Pittsburgh Penguins History: Least Efficient Playoff Shooters
By Rob Joncas
The Pittsburgh Penguins have employed some of the finest goal scorers in NHL history, but who were some of the players that could not reach the goal sheet despite their best efforts?
The Pittsburgh Penguins have employed some of the finest goal scorers in NHL history in Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jaromir Jagr, but what about the players that just could not score despite getting pucks to the net?
Just who were they the least efficient shooters in Penguins playoff history? Let’s take a look.
Full Disclosure: We didn’t do a deep dive into the analytics to see how many goals may have resulted from the shots our shooters took, or use any other type of metrics to base this piece on, this is just meant as a fun look at which players took the most shots without scoring a goal.
Snake bit
Aston-Reese has firmly established himself as a bottom-six forward with the Penguins and proved his importance to the team during the Penguins injury-riddled 2019-20 campaign.
Aston-Reese has appeared in 116 games over three seasons with the Penguins and has scored 18 goals on 194 shots, for a regular-season shooting percentage (SH%) of 9.3.
Over 13 postseason games, Aston-Reese has put 14 shots on net and registering zero goals and one assist.
Rowney spent five seasons within the Penguins organization and worked his way up the ranks from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL to the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins of the AHL, then making the jump to the Penguins during 2016-17.
Rowney appeared in 71 games with the Penguins from 2016-2018 and scored five goals on 45 regular-season shots for an 11.1 SH%.
Rowney was a member of the Penguins 2016 Stanley Cup team and made appearances in 23 postseason games from 2016-2017, and put 23 shots on net, scoring no goals and adding three helpers.
Deals, deals and more deals
McCann was brought to the Penguins from Florida as part of the Derick Brassard exit deal on Feb. 1, 2019.
McCann also shared an interesting connection with former Penguins defender Erik Gudbranson.
On May 25, 2016, Gudbranson was traded to the Canucks from Florida in exchange for McCann, then on Feb. 25, 2019, Gudbranson was traded to the Penguins from Vancouver for Tanner Pearson, making the former trade pieces teammates albeit for a limited time.
McCann has appeared in 98 regular-season games for the Penguins and has scored 25 goals on 222 shots for an 11.3 SH%. In three postseason games, McCann has put eight shots on net and has scored zero goals.
Along, with McCann, Bjugstad joined the Penguins as part of the Brassard to Florida deal.
Nick is the second Bjugstad to spend time in Pittsburgh, as his uncle Scott played 24 games with the Penguins in 1988-89.
N. Bjugstad, has played 45 regular-season games with the Penguins and has scored six goals on 11 shots for an SH% of 8.9.
Bjugstad played in all the Penguins postseason games in 2019 and rifled 11 shots off in the Islanders four-game sweep of Pittsburgh and scored zero goals.
Trade bait
In the summer of 2010, Penguins GM Ray Shero went big game hunting and signed Michalek to a five-year deal worth $20 million dollars. Just two years into the deal Michalek was traded to Phoenix in a salary dump, that saw Shero making room to try and sign Ryan Suter and Zach Parise to monster deals.
Michalek played 135 regular-season games from 2010-12 with Pittsburgh and scored 7 goals on 181 shots, for an SH% of 3.89.
In 13 playoff games from 2010-12, Michalek put 25 shots on net (21 shots in 2011) scoring zero goals and two assists.
Were you surprised by any of the least efficient shooters in Pittsburgh Penguins playoff history?