About six weeks ago, I contemplated the cataclysmic consequences to the hockey universe if Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher combined to lead Philly to the Stanley Cup.
The idea of a championship team, built around rotating third string goaltenders was contradictory to everything I believe in as a hockey fan and a human being. I think I was NEARLY as concerned about Leighton’s lack of pedigree as I was about the Orange and Black uniform he was wearing.
When Leighton responded by giving up two horrendous goals in game 6 of the finals; along with being pulled from two other starts; I felt my beliefs vindicated and my fears vanquished. My goaltender centric view of the universe was blissfully in tact and all was well.
At least I thought it was.
I’ve spent the better part of a month watching NHL clubs systematically destroy the notion of goaltending relevance. Teams desperately in need of goaltending have refused to address it. Teams with goaltending won’t pay to keep it. And those teams that have bitten the bullet to sign goaltenders have done so at blue light special prices.
All this while New Jersey blows up the salary cap and threatens collective bargaining armageddon to sign Sammy Sosa on skates, aka, Ilya Kovalchuk. Please explain to me why a one dimensionAL winger with one playoff victory in 8 years (that’s one GAME, not one SERIES), is worth $100 Million but a goaltender who drags an entire franchise kicking and screaming into the 3rd round is worth Chris Kunitz?
Just one man’s opinion but I think there would be a lot less offseason angst in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh South (aka, Washington D.C.), if Montreal had stuck with Carey Price during last year’s playoffs.
Seriously, what the heck is going on out there? So much goaltending lunacy, I don’t know where to start…but I’ll try.
· In case I was being too subtle above; Jaroslav Halak carries Montreal to the conference finals, and then gets traded for a bag of pucks, six rolls of tape and a case of Molson. Montreal said it was too expensive to sign him. This from the team that TRADED FOR Scott Gomez at $7 Million per year or more properly stated, at $500,000 per goal. Who do you think had more influence on Montreal pulling two of the biggest playoff upsets in NHL history? How many playoff games, let alone series, do you think Gomez has won in his career? I’ll start the bidding at one…anyone?
· Cary Price is handed back the starting job after Halak ripped it away from him. That’s the same Price who famously explained why he shot the puck at celebrating Craps players in the playoffs by saying “you’ve gotta let them know you’re out there.” As a Montreal writer said later, (paraphrasing), “how about letting them know you are out there by stopping the darn puck!” If I were a Canadian season ticket holder, I’d vomit on the order form and send it back without a check. On the bright side, the only way the Pens see Michael Cammalleri in the 2011 playoffs is if he’s between the benches for TSN.
· The Orange and Black Goon Squad, after once again providing an internationally televised documentary on how bad goaltending can stop an otherwise cup worthy team, refused to spend $1 to upgrade the position. Welcome back for year two, Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher (assuming the immortal Ray Emery does not get healthy). Do you think Bernie Parent ever breaks down into sobbing fits watching his old team? Apparently losing the Stanley Cup on a wrist shot through the five hole…from an 8 degree angle, was still not enough to convince the Goons to pony up for a decent netminder. Of course there was plenty of money available for more defensemen. Maybe Andrej Meszaros can play goal?
· Jose Theodore and Marty Turco remain unemployed. Ok, forget I mentioned that.
· The San Jose Sharks cut ties with the NHL’s overall wins leader for the last four years and replace him with Antero Nittymaki. I’ll concede that Nabokov was shaky enough in the playoffs to move on without him, especially given his salary demands. That being said… ANTERO NITTYMAKI? The sushi goalie? The guy who was not good enough for Philly? The guy who could not beat out Martin Biron and Mike Smith? What, Jarmo Myllys was not available? In the meantime, the Sharks continue to pay over $7 Million per season to habitual playoff choker Joe Thornton.
· Sweaty Teddy and the Craps are set to hit the season with Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth in goal. Apparently three straight first round flameouts are not enough to get Ovie and his minions a reliable number one. To their credit, the Craps did finally rid themselves of Theodore. And with Nittymaki off the market, there were no more second rate veterans for Leonsis to overpay and Bruce Boudreau to pull after one playoff start.
· The Boston Bruins are doing everything short of a yard sale to give away the Vezina Trophy winner from two years ago…and nobody wants him. I guess that means more creepy Tim Thomas commercials on the NHL network…in a Bruin’s uniform.
· The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup and two months later have not offered more than cheese wiz to the goaltender who took them to the title. Yes I admit to a distinct Emily influence here and yes the Hawks salary cap situation is an apocalyptic debacAL. Still, you can rest assured that Antti Niemi was a huge reason the Hawks won the Cup last year. Since the Hawks plan to banish Cristobal Huet back to France, not signing Niemi would likely signal the start of the Corey Crawford/Hannu Toivonen era. If that happens, rest assured Mayor Daley will not have to pony up for another parade in 2011.
· Chris Mason, who may have been the best goaltender on the market, signed a two year deal for $3.7 Million, with Atlanta. I guess Philly could not risk losing Matt Walker to take a chance on a better goalie? Mason dragged St. Louis kicking and screaming into the playoffs two years ago and for that got paid one half Kunitz. How many playoff games, let alone series do you think Kunitz has won in his career? Keep in mind that Mason was unemployed because St’ Louis traded two ECHL prospects to Montreal for the goalie who carried the Habs kicking and screaming into the conference finals so the Habs could start Cary Price who…oh never mind.
· The Ottawa Senators are going to start another year with Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire in goal. Seriously, I would take Big Mike and Disque over that pair. Somewhere out there Tim Chevaldae is contemplating a comeback.
· An admittedly minor contingent of moronic Penguin fans continue to blast Marc-Andre Fleury as overrated and overpaid. I guess it’s because Fleury has only lead the Pens to the finals twice in the last three years; or perhaps because he’s crossed the mythical Chris Kunitz salary barrier. I guess stopping two future hall of famers from point blank range, on the road, in game 7’s is not worth what is used to be.
· Nikolai Khabibulin continues to draw a seven figure NHL paycheck…for three more years while Niemi does not have a contract. And eventually, somebody will sign Theodore as well.
I guess this is reason number 137 that I will never be an NHL general manager. Almost every year I see how critical goaltending is to playoff success and yet the current GM’s continue to devalue it. It used to be just the Goons, Craps, and Dead Wings. Now it’s spreading like as if Filoni was the GM of every NHL team!
Yes, there is price to pay for Chris Osgood winning two Stanley Cups. It’s just enough justification for the Bob Clarkes and Paul Holmgrens of the world to keep pushing their theories about how you don’t really need goaltending to win. As if I really needed another reason to hate the Dead Wings and the Goons? Throw in spend crazy GMs looking to save a few bucks against the cap and here we are.
Maybe I need to make a pilgrimage to Quebec and worship at the alter of Francois Allaire (praying of course from the butterfly stance). Or maybe the NHL just needs to get a grip on reality, hopefully after Fleury wins the next Conn Smyth trophy. Either way, the goaltending universe is upside down, and I’m not happy about it.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
The NHL’s New Funny Money
Remember a few years back when the National Hockey League cancelled an entire season because of their critical need for "cost certainty"?
The cash strapped owners insisted they had to have a salary cap and revenue sharing. The system was so bad and salaries were so out of control that they gambled the league’s survival on a season long lockout. And it appeared to work. The owners got their salary cap at a very manageable $39 Million and a 24 percent reduction of existing salaries. It took a few years but the viewing public came back as well.
Think they can pull it off twice?
I’m hoping so because that’s where the NHL is headed. For years the owners claimed they needed a hard salary cap to save them from themselves. Now they have it and apparently it’s still not enough.
