With the Penguins a little more than 15% through their 2013-2014 season I wanted to take a look at how Head Coach Dan Bylsma has been utilizing his roster.
The number one job of a coach is to put their players in the best position to succeed. Sometimes injuries play a role in that decision making process and you find players playing out of position. Chuck Kobasew, Tanner Glass, and Craig Adams come to mind as examples from this year.
For the most part I think Dan Bylsma has done a decent job with how he utilizes the talent on the Penguins. Below you are going to see player usage charts for both the forwards and the defense units. These charts show how a coach is using a player and can show what kind of role the coach has given each player.
The X axis shows offensive zone starting percentage. If a player has a high OZ% it can mean that the coach is trying to get a lot of offense from a start player IE: Malkin or it could mean they are trying to protect that player IE: Jayson Megna.
The Y axis shows the relative quality of competition. This helps us further understand the role of the player. If a player has low quality of competition and high offensive zone starting percentages that means the coach is protecting that player. If a player has a higher quality of competition and a low offensive zone starting percentage that means the coach is most likely using that player in a shutdown role.
Here is a visual example of what the chart data represents (Courtesy of Rob Vollman’s Hockey Abstract)
Here is the Penguins forward usage chart so far in the 2013-2014 season:
The first thing that I notice is that the Crosby line is being used in a defensively responsible role. That makes their offensive output all the more impressive and that is why they are one of the best lines in all of hockey. They are able to handle the heavy defense load as well as produce at an extremely high level offensively.
With the luxury of having a such a quality line Bylsma is then able to afford his other star center with some advantageous situations to play in. The Crosby line opens up the ability to give Evgeni Malkin very high OZ% which puts him in a spot to be more successful offensively. The offensive numbers haven’t taken off yet this year for Malkin, but when James Neal comes back and Malkin has a well balanced line, the way Bylsma uses him will lead to the impressive offensive numbers we have grown accustomed to.
To no surprise Bylsma is careful with his younger forwards. Beau Bennett and Jayson Megna are given the most protected minutes on the team. That isn’t a bad thing for younger players trying to get their footing in the league.
One thing I expect to change when the Penguins forward unit gets healthier is that Brandon Sutter’s quality of competition will go up. Given that the third line has been littered with 4th line players this year I don’t think Bylsma has trusted the Sutter line the same way he would if they were healthy. The Crosby line will probably be given a little relief defensively when Bennett and Neal come back as a result.
The 4th line guys are getting low OZ% and are not playing against top competition, that certainly makes sense as they play limited minutes. In theory the 4th line is classically used as an opportunity to give the other 3 lines a rest without being a liability.
I think the way Bylsma uses his forward lineup makes logical sense and he should continue to stay the course moving forward.
Here is the defensive usage chart:
Brooks Orpik and Paul Martin continue to be the Penguins shutdown pair for the Penguins. Rob Scuderi who is thought to be a shutdown defenseman has not been utilized in that role just yet. I think a lot of that has had to do with the Letang injury. Dan Bylsma was probably hesitant to use NIskanen in that kind of role after his performance in the playoffs last year.
Kris Letang since returning has been used in a way more defensive role than he has in the past. This makes me believe that when Rob Scuderi comes back that the Letang/Scuderi pairing will be giving some significant relief to the Orpik/Martin pairing which has been long overdue.
Bylsma treats the young defensemen much like he does the young forwards. He attempts to protect the younger players. Olli Maatta is given a lot of offensive zone starts and slightly easier competition. Robert Bortuzzo and Deryk Engelland are used in a very similar fashion, higher offensive zone starts and the lowest quality of competition amongst Penguin defenders. The key difference between Engelland and Bortuzzo is that Bortuzzo is a positive possession player in an identical role and Engelland is the worst possession player amongst the defense corp.
I hope that provides a window into how the Penguin players have been utilized so far this year. From where I stand it all makes logical sense and the Penguins coaching staff is putting their players in the best possible scenarios to succeed. Good stuff. Now all that is left is for the Penguins to get healthy.
Thanks for reading!
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