The Pittsburgh Penguins have had to do some line shuffling the past few games because of the absence of Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz due to injury. This afforded a player like Jake Guentzel an opportunity to make his debut in the NHL. Guentzel has made the most of his opportunity and then some. He has three goals and one assist in his first four NHL games. His great offensive start should earn him some leeway when Hornqvist and Kunitz return from injury. If Guentzel deserves a spot when both players return then who are the candidates to sit? This is a question that the Penguins are going to have to answer in the not too distant future.
The way I see things is that the team should commit once again to a four scoring line approach. The team can't become top heavy like they have at times this year if they really want to defend their title. I'm not going to be overly concerned about a player's penalty killing or shot blocking abilities. Those don't drive wins like offensive results at even-strength and the ability to drive possession.
The first player on my chopping block is Eric Fehr. To put it bluntly he is not playing well enough to deserve a jersey every night if the forward group is completely healthy. I would even say that if Guentzel wasn't in the mix. Eric Fehr is currently the fifth worst player in the NHL in his 5v5 shot attempt percentage at 39.91%. I used to beat up on Brandon Sutter and Zach Sill for their possession woes, but at least they were in the lower to mid forties. Here are Eric Fehr's with or without you numbers since he joined the Penguins
It isn't a good sign that the tallest bars are the green ones. That means the players he plays the most with do much better not playing with him.
Criticizing Fehr's possession is a legit complaint because it has been terrible. So enough about 5v5 what about the penalty kill? Well he really isn't doing a great job on that front either.
Shot are the shot attempt rates from the forwards the Penguins have used to kill penalties from last year to the present. Fehr is on the bottom. So Fehr is playing poorly at even-strength and he is not excelling on the penalty killing front either.
Since becoming a Penguin Eric Fehr has a 5v5 points per 60 of 0.99 which is below replacement level. In other words your average AHL call-up can outperform that offensive output. His final year in Washington he was at a respectable 1.56. There has clearly been a drastic drop from that.
Not only would I replace Fehr in the day to day lineup, but I would be looking to shop him and his 2M salary. I had and still don't have a problem with the Penguins signing him. Their bottom six depth was horrendous at the time. They needed to make changes on that front. They took a reasonable low risk chance on Fehr, but it hasn't worked out.
Pittsburgh has been fortunate in that some of Ray Shero's draft picks at the forward position have started to pan out. When you combine the fact that Pittsburgh has in-house replacements and Fehr's quality of play has slipped it should be an easy decision for the team to considering dealing his cap hit away. Even though his stint in Pittsburgh hasn't been glowing the term and money on Fehr's contract shouldn't make moving him impossible. The Rob Scuderi trade has at least taught us that much.
As a cap ceiling team the Penguins always need to consider maximizing their cap values. I think this is an area where they can find someone cheaper to do the same job if not better.
Thanks for reading!
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