The Penguins will begin their post-Guentzel quest this evening when the San Jose Sharks come to town The Sharks were a really good team last season and were expected to be near the top of the Pacific Division again. Things have not played out that way. Doug Wilson doubled down on his goaltending duo which was a league worst .897 at 5v5 last year. This year it is even worse at .886. Even with a great team it is an uphill battle to win consistently with goaltending as bad as they’ve had. The difference this year is the team is not performing at a high level. This year they have an expected goals for percentage of 47.63 which is 26th overall. Last year it was 54.71 and good for second best in the league. It’s why they are probably going to miss the playoffs this year in the Pacific of all divisions.
They still have talent to be respected and things have been “better” lately. The Penguins were a juggernaut earlier in the year, but the injuries have taken some bite out of their performance even if the standings points have been racking up.
The goaltending difference (with Jarry) should be enough to tilt things in the Penguins favor and it has for the month of December. It can’t be understated how important Jarry has been for the Penguins to comfortably navigate the injuries. Average goaltending the team would have been fine. With what Jarry has put up the team is in second place and they had no business being there.
Here are the forward lines from yesterday’s practice without Guentzel
The Penguins are in a tough spot balancing their needs right now and trying to set up their next couple of months with Sidney Crosby back. There aren’t any great options although I really hate seeing Dominik Kahun being “wasted” on the line he’s on. He’s been crafty and has shown an ability to make plays with the puck after his slow start. Blandisi and Lafferty don’t mesh with his contributions as much as the other forwards do. Kahun has played the top six role better than Simon this year and should probably have that spot.
I have no issue with Galchenyuk bumping up to play with Malkin. It’s his last chance to get him off the trade block. Otherwise he’s likely to be traded. I can see a situation where Sullivan pulls the plug and puts Kahun on the Malkin line and drops Galchenyuk to the Blandisi-Lafferty line.
What happens when Crosby comes back? There are a few options and they involve what you do with Jared McCann. The first option would be to move McCann to Crosby’s left wing where he’s had success before
McCann-Crosby-Hornqvist
Kahun-Malkin-Rust
ZAR-Blueger-Tanev
Galchenyuk-Simon-Lafferty
Yeah, Sid doesn’t seem to enjoy playing with Hornqvist, too bad. Everybody has to make some sacrifices at the moment and he usually gets what he wants anyways. Malkin gets Jake Guentzel lite and keeps Rust so hopefully some of the production can stay. The third line seems to be one Sullivan likes and they have an xGF% of 58.8 in 233 minutes together this year. The fourth line is a mishmash and kind of unavoidable with everybody missing.
If you want to leave McCann at center then you have to elevate Galchenyuk or Simon to play in the top six. This can change based on how you feel on any specific day
Kahun-Crosby-Hornqvist
Galchenyuk-Malkin-Rust
Simon-McCann-Lafferty
ZAR-Blueger-Tanev
None of these things has to be set in stone throughout a game. I think the second option is reasonable to start a game with balance and see how things play out. If you need a goal I like the first option of “loading up” the top six with your best goal scorers and let the chips fall as they may.
If Jarry continues to play at a high level the line combos might not matter at all.
Thanks for reading!
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