The Pittsburgh Penguins return to divisional play against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. By record the Columbus Blue Jackets are the worst team in the NHL.
Columbus' slow start led to them Jackets to hire bombastic coach John Tortorella. Since the hire Columbus has gone 4-5.
Tortorella has already benched Ryan Johansen for what he deemed fitness related reasons. He has also criticized their captain
John Tortorella critical of captain Nick Foligno after loss: 'He needs to make a big play' https://t.co/DTjaeyXrbQ pic.twitter.com/G1Wn1G92Jx
— CBS Sports NHL (@CBSSportsNHL) November 11, 2015
Today Tortorella has his most skilled defenseman in his targets
Tortorella on Murray: Thinks he’s struggled a bit the last couple of games. Could be good for him to watch and refresh. #CBJ
— Rob Mixer (@RobMixer) November 13, 2015
Ryan Murray has a -5.65 dCorsi and a paltry 45.8 Score-Adjusted Fenwick in 2015-16. He does need to be better. He won't be getting that opportunity tonight.
Columbus' defense corp. was always going to be an issue this year. It was a big red flag heading into the season and that was with the assumption Ryan Murray would be playing well. The issues of the defense corp. have only been compounded by their terrible goaltending.
Tortorella: "Let's not even talk about playoffs right now. I'm not even looking at the standings." #CBJ
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) November 13, 2015
That is one of John Tortorella's best ideas in recent memory. Columbus isn't making the playoffs this year. They aren't leapfrogging three or four teams in the Metropolitan Division. Their 0-8 start was a season killer.
Here are how the two team shake out against one another
Pittsburgh is clearly the better team so far this year. Columbus is not as good on the possession front and when combined with horrendous goaltending it is easy to see why their record is what it is.
Beau Bennett is going to receive his second game in a row on the Crosby line
Johnston says the #Pens lines will not change tonight.
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) November 13, 2015
While the forward lines are going to be the same it is very likely that Kris Letang will have a new defense partner in Olli Maatta. Both players haven’t been at their best this season and both players have a track record of being better than the status quo. Time for both of them to step it up.
Josh Yohe has some interesting information from Jim Rutherford
Rutherford on Crosby, Letang, the possibility of a big trade on the horizon and still wanting more from this team: https://t.co/zIex80ASII
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) November 13, 2015
“At some point,… Rutherford said, referring to this season, “I think we’re going to have to add a top-three or top-four defenseman. It’s something that we’d like to do. Do we have the right top-six guys right now? We might have to make a change there.…
So far in his Penguins tenure when Rutherford has said he is going to do something he has done it. The Fleury extension, Perron, trade, and Kessel trade are all examples of him backing up what he said prior to the moves.
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