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Pittsburgh Penguins: Eric Fehr’s Versatility an Underrated Aspect of His Value

By Mike Necciai

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I’ve lobbied all summer for the Pittsburgh Penguins to trade Brandon Sutter and sign unrestricted free agent Eric Fehr, and yesterday my wish came true. Why am I so high on Fehr, you ask? Well, there’s more to Fehr than just solid production and impressive analytics.

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I’ve always been very honest about my opinion on the concept of toughness, grit, or physicality in the NHL. It’s necessary to have guys that are willing to pay a tough price in order to win puck battles and punish opponents, but not at the cost of skill and production.

Why do I bring that up? Well, Eric Fehr fits the mold perfectly of someone that will play strong two-way hockey, contribute on the score sheet, and use his size to make life miserable for the other team. Pittsburgh Penguins fans saw this first hand throughout the years as Fehr absolutely dominated the Pens. I’m not only talking about the physical aspect of his game. Remember, Fehr recorded 14 points in 24 games played throughout his career and scored a few big goals in that span vs. the Pens.

Eric Fehr is a team guy, or a leader of sorts. He’s a veteran that’s willing to battle for his teammate no matter what the situation. Tom Wilson said it best via his Twitter account yesterday.

Now, I don’t want to get into a bunch of underlying numbers and statistics here, as we’ve done that plenty of times on Fehr this summer. But, I want to point out an underrated part of this signing that very few are talking about.

If you remember correctly, Jim Rutherford was quoted in saying that he wanted to add veterans that can play in both the NHL and AHL to make room for his youth to earn spots. Eric Fehr isn’t going to the AHL, but in a way he accomplished his goal since Fehr is more versatile than most realize. Consider the following quote from JapersRink.com.

“Eric Fehr has become Mister Versatility – there are probably 11 roles of the top-12 that he could be placed in and find a reasonable amount of success”. 

Most assume that Fehr will take over third line center duties. However, the Pittsburgh Penguins also acquired Nick Bonino from Vancouver in exchange for Brandon Sutter. Bonino is a very solid bottom-six center that actually played second line minutes in Vancouver, and I don’t expect that he’ll necessarily enjoy if he’s reduced to fourth line duties.

Also, consider that the Pittsburgh Penguins are very high on Oskar Sundqvist and expect that he may be able to fit the mold of fourth line center next season. This is where Fehr’s versatility comes into play as a huge tool for the Pens.

We don’t know exactly how effective or healthy Pascal Dupuis will be coming out of his second consecutive season-long absence. So it’s no guarantee that he’ll bounce into the third line RW position a lot of us have him slotted for. With these most recent moves, he doesn’t have to.

The Pittsburgh Penguins bottom-six could look like this once Fehr is fully recovered from his offseason elbow surgery.

Chris Kunitz – Nick Bonino – Eric Fehr
Beau Bennett – Oskar Sundqvist – Pascal Dupuis

The major question marks remain where Dupuis will fit considering his time off, and also what newcomer Sergei Plotnikov will add to the mix. There’s still a possibility that Kunitz replaces him in the top-six. Either way, the Pittsburgh Penguins are as deep, maybe even deeper than anyone in the league on offense. And, by adding a versatile forward like Fehr, along with a very good center in Bonino, Rutherford has built that depth without completely blocking out young guys like Sundqvist.

Next: 5 Pens With A Lot to Prove in 2015

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