As Kris Letang was not-so eloquently telling me the other day at his locker stall, Bryan Rust is "a feisty little man."
Takes one to know one, I suppose. But it's Rust's speed and grit, Letang believes, that explains his teammate's penchant for drawing penalties.
If you haven't noticed, and you probably haven't since penalties drawn aren't exactly a household stat, Rust is among the Penguins' and NHL's best at drawing whistles:
The above tripping penalty on Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield in the third period of the Penguins' 4-3 overtime win on Thursday was the 15th call that Rust has drawn already this season, according to Corsica Hockey.
"He works hard down low, so he gets separation," Letang was telling me. "When you don’t allow him to (get to) the net, he works hard. So, obviously, teams have to take penalties."
In an era where power plays are converting at record rates, the ability to draw penalties and get one's team to the power play is an invaluable weapon to have in one's arsenal. Even more so in the case of the Penguins, who have feasted on the man advantage this season, converting on 30 of 111 attempts (27.0 percent, third-best in the NHL).
"I think when we draw penalties, usually that suggests that we're getting inside and we're forcing teams to have to defend us, we're not playing out on the perimeter," Mike Sullivan said. "I think it goes hand in hand. It helps our overall game. It's hard to score goals in this league unless you get inside and usually that's where the infractions are occurring because you're forcing your opponent to defend that area. And so we can usually use our speed once again to try and challenge defensemen or challenge our opponent with wide speed or taking pucks to the net from below the goal line and forcing them to have to defend us. and when our power play has been as effective as it's been to this point, it clearly helps."
The penalties drawn leaderboard is an unlikely mish-mash of Lady Byng types like Johnny Gaudreau, Nikita Kucherov and David Pastrnak. And then it's a bunch of guys who even Mother Theresa might sucker-punch, guys like Tom Wilson, Brendan Gallagher and Matthew Tkachuk:
Agitators are gonna agitate. They are always going to goad opponents into their fair share of retaliatory calls (Ryan Reaves is second on the Penguins with 10). But for guys like Rust and more skilled players, it's almost an art form, even if he's at a loss to explain his own success at drawing penalties.
"I'm not sure, to be honest," Rust was telling me. "Just trying to keep my feet moving. Using my speed to my advantage. Just trying to beat the 'D' wide and make them use their sticks and hands to haul me down."
Obviously the NHL's early-season emphasis on stick infractions to the hands has helped, but it takes more than just body position and mere speed to draw penalties. If that were the case, Carl Hagelin would have drawn more than just four this season and Rico Fata and Konstantin Koltsov might still be earning NHL paychecks.
As one NHL insider was telling me the other day, it's an inexact science that requires three other things:
ACTING
Yes, most -- if not all -- players "act" or embellish to draw penalties at some point. It's one of the worst-kept secrets in hockey. It's simply that some players are far better thespians than others. For every Tom Hanks, there's 100 Keanu Reaves.
REPUTATION
In a loss last month to the Canucks, Sidney Crosby drew an almost-unheard-of four penalty calls. After what some have perceived to be a short fuse in his younger years, the Penguins captain has since matured, developing a sterling reputation as the face of the NHL. He's going to get calls.
Look at it this way: If LeBron James is touched as he drives through the paint, he gets the call. If a defensive lineman even touches Tom Brady's facemask, it's 15 yards. If Clayton Kershaw's curve even touches a fraction of the black, it's a strike. Same goes with Crosby, who has drawn nine penalties this season.
RAPPORT
Yes, there's a human relationship element to all this. How a player interacts with the officials can help because referees have feelings too.
Berating a linesman over a missed offsides is no way to curry favor. The best players will know how and when to game the game and work the officials. If a center isn't putting his stick down at the draw, let the officials know before the next faceoff. If a player is guilty of going down a little too easily on a trip, admit the mistake and move on.
You can call the art of drawing penalties gamesmanship, but it's also called professionalism and it's not going away anytime soon. With tighter defenses, bigger equipment and bigger players, scoring goals has never been more difficult. Now, perhaps more than ever, power plays have become vital. Getting to the power play is the key.