Penguins are back in action tonight and they need to right the ship against a Blues team not projected for big things this year. WAiting for the Penguins on the other side of this game are games against the Stars, Avalanche, and the upstart 3-1 Ottawa Senators.
The bottoms six has been a focal point and for good reason. They’ve stunk. The decision makers at least somewhat agree. Jansen Harkins was put on waivers yesterday and Radim Zohorna has been called up.
The Penguins have recalled forward Radim Zohorna from the @WBSPenguins.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 20, 2023
Forward Jansen Harkins has been re-assigned to WBS. pic.twitter.com/Dv1qsIyzi1
When you have as many bottom six options with similar ceilings it makes a lot of sense to throw things at the wall to see what sticks. Harkins didn’t stick at all, he slipped almost immediately. Zohorna had a strong camp and I think he is a worthy next man up choice. Zohorna’s NHL sample has been similar to Drew O’Connor’s in the sense they both have had competent xGF%’s. He only has a 25 game sample, but it is a 54.29% sample. In this preseason Zohorna was very noticeable on the forecheck, something Harkins was lacking in his regular season playing time. The Penguins need something, anything, to happen with their bottom six. Getting a hungry player who can skate and has reach/size is definitely worth trying out. There are no guarantees for this working, either. That’s the thing about this end of the roster. They are fringe players for a reason.
Another change to the lineup appears to be Ryan Shea coming in for Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
The Penguins are practicing one forward short with Harkins placed on waivers yesterday. Here are the lines and D-pairs:
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) October 20, 2023
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Smith-Malkin-Rakell
O’Connor-Eller-Nieto
(Butcher)-Acciari-Carter
Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
Shea-Ruhwedel
Joseph-Ludvig
Shea will be making his NHL debut after a couple of seasons with the Texas Stars of the AHL. It isn't a good look for Joseph who has played in the Penguins top four at times in previous seasons. This will be a wake up call for Joseph now that he's not guaranteed a spot with Marcus Pettersson and Ryan Graves having the top four on lockdown.
On the Blues is a player counting only 2.65M against the cap and only cost the Blues a 7th round pick. The player is Jakub Vrana. He is a primary example of a missed opportunity for the Penguins as it pertains to scoring depth. He has a goal and two assists in three games so far this year. He had ten goals and 14 points in 20 games with the Blues last year. For the Penguins to solve their depth scoring issue at some point they’ll have to figure out how to land a Vrana and/or a Tomas Tatar when their price points make all the sense in the world. Until then, we have what we have already.
This is certainly not a must win for the Penguins. Although, as we know, the points do count the same now as in April. They can’t afford to toss aside winnable points when they have a full roster and that’s what these are tonight.
Thanks for reading!