Maybe that deflating loss Saturday night in South Florida will serve the Penguins well.
No, I won't suggest that an elite professional sports executive such as Jim Rutherford would be swayed by a single outcome. But maybe, and only maybe, the Penguins' poor performance defensively can serve as a stern reminder that their defensive corps now stands at a solid five, not six, since sending away Ian Cole.
Because, you know, Matt Hunwick ...
Usually, I break down plays like that. Not going to waste anyone's time with these. Breakdowns of that scope don't need to be broken down.
If it were only Hunwick's minus-3 in this 6-5 loss to the Panthers, it could be dismissed as a small-sampled antiquated stat. But we've witnessed the above again and again since his unfortunate signing this past summer -- three years, $6.75 million, no less -- and the issue's been the same throughout: He can't put himself into proper position. He's so lost. He's late. He's nowhere.
I can't begin to fathom what smart hockey men such as Rutherford, his lieutenants and his scouts could have been seeing from Hunwick in Toronto to offer such a contract. I'd strongly suspect that they saw much better from him with the Maple Leafs, even as I believe there actually exists much better from him.
But this isn't the time to wait that out, to say the least.
This is the time for a third consecutive Stanley Cup.
I wrote after the Derick Brassard trade that I felt the roster was set, including the defense. I based that partly on there being seven NHL-caliber bodies on the corps, partly on Kris Letang being present now when he wasn't last summer, partly because Jamie Oleksiak has been such a wonderful find. So yeah, I clearly needed a reminder, too, that Hunwick isn't a No. 6 on a championship team.
Still one to go, J.R. It can be done.
Will he?
“We’re staying in this,” he told our Chris Bradford Sunday. “We’re listening and looking into every situation. I don’t know which way it’s going to go.”
• And what of Chad Ruhwedel?
Mike Sullivan genuinely trusts him, and that should count plenty. He's smart with the puck, he supports the rush, and he's mobile enough to make up for mistakes. But there are mistakes, and most of those are similar to Hunwick's in style, if not scope. He, too, strays from position and doesn't keep the hockey-proverbial head on a swivel.
He's a very good No. 7.
Hunwick, as we've all been reminded, was really No. 8 while Cole was here.
• Oleksiak's affinity for working the right side as a left-handed shot opens the door all the more for Rutherford, as that's what most of the defensemen on the trade market happen to be.
• Ryan McDonagh is one of those, but don't even think about him or Erik Karlsson. There's no money, and the Vegas casino won't spit out any more coins this time.
Think much more along the lines of Johnny Oduya. He's 36, the Senators are dumping everyone with a neck, he's got 106 playoff games to his resume, he owns two rings from his tenure in Chicago, he can kill penalties, he's got a $1 million salary, and he's a rental who can be had for a low-round draft pick.
Oh, and Ottawa placed him on waivers yesterday, so it might not even require a trade.
Did I mention he's left-handed?
• If Brassard is able to arrive today for the Penguins' 11 a.m. practice in Cranberry Township -- as Rutherford told Bradford Sunday he's hoping -- it'll be fascinating to see how fast he and Phil Kessel find chemistry. I'm guessing, with Kessel's playmaking astoundingly growing greater by the game, it'll take all of a couple rushes down the ice. They're both pretty good at seeing the ice, actually.
I hate to keep going on and on about Brassard, as I've been at it all month now, but the guy can really play. What's more, like his center predecessors, Matt Cullen and Nick Bonino, he ramps it up at the right time:
• Wait, the price the Bruins paid for Rick Nash was Ryan Spooner, Matt Beleskey, a defense prospect and a first-round pick?
Good Lord, have they ever seen Nash in the playoffs?
Oh, sorry. No one's ever seen Nash in the playoffs.
• Nash went to Boston, and Tomas Plekanec went to Toronto, and no players have yet gone to Tampa, as Steve Yzerman has yet to make his first move in spite of searching for a defenseman. The latter is all that matters from the Pittsburgh perspective. The Lightning are the other Eastern team. No one here would want them loading up further.
• Speaking of teams atop conferences, the Golden Knights have sounded genuinely delighted to land Ryan Reaves, with George McPhee openly telling reporters "he didn't play much in Pittsburgh." That's not surprising. That's the reaction I heard through many of the Western cities I've visited, that maybe the Penguins could have appreciated him -- and the cost of having acquired him from St. Louis -- more than they did.
Reaves expressed some surprise, as well, in this interview yesterday with my main man Gary Lawless, who worked in Winnipeg for many years and is now with the Golden Knights:
? "That was the best atmosphere I've ever played in front of" -
@rreaves75 talking about T-Mobile Arena
(He's talking about you guys?) pic.twitter.com/JE0dvJlhCE
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 25, 2018
• Know who hasn't been heard from since the trade?
Right: Cole.
Only the most talkative man on the planet. And he hasn't spoken, tweeted, anything at all. Not even the very-much-forthcoming message of appreciation to the city, the fans and all that.
No doubt that's because he's been told by the Senators he'll be flipped to another team by the deadline today. But still, wouldn't it be ... ?
Nah. No way. But just for the heck of it, imagine Rutherford replacing Cole with Cole. If anything could ever top Trevor Daley for Rob Scuderi, that'd be it.