Pittsburgh Penguins: Questionable Personnel Decisions the Theme vs. Dallas

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their first regular season outing in Dallas by a score of 3-0, a shocking outcome for an offensive powerhouse like Pittsburgh for obvious reasons.

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However, despite the final score, there were a lot of positive takeaways last night. Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel continued to build chemistry and created a ton of chances, only to be denied by a hot Antti Niemi. In fact, Kessel had thirteen shot attempts and six on goal. Evgeni Malkin had a solid game, as did Patric Hornqvist, Beau Bennet and Daniel Sprong. But, that’s where the questionable decisions became a factor.

Mike Johnston and staff continue to deploy players that aren’t suited for this system and in some cases, no longer suited for the NHL. On the flip-side, the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to limit those that are poised to develop into legit threats at this level.

First, looking at the offensive side of things, David Perron picked up where he left off in 2014-15 and struggled for most of this contest. He still managed to log 15:13 time-on-ice, though. Daniel Sprong started slow but found his stride near the halfway mark of the first period. At times, he looked like the best player on the ice and his reward was a measly 8:59 time-on-ice. While I understand that Perron was playing the left side and Sprong is technically a right-wing, he played the off-wing throughout preseason and did so very well. You have to give this kid a chance in that situation.

Staying with the offense, if you want four scoring lines, you can’t deploy Matt Cullen and Bobby Farnham on the fourth line. An injury to Pascal Dupuis threw off the original line combos but the Pens didn’t adjust accordingly. Can Cullen work on that line? Sure. Farnham may have been fine with more skill alongside him but the two of them combined simply won’t provide the necessary punch. The Pens have cap room with Dupuis on LTIR.

If I’m Johnston and Rutherford, I’m bringing up Oskar Sundqvist to play with Sprong on Saturday.

On the defensive side of things, the Penguins continue to deploy Scuderi far too much. Consider that he finished third in ice time among defensemen, logging more minutes than Olli Maatta and Brian Dumoulin. Why did the minutes fall out that way? Well, the thought that Scuderi is crucial to the penalty kill and the amount of penalty minutes the Pens accrued in the third period. But, not only should he not be considered an elite penalty killer, he shouldn’t even be dressed.

With Adam Clendening at their disposal, considering his performance in camp and exhibition play, I simply can’t figure out what this staff sees in Scuderi. We watched as the prior Penguins regime did the same thing with Craig Adams and we know how well that worked out. Are they worried about having that much salary on the shelf? If so, it’s time to start thinking about what’s best for the product on the ice.

Lastly, and I mentioned this last night in my game thread here at PensLabyrinth.Com, splitting Malkin and Crosby on the power play is simply asinine. The top unit had some good looks last night despite not having Geno but it isn’t the answer. The excuses that are repeated over and over again range from the stars wanting to defer too often to whining about where they play when all parties are involved. It’s up to the guys in the locker room to figure out and honestly, it’s time to figure it out. If this team’s power play finishes outside of the top-five among NHL teams they’ve failed in my opinion. There’s simply too much talent here.

The great thing is, it was only game one. And, the Pens traveled to Arizona today to face the Coyotes tomorrow night at 10pm. They get to try it all again and there’s still a lot of trial and error that will occur. Let’s hope that the right numbers are called more frequently.

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