It was a solid first couple of games for Declan Carlile in a Pittsburgh Penguins uniform. That train of thought of him being a steal of a contract has quickly soured. The defenseman might be at a cheap cap hit, but now the Penguins know why. These past five games or so have been near atrocious for the veteran.
Right now, Pittsburgh might have no other choice other than benching Carlile.
He was one of their biggest bets of the offseason after trading away Parker Wotherspoon. The belief was they could add Carlile into the lineup and become a steady partner on a pairing with Erik Karlsson. Sometimes locating "steals" in free agency is much harder than what this front office was willing to accept. Now the franchise is in a bind, and there are little options to supplant Carlile.
The Penguins put all their chips in on Carlile turning out to be a top pairing defenseman when his career clearly showed that would fail. Parker Wotherspoon's don't grow on trees, and it's obvious that Declan Carlile will not be their long-term answer on defense. His most recent games have only made matters worse, and it's difficult to envision a path for the defender to turn things around this season.
Pittsburgh Penguins might have no other choice but to bench Declan Carlile this season
During his past five games, Declan Carlile has produced a tough performance as a defenseman. He has another goal, which has been his only bright spot this season. Although the unexpected offense is nice, his skillset as a defender has gone completely out the window. He's a minus six in the Penguins last five games. His play on the ice looks even worse than what the stats suggest.
Perhaps the worst part of this for Pittsburgh is there is no clear path to a successor for the defenseman.
They have some pieces in the AHL like Owen Pickering, but the organization seems unwilling to give him a shot at the NHL level. With new rumors of the team shopping veterans to open the door for younger players to enter their lineup, maybe a change in that thought process will be on the horizon.
One thing is for sure, Carlile cannot be an every night defender for the Penguins going forward this season. Unless their goal is to tank and finally enter a rebuild, which is possible, it makes no sense to keep sending the player on the ice in hopes of a better result. They need to do something because he clearly isn't one of their best six defensemen on the club.
He's completely unplayable right now.
It's hard to see an option to take over for Carlile, but the Penguins need to change things up. Pickering should be a top option to see if he can sink or swim at the NHL level, but others like Ilya Solovyov or a bigger role for Spencer Stastney would be better than what Carlile is currently doing. He's been their biggest weakness on a team who seems destined for a season full of consistent failures.
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