Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal
With Beau Bennett out of commission for six weeks the big question now is how do the Penguins allocate their forward depth with the regular season fast approaching?
Beau Bennett was originally slated for third line duty with Brandon Sutter but his absence in the lineup will have an impact on the top six forwards as well. This is because the only potentially attractive option to replace what he brings is Kasperi Kapanen and he is either going to play in the top six or be sent down.
This is my best guess to what the top nine was going to look like before the Bennett injury:
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis Spaling-Malkin-Hornqvist Downie-Sutter-Bennett
Tonight Kasperi Kapanen will get a look playing with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. If he looks the part there is a good chance he could at least start the season up with the Penguins. Here is how Mike Johnston could arrange the forwards with Kapanen in the lineup for the regular season.
Kunitz-Crosby-Kapanen Dupuis-Malkin-Hornqvist Spaling-Sutter-Downie Comeau-Goc-Adams (I'll believe his job is taken when I see it)
Kasperi Kapanen is a mixed bag for me. Personally I don't think he is quite ready for prime time but he can certainly play the part for a short stretch. I have absolutely no concerns about his puck skills, awareness, and ability to make plays with time and space. I do have concerns with his ability to battle for the puck when his time and space is limited on both the offensive and defensive side of the puck.
The good news is if he is with Crosby and Kunitz they'll do a great job of creating time and space for him. I would rather give a guy like Kapanen an opportunity before pulling up a guy like Downie. If it doesn't work you can send Kapanen down and always bump Downie up.
Tonight will give us a nice preview on if this arrangement can work. If Kapanen looks like a fish out of water this idea will probably get squashed. If he can at least show the ability to blend in and not be a liability, he may earn some NHL time.
It remains to be seen if Kapanen can stick at the NHL level this year, but he has certainly displayed some promising signs for future years. He will definitely help the Penguins top six. It is just a question of when.
For the Penguins sake it would be very beneficial if he could at least be a stopgap until Beau Bennett is back.
The skill is definitely there.
****
Hey that Sidney Crosby guy is playing tonight. Preseason or not it is always a treat to watch the best in the world do his thing.
EDIT: No he is not. He will be attending his Grandmother's funeral. Obviously family comes first, but I don't know why team led us to believe he was playing tonight.
****
Hockey Hurts Central Division preview podcast is up and you can find that here.
****
Congratulations to Corey Sznajder on being hired by an NHL club. Corey's project on tracking zone exits and zone entries is almost complete and ready for release. I am definitely going to be using his project in future blogs and I thank him for making the data he tracked available to people like me. Best wishes.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal