Why Matt Nieto's 'Veteran Leadership' Meant Nothing in His Tenure

The Invisible Man, Matt Nieto, has been placed on waivers by the Pittsburgh Penguins. His time in Pittsburgh can be described with one word: .

I challenge you, insightful reader, to find me a less impactful, less inspiring, less noticeable player the than Matt Nieto in black and gold.

If you're anticipating a "Best Matt Nieto Moments" article like we did for Drew O'Connor and Marcus Pettersson, I'm not sure what to tell you, bud. You're going to be waiting until the heat-death of the universe.

Nieto is in the final year of his 2-year, $1.8M contract with a $900K cap hit in each of the two seasons. That's a cheap contract, but the basis behind why he was signed in the first place shows the roots of the Penguins' lack of understanding on how to structure their roster.

Nieto's "Role"

Matt Nieto was brought in for "veteran leadership". He was a 30-year old signing that hadn't played much higher than 3rd line minutes in any of his stops in Colorado or San Jose.

The fallacy with bringing in Nieto for so-called "veteran leadership" is the outright neglect that the team already has enough veteran leadership.

Perhaps you were unaware of a certain individual named, oh, I don't know, Sidney Crosby - the youngest captain to win a Stanley Cup in the history of the NHL. Captain Canada?

Sounds like a decent leader to me.

Oh, and then you've got Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, both multi-Stanley Cup champions in their tenure.

Heck, you can even take the likes of Erik Karlsson and consider him in the veteran leadership conversation.

But Matt Nieto? Seriously?

If you're going to be a veteran leader, you'd better lead by some example. Matt Nieto had seven points in 53 games. And if you want to point to his extracurricular stats, he had 29 blocks and 52 hits in those games.

For reference, Kevin Hayes is on pace for those numbers in just a single season with the team. And if you want to talk about veteran leadership on a team that doesn't need any, Kevin Hayes is a great example of what you should do.

Hayes was brought in with the same philosophy as Matt Nieto, except Hayes has done exactly what a veteran leader should do. He's wily, crafty, and produces at a limited, but consistent pace.

Hayes has nine goals and seven assists in his first season with Pittsburgh, but more importantly than that, he's noticeable on the ice.

When is the last time you noticed Matt Nieto on the ice? Never? Yeah, same here.

Penguins' Retirement Home

The running joke for years now is that the Penguins are the NHL's retirement home. They're the second oldest team in the NHL, only behind the Edmonton Oilers.

Again, it's okay when most of your age is accounting for three future Hall of Famers in their late 30's, but signing more old, decrepit 30-year olds is not the way to construct a roster.

The Penguins have been so slow for years now. You'd think that their remedy to that would be going out and getting young, talented, energetic players.

Philip Tomasino's addition is a great example of this, and we need to see more trades/signings like that if we want a chance at seeing the Penguins compete again soon.

The Matt Nieto's of the world have no place in Pittsburgh. There are enough leaders on the team that we can bypass signing a invisible pylon to a sub-$1M contract just to fill a spot.

The Penguins finally have promise in their farm system. Those are the guys that should be getting 4th line minutes, not Matt Nieto. It's time to abolish the "checking line" and start getting real production up and down the lineup.

Count your days, Noel Acciari. You're next.