Penguins/NHL
Team Defense/Play Away from the Puck shines
Pittsburgh’s 7-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes had former Penguin Jordan Staal saying the Penguins made the Hurricanes look like a “high school” team and multiple Canes players echoing the word embarrassing on their performance.
“It was a team that made us look like a high school team,” Staal said via the News & Observer.
The Penguins are so explosive offensively that when they find that other gear combined with playing smothering defense from their play away from the puck like they did Friday night, it can be a lethal combination, especially against inferior teams.
The last two games have been the recipe that made Pittsburgh so hard to beat four times in a series last spring.
Scoring throughout the lineup, a commitment from the forwards to play all three zones and stability in goal from Matt Murray.
Even with the Penguins missing their top-2 defenseman, Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin, they’ve made up for it because the forward group is playing smothering defense with their speed in how they’re tracking the puck. It’s what overwhelmed clubs last spring and that trait has come back to the picture vs the Canadiens, Hurricanes this week.
“I know we’re not a real physical team with size and strength, but I think we can be physical in the sense that we use our quickness and our sticks to take time and space [away] and get our stick on the puck and make it hard for teams to make clean plays in all three zones,” Mike Sullivan said. “I thought the last two games might be two of our best all year, just as far as being more difficult to play against. Our game is starting to grow as far as our play away from the puck in our end zone.”
Hurricanes Back and Fourth interest in Marc Andre Fleury
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How long will the Carolina Hurricanes still be fooled by Cam Ward?
Carolina is a young up and coming team but they’re not going to take that next step until they upgrade the goaltending. If you want to compete in the Metropolitan Division, you better have goaltending.
Hurricanes GM Ron Francis has identified Marc Andre Fleury as a potential trade target but whether it’s a ownership thing or not, Francis’ interest in Fleury has wavered on a numerous occasions throughout the last couple months, NHL sources tell TIOPS.
Former Penguins scout Don Waddell who works in the Hurricanes organization is a big supporter of Fleury’s.
At one point in early November, there was talk among executives Carolina was looking to bring Fleury on board, while Penguins ownership, notably Team President David Morehouse wasn’t going to sign off on a Fleury trade at that point.
Now in the past two-to-three weeks where Pittsburgh is much more open to trading Fleury than they were in October/November, Francis has told other General Manager’s he’s sticking with Cam Ward as his No. 1 and will see where things stand with his goaltending situation in the summer.
Francis is often hamstrung by his ownership group where the thinking changes on a monthly basis on what he can and can’t do.
Yes, Fleury’s $5.75 million cap hit is problematic. Carolina, though, remains a team the Penguins will be monitoring to see if they re-emerge as a trade suitor by March 1.
“Perfect fit,” an eastern conference executive said of Fleury to Carolina. “Can’t think of a better addition for that young room. Flower would be great there. Low pressure [situation] would do him some good. It makes so much sense, it [probably] won’t happen,” the executive added.
Carolina is loaded with draft picks for the 2017 draft, owning two second round picks and two-third round picks.
Sources say the Penguins are coming around to the idea of being willing to keep 25% of Fleury’s $5.75 million cap hit, in-exchange for a high draft pick, or high-end prospect.
In today’s goalie market, if the Penguins retain $1.5 million and can land a 2nd round pick, young defenseman like Ryan Murphy who could be a worth a gamble in the Penguins system, that would be a win in today’s goalie market.
But, the question becomes what would the Hurricanes do with Cam Ward or Eddie Lack?
Ward would be a bad fit in the room as he still thinks he’s a number one and if the Penguins took him on, they better be getting a first round pick.
I don’t think the Penguins would be interested in taking on Eddie Lack’s $2.75 million salary for next season and could find a cheaper backup in the summer.
As for Fleury, despite concerns of whether it would be a long-term stop because of their financial situation, indications are he would have interest in going to the Hurricanes as Jordan Staal and others have told him how great of an area it is to raise a family.
Carolina has been a landing spot Fleury and his agent Allan Walsh have discussed when evaluating options that could be out there.
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