Final Push

The dark times appear to be over.

The period of February 15th to March 14th was, to put it lightly, a diasaster. In that stretch of 12 games, the Penguins went  2-10, falling from first to fourth in the Metropolitan Divison, missing star defenseman Ryan Suter for a stretch of time, and losing morale as a team. The lines were torn apart, jumbled, and reset numerous times, and in spite of the top line of Benn-Horvat-Gibbons still playing well, the rest of the team was mightily struggling.

After Jamie Benn and Bo Horvat returned from the All Star Game is when things began to turn around, and it's obvious that time off for the break proved to be huge for the Penguins.

Since the first game back on March 14th against San Jose, the Penguins are 12-6 and seem to be much more cohesive than they were in the dark stretch. The top line is still firing, but the Money Line (Saad-Stastny-Hemsky) has also begun to provide offense as well (Saad 2G 5A; Stastny 6G 3A; Hemsky 3G 3A), a majority of which has come at even strength. Mattias Ekholm has also continued his Norris Trophy caliber season, now sitting at 15G and 29A in 67GP, while also being on the top pair for even strength, power play, and penalty kill. 

In spite of the team playing better as a unit, ultimately there were still some pieces that GM Gurtowski felt weren't performing up to expectations, and made two trades leading up to the deadline:

Al Montoya and a 2019 4th to Anaheim for Antti Niemi

Radko Gudas, Nick Bonino, Jared McCann, and a 2020 2nd to Columbus for Jason Zucker, Mark Letestu, and Nicklas Kronwall

Montoya had made it clear that whenever he was in net for the Penguins, they were almost assured a loss, and so the pick up of Niemi gets them an upgrade. Niemi didn't start a whole lot of games (12 GS) but has the potential to do better with a stronger team in front of him.

Jason Zucker coming in is obviously the golden nugget of the trade deadline for Pittsburgh, as he has a knack for the net and has been scoring at will this season. The idea is that he will slot in next to Stastny and push Saad, who has struggled this year, down to the third line, breaking up the Money Line, at least for the time being.

With Bonino, Gudas, and McCann going out, you're losing a third line center who is probably paid too much and was getting victimized when on the ice, all while not really helping the team offensively. You're losing a sixth defenseman who couldn't stay out of the penalty box and cost his team, all while becoming a healthy scratch in favor of rookie Will Butcher, and another youngster who has struggled to produce while bouncing around the lineup, playing on all four lines and as a center and winger.

Coming in, you have Letestu who is a cheaper option and will hopefully provide some better defensive play for the Penguins third line, which for the time being will also include Brandon Saad, one of the best defensive forwards on Pittsburgh. Kronwall is also a veteran defenseman who can slot in anywhere in the defensive group and is a strong calming presence while being a sturdy skater who can move the puck.

There are fifteen games left in the regular season, and the Penguins appear to be poised to make the playoffs. Now it is just a matter of finding out where they'll end up and if they can play strong enough down the stretch to win their division, which is definitely in the realm of possibility. They're back in action tomorrow (April 21, 2019) against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and we will get to see the new Penguins in action for the first time.