OK, so you liked this Dominik Simon shot ...
... and you loved this one, the second of his hard contributions to the Penguins' 6-3 putdown of the Wild on this Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena:
All of that's wonderful enough to spill over: It doubled his season goal total, gave him three in the past couple games and, undoubtedly no coincidence, raised his shot total in that span to nine.
It also raised his confidence, as he'd tell me afterward:
And yet, those goals and that cool demeanor doesn't begin to describe how this way-more-mature-than-a-23-year-old has managed to carve himself a surprisingly solid spot on the NHL roster this winter. Because if rating Simon's greatest single trait, it's remarkably the same one he showed at his very first development camp scrimmage in 2015.
"I just try to do all the little things," he was telling me much earlier Thursday, after the morning skate. "That's what I'm the most proud of. Do my job everywhere on the rink."
TAP FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, HIGHLIGHTSHe really does. It's tempting to compare him in that way to a Chris Kunitz, one of his predecessors as Sidney Crosby's regular left winger. Or to Pascal Dupuis, another of those predecessors. Or, going way back, to a Marty Straka, his Czech countryman who was the owner and GM of the Plzen franchise for which he played as a teen.
"He was a great player here in Pittsburgh for so many years," Simon would say. "And he's a great man back home."
What kind of little things are in this bigger picture?
I asked Mike Sullivan:
That, too, was after the morning skate. As a result, by nightfall, I committed to lasering in on Simon's little things. Can't do it on TV. Can't do it on the laptop. Only in person. So, having two other reporters and a photographer from the site on the job, I gave it a try and went about tracking nothing but No. 12.
Warning: The following plays are not interesting.
Above is a Conor Sheary pass to Crosby behind the Minnesota net in the first period. Simon's really got nothing to do with it, but bear with me. It's a lesson in chemistry.
Watch, as Sheary spots the idle puck in the left corner, how he turns his head to find Crosby even as he angles his skates to make the pass he wants. Then watch, even though his eye contact finds Crosby out at the right hash, how Sheary still realizes Crosby wants the puck below the goal line. Not where he was, but where he will be. Finally, just for fun, take note of Crosby raising his stick to indicate to Sheary where he wants the puck but only after Sheary's already figured that out!
That's how you take care of the best player in the world. And that's what Simon is learning on the job.
Above is Simon now, later in the same period, sliding to the left boards in the defensive zone to await a breakout. This is taught right out of the hockey womb. But not the rest.
Watch, as Justin Schultz's backhand flick gets unfortunately elevated, how Simon pickle-stabs it out of the air to settle it. Then, as the Wild's Tyler Ennis approaches quickly, Simon simply shoves the puck forward with the tip of his blade to Crosby for a safe exit but also a sustained possession.
When hockey develops truly advanced data to fuel even more advanced metrics, Simon will grade very highly for this.
Above is more from Simon. Bryan Rust drops the puck to a nearby Simon at the bottom of Minnesota's left circle, this off a broken rush late in the second period. A bit of a traffic jam follows, with four white sweaters chasing three black sweaters, and it doesn't look like anything meaningful will ensue.
But watch Simon collect that puck, turn his back to the pressure from the Wild's Jonas Brodin, then notice that Kris Letang is offering a close safety valve ... then completely and willfully bypass Letang to instead backhand a bank pass all the way back to the left point for Olli Maatta. A higher percentage shot and chance follows.
I really liked this one, but maybe it's not for everybody.
Still awake?
Cool, because Jim Rutherford shared an observation about Simon with me after this game you might find genuinely interesting.
"He's been a good player in our system for a long time, so we've known what he could do," the GM observed. "But we've found out here -- what we've really found out -- is that he can play with Sid."
Oh, yeah. That, too.
• Man, Ian Cole was awesome.
• Man, the Wild were awful. Forget that meaningless finish. Flying into here on a 6-2-2 roll, needing every point, then being down by four at the halfway mark while mustering 11 shots?
And spending the whole night playing ketchup ... I mean catch-up?
"It was obvious that we didn't bring our work boots," Bruce Boudreau would say. "I was hoping to get out of the first period 1-nothing. But I was happy to get out 2-nothing, quite frankly. But it didn't really manifest into anything because they made it four, then six."
Not to take credit from the home side. But sometimes it really is about the opponent being obnoxiously bad, and those guys really were.
• The Brewers, based in a market two-thirds the size of Pittsburgh, made Milwaukee into an instant contender Thursday with 90 riveting minutes that saw them trade four prospects to the Marlins for Christian Yelich and commit $80 million through free agency for Lorenzo Cain. Along with Ryan Braun, that might be the most explosive outfield in baseball.
If you can stomach it, take a look at the list of seriously smart moves made by the Brewers' David Stearns that led into it.
Adjectives aren't needed.
• The Steelers' stunning early approach to Le'Veon Bell regarding a long-term contract might kill about 90 percent of the football suspense over the summer, but it's a fine start. Don't think for a second he's expendable: He led the NFL with 407 total touches and gained 1,946 total yards in a league that saw only nine 1,000-yard rushers.
• It was tremendous on this night to once again share a press box row with the Post-Gazette's legendary Dave Molinari. A Hall of Fame hockey writer, a friend and a man I’m proud to call the greatest influence on my career in every way.