For exhibit A, I give you Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils.
Kovalchuk is possibly the most overrated player in sports today. In hockey terms, he’s on the Robbie Brown level of overrated. Don’t get me wrong, he’s incredibly talented, maybe the most dangerous pure scorer in the NHL. In order to access that ability, you just have to put up with never seeing him on the defensive side of center ice. Word on the street is he’s more than a bit selfish as well although dealing in speculation is always risky.
Here is what I do know, that is not speculation. In eight NHL seasons Kovalchuk has won a grand total of…drum roll please…one playoff game. Not one playoff series, one playoff game. His teams have appeared in the playoffs twice, though it’s fair to say that the Devils would have been there without him. Even his Russian Olympic teams have bombed out.
And for that, rumor has it that the Devils are paying Kovalchuk more than $100 Million over 17 years. And in reality, they are probably going to pay him about $90 Million (or more) over 10 years and the remainder over the last seven. You know, about the time he's retiring to Moscow to buy a KHL franchise with his new fortune. That’s assuming our Russian friend is still toiling in the NHL and dominating offensively at age 37.
Lou Lamoriello must have been awfully impressed with those 12 goals Kovalchuk banged in during his 32 game stint with New Jersey last year. Otherwise, I’m truly at a loss for words. And there but for the grace of Rick Dipietro go I.
Is this guy really worth more than Crosby and Malkin combined? Those two guys carried the Pens to back to back Stanley Cup finals. Is he worth more than Ovechkin?
And before you remind me how bad Atlanta has been, I will remind you that after the lockout they had quite a bit of talent including Marc Savard and some Slovakian forward that shows up in the Stanley Cup finals every year. In the pre Ovie days, one would think a player worth $100 Million could drag the Thrash to the top of the pathetic Southeast division.
I’m not buying it folks. Kovalchuk (I won’t call him Kovy in deference to Alexie Kovalev) is Sammy Sosa on skates. Great stats and a guy you simply can not win with. I’m betting Atlanta is better without him (and with half of the Blackhawks cup team from last year) and the Devils are worse.
Is this is why the NHL owners fought so hard for a salary cap…so Lou Lamoriello could make a mockery of it? For the love of Garth Snow, can Gary Bettman gets some stone and void this deal? And for the record, I’m not a guy who blames Bettman for every bad thing that happens in the NHL as so many others do.
It’s easy (and fun) to blame Lamoriello who has shown that he will do anything and throw anyone under the bus to win (with the notable exception of Melanie Brodeur’s ex-husband). Alas, he and the Devils are not alone in this mockery that will eventually lead to another damaging work stoppage.
I mentioned Garth Snow above. Since it was apparently not enough for him to torture Penguin fans with his lack of goaltending acumen, Snow decided to start this whole traveshamockery by giving a 15 year deal to Rick Dipietro. The deal has been a miserable failure, in part because of Dipietro’s two year knee injury that might ruin his career and also because he is just not that good. That did not stop others from hopping on the bandwagon.
The Blackhawks participated in this farce as well when they dropped a 12 year deal on that Slovakian guy who used to play for Detroit. The contract is for about $65 Million. The Hawks pay his about $60 Million over seven years and then pay him what amounts to a pension plan honorarium for the last five years. The assumption is that after the seven years are up, Hossa will retire and then go sign a one year deal in Russia with whatever team gives him the best chance to win the KHL Cup.
The cash strapped owners insisted they had to have a salary cap and revenue sharing. The system was so bad and salaries were so out of control that they gambled the league’s survival on a season long lockout. And it appeared to work. The owners got their salary cap at a very manageable $39 Million and a 24 percent reduction of existing salaries. It took a few years but the viewing public came back as well.
Think they can pull it off twice?
I’m hoping so because that’s where the NHL is headed. For years the owners claimed they needed a hard salary cap to save them from themselves. Now they have it and apparently it’s still not enough.
For exhibit A, I give you Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils.
Kovalchuk is possibly the most overrated player in sports today. In hockey terms, he’s on the Robbie Brown level of overrated. Don’t get me wrong, he’s incredibly talented, maybe the most dangerous pure scorer in the NHL. In order to access that ability, you just have to put up with never seeing him on the defensive side of center ice. Word on the street is he’s more than a bit selfish as well although dealing in speculation is always risky.
Here is what I do know, that is not speculation. In eight NHL seasons Kovalchuk has won a grand total of…drum roll please…one playoff game. Not one playoff series, one playoff game. His teams have appeared in the playoffs twice, though it’s fair to say that the Devils would have been there without him. Even his Russian Olympic teams have bombed out.
And for that, rumor has it that the Devils are paying Kovalchuk more than $100 Million over 17 years. And in reality, they are probably going to pay him about $90 Million (or more) over 10 years and the remainder over the last seven. You know, about the time he's retiring to Moscow to buy a KHL franchise with his new fortune. That’s assuming our Russian friend is still toiling in the NHL and dominating offensively at age 37.
Lou Lamoriello must have been awfully impressed with those 12 goals Kovalchuk banged in during his 32 game stint with New Jersey last year. Otherwise, I’m truly at a loss for words. And there but for the grace of Rick Dipietro go I.
Is this guy really worth more than Crosby and Malkin combined? Those two guys carried the Pens to back to back Stanley Cup finals. Is he worth more than Ovechkin?
And before you remind me how bad Atlanta has been, I will remind you that after the lockout they had quite a bit of talent including Marc Savard and some Slovakian forward that shows up in the Stanley Cup finals every year. In the pre Ovie days, one would think a player worth $100 Million could drag the Thrash to the top of the pathetic Southeast division.
I’m not buying it folks. Kovalchuk (I won’t call him Kovy in deference to Alexie Kovalev) is Sammy Sosa on skates. Great stats and a guy you simply can not win with. I’m betting Atlanta is better without him (and with half of the Blackhawks cup team from last year) and the Devils are worse.
Is this is why the NHL owners fought so hard for a salary cap…so Lou Lamoriello could make a mockery of it? For the love of Garth Snow, can Gary Bettman gets some stone and void this deal? And for the record, I’m not a guy who blames Bettman for every bad thing that happens in the NHL as so many others do.
It’s easy (and fun) to blame Lamoriello who has shown that he will do anything and throw anyone under the bus to win (with the notable exception of Melanie Brodeur’s ex-husband). Alas, he and the Devils are not alone in this mockery that will eventually lead to another damaging work stoppage.
I mentioned Garth Snow above. Since it was apparently not enough for him to torture Penguin fans with his lack of goaltending acumen, Snow decided to start this whole traveshamockery by giving a 15 year deal to Rick Dipietro. The deal has been a miserable failure, in part because of Dipietro’s two year knee injury that might ruin his career and also because he is just not that good. That did not stop others from hopping on the bandwagon.
The Blackhawks participated in this farce as well when they dropped a 12 year deal on that Slovakian guy who used to play for Detroit. The contract is for about $65 Million. The Hawks pay his about $60 Million over seven years and then pay him what amounts to a pension plan honorarium for the last five years. The assumption is that after the seven years are up, Hossa will retire and then go sign a one year deal in Russia with whatever team gives him the best chance to win the KHL Cup.
And one shutters to think of what Glenn Sather would be spending if he had not completely capped out the Rangers on Wade Reddan and Mikey Roszival.
Remember, this was not a bidding war to land Crosby or Ovie; this is over the likes of Kovalchuk, Dipietro and Mike Richards. Are those guys worth trashing the league's hard earned "cost certainty" to sign?
