Mason Raymond, yes or no?
Thanks for reading!
You can find my NON-Penguin related articles over at
HockeyHurts.com
Follow me on twitter
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»