It’s pretty hard to believe hockey is already a quarter of the way through the season. I guess that’s what you get with the lockout shortened season (thanks captain obvious). All in all, the Pens seem like they’re in good standing. 9-5 record, second in the conference, and a healthy team, which we as Penguins fans just aren’t used to after last year’s season. There’s far less scrambling on the management side of things to find a some line chemistry. No permanent solution for the top 2 lines yet… but some stability for the time being. Tangradi was finally traded which means fans don’t have to worry about him getting another completely undeserved chance, and if conclusions can be drawn from past demonstrations, see absolutely no progress or contribution from him. But how do we really look? Despite the numbers, what does the eye test say to you?
Line 2. The old, unstoppable line 1. The MVP, the Real 6 Year Deal, and the Honey Badger. I’ve said all along that giving Kunitz to Crosby as his 2nd winger was never resolving the Crosby-winger issue… it just took a winger away from Geno. Malkin only has 3 goals. less than a third of Neal, half of Crosby, half of Kunitz, 2 less than Duper, and tied with Letang and Sutter. Not a horrible thing considering Malkin has 13 assists (my favorite number), but there’s something wrong there. The chemistry is missing. Geno knows how to hit Neal, and clearly he still does and does it well, but there’s nobody that has been able to fill the same role and chemistry he shared with Kunitz on his opposite wing. Boychuk has worked far better than the Tangradi and TK experiment, but he’s not it. Not if you’re looking for the same effectiveness as last season. To fix something that was broke (Crosby’s line), Pens management broke what didn’t need fixed (Geno’s line), and despite how good both lines are actually doing, they don’t look like they’re playing up to their full, powerhouse potential. For me… those lines both sit at a B- for the eye test.
Beau Bennett has been called up from the Baby Pens. Small tangent, its funny they’re called the Baby Pens and their logo is this massively muscular penguin with blood-red, “I’ll murder you” eyes. So yeah, Bennett is called up and is most likely going to be tested as a possible solution to what has been troubling my eye test. What are the possible options? Lets check it out.
If the main problem is making the top 2 lines play up to the potential talent behemoths they absolutely can be, and the Pens have pretty much exhausted every internal option they have on their NHL bench, then its safe to say Beau will get slotted in on one of the 2 top lines. If Bylsma does yet again what he’s continually been trying to force into working, and puts Bennett on the 2nd line, clearly Boychuk will be bumped out. Boychuk has not been without impact since his Pens debut. I would move him down to play with Cooke and Sutter and make TK a healthy scratch. TK has been on a downward spiral in production since he changed his style of play from a grinder and pass-first-looker to a “wana-be” puck-handler/shot-first-looker/goal scorer. TK: 1 goal, 1 assist, -2 on the season… unacceptable for what his purpose is supposed to be. With 25% of the season down, his ship of chances is setting sail, if not sailed. Lines would be 14,87,9 – Bennett,71,18 – 17,16,24 – then the typical 4th line Glass, Vitale, Adams. Quick mention, that 4th line has a lot of chemistry and has played well. I wouldn’t change a thing there. When they start striking in goals, the floodgates will open.
BUT option number 2, the one I would personally hope for, and also the one that Bylsma said wouldn’t happen (but nothing is ever written in stone), is that Bennett could be placed on the 1st line with our Captain and fearless leader, Sidney Crosby. Crosby has that magical touch that enables him to bring out strengths in talented players on his line, and utilize them in ways that puts pucks in the net. He even did it with TK a little last year, but all the Crosby spoon-feeding in the world still couldn’t make TK a better player. We’re seeing proof of that this season. So Bennett is on line 1, who moves down? That’s a no-brainer. Reunite the unstoppable line. Bring down the Honey Badger and let him commence fusion once again with the MVP and the Real 6 Year Deal. Then keeping consistent with what I was saying in option 1, bump Boychuk to line 3, scratch TK, and let line 4 continue to play well as is. The new look of the lines would then be: Bennett,87,9 – 14,71,18 – 17,16,24 – then the typical 4th line Glass, Vitale, Adams.
So that’s the eye test analysis and a little brush over of the possible line combinations with Bennett in the top 6. What say yinz?