For the most part, I don’t blame the players when the owners spend like drunken sailors. It’s not Dipietro’s fault that Snow took one too many slapshots to the cranium, just as it’s not Cristobal Huet’s fault that Dale Tallon went on an all night drinking binge before working up his contract. I’ll make an exception for Kovalchuk who was clearly willing to game the system until somebody was stupid enough to pony up all that money for him. There’s a sucker born every minute and in Lou Lamoriello’s case, there is one with a full time job.
I just wonder how this possibly ends well for the NHL. Especially when you consider how unlikely the NLHPA is to happily agree to another wage concession or salary cap reduction. Oh and that’s before considering whether they hire Donald Fehr as their next executive director. Chew on that during the next lockout.
I’m not naïve enough to think that wealthier owners would not spend every dime up to the top of the salary cap but I thought they would at least stop there. I just did not think they would go out of their way to circumvent the safe guards they created. It’s bad enough that the cap has risen from $39 Million to $59 Million in five years. Remember when teams said they could not make it work with a $35 Million payroll?
The 10 plus year contracts are for the most part a joke. I’ll give the Hawks Duncan Keith who might be around that long but for the most part, it’s flat out cap shenanigans. Good luck finding one forward since Gordie Howe who was scoring goals at a $9 Million per year pace into his 40s. And I'm just guessing that Mr. Hockey worked a bit harder at his craft and conditioning then Kovalchuk does.
I don’t wish injury on anybody so my fervent hope is that Ilya performs a Craig Patrick like on the job retirement. Please get fat, dumb, and happy. Show up out of shape, reduce your effort level, milk minor injuries all while buying a new Porsche once a week. There is nothing I would like better than to see Lamoriello stuck with a $100 Million bust that turns the Devils into the NY Rangers of Newark.
Remember, this was not a bidding war to land Crosby or Ovie; this is over the likes of Kovalchuk, Dipietro and Mike Richards. Are those guys worth trashing the league's hard earned "cost certainty" to sign?
For the most part, I don’t blame the players when the owners spend like drunken sailors. It’s not Dipietro’s fault that Snow took one too many slapshots to the cranium, just as it’s not Cristobal Huet’s fault that Dale Tallon went on an all night drinking binge before working up his contract. I’ll make an exception for Kovalchuk who was clearly willing to game the system until somebody was stupid enough to pony up all that money for him. There’s a sucker born every minute and in Lou Lamoriello’s case, there is one with a full time job.
I just wonder how this possibly ends well for the NHL. Especially when you consider how unlikely the NLHPA is to happily agree to another wage concession or salary cap reduction. Oh and that’s before considering whether they hire Donald Fehr as their next executive director. Chew on that during the next lockout.
I’m not naïve enough to think that wealthier owners would not spend every dime up to the top of the salary cap but I thought they would at least stop there. I just did not think they would go out of their way to circumvent the safe guards they created. It’s bad enough that the cap has risen from $39 Million to $59 Million in five years. Remember when teams said they could not make it work with a $35 Million payroll?
The 10 plus year contracts are for the most part a joke. I’ll give the Hawks Duncan Keith who might be around that long but for the most part, it’s flat out cap shenanigans. Good luck finding one forward since Gordie Howe who was scoring goals at a $9 Million per year pace into his 40s. And I'm just guessing that Mr. Hockey worked a bit harder at his craft and conditioning then Kovalchuk does.
I don’t wish injury on anybody so my fervent hope is that Ilya performs a Craig Patrick like on the job retirement. Please get fat, dumb, and happy. Show up out of shape, reduce your effort level, milk minor injuries all while buying a new Porsche once a week. There is nothing I would like better than to see Lamoriello stuck with a $100 Million bust that turns the Devils into the NY Rangers of Newark.
Even better, here’s hoping Zac Parise takes the reasonable deal that Los Angeles offered Kovalchuk and runs. Then LA gets the better player and for less money.
By the way, kudos to the Kings for bringing some sanity to this process. Kudos to all the teams that were smart enough to walk away from this insanity. Unfortunately, it only takes one idiot to blow up the whole system.
By the way, kudos to the Kings for bringing some sanity to this process. Kudos to all the teams that were smart enough to walk away from this insanity. Unfortunately, it only takes one idiot to blow up the whole system.
Sadly, the NHL has more than one with the title of general manager. I hope we are not lamenting that fact as another season gets canceled. I’m not sure that trick will work twice.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Penguins Living on a Wing and a Prayer
With the World Cup completed, Lebron “decided” and football season still two months away, we are officially, knee deep in the sports dead zone. There probably is no worse time in sports than the MLB all star break, the only three days of the year that I question my high def television purchase.
The dead zone is thus a wonderful time for forward looking contemplation.
It was about this time last year that I debated what I called the Jordan Staal dilemma. There was nothing new or exciting going on with Staal but idle minds have time to think. I contemplated whether the Pens could continue to win with three great centers, making a combined $21 Million per year and deteriorating stable of mediocre wingers. My ultimate conclusion was that it was risky but you could not bail on the model, or Staal right after a Stanley Cup parade.
Alas, the Staal dilemma is no more. The Penguins are clearly not trading him and I can’t say I blame them. How do you part with a 22 year old, 6’4” center who has 25 to 30 goal ability and a Selke Trophy nomination for his defensive work? The answer is you don’t, at least not if you are Ray Shero and he’s signed for three more years.
I went out of my way last year to clarify that all things being equal, I was not in favor of trading Staal. My concern was that the Pens center driven model was not sustainable. As the salary caps noose constricts year by year, the Penguin wingers get progressively worse. We’ve gone from Sykora, Malone, and some guy who used to play for Detroit, to Guerin and Fedotenko (on his last legs), to quite literally a wing and a prayer. And I just don’t think that is working anymore.
I truly believe the model worked in 2008-09 for two reasons. First, the Penguins got miraculous post season performances from Guerin, Talbot, and Feds. All three played well above their offensive abilities. Second, and more important, Sid and Geno flat out carried the team with non stop brilliant performances. As great as they both are, it’s just not feasible to expect that year after year without help.
The lack of quality wings is why the Pens struggle against strong defensive teams. It’s easy to shut down Sid when you’re not concerned about Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz beating you. Maybe you noticed the Pens went 0 and 6 against New Jersey last year? How about the disappearance of Sid and Geno for most of the Detroit and Montreal series’ over the last three years?
That’s why I think the Pens have come to the inevitable conclusion that Geno has to move to the wing. Yes there are risks and arguments against it but simply stated, they don’t have a choice.
It’s a risky move switching an all world center to the wing. You would think that if somebody can play center they can play wing but it’s not always that easy. Staal was a disaster on the wing; go figure since it minimizes his most important asset, his two way ability. As for Geno, he always seems a bit less engaged on the flanks and far less sure of himself defensively. I’ve made the comment before that I think Sid and Geno have zero chemistry at even strength. They just make up for it with superior talent.
That being said, it’s just as risky to trot out Geno with Max and Tangradi for an entire season. And that assumes Tangradi is even ready for the NHL, an assumption of which I’m highly skeptical. We are all hoping he’s ready. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things but as Cleveland fans will attest, hopes do not always come true.
Let’s be clear about this as well, there is no other solution available short of a trade. The Pens have no cap room left. According to my new best friends at Capgeek.com, they have $2.2 Million to sign 3 players. Shero is not going to spend right to the cap limit, nor should he. He should leave room for at least one minimum wage player. That means the most he can spend is $1.7 Million on 3 players. The league minimum is $500,000 per player, so do the math. There will be no low priced miracle in 2010…unless there is a trade.
