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Ryan Malone: Yay or Nay?

August 25, 2014, 12:00 PM ET [79 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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Pittsburgh native Ryan Malone has had a rough couple of years. On the ice he had a miserable 2012-13 season which saw him only playing half the games and the games he did play were way below replacement level. This past season saw him go through some off-ice turmoil which included an arrest for DUI and possession of cocaine.

Throughout his career Malone has been able to provide consistent offensive numbers while flirting with the disabled list.

His value as a professional hockey player is at an all time low right now. It will be up to Malone to go above and beyond to prove that he is ready to contribute and he will have to do so while making way less money than he is accustomed to.

Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote this a few days ago:


--Throughout the Twin Cities, the pre-training camp skates run by Octagon (Ben Hankinson and Chris McAlpine) and Neil Sheehy have started. Those include Wild players and Minnesota-based NHLers, college players and some elite high school players. I checked out the Octagon skate a few times this week and players like Zach Parise, Josh Harding, Keith Ballard, Ryan McDonagh, Dustin Byfuglien, Derek Stepan, Ryan Malone, Matt Carle, Ryan Jones, Alex Goligoski, Clayton Stoner, Stephane Veilleux, Matt Cooke, Matt Hendricks, Drew Stafford, Kyle Okposo, Tim Jackman, John Scott, Mark Alt, Nate Condon, Davis Drewiske were there. Sorry if I missed a few. I was also impressed young Wild players like Christian Folin and Kurtis Gabriel are already in town.

Malone looked good and with his legal issues soon behind him from Tampa, one would think somebody signs him (Rangers have talked to him) or he attends a training camp on a tryout.



Rumor has it that Malone is in shape and ready to work.

Here is the low down on Malone's career since leaving the Penguins





Malone has been a steady producer of offense at even strength until the past two seasons. In 2008-09 he actually led the Lightning in even strength points per 60.

Malone was one of Tampa's best producers on the power play for a period of time. In 2010-11 he was the best on the team in power play points per 60 minutes and the next season he was second best on the team.

Malone has always done a great job of protecting the puck with his frame which allows him to utilize his soft hands to create offense.

Here are his possession and goals for numbers:





Malone has not always found himself above the 50% Fenclose barrier, but with the exception of his terrible 2012-13 season he has always managed to stay above 47%.

Much like the points per 60 chart above you can see his numbers start to tail dive off in 2012-13.

If you want to look for encouraging signs his Fenclose percentage and goals for percentage both climbed up significantly in 2013-14, despite his lower offensive output.

Ryan Malone will be a classic low risk signing (two way contract, league minimum) for whatever team that decides to take the risk. In reality it is much closer to no risk than low risk.

I see no harm in the Penguins offering Ryan Malone a tryout at training camp. Malone's arrest was certainly a low point for him. Some people mope and ask "why me" and others use it as a spring board to right the ship. By all accounts it appears that Malone falls under the latter category.

The Penguins are at the 50 contract limit as it currently stands and would have to move somebody if they wanted to add another potential NHL body.

On a team that still has Craig Adams on the roster I see no reason to not try and improve the roster further.

If Malone gets an invite to camp and it doesn't appear that he can help the team, it doesn't cost the Penguins anything to part ways. Competition will bring the best out of the other players as well.

The way to one up other teams in the modern era is to get value on the cheap. Ryan Malone is a potential candidate to provide that. All options should be explored.



Thanks for reading!

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