The Penguins have had a pretty light schedule this week. After losing to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday they will not be in action again until tomorrow night when they host the New Jersey Devils. Not that anybody didn’t know this already, but the Hurricanes are legit and will be a tough out for anybody who has to face them in the playoffs. With the Hurricanes back in the Penguins division it could be them facing Carolina and I can’t say I like the matchup for PIttsburgh.
Carolina won the hybrid Central Divison last year and are currently leading the Metropolitan Division at the moment. Pittsburgh is currently in second place so this wouldn’t be a likely round one matchup. Good news there for the Penguins. There wasn’t a lot to like from the Penguins on Sunday.
There are three things I think will help the Penguins out moving forward. Two are health related while one is not. The first is getting Teddy Blueger back. His absence has been felt in the lineup since leaving with a broken jaw. Blueger utlized the practice time alloted in-between Sunday’s game and tomorrow’s game to rejoin the team for a skill based practice. He was in a non-contact jersey wearing full face protection. A lot of times in the NHL season there aren’t this many days in-between games so it is nice to take advantage of a situation like this and get him back on the ice with his teammates.
The second health related issue would be the return of Jason Zucker. I know his cap hit is something the team will probably try to move in the offseason, but for 2021-22 I honestly believe he can help the team. His underlying numbers have been decent this year. He has been incredibly unlucky. Combining last year’s underwhelming year with this year’s bad luck and you have a player with a low perception of value ie not a great trade asset. If he can somehow bust out and get some regression with his on-ice shooting percentage it would be a huge lift for the team. The line graph below shows the bounce back in his play, but the tanking of his finishing.
Zucker is no longer on the list for the ten lowest goals above expected, but he’s not far off, either. The team would be wise to try and see if he can click on the third line to start whether that is with Jeff Carter or Evan Rodrigues. I’m not a huge fan of putting him with Evgeni Malkin. Zucker had success early in his Penguins tenure playing with Sidney Crosby, but yeah, we know you can’t take Sid’'s preferred linemates from him. Zucker should be back by mid-March.
The third thing that can help the Penguins is to fully come to grips with the Kasperi Kapanen situation. He’s a super limited player who relies on shooting percentage to shape the perception around him. He lacks consistent creativity and when he isn’t scoring goals he is a frustrating player to deal with. He is a north south kind of player, but doesn’t know what to do with the speed. He fails to implement basic strategies when heading up the ice. for example, if the defenseman is backing in he neither cuts to the middle, nor Gretzky curls and waits for help. Each rush looks similar to the last and lately has had the same results. At some point Kapanen will eventually hit a hot streak shooting and people go back to overlooking his flaws, but the hot streaks are too far and few between and the Penguins need more help on a regular basis. Yes, scoring goals consistently is tough for even the best in the world, but other players have the ability to contribute in other ways when the goal scoring dries up. I’m not sure Kapanen does. To put things in perspective Jason Zucker last played a game on January 17th and had two goals. Since then Kasperi Kapanen has played in 15 games and has... one goal coming on January 23rd. If only there were another GM in the league who overvalued a player like Kapanen....
Thanks for reading!