I am wholeheartedly against trading Geno. Just seeing how much Sid struggles when Malkin is not in the line-up convinces me that he’s every bit as critical to the Pens success as our captain and savior. I’m more willing to deal Staal, in the same way I’m more willing to have a root canal than I am to watch The View. Both are risky trades. Remember how the Pens never quite recovered from breaking up the 90 to 93 core (and breaking up Kevin Stevens’ face)?
I would love to see Chris Kunitz sent packing. In my mind he continues to be a major cap liability at $3.75 Million per. As an aside, I remain stupefied as to how an injury plagued “power forward” who scores 15 goals with the best playmaker in the NHL can make the same money as a certain Slovakian goaltender who personally stole two playoff series. Alas, that’s a blog for another day.
Kunitz gives the Penguins a tad less than Pascal Dupuis at three times the cap hit. That does not work in the salary cap world. Alas as Filoni reminds us, other teams are not lining up to take his contract. Remember, the Pens took him to rid themselves of Ryan Whitney. Making matters worse, the remaining wingers in free agency are a hodge podge of mediocrity, unless Ilya Kovalchuk lowers his salary demands by about $6 Million per year (and if he get’s $10 Million per I promise projectile vomiting).
So that really only leaves one choice, move Geno to wing and hope for the best. Honestly, I always felt Geno was better suited there anyway. He’s not great on faceoffs (understatement), and certainly not the greatest defensive center we’ve ever seen. And we have a decade of Jaromir Jagr clips that prove a winger can be a dominant puck carrier. That works great with Staal since his strength is more the dirty work in the corners anyway.
Even with that change, the Pens may struggle a bit to find another top 6 winger. In that scenario, the Superstar becomes your best choice for third line center duty with Cooke Monster and likely Kennedy. Unless Bill Guerin decides to donate another season to the Pens at league minimum the team has a problem. Again, That assumes Tangradi is not ready and I don’t see how the Pens can make any other assumption. It’s a HUGE bonus if he proves me wrong.
Still, I’ll take those concerns over another year of Geno centering the grind line. The Penguins just don’t have the wingers to make three top centers work. And that’s under the best case scenario, assuming no injuries and the Dupuis repeats what was a miracle season for him last year. I guess we could also hope that Kunitz actually stays healthy and scores 30 goals while playing with Sid. Just as we could hope that ESPN sells its NBA contract to the ‘E’ network and rekindles its relationship with the NHL. In short, don’t count on it.
The good news of course is that any move with Geno is not set in stone. If the move is truly a debacAL, the Pens can always move him back to center. That being said, I think if the Pens are going to do this, they need to show a commitment to it. Geno needs to know that this is his role and learn to maximize his performance in it. I don’t buy the ridiculous arguments that he will sulk and be unhappy. How can playing wing with Staal, be worse than centering for Fedotenko and Poni-k?
In the end, it’s not ideal but that’s life in the salary cap world. Teams have to make tough decisions to fill gaps. The Pens did a great job shoring up their blue line; they are strong down the middle and solid in the nets (no matter what the moronic Fleury bashing minority might think). The wing situation however has become untenable. For better or for worse, Geno is by far the best answer.
The dead zone is thus a wonderful time for forward looking contemplation.
It was about this time last year that I debated what I called the Jordan Staal dilemma. There was nothing new or exciting going on with Staal but idle minds have time to think. I contemplated whether the Pens could continue to win with three great centers, making a combined $21 Million per year and deteriorating stable of mediocre wingers. My ultimate conclusion was that it was risky but you could not bail on the model, or Staal right after a Stanley Cup parade.
Alas, the Staal dilemma is no more. The Penguins are clearly not trading him and I can’t say I blame them. How do you part with a 22 year old, 6’4” center who has 25 to 30 goal ability and a Selke Trophy nomination for his defensive work? The answer is you don’t, at least not if you are Ray Shero and he’s signed for three more years.
I went out of my way last year to clarify that all things being equal, I was not in favor of trading Staal. My concern was that the Pens center driven model was not sustainable. As the salary caps noose constricts year by year, the Penguin wingers get progressively worse. We’ve gone from Sykora, Malone, and some guy who used to play for Detroit, to Guerin and Fedotenko (on his last legs), to quite literally a wing and a prayer. And I just don’t think that is working anymore.
I truly believe the model worked in 2008-09 for two reasons. First, the Penguins got miraculous post season performances from Guerin, Talbot, and Feds. All three played well above their offensive abilities. Second, and more important, Sid and Geno flat out carried the team with non stop brilliant performances. As great as they both are, it’s just not feasible to expect that year after year without help.
The lack of quality wings is why the Pens struggle against strong defensive teams. It’s easy to shut down Sid when you’re not concerned about Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz beating you. Maybe you noticed the Pens went 0 and 6 against New Jersey last year? How about the disappearance of Sid and Geno for most of the Detroit and Montreal series’ over the last three years?
That’s why I think the Pens have come to the inevitable conclusion that Geno has to move to the wing. Yes there are risks and arguments against it but simply stated, they don’t have a choice.
It’s a risky move switching an all world center to the wing. You would think that if somebody can play center they can play wing but it’s not always that easy. Staal was a disaster on the wing; go figure since it minimizes his most important asset, his two way ability. As for Geno, he always seems a bit less engaged on the flanks and far less sure of himself defensively. I’ve made the comment before that I think Sid and Geno have zero chemistry at even strength. They just make up for it with superior talent.
That being said, it’s just as risky to trot out Geno with Max and Tangradi for an entire season. And that assumes Tangradi is even ready for the NHL, an assumption of which I’m highly skeptical. We are all hoping he’s ready. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things but as Cleveland fans will attest, hopes do not always come true.
Let’s be clear about this as well, there is no other solution available short of a trade. The Pens have no cap room left. According to my new best friends at Capgeek.com, they have $2.2 Million to sign 3 players. Shero is not going to spend right to the cap limit, nor should he. He should leave room for at least one minimum wage player. That means the most he can spend is $1.7 Million on 3 players. The league minimum is $500,000 per player, so do the math. There will be no low priced miracle in 2010…unless there is a trade.
I am wholeheartedly against trading Geno. Just seeing how much Sid struggles when Malkin is not in the line-up convinces me that he’s every bit as critical to the Pens success as our captain and savior. I’m more willing to deal Staal, in the same way I’m more willing to have a root canal than I am to watch The View. Both are risky trades. Remember how the Pens never quite recovered from breaking up the 90 to 93 core (and breaking up Kevin Stevens’ face)?
I would love to see Chris Kunitz sent packing. In my mind he continues to be a major cap liability at $3.75 Million per. As an aside, I remain stupefied as to how an injury plagued “power forward” who scores 15 goals with the best playmaker in the NHL can make the same money as a certain Slovakian goaltender who personally stole two playoff series. Alas, that’s a blog for another day.
Kunitz gives the Penguins a tad less than Pascal Dupuis at three times the cap hit. That does not work in the salary cap world. Alas as Filoni reminds us, other teams are not lining up to take his contract. Remember, the Pens took him to rid themselves of Ryan Whitney. Making matters worse, the remaining wingers in free agency are a hodge podge of mediocrity, unless Ilya Kovalchuk lowers his salary demands by about $6 Million per year (and if he get’s $10 Million per I promise projectile vomiting).
So that really only leaves one choice, move Geno to wing and hope for the best. Honestly, I always felt Geno was better suited there anyway. He’s not great on faceoffs (understatement), and certainly not the greatest defensive center we’ve ever seen. And we have a decade of Jaromir Jagr clips that prove a winger can be a dominant puck carrier. That works great with Staal since his strength is more the dirty work in the corners anyway.
