There was a lot to digest after the Penguins gutsy win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon. Yesterday wasn’t as intense on the information front, but there were still a very newsworthy item. Justin Schultz skated as a full participant at practice and might actually play this evening.
Schultz has been out since December 17th which came on the heels of the team losing Brian Dumoulin on November 30th. Schultz had better underlying numbers this year than he had last year and the Penguins forwards can always use some puck movers on the back end. Here is a look at last year and this year
Because Schultz was out for a long time last year with an injury these sample sizes are pretty close. Last year Schultz played 490 minutes at 5v5 and this year he’s at 445 minutes. The biggest difference? The Jack Johnson thing. Last year he was force fed a Johnson pairing and this year he has had the opportunity to play with Marcus Pettersson more times than not. You can see his numbers this year are better, except when he plays with you know who. He has played 104 minutes with Johnson this year and the CF% is 45.24 and the xGF% is 45.89.
The reason this needs to be brought up is because the Penguins are going to have some decisions to make with their pairings. You shouldn’t put these two back together. They are a known commodity. The commodity is bad. The team deserves better than to go back to this well again. I would rather see Schultz play with Kris Letang and relegate Johnson to the bottom pairing with Ruhwedel(?) than go down that road again. However, it does seem inevitable. You’ll have Dumoulin-Letang and Pettersson-Marino. They aren’t scratching Johnson. If this is the game plan for Schultz perhaps moving him for a forward becomes a better value to the team.
I know there has been some chatter about Tyler Toffoli and Jason Zucker over the past few months. In Zucker’s case the Penguins literally made a deal to acquire his services before Phil Kessel enacted his no trade clause. I want to bring up a different forward who I think would be a nice fit for this Penguins team. He currently resides in Nashville. I think Mikael Granlund would be a nice addition to the forward group. He is versatile in the roles he can fill. He can play 5v5, power play, and kill penalties. He can play both center and wing (both sides). He’s an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season like Schultz is.
With Ryan Ellis out, because of a cheap shot from Corey Perry in the Winter Classic, the Predators defense depth down the right side without Subban isn’t what it was. Right now Nashville is running out the trio of Weber (no not that one), Fabbro, and Irwin. Schultz might be appealing to them. For some reason I keep going back to Schultz and Nashville. I did it over the summer before the Devils made their move for PK Subban and Pittsburgh moved Phil Kessel. If the Predators were concerned about moving Granlund for their forward depth I would even consider throwing Nick Bjugstad into the mix. Nashville has the cap space. Bjugstad is signed for one more year at 4.1M and that might be appealing to the Predators. Considering the Penguins have returned to a speed based approach with puck skills I don’t feel as though Bjugstad is a fit and provides value for how much he makes. I’d rather take a chance on a guy like Granlund who has shown legit offensive prowess in the past, but is having a rough year as far as boxcar stats go. Peter Laviolette may have been suppressing things
Comparison of both players 2018-20
Biggest difference I see are the primary assists. Bjugstad has shown no ability to facilitate while Granlund is above average. With the Penguins deploying a high end defensive line (Aston Reese-Blueger-Tanev) the need for Bjugstad as a center is lower than it was. This is also the case of me having a personal preference for a player like Granlund than someone like Bjugstad. Granlund has the higher ceiling offensively
Long story short if we are going to do the Johnson-Schultz thing again I would much rather use Schultz as a carrot and go shopping for a player like Granlund who can try to fill the Jake Guentzel void, something Bjugstad won't. The team is chugging along without Bjugstad and he isn’t going to fill a need they are currently lacking in my opinion. Keeping Schultz and playing him with Johnson is killing Schultz's value so what is his worth to the team at that point? It would also remove any inkling of giving Schultz his next contract which would also a positive for the Penguins.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»