Contrary to a huge collective of evidence over the past half-dozen games, all of them losses, most of them lousy losses, I'll continue to put forth that the Penguins probably aren't an all-around terrible team.
No, for real.
Wait, don't scroll away. At least hear me out, all right?
I mean, yeah, I know, after the 5-3 loss to the Wild on this Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena that set the sorry subtext to Marc-Andre Fleury's emotional farewell to our city's forever-infatuated fans, it's the Flower's former franchise that currently commands a macro-monopoly in defensive rock bottoms among the NHL's 32 teams:
• 47 goals (32nd)
• 16 low-slot goals (32nd)
• 6 rebound goals (31st)
• 389 shots (32nd)
• 54 low-slow shots (32nd)
• 45 rebound shots (32nd)
Which is to say nothing of this ongoing six-game losing streak, a 3-7-1 start to the season, and sinking to a solitary point above those lottery-loving Sharks in the overall standings:
NHL
Oh, it's bad. I'm not being bullheaded here, I swear. I'm smelling the same sewage.
I just might not have the same sense for where the seeping's originating.
Exhibit A from this evening:
Just sneaking one in there pic.twitter.com/eBh2erkStQ
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 29, 2024
The Penguins had stirred the faithful with early goals from Valtteri Puustinen and Rickard Rakell's first of two, but Jakub Lauko pulled the Wild within one, thanks to Ryan Graves having his attempted clear carom off the back of linesman Julien Fournier, then Lauko sneaking a violent-angle wrister between the short-side pipe and Joel Blomqvist's blocker.
Blomqvist, who'd proceed to have another strong showing with 35 saves, dismissed it as "s--- happens sometimes," and I'm on his side. He won't allow another one of those all winter. And besides, he's entitled to one error when those in front of him make about a billion.
Also and relevant, play that sequence again up there, look at all the options Graves had with that puck, look at his head down, then remind that this clear's got to be a 100-percenter.
Hardly egregious, but hardly ideal.
For egregious, behold Exhibit B, and follow no one other than Matt Grzelcyk, wearing No. 24:
Freddy was all over that 👏 pic.twitter.com/P5gFVAqpHy
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 29, 2024
Like the first goal, nothing's amiss systematically, no one's out of place, and no one's not trying. Rather, it's the mistake of a single defenseman that makes it happen. Grzelcyk has a potentially easy clear come his way and, rather than seizing upon it, he tries one-handed feather/poke to chip the puck ahead to Kevin Hayes and, instead, gifts it to Freddy Gaudreau.
Grzelcyk's been awful. I've no idea what Kyle Dubas or Mike Sullivan saw or see in him, not from the signing this summer -- one year, $2.75 million -- to the instant anointment to the top pairing upon the opening of camp to his continued top-four usage in the face of a minus-7 rating and being on the ice for 55 scoring chances against at five-on-five, worst among all NHL defensemen relative to his ice time.
I do, however, see why the Bruins made him a healthy scratch for 11 of their final 12 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He's replacement-level, third-pairing filler at best, and this ain't his best.
Exhibit C requires holding the nose:
Ready and waiting pic.twitter.com/G0T8jY45Vk
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 30, 2024
The Penguins arrive at the Minnesota blue line with some speed and the puck on Lars Eller's blade along the left boards.
Know where the puck isn't?
Right. Deep enough into the zone for Graves to be aligned with the forwards on the rush. Or, for that matter, deep enough for Jack St. Ivany to head off for a bleeping change. But that's where the latter's left standing by the open bench door as Kirill Kaprizov springs Gaudreau for the billionth breakaway against the Penguins' goaltenders this season.
Notice anything systemically amiss there?
Or related to effort?
Nope. Just a young defenseman logging his 23rd NHL game and making one of the many mistakes St. Ivany's made to date. His Corsi For percentage at five-on-five -- tracking the shot attempts taken vs. allowed while he's on the rink -- is a team-worst 45.04.
And again, it's about a defenseman more than anything.
So I asked Sullivan afterward if the Penguins' most glaring issue is about defensemen or something broader in scope:
“I think it's a number of things," he began, "but it starts with the decisions we make with the puck because I think we put ourselves and our teammates in very difficult spots and you know the first step to becoming a solid team defensively is managing the puck appropriately. Otherwise, you're inviting easy offense. If we're on the wrong side of the puck, then we're on the wrong side of people and we're on the wrong side of the attack. And that's where it starts. It's happened a number of times. It happened again tonight. That, for me, is where it starts."
He paused a moment, then proceeded, "And then, there needs to be a commitment to details. We need to stop with the track-back into our zone, not circle. We need to recognize who's going to get to the puck first. Are we on offense or are we on defense? We can't always take the offensive position. We have to think in terms of the defensive-side position."
That's undoubtedly a reference to the third and fourth Minnesota goals, this being the fourth:
Some excitement before the buzzer brought to you by Kaprizov + Zuccarello pic.twitter.com/wjuJYNhX1u
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 30, 2024
Kris Letang's wide "circle" in the corner could've been a hard stop that allowed everyone out front set properly, among other blah events therein. And per that goal, I'll emphasize that, while effort wasn't a factor in the first three Minnesota goals, it's sure been that on a bunch through 11 games. I'm not dismissing it.
"You know, as I said to the guys before the game, we're going to defend our way out of this. We're not going to score our way out of this," Sullivan would conclude his reply. "And that's what we're trying to work at. For me, it starts with a mindset. It starts with an attitude. Your intentions need to be in the right place. And when they are, now we have a chance to be to be better defensively with respect to some of the details associated with that."
I couldn't agree more. All 90 seconds of the answer..
But speaking it, or even barking it, as he did during a practice a week ago in Calgary, won't cut it. Not if the players aren't capable.
None of Letang, Erik Karlsson or Marcus Pettersson's been good, so I'm not letting them off. But there's no option to not deploy them, so I won't waste anyone's time with it. Whereas the other three defensemen comprise half the corps and are doing an inordinate amount of damage, not just to the back end but also to the forwards, who aren't seeing the puck anywhere near enough and, somehow, still lead the NHL in creating high-danger chances at the good end.
My solution for this?
Wow, not a clue. Not close to a clue.
Ryan Shea's the resident healthy scratch, and he's likely not it. Filip Kral and Sebastian Aho are in Wilkes-Barre, and they're likely not it, though I did like Kral's camp. Harrison Brunicke had the most complete camp of anyone at the position, but he's 18 and back in juniors. And to top all that, Dubas has roughly $91,000 in cap space, so any external acquisition would require some Rob Scuderi-for-Trevor Daley type contorting.
Um ... play better? And hurry?
• Taylor Haase has all the Fleury fanfare.
• We both have much more in our Penguins Feed.
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage.
• And for listening: