Pittsburgh Penguins: Scuderi in, Clendening Out, Madness Continues
By Mike Necciai
There’s no doubt in my mind that Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach Mike Johnston knows more than me about the game of hockey. If that weren’t the case, I’d likely have a lot more money and a coaching job in the NHL. But, Johnston has proved that he also suffers from a widespread illness that circulates among the hockey world. That illness is believing that veterans are valuable simply due to their age and experience. Also, another obvious symptom of this illness is that reputations are respected for far too long, despite recent performance.
The Penguins looked like a different team when they faced the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. Their transition game was clicking and they were able to gain the offensive zone with speed, as they prefer to do, thanks to a much improved blue line that looked almost as if they had it all figured out. Part of that blue line was Adam Clendening, a player that Johnston cited as a guy that deserved to get in due to his strong camp. Apparently that strong camp, along with what he offered in terms of puck moving ability and speed on the back-end against the Senators, wasn’t enough to earn him two consecutive games in this lineup.
To be fair, Clendening did have his share of issues in Thursday night’s matchup. He was caught flat-footed once and it resulted in an interference penalty and found himself losing a puck battle shortly after which resulted in a hold. Thankfully for the Pens, both penalties were killed off. But, he and Olli Maatta seemed to get stronger together as the game progressed and that’s the important thing to watch this early in the season. How much can he grow as the year goes on?
Scuderi will not grow as the year goes on. What you see and have seen since his return to the Pittsburgh Penguins is exactly what you’ll continue to get. At this point in his long NHL career, he’s simply too slow to compete at a high level. So, why does he continue to dress night-in and night-out for Pittsburgh?
Rob Scuderi is somehow still viewed as a good penalty killing defenseman, despite his underlying numbers proving exactly the opposite of that assumption.
In 2014-15 out of 350 players who played at least 50 minutes of 4v5 hockey Rob Scuderi ranked 328th in Corsi Against per 60 #notgood
— Ryan Wilson (@GunnerStaal) October 17, 2015
The Penguins are 22nd in the league right now for penalty kill success rate with a 78.6 percent through four games. That percentage includes Thursday night, in which the Pens went three-for-three on the PK without Scuderi. If this Pittsburgh Penguins penalty kill struggled so mightily in the three games that Scuderi dressed, why is Johnston continuously stating the following?
Johnston on Scuderi: “He’s a great penalty killer. He’s a real stable veteran influence on the group.” #Pens
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) October 17, 2015
Whether or not Scuderi’s contract comes into play when making decisions on who will start is something that I’m not privy to but I know this, something needs to change or else this team will continue the type of hockey we witnessed in games one through three. Mike Johnston and company has already lost the Penguins fan base and I don’t believe they’re far from losing the locker room as well.
Next: Kessel Primed to Shine vs. Maple Leafs