Even with that change, the Pens may struggle a bit to find another top 6 winger. In that scenario, the Superstar becomes your best choice for third line center duty with Cooke Monster and likely Kennedy. Unless Bill Guerin decides to donate another season to the Pens at league minimum the team has a problem. Again, That assumes Tangradi is not ready and I don’t see how the Pens can make any other assumption. It’s a HUGE bonus if he proves me wrong.
Still, I’ll take those concerns over another year of Geno centering the grind line. The Penguins just don’t have the wingers to make three top centers work. And that’s under the best case scenario, assuming no injuries and the Dupuis repeats what was a miracle season for him last year. I guess we could also hope that Kunitz actually stays healthy and scores 30 goals while playing with Sid. Just as we could hope that ESPN sells its NBA contract to the ‘E’ network and rekindles its relationship with the NHL. In short, don’t count on it.
The good news of course is that any move with Geno is not set in stone. If the move is truly a debacAL, the Pens can always move him back to center. That being said, I think if the Pens are going to do this, they need to show a commitment to it. Geno needs to know that this is his role and learn to maximize his performance in it. I don’t buy the ridiculous arguments that he will sulk and be unhappy. How can playing wing with Staal, be worse than centering for Fedotenko and Poni-k?
In the end, it’s not ideal but that’s life in the salary cap world. Teams have to make tough decisions to fill gaps. The Pens did a great job shoring up their blue line; they are strong down the middle and solid in the nets (no matter what the moronic Fleury bashing minority might think). The wing situation however has become untenable. For better or for worse, Geno is by far the best answer.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Long Live the King…of Hype
I have never hidden my dislike for the National Basketball Association.
I could devote an entire blog to all of the issues I have with the NBA (rest assured I will not). At the end my biggest issue is that the NBA to me is all about hype and glitz and very little about basketball. I think that’s intentional. How do you market basketball when the quality of play is so poor league wide? How do you market basketball in a league where two franchises have won more than 50% of the titles and only seven have won a title in the last 30 years?
The basketball world may marvel at the supreme athletic talents of the NBA players but they also scoff at the brutal lack of fundamentals. There are many great players in the NBA but few true winners. It seems that the only way you win in that league is to find one of the few superstars who truly cares more about winning then about money and fame. Say what you want about Kobe Bryant but the fact is the man is a winner. So is/was Jordan, Shaq, Tim Duncan, and Dwayne Wade. Sadly, there are far too few others in that category.
Which brings us to the NBA’s self proclaimed King…Lebron James. The King represents everything I have come to hate about the NBA, never more so then during his one hour, look at me, feed my ego, buy my products melodrama on the ENTERTAINMENT and sports network last night (which for the record, I refused to watch).
I used to refer to Terrell Owens as the Paris Hilton of sports. That’s because the ENTERTAINMENT and sports networks chronicled his every word and deed…for no particular reason. It was always pointless, self indulgent garbage that had little or nothing to do with sports. It was train wreck journalism based on a troubled, overrated, overhyped case study in insecurity who was best known for ripping his own teammates?
I will not insult James to that level because unlike T.O., I do think he’s one of the most supremely gifted athletes on the planet. He is unquestionably a great player. At the same time, I often wonder why a player who has never won a championship and in fact has never come close garners this much fame and attention? What it comes down to is that much like T.O. and Paris Hilton, Lebron is famous because everyone tells us Lebron is famous.
The NBA along with it’s willing co-conspirator at the ENTERTAINMENT and sports network has spent the last 8 years convincing us that Lebron is the next all time great player in the history of sports. They have forced the Lebron hype machine on us since his senior year of high school. In the meantime, his Cleveland teams have underachieved the last few years and he’s been accused of quitting in key playoff games.
Seriously, why is Lebron so much more famous than Dwayne Wade? Both are gifted players but Wade has won and NBA title and nearly dragged Marquette to an NCAA title (plundering Pitt along the way). Why is everybody so worried and focused about Lebron but Wade is an afterthought? Maybe Wade should have gotten the one hour special. For that matter, why is Lebron so much more famous than Kobe; a signature star who plays in Los Angeles…AND WINS.
I truly believe it’s because the NBA hype machine, along with the ENTERTAINMENT and sports network, wish it to be so. And the sporting public eats it up. Adding to the frenzy is that Lebron seems more than willing to soak in the glory, even without benefit of a championship.
For the last few years, I have complained about the NHL’s overhyping of Sidney Crosby. I think it has done more harm than good for Sid because it goes a long way towards why he is so hated in other NHL cities. If you watch any nationally televised game (assuming you count Versus as national television), especially on NBC or TSN (in Canada), you will hear announcers fawning over every pass Crosby makes like it’s the greatest in NHL history. They will wax poetic about his leadership and how he is the driving spirit of the Penguins, etc, etc.
After watching the Lebron-athon, I will never again complain about Sid. Even the ritualistic summer Brett Favre watch, including the obligatory Rachel Nichols live story from Favre’s driveway, pales in comparison to this debacAL.
There are two differences between Sid (and to a lesser degree Favre) and Lebron. First, Sid goes along with this because he’s forced to, not because he wants to. He is will aware of the constant need to market and push the NHL, a league which does not have Stuart Scott belting out over the top promos 24/7. I honestly believe if given the choice, Sid would just assume avoid all of this and just play hockey. He probably envies Geno for his silent Bob mime routine that has worked for 4 years.
In contrast, Lebron seems to love and accentuate every minute of it.
The other difference is that Sid actually has earned the praise. He’s won the Stanley Cup, been to the finals twice, and scored the gold medal winning goal while captaining the Canadian Olympic team. And he works his rear end off every day, and truly is a fantastic, team oriented leader.
I’ll go a step further and remind people that Brett Favre did win a Super Bowl and played in two. And the man has started 8,000 straight games and is still starring at age 40 in the most gruelingly physical sport on earth.
In contrast, Lebron has sold shoes and soft drinks and been dunked on by a high school player.
I will not hide from my growing bitterness towards the NBA. It never ceases to amaze me that people prefer that game to hockey. Hockey players, especially in the playoffs, play every shift like its life and death. They fight through injuries that would keep most of us in bed for weeks. They support their teammates and throw everything they have into winning a championship. They get paid for their efforts but with the notable exception of Ilya Kovalchuk, appear to be far more interested in winning then they do in money.
In contrast, the NBA is a paycheck league. It is populated with me first superstars who care only about getting their “respect” (read, dollars). If you ever want to be truly enlightened about the NBA, I highly suggest reading Sam Smith’s famous book, The Jordan Rules, written about the 1991 Bulls. It chronicles a season of greed, selfishness, pettiness, and any number of other dysfunctional behaviors. And that was before the internet era and the me first aura of today’s NBA…on a team that was winning its first of six championships in 8 years. That was back when ESPN actually cared about sports. One can only imagine what goes on today with the Knicks.
It’s spurred on by a television network that once cared about sports but now cares only about sensationalism and hype. The ENTERTAINMENT and sports network devoted months of coverage, across its many media, to speculating on the end destination of a player who has never come close to a championship. It’s par for the course in a league where the games are the least important thing. And this gets shoved down our throats while hockey is flat out ignored.
In the end, that’s the main reason I can’t stomach the NBA anymore. I can not stand the fact that so many people pay attention to the crap, solely because ESPN tells them to. How can you not get interested when every Sports Center includes 30 minutes of interviews with so called “EXPERTS” all mindlessly speculating on Lebron’s end destination. How about the standard live cut-away to Shelly Smith in Cleveland explaining to us that Lebron did in fact meet with the Knicks and they even had lunch delivered?
