Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook!
The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks are coming to town to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Most times that in of itself is the main storyline. However, with this visit from Chicago brings with it one of the most disliked Penguins (on-ice play specifically) from recent memory in veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi.
Signing Scuderi was a huge mistake by then-GM Ray Shero and the cap issues that came with that signing were bad enough. What really compounded the issue was each coach giving him playing time and rarely taking him out of the lineup.
The team was markedly better without him on the ice
As for his penalty killing prowess he ranked 210th out of 217 defensemen in CA/60 while shorthanded during his latest sample size in Pittsburgh. When Scuderi was on the ice shorthanded the team gave up 112.3 shot attempts per 60 which is a lot.
Since the trade here is how Rob Scuderi and ex-Hawk Trevor Daley have been doing
Aside from possession related matters Scuderi has zero points in his seven games with the Blackhawks while Daley has three points in his nine games with Pittsburgh. Daley’s one goal with Pittsburgh represents 25% of the total goals that Scuderi scored in BOTH of his Pittsburgh tenures. At that pace Daley will equal Scuderi’s goal total in 36 games in what took Scuderi 460 games to achieve.
It hasn’t taken the Blackhawks as long as the Penguins to come to the conclusion that perhaps not playing Scuderi is the more viable option for team success. His ice time has been dropping ever since his arrival and he has been a healthy scratch at times as well.
Scuderi is a broken piece but not one that is plaguing the Penguins anymore and for that they are a better team.
Thanks for reading!