The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a move at the head coaching position. Only a year and change after hiring Mike Johnston the front office has had enough of him.
My initial reaction is Johnston being fired is that it is deserved. He has done a terrible job this year. The entire team, not just a few players, are underachieving below their career norms. That is not just a weird coincidence.
The 2015-16 Penguins were committed to a “200 foot game” which was supposed to turn them into a very good defensive team. This approach backfired severely. Not only were the 2015-16 Penguins not dangerous from an offensive standpoint but the team is one of the bottom teams in the league in their ability to suppress shots.
The frustrating part is that Johnston did indeed do a good job last year even when the injury bug hit their defense corp. Over the past few months he admitted to making some changes to their system and those changes shouldn’t have been made.
The Penguins will be staying in house with their coaching hire by promoting WB/S Head Coach Mike Sullivan. The last time the Penguins fired their head coach mid-season and replaced him with the AHL guy…
Also on the chopping block is Assistant Coach Gary Agnew.
Somehow Rich Tocchet has been allowed to stay on. They should have just cleaned house at that point. The reason Mike Johnston was hired in the first place probably had a lot to do with Rich Tocchet being forced onto the new coach. I have no idea what the attachment is to Tocchet as an assistant coach.
On Twitter the past few days I was teasing a coaching candidate that I was researching in case the Penguins made a move. The Penguins beat me to the punch before I could do more research. The guy I had in mind was Sheldon Keefe of the Toronto Marlies. He was hired by Kyle Dubas in Sault St. Marie to take over the Greyhounds who were a bad possession team. After Keefe’s hire the Greyhounds turned into one of the best junior teams in the CHL and earned Keefe CHL coach of the year honors. His Toronto Marlies are currently crushing it in the AHL and considering his ties to Kyle Dubas I would assume he is open to analytical evaluations. He will never get an opportunity to coach the Maple Leafs with Mike Babcock available. Perhaps he is a guy to think about for the future.
I like the idea of promoting Mike Sullivan because it is a shorter term move which can buy the team some time as they figure out who should get the gig long term (might be Sullivan who knows).
One thing is for certain the current way the Penguins were playing was never going to lead them to success in the postseason (if they even qualify).
A new coach means a new perspective on personnel decisions. Here is to hoping that he is able to see players like Rob Scuderi for what they really are at this point in their career and make the proper choices.
It also opens up the possibility of AHL call ups due to the familiarity the coach has with those players. IE: Derrick Pouliot.
Mike Sullivan will have his hands full in his first game. It will be against the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin.
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Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury played terrific games against the Los Angeles Kings which allowed the Penguins to scrape together a point against a quality opponent.
Overall the Penguins did an alright job. The game was fairly even throughout the night. The final tally for even-strength shot attempts was 62 for LA and 58 for Pittsburgh. Even if you took overtime away Pittsburgh would still have hit the 50 attempt barrier. That is something they haven't done on a regular basis this year and something I find impressive against this Kings team. In fact the 54 shot attempts Pittsburgh put up in regulation is the most given up by LA this year.
Evgeni Malkin was a determined man last night. He had ten shots on goal and eventually found the back of the net with around one minute left in the contest to tie things up.
Marc-Andre Fleury was great again stopping 38 of the 40 shots he faced. Jonathan Quick was equally up to the task stopping 40 of 42. This led to the shootout showdown where Quick got the best of Fleury and the Penguins.
Anze Kopitar, who was fantastic all game, had a tremendous shootout attempt. On the surface it looks like your basic backhand deke around the goalie but when you combine the history of both shooter and goaltender it makes for a very cerebral move. The last time Kopitar faced Fleury in the shootout he used his backhand five hole "can opener" move which is very smooth.
Fleury was most definitely expected that to be the case last night but instead Kopitar used that to his advantage. He kept the puck and went around Fleury's leg knowing he was cognizant of the five hole potential. Very cerebral and something I think is pretty cool.
*27 second mark*
There was some complaining about Nick Bonino going in the shootout before Phil Kessel last night but it isn't as agregious of a choice as some think. Phil Kessel isn't very good in the shootout. Nick Bonino's numbers in his smaller sample are much better.
Kessel is 15 of 56 in the shootout prior to 2015-16. Bonino is 9 for 20. Smaller sample size, better numbers. Make of it what you will.
Let's talk some Daniel Sprong. He once again didn't see the ice in the third period and after the game the coach had this to say about it:
“Yeah, I just thought, defensively, he still … he still has to be better defensively. And his first shift of the game, he dove in to get a loose puck, and the Kopitar line had a three-on-two quickly back the other way at the end of their shift. He just has to recognize defensively where to be. And right in that moment, you say, ‘OK, I better start to watch him closely.’ ”
So I'll say this. I don't like the idea that a young player can't make a single mistake while certain veteran players are allowed to make consistent errors while on the ice. Only playing him 5-6 minutes a night isn't good enough. However, I also don't think he deserves a ton more than that either. This isn't a black and white situation and a lot of people are making it out to be that way.
Sprong should get around 10-11 minutes in addition to time on the second power play unit. The calls for him to join a top six role are premature. Beau Bennett is playing good hockey right now and Phil Kessel isn't being bumped either. Expecting Sprong to play on the left wing is unfair at this point. Matt Cullen and Sergei Plotnikov are good linemates for now. He should play some more minutes but at some point he has to earn it himself too. Outside of the recently retired Pascal Dupuis he has been the team's worst forward this year.
The problem is and always has been the fact he is probably not quite an NHL player yet and he certainly is not a junior player anymore. Playing in the AHL this season would solve all of these issues. Unfortunately as we know that can't happen.
So to sum things up the Penguins have a coach that is being overly stubborn with a young player who isn't really playing all that well and has contractual restrictions from placing him in the best spot for development. Crumby situation all around.
For the second straight game Beau Bennett absorbed a pretty big collision. Against Colorado it was a knee to knee collision and last night it was this dirty boarding play that went uncalled.
Bennett went to the locker room area for what was probably concussion protocol but returned to the game. Is he slowly morphing into #IronBeau.
The Kings also shoved an official which was met with no repercussions
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