And of course not a single relevant piece of information is delivered. Which ironically enough is irrelevant.
Imagine if ESPN devoted 10% of that effort to promoting hockey, instead of the garbage that is the NBA. And before you say that they are simply responding to the needs of the public, I remind you that they have been endlessly promoting the World Cup all summer. This to a country where probably 80% of the population could care less.
When Emily and I were sitting at dinner last night talking about where Lebron would sign, I realized just how powerful the ESPN brainwashing is. We don’t like the NBA, we could care less about Lebron, and we were talking about it. Somewhere, a program director was smiling.
I used to be amazed when Skip Bayless would rip James on a daily basis. I can’t stand Bayless, another ego maniacal idiot who never lets the facts get in the way of a good story, but with each passing day, he looks more and more correct on the King. Until James wins something, he’s nothing more than great talent and spectacular marketing. Of course, Bayless is one of 200 ESPN talking heads who are debating amongst other things, whether James is overhyped. And there for the grace of Mike and Mike go I.
The comparisons of James to Jordan are insulting. Jordan, for all his personal flaws, was maybe the most determined athlete of all time. The man had a single minded focus to win. I watched him carry an aging Bulls team to its 6th championship by the sheer force of his will and his uncanny ability to step-up in the highest pressure moments. James is what Vince Carter would be if he could stay healthy.
You may notice that I never mentioned where James actually signed. Why should I since that does not matter anyway. It was never about where James would sign; it was about speculating on where he MIGHT sign.
In the end, there really never was a story here, just manufactured sensationalism to fill dead summer air. This was about the so called King and his marketing crown. It was about the Lebron brand, not winning championships. It never was and never will be about basketball.
I could devote an entire blog to all of the issues I have with the NBA (rest assured I will not). At the end my biggest issue is that the NBA to me is all about hype and glitz and very little about basketball. I think that’s intentional. How do you market basketball when the quality of play is so poor league wide? How do you market basketball in a league where two franchises have won more than 50% of the titles and only seven have won a title in the last 30 years?
The basketball world may marvel at the supreme athletic talents of the NBA players but they also scoff at the brutal lack of fundamentals. There are many great players in the NBA but few true winners. It seems that the only way you win in that league is to find one of the few superstars who truly cares more about winning then about money and fame. Say what you want about Kobe Bryant but the fact is the man is a winner. So is/was Jordan, Shaq, Tim Duncan, and Dwayne Wade. Sadly, there are far too few others in that category.
Which brings us to the NBA’s self proclaimed King…Lebron James. The King represents everything I have come to hate about the NBA, never more so then during his one hour, look at me, feed my ego, buy my products melodrama on the ENTERTAINMENT and sports network last night (which for the record, I refused to watch).
I used to refer to Terrell Owens as the Paris Hilton of sports. That’s because the ENTERTAINMENT and sports networks chronicled his every word and deed…for no particular reason. It was always pointless, self indulgent garbage that had little or nothing to do with sports. It was train wreck journalism based on a troubled, overrated, overhyped case study in insecurity who was best known for ripping his own teammates?
I will not insult James to that level because unlike T.O., I do think he’s one of the most supremely gifted athletes on the planet. He is unquestionably a great player. At the same time, I often wonder why a player who has never won a championship and in fact has never come close garners this much fame and attention? What it comes down to is that much like T.O. and Paris Hilton, Lebron is famous because everyone tells us Lebron is famous.
The NBA along with it’s willing co-conspirator at the ENTERTAINMENT and sports network has spent the last 8 years convincing us that Lebron is the next all time great player in the history of sports. They have forced the Lebron hype machine on us since his senior year of high school. In the meantime, his Cleveland teams have underachieved the last few years and he’s been accused of quitting in key playoff games.
Seriously, why is Lebron so much more famous than Dwayne Wade? Both are gifted players but Wade has won and NBA title and nearly dragged Marquette to an NCAA title (plundering Pitt along the way). Why is everybody so worried and focused about Lebron but Wade is an afterthought? Maybe Wade should have gotten the one hour special. For that matter, why is Lebron so much more famous than Kobe; a signature star who plays in Los Angeles…AND WINS.
I truly believe it’s because the NBA hype machine, along with the ENTERTAINMENT and sports network, wish it to be so. And the sporting public eats it up. Adding to the frenzy is that Lebron seems more than willing to soak in the glory, even without benefit of a championship.
For the last few years, I have complained about the NHL’s overhyping of Sidney Crosby. I think it has done more harm than good for Sid because it goes a long way towards why he is so hated in other NHL cities. If you watch any nationally televised game (assuming you count Versus as national television), especially on NBC or TSN (in Canada), you will hear announcers fawning over every pass Crosby makes like it’s the greatest in NHL history. They will wax poetic about his leadership and how he is the driving spirit of the Penguins, etc, etc.
After watching the Lebron-athon, I will never again complain about Sid. Even the ritualistic summer Brett Favre watch, including the obligatory Rachel Nichols live story from Favre’s driveway, pales in comparison to this debacAL.
There are two differences between Sid (and to a lesser degree Favre) and Lebron. First, Sid goes along with this because he’s forced to, not because he wants to. He is will aware of the constant need to market and push the NHL, a league which does not have Stuart Scott belting out over the top promos 24/7. I honestly believe if given the choice, Sid would just assume avoid all of this and just play hockey. He probably envies Geno for his silent Bob mime routine that has worked for 4 years.
In contrast, Lebron seems to love and accentuate every minute of it.
The other difference is that Sid actually has earned the praise. He’s won the Stanley Cup, been to the finals twice, and scored the gold medal winning goal while captaining the Canadian Olympic team. And he works his rear end off every day, and truly is a fantastic, team oriented leader.
I’ll go a step further and remind people that Brett Favre did win a Super Bowl and played in two. And the man has started 8,000 straight games and is still starring at age 40 in the most gruelingly physical sport on earth.
In contrast, Lebron has sold shoes and soft drinks and been dunked on by a high school player.
I will not hide from my growing bitterness towards the NBA. It never ceases to amaze me that people prefer that game to hockey. Hockey players, especially in the playoffs, play every shift like its life and death. They fight through injuries that would keep most of us in bed for weeks. They support their teammates and throw everything they have into winning a championship. They get paid for their efforts but with the notable exception of Ilya Kovalchuk, appear to be far more interested in winning then they do in money.
In contrast, the NBA is a paycheck league. It is populated with me first superstars who care only about getting their “respect” (read, dollars). If you ever want to be truly enlightened about the NBA, I highly suggest reading Sam Smith’s famous book, The Jordan Rules, written about the 1991 Bulls. It chronicles a season of greed, selfishness, pettiness, and any number of other dysfunctional behaviors. And that was before the internet era and the me first aura of today’s NBA…on a team that was winning its first of six championships in 8 years. That was back when ESPN actually cared about sports. One can only imagine what goes on today with the Knicks.
It’s spurred on by a television network that once cared about sports but now cares only about sensationalism and hype. The ENTERTAINMENT and sports network devoted months of coverage, across its many media, to speculating on the end destination of a player who has never come close to a championship. It’s par for the course in a league where the games are the least important thing. And this gets shoved down our throats while hockey is flat out ignored.
In the end, that’s the main reason I can’t stomach the NBA anymore. I can not stand the fact that so many people pay attention to the crap, solely because ESPN tells them to. How can you not get interested when every Sports Center includes 30 minutes of interviews with so called “EXPERTS” all mindlessly speculating on Lebron’s end destination. How about the standard live cut-away to Shelly Smith in Cleveland explaining to us that Lebron did in fact meet with the Knicks and they even had lunch delivered?
