So we have had a day to digest all the happenings of the NHL trade deadline.
Today I’ll give a little bit more information about the players who left the Penguins and the ones that will be arriving.
The Penguins bring in Ben Lovejoy for his second stint with the team and also Ian Cole. They lose Simon Despres and Robert Bortuzzo.
Players cannot control the role they are given, they can only try to do the very best they can in it. dCorsi is one measure that puts a value on if that specific player is outperforming his specific role or underperforming that role.
Let me provide some context for the players and what roles they have previously played in.
Ben Lovejoy has done OK with the roles he has been given. Nothing bad on the negative side. His dCorsi in 2012-13 is only from his sample size in Anaheim and does not include his numbers in Pittsburgh. In the 2013-14 season he teamed up with Cam Fowler to play in a shutdown type role (low OZ starts and high QoC). He technically “underperformed… but not by enough to be concerned. He still had a Score-Adjusted-Fenwick of 49.8%.
In 2014-15 Lovejoy has the lowest QoT among Anaheim defenders and was also pulled from that shutdown role. His possession was better as a result (SAF 52.8%)
Will they pair Lovejoy up with Ehrhoff in a more prominent role or will they shelter him more with Scuderi? That is the question.
Simon Despres does a good job with his assignments. For much of his Penguins tenure he was kept away from the tougher QoC assignments. This season he was sheltered with Rob Scuderi. Unlike Ben Lovejoy he has never been used in a shutdown role. That doesn’t mean he can’t necessarily handle it, just that he hasn’t been given the opportunity yet. Similar to Ben Lovejoy Simon Despres has the lowest QoT on his team among defenseman in 2014-15.
Without Despres the Penguins will have to find another partner to play with Scuderi. Don’t expect Rob Scuderi to lose a spot in the lineup. It is much likelier that Derrick Pouliot or Ian Cole will be the 7th defenseman. Robert Bortuzzo has never played in an elevated role and he has never really outperformed that role either. Trading him away is inconsequential in both the short and long term.
Ian Cole has done a pretty good job in his role for the 2014-15 Blues. That role included playing with Barrett Jackman with minimal offensive zone starts but also against easier competition. He was sheltered by Ken Hitchcock. He did excel in that role though and that is all he could have done. Would be wise to keep him in a similar role with Pittsburgh.
Ultimately I don't believe the Penguins are better or worse than they were before the deadline.
The key to this is something that a lot of people have already said, what will Simon Despres' career arch be?
In other news Derrick Pouliot was optioned to WB/S in a paper move yesterday. This allows him to take part in the AHL playoffs if/when the Penguins are eliminated from the playoffs.
According to Penguins General Manager Jim Rutherford Pascal Dupuis is not going to be cleared until at least June 1. That would mark his return for the Stanley Cup Final. Source Jason Mackey Pittsburgh Tribune
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I teamed up with James Conley of Pensburgh and Nick Richter of The PensNation and we gave out grades to every team for the NHL trade deadline. You can find that here
There is also a new Hockey Hurts podcast that covers all 30 teams and what they did during the trade deadline. You can find that here
Thanks for reading!
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