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Some very good news on the Penguins front was released late Friday. The Penguins and former outcast defenseman Simon Despres have come to terms on a two year one-way deal worth 900k per season.
Despres has played in 83 NHL games in his career but the games played total should probably be at least double that. Under the Shero/Bylsma regime Simon Despres was suppressed and never allowed much leeway. He was consistently jettisoned off to the AHL while players who were/are worse at the defense position played ahead of him. Rumors have it that Shero/Bylsma did not care for his work ethic/pouting when he was sent back down to the AHL.
Apparently "pouting" is worse than spending two 2nd round picks on Doug Murray, signing Rob Scuderi to a long term deal, signing an unemployed Mark Eaton mid season, using Deryk Engelland, and playing Brooks Orpik in a shutdown role he never succeeded in.
However, the old regime is gone and Simon Despres looks like he will finally get his chance to show his stuff at the NHL level. He played very well for WB/S in their run to the Eastern Conference Finals in the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs this past spring.
Despres' one-way deal shows an intent/desire to use him in the NHL moving forward, although I do believe that he was going to be subject to waivers if he was on a two-way deal anyways.
Despres will not be asked to do too much if the roster holds to its current form. With Letang, Martin, Ehrhoff, and Maatta holding down the top 4, Despres will benefit from playing bottom pairing minutes. This is something he can certainly handle. This is a role he has already shown he can handle under Dan Bylsma the past two seasons. Here is the Penguins defense usage from 2013-14
Despres did really well playing against weaker competition while having favorable zone starts. That is fine, that is the kind of role a bottom pairing defenseman with offensive upside is capable of.
Here are his numbers the past 3 seasons
Chart does look like he takes a swan dive off of a cliff but if you keep in mind that all of these numbers are above the 50% threshold that really takes away the need for concern.
Here is how he did with his five most common teammates so far in his NHL career.
His numbers when playing with talented offensive players are terrific. He in no way shape or form holds them back. He does see a drop off in his own production away from those players, but who wouldn't? Something else worth noting is that those high end offensive players all saw a drop off themselves when playing away from Despres.
Simon Despres is going to give the Penguins very competent NHL minutes for one third the cost of Deryk Engelland. This contract is very good and will benefit both team and player. If Despres earns his stripes the next two seasons he will be due for a healthy raise. The Penguins could either sign him, or use him as a valuable trade asset down the road.
The Penguins will now have Brian Dumoulin, Scott Harrington, Derrick Pouliot, Robert Bortuzzo, and *sigh* Rob Scuderi fighting for the last two spots on the defense corp. Not too shabby at all.
It will be nice to see the Penguins embrace puck skills at the defense position moving forward, I'm sure the high end forwards don't mind at all.
Thanks for reading!
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