And of course not a single relevant piece of information is delivered. Which ironically enough is irrelevant.
Imagine if ESPN devoted 10% of that effort to promoting hockey, instead of the garbage that is the NBA. And before you say that they are simply responding to the needs of the public, I remind you that they have been endlessly promoting the World Cup all summer. This to a country where probably 80% of the population could care less.
When Emily and I were sitting at dinner last night talking about where Lebron would sign, I realized just how powerful the ESPN brainwashing is. We don’t like the NBA, we could care less about Lebron, and we were talking about it. Somewhere, a program director was smiling.
I used to be amazed when Skip Bayless would rip James on a daily basis. I can’t stand Bayless, another ego maniacal idiot who never lets the facts get in the way of a good story, but with each passing day, he looks more and more correct on the King. Until James wins something, he’s nothing more than great talent and spectacular marketing. Of course, Bayless is one of 200 ESPN talking heads who are debating amongst other things, whether James is overhyped. And there for the grace of Mike and Mike go I.
The comparisons of James to Jordan are insulting. Jordan, for all his personal flaws, was maybe the most determined athlete of all time. The man had a single minded focus to win. I watched him carry an aging Bulls team to its 6th championship by the sheer force of his will and his uncanny ability to step-up in the highest pressure moments. James is what Vince Carter would be if he could stay healthy.
You may notice that I never mentioned where James actually signed. Why should I since that does not matter anyway. It was never about where James would sign; it was about speculating on where he MIGHT sign.
In the end, there really never was a story here, just manufactured sensationalism to fill dead summer air. This was about the so called King and his marketing crown. It was about the Lebron brand, not winning championships. It never was and never will be about basketball.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Saying Goodbye to the Sarge
Every once in awhile in sports, a free agent defection or trade really gets to me. Even when I know it’s inevitable.
I was pretty sure Sergei Gonchar’s days in the Burgh were numbered when the Pens announced a contract extension for Kris Letang last spring. My belief strengthened each time Ray Shero commented about impasse between the two sides and I was all but certain after the Pens ill fated, but harmless acquisition of Dan Hamhuis last week. And yet with all that in mind, I still felt a tug in my heart this afternoon when I read that Sergei was officially a Senator.
I can’t really explain this but over the last five years, Gonchar has become one of my favorite Penguins of all time. There is a quiet, simple professionalism about how he does his job that I really admire. Excepting one truly out of character moment in Minnesota last year, I truly can not remember an on or off ice outburst from him, even after absorbing a grossly negligent cheap shot from the Great 8 that nearly knocked him out of the 2009 playoffs.
What I do remember is a remarkable two way defensemen who never got enough credit for what he did at either end of the ice. I remember a guy who was known for his offense but was every bit as critical for his defense. I remember how Pittsburgh, in a fit of hockey naiveté and impatience almost ran out of town during the waning dark days of Patrick and Edzo in 2005. There in lies another bit of gratitude we owe the world’s angriest French Canadian who saved Gonchar’ career in the Burgh by installing of all things…a system.
I said this before and I’ll say it again. No Gonchar, no cup. It’s that simple.
To be clear, I fully endorsed signing Letang, who at a very young age has become a terrific two way defenseman. Moreover, I don’t think the Pens directly prioritized Letang over Gonchar. I think Sergei dictated the situation. At 36 years of age, he was not going to tank a year of guaranteed money or give a home town discount; no matter how much he enjoys playing with Sid and Geno.
I devoted two separate blogs last year to the Gonchar dilemma. I suggested that it might be the most difficult decision Ray Shero has faced as general manager of the Pens. I’ll take it a step further and say the next few days could go a long way towards determining whether the Penguins continue to compete for Stanley Cups during this four year window.
And I stand by this comment that I’ve written in multiple blog entries. Over the last four years, Sergei Gonchar was the most underrated player in the national hockey league.
The Pens were quite literally a different team without Gonchar in the line-up. Their overall record, goals for, goals against, and power play percentage were remarkably better with Gonchar in the line-up. We’re not talking about small margins here either, the numbers were astounding. The Pens were basically a 500 team without Gonchar and a Stanley Cup champion and two time finalist with him.
None of which erases the fact that Gonchar is 36 years old and showing initial signs of decline in his game. He’s had significant injury issues the last two years and his performance against Montreal in the playoffs was, to say the least, underwhelming (which leaves him in good company with about 18 other players). Gonchar could have a fabulous season this year in Ottawa but if he starts to decline the following year it’s a problem. The Senators either have enough cap space or are desperate enough to take that risk. The Penguins do not and are not.
Offensive defensemen tend to fade when they get above 35. Niklas Lidstrom is a freak of nature but most others simply can not maintain their game that long. Look no further than Scott Neidermyer who retired this year at 36 (robbing the NHL of perhaps its single greatest playoff beard). I can argue with conviction that Gonchar is critical to the Pens success and they will struggle to replace him. Alas the Gonchar they need may not exist anymore. Time waits for nobody in professional sports.
So I will concede that from a logical, intelligent, numbers driven position, the Penguins probably made the right move. Emphasis on probably. Still, I can’t help but think that a little bit of their heart and sole, not too mention a good bit of their transition game just skated north of the boarder.
Give Ray Shero credit for not getting left at the alter. He made an aggressive move first with Hamhuis and then to sign Zbynek Michalek. Even as I'm set to publish this, rumors are floating around about the Pens signing Paul Martin. Martin is a solid player and I’ll be writing a full blog on Michalek just as soon as Filoni tells me who he is. That being said, neither is likely to replace Gonchar’s offense.
That task will fall to Letang and/or Alex Whitneygoski. I continue to marvel at Letang’s offensive potential but I also question whether he will ever fully realize it. It’s not a crime if he continues to improve defensively but never becomes a Gonchar style power play QB, but the potential is clearly there. For better or for worse, the same is true for Gogo but as you may have guessed, he is already giving me intensely painful Ryan Whitney flashbacks. We need to see some significant improvement to buy off on him in Gonchar’s role.
That being said, it’s time for both players to sit at the grown-ups table. Gonchar’s presence in the line-up allowed each to dip their feet in the pool without diving in. Letang could get away with being a second point man and Goligoski could get away with turning the puck over 20 feet in front of MAF. Those days are now over. If the Pens want to get reacquainted with Lord Stanley’s Cup in the near future, one or both has to take a major step forward in their development. It should surprise nobody that my money is on Letang, or neither, over Gogo.
Taking the realities of the salary cap world out of the equation, the one and only good thing about losing Gonchar is that it's forcing the Pens to reshape their roster a bit. You do not overhaul a team that’s 12 months removed from back to back Stanley Cup finals but you also can’t stand pat forever. The defense clearly needed a rebuild after last year's mediocre performance and Shero seems fully intent on providing it. Good for him. As we learned in 1992, even championship teams have to keep evolving.
Alas, that's a discussion for another day.
For now, let's just take time to give the Sarge his due for five brilliant season's in a Penguin uniform. The Gonchar signing truly is the best move Craig Patrick made during his ten year, Penguin sponsored, on the job retirement (unless you count not tripping Sidney Crosby on the podium at the 2005 draft). For my money, his name belongs in the pantheon of Penguin greats, albeit one step below the legends (Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Malkin, Barrasso, etc).
