Here’s a take I don’t see a lot of, yet it was the overriding feeling I had when watching the Penguins fourth line against the Montreal Canadiens. The fourth line is overrated. I don’t think the team should move forward with the same trio. Before the overreactions come in I am aware they were solid defensively, more than solid. It was their biggest strength by far. I thought given their deployment their defensive numbers were beyond good. They were fed a steady diet of defensive zone starts. There is value in that.
That said, they are offensively inept. I do not want to build a team where one line is incapable of providing any kind of offense. The wackadoodle third line deserves the most scorn out of any line this postseason, but the fourth line doesn’t exude a lot of confidence in their ability to chip in offense. They are exclusively defensive. Every shift you play them while trailing feels like a wasted shift.
The problem for me is that these kinds of players are reactors. They react to what the other team is doing. I want more players who cause the other team to react to them. I would always rather lean towards acquiring players who can create. The Crosby line was the only line to generate any offense at 5v5 this postseason. You already know the fourth line isn’t capable of providing anything meaningful on that front. It puts an enormous amount of pressure on the other lines and creates that top heavy offense problem we had at the end of the Bylsma years. No, I do not think Brandon Tanev, Teddy Blueger, or Zach Aston-Reese are as bad as Tanner Glass, Zach, Sill, and Craig Adams, but at the same time I’m not in love with them for the same conceptual reasons. No offense. The 2015-16 Penguins were a buzz saw because Matt Cullen was useful in both ends. He was able to score goals. The other team never got a free pass from defending on any shift. This hasn’t been the case for a while. Given the Penguins don’t have a good third line it leaves all the heavy lifting to the top two lines. A recipe for failure even when Crosby and Malkin were six years younger.
Brandon Tanev is a good defensive player. His speed was an asset on the penalty kill. Still, he makes 3.5M and the team will never get meaningful offensive output from him. He is who he is. He will be 29 years old next year. He is not a legitimate candidate to move up the lineup. He is a pricey defensive fourth line specialist. His overpay is an important variable in the grand scheme of things. If the Penguins are dropping to a 75M internal cap ceiling or *gulp* lower, it isn’t insignificant. Patric Hornqvist, Jack Johnson, and Brandon Tanev will account for 20% of a 75M budget. What are you getting? It makes it more difficult to round out the third line and find another top six winger when you are paying a premium for specialists and Jack Johnson.
I don’t see any players in WB/S I really like for a full-time promotion. I’m not a fan of Sam Lafferty, Anthony Angello, Andrew Agozzino, or Adam Johnson. Relying on Sam Poulin to break through is risky. So what do you do? I like the idea of finding former top six guys who have fallen out of those roles. Players you know have some offensive juice in them for a limited role. Perhaps a player that will tread water at 5v5, but may provide a power play specialty. Conceptually this player would be someone like a Jason Pominville. Pominville is technically not retired. He wanted to play last year. The Sabres for some reason chose not to sign him. This is a little farfetched, but he was decent in 2018-19
He’s been pretty stable for five years per
Hockeyviz
I would much rather have a balance closer to the Pominville output than players who are devoid of any offensive skill, but grading out great defensively. A bonus with somebody like Jason Pominville is he has extensive experience being on the power play. He is right handed. If you can find room for a specialist like Tanev to help on the PK I don’t see why you can’t find room for a specialist to help one of the biggest issues the Penguins have on the power play. Is there risk with someone like Pominville who hasn’t played in a year? I guess? It isn’t like he is going to command high money or term. It would be a low risk, moderate reward situation. The type of risk the Penguins need to take with a limited budget. I would rather take a chance like that than run Zach Aston-Reese back out there. No offense to Zach Aston-Reese, but I don’t view him as a Selke candidate like some do. I can’t imagine any of the star players in the league are worried about matching up with him.
Again, Pominville isn’t officially retired. I’m not totally sure if he still has a drive to play in 2020-21. I do think he is the kind of fourth line player I would want to acquire. I would reach out to him sooner than later. I’m sure he’s in a place where he could easily decide to retire if there is no carrot at the end of the stick. I’m sure the Penguins situation would be somewhat appealing if he wants to play.
I understand the Pominville idea is a stretch. He is just an example of the kind of player I want on the fourth line. I want offensive balance throughout the lineup. There are other examples.
Tyler Ennis comes to mind. He is a depth player capable of providing some offense. He just suffered a pretty bad injury in the playoffs, but should be ready to go whenever the NHL’s 2020-21 season kicks off. He isn’t good defensively so I’m not under some illusion he is competent there. As bad as he is defensively he was competent on the offensive side of things. I still think the Penguins best chance to be successful is trading chances and not trying to pretend to be a defensive team.
I think other examples include Ilya Kovalchuk, Josh Leivo, Erik Haula, Jason Spezza, and Joe Thornton (probably will never leave Sharks). These are the kinds of players I would fill depth out with. All have shown an offensive pulse. None of them are without their warts. This is the reality of shopping for fourth line depth players. I don’t want offensive black holes on my roster. I definitely don’t want an entire line of it.
I don’t see the Penguins going in this direction. Mike Sullivan is in love with the fourth line. He wants the team to be more defensive. I just don’t think they’ll ever get to the point where it yields the results the team wants. The team used to embrace being offensive, but now they are a dulled down version that is neither great offensively nor defensively. They are stuck in the middle. Given who their core players are they need to reassess having defensive specialists and focus on the offensive aspects of team building. It’s more fun to watch, it plays to their strengths, and it has proven more successful in the win column for the Penguins. You probably need a new coach to see it that way, though.
Thanks for reading!
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