James Neal and Beau Bennett have returned to the Penguins lineup. The allocation of talent amongst the forward ranks gets a huge boost because of their presence. For the past few weeks the Penguins have been icing what amounts to two fourth lines because of the injury situation. This has resulted in an overwhelming burden for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to carry. Without secondary scoring it has been up to the two superstars to provide much of the offense. So far Crosby has carried more of the weight than Malkin has, but moving forward they should both get some help.
The return of James Neal is an obvious boost to Evgeni Malkin who has clearly missed his goal scoring right winger. Malkin’s offensive numbers will always be under intense scrutiny because of his cap hit, but it is Brandon Sutter who might be the difference for the Penguins if they are going to make a legitimate deep run in the playoffs.
Brandon Sutter’s start to his Penguins career has been unique. Last year he had an extremely limited training camp with the lockout shortened season and at times was leaned upon heavily when he was thrusted into #2 center role when Crosby broke his jaw.
This season he was afforded a full training camp but he lost longtime Penguins third liners Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy. Losing that proven third line talent was compounded by the fact that the injury bug hit the Penguins forward unit. Sutter was then consistently paired with what should be the Penguins fourth line wingers (Glass and Adams). Without third line caliber wingers it has been tough to gauge if Sutter is ready to take the next step in trying to replace Jordan Staal’s third line role.
Here are some of the numbers from Brandon Sutter’s sample size with Pittsburgh as well as Jordan Staal’s last year as a Penguin:
As we look at the numbers we can see that Sutter was catapulted into the lockdown third line center role in his first year with the Penguins. He played against identical competition that Jordan Staal did and had similar linemates. The big difference is in the possession numbers and the offensive production. Dan Bylsma gave Brandon Sutter a full 10% less offensive zone faceoffs than Staal. Jordan Staal is the better offensive player and he was able to double up Brandon Sutter’s offensive output on a points per game basis, hence getting a 10 year 60M contract. Both Sutter and Staal experienced stretches of time where they were the #2 center on the team because of extended injuries to Sidney Crosby.
Looking at the present season we see that Sutter is still struggling with his possession numbers, but has seen a drop in the quality of competition that he has faced. Normally that would be a red flag and indicate that a player is regressing, but when we take into consideration that Sutter has not received properly talented wingers to this point, you can understand why those numbers are the way they are.
Dan Bylsma has elected to not use Sutter in the shutdown role so far this season because of the lack of capable wingers at his disposal. One benefit of facing lesser competition has been the fact that Sutter is seeing more goals being scored when he has been on the ice in close games than have been going in his net.
The flip side of Sutter not being used in a shutdown role has been the fact that Crosby’s line has been used more defensively. You could argue that style of deployment is one of the reasons that Crosby has seen a dip in his offense the past few games.
What I am looking forward to is the Penguins getting back to a third line that is able to play sound defensively while also providing some secondary scoring. This should lessen the burden on Crosby’s line defensively and free up some room for them to dominate at even strength again.
Beau Bennett’s return should help out the third line a lot in allowing this change to happen. For all the good things that Cooke and Kennedy did for the Penguins, neither of them possess the quality puck skills that Bennett has. Bennett is sound defensively and should not pose a liability in his own end. Giving Sutter a player with quality puck skills should also provide a boost to his points per game average. We have seen Sutter flash his offensive talent in spots with his impressive snap shot goals in the past. Bennett should provide some time and space for Sutter to get more of those shots off.
As for the other spot on the third line, Dan Bylsma will most likely use a rotation of Matt D’Agostini, Jayson Megna, and Chuck Kobasew. I personally would like to see Megna take the reins for a stretch of time to see if he can be a full time answer in that role. Megna showed decent speed and the ability to make simple, yet effective plays so far in limited sample size. I believe a trio of Sutter, Bennett, and Megna can provide responsible defensive play while providing the secondary scoring which has been sorely lacking on the Penguins this season.
Evgeni Malkin is the guy most will point to as receiving a boost, but it might be Brandon Sutter with the most to gain with a fully healthy Penguins lineup.
Over the course of the next few months we might see signs that point to the Penguins regaining a championship caliber third line, health permitting.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»