Gonchar was this generation’s Larry Murphy. A guy who did so many things right on an off the ice and rarely got the credit he deserved. He was every bit as critical to this team’s success as Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, and Staal, maybe more so in some cases. I truly hope Penguin fans understand and respect that and give Gonchar a standing ovation when he makes his first trip to new energy barn. I beg of my fellow Penguin supporters, no Hossa treatment for the Sarge.
So for now, let’s take time out to say thanks to the Sarge. Thanks for being the one Penguin defenseman who could break a forecheck in the 2007 playoffs. Thanks for being Geno’s translator and NHL mentor. Thanks for logging 25 minutes a night, often against the other team’s top forwards, and yet always taking second fiddle to 87 and 71. Thanks for playing through injury in both the 2008 and 2009 playoffs including Ovie’s cheap shot. Thanks for staying calm and delivering key power play goals when we needed them.
To paraphrase the immortal Don Corleone, we wish you the best of luck in Ottawa Gonch, so long as your interests do not conflict with ours. The Penguins must now start the difficult task of replacing you in the line-up. The rest of us can focus on learning how to pronounce Zbynek.
I was pretty sure Sergei Gonchar’s days in the Burgh were numbered when the Pens announced a contract extension for Kris Letang last spring. My belief strengthened each time Ray Shero commented about impasse between the two sides and I was all but certain after the Pens ill fated, but harmless acquisition of Dan Hamhuis last week. And yet with all that in mind, I still felt a tug in my heart this afternoon when I read that Sergei was officially a Senator.
I can’t really explain this but over the last five years, Gonchar has become one of my favorite Penguins of all time. There is a quiet, simple professionalism about how he does his job that I really admire. Excepting one truly out of character moment in Minnesota last year, I truly can not remember an on or off ice outburst from him, even after absorbing a grossly negligent cheap shot from the Great 8 that nearly knocked him out of the 2009 playoffs.
What I do remember is a remarkable two way defensemen who never got enough credit for what he did at either end of the ice. I remember a guy who was known for his offense but was every bit as critical for his defense. I remember how Pittsburgh, in a fit of hockey naiveté and impatience almost ran out of town during the waning dark days of Patrick and Edzo in 2005. There in lies another bit of gratitude we owe the world’s angriest French Canadian who saved Gonchar’ career in the Burgh by installing of all things…a system.
I said this before and I’ll say it again. No Gonchar, no cup. It’s that simple.
To be clear, I fully endorsed signing Letang, who at a very young age has become a terrific two way defenseman. Moreover, I don’t think the Pens directly prioritized Letang over Gonchar. I think Sergei dictated the situation. At 36 years of age, he was not going to tank a year of guaranteed money or give a home town discount; no matter how much he enjoys playing with Sid and Geno.
I devoted two separate blogs last year to the Gonchar dilemma. I suggested that it might be the most difficult decision Ray Shero has faced as general manager of the Pens. I’ll take it a step further and say the next few days could go a long way towards determining whether the Penguins continue to compete for Stanley Cups during this four year window.
And I stand by this comment that I’ve written in multiple blog entries. Over the last four years, Sergei Gonchar was the most underrated player in the national hockey league.
The Pens were quite literally a different team without Gonchar in the line-up. Their overall record, goals for, goals against, and power play percentage were remarkably better with Gonchar in the line-up. We’re not talking about small margins here either, the numbers were astounding. The Pens were basically a 500 team without Gonchar and a Stanley Cup champion and two time finalist with him.
None of which erases the fact that Gonchar is 36 years old and showing initial signs of decline in his game. He’s had significant injury issues the last two years and his performance against Montreal in the playoffs was, to say the least, underwhelming (which leaves him in good company with about 18 other players). Gonchar could have a fabulous season this year in Ottawa but if he starts to decline the following year it’s a problem. The Senators either have enough cap space or are desperate enough to take that risk. The Penguins do not and are not.
Offensive defensemen tend to fade when they get above 35. Niklas Lidstrom is a freak of nature but most others simply can not maintain their game that long. Look no further than Scott Neidermyer who retired this year at 36 (robbing the NHL of perhaps its single greatest playoff beard). I can argue with conviction that Gonchar is critical to the Pens success and they will struggle to replace him. Alas the Gonchar they need may not exist anymore. Time waits for nobody in professional sports.
So I will concede that from a logical, intelligent, numbers driven position, the Penguins probably made the right move. Emphasis on probably. Still, I can’t help but think that a little bit of their heart and sole, not too mention a good bit of their transition game just skated north of the boarder.
Give Ray Shero credit for not getting left at the alter. He made an aggressive move first with Hamhuis and then to sign Zbynek Michalek. Even as I'm set to publish this, rumors are floating around about the Pens signing Paul Martin. Martin is a solid player and I’ll be writing a full blog on Michalek just as soon as Filoni tells me who he is. That being said, neither is likely to replace Gonchar’s offense.
That task will fall to Letang and/or Alex Whitneygoski. I continue to marvel at Letang’s offensive potential but I also question whether he will ever fully realize it. It’s not a crime if he continues to improve defensively but never becomes a Gonchar style power play QB, but the potential is clearly there. For better or for worse, the same is true for Gogo but as you may have guessed, he is already giving me intensely painful Ryan Whitney flashbacks. We need to see some significant improvement to buy off on him in Gonchar’s role.
That being said, it’s time for both players to sit at the grown-ups table. Gonchar’s presence in the line-up allowed each to dip their feet in the pool without diving in. Letang could get away with being a second point man and Goligoski could get away with turning the puck over 20 feet in front of MAF. Those days are now over. If the Pens want to get reacquainted with Lord Stanley’s Cup in the near future, one or both has to take a major step forward in their development. It should surprise nobody that my money is on Letang, or neither, over Gogo.
Taking the realities of the salary cap world out of the equation, the one and only good thing about losing Gonchar is that it's forcing the Pens to reshape their roster a bit. You do not overhaul a team that’s 12 months removed from back to back Stanley Cup finals but you also can’t stand pat forever. The defense clearly needed a rebuild after last year's mediocre performance and Shero seems fully intent on providing it. Good for him. As we learned in 1992, even championship teams have to keep evolving.
Alas, that's a discussion for another day.
For now, let's just take time to give the Sarge his due for five brilliant season's in a Penguin uniform. The Gonchar signing truly is the best move Craig Patrick made during his ten year, Penguin sponsored, on the job retirement (unless you count not tripping Sidney Crosby on the podium at the 2005 draft). For my money, his name belongs in the pantheon of Penguin greats, albeit one step below the legends (Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Malkin, Barrasso, etc).
Gonchar was this generation’s Larry Murphy. A guy who did so many things right on an off the ice and rarely got the credit he deserved. He was every bit as critical to this team’s success as Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, and Staal, maybe more so in some cases. I truly hope Penguin fans understand and respect that and give Gonchar a standing ovation when he makes his first trip to new energy barn. I beg of my fellow Penguin supporters, no Hossa treatment for the Sarge.
So for now, let’s take time out to say thanks to the Sarge. Thanks for being the one Penguin defenseman who could break a forecheck in the 2007 playoffs. Thanks for being Geno’s translator and NHL mentor. Thanks for logging 25 minutes a night, often against the other team’s top forwards, and yet always taking second fiddle to 87 and 71. Thanks for playing through injury in both the 2008 and 2009 playoffs including Ovie’s cheap shot. Thanks for staying calm and delivering key power play goals when we needed them.
To paraphrase the immortal Don Corleone, we wish you the best of luck in Ottawa Gonch, so long as your interests do not conflict with ours. The Penguins must now start the difficult task of replacing you in the line-up. The rest of us can focus on learning how to pronounce Zbynek.
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