Some random thoughts on the Penguins

Today at 09:04 AM

Some thoughts on Jesse Puljujarvi, Drew O'Connor, Tristan Jarry and Mike Sullivan.

There are some Pittsburgh Penguins thoughts in my head but I am not sure I have enough on any one of them in particular for a full article, so let us just talk about a few of them.

1. Jesse Puljujarvi is one of the few bright spots right now

There are a lot of troubling things about the Pittsburgh Penguins over the past couple of seasons, but one of the things that keeps standing out to me is how many players arrive in Pittsburgh and are just .... not good.

They are either disappointing and a little worse than expected based on their previous stops, or they are just flat out bad.

Is it a problem of coaching? NHL scouting? Just bad decision-making? Players simply not being the right fit? Maybe a little bit of everything?

It is probably a little bit of everything. But it keeps happening.

The one exception to that right now might be Jesse Puljujarvi who has been one of the few bright spots on the team recently. Especially when paired up with Drew O'Connor. That duo has done an excellent job pushing play in the right direction despite getting some tough offensive zone start numbers, with Puljujarvi scoring a goal in each of the past two games while being a shot on goal machine.

Puljujarvi and O'Connor have played 60 minutes together this season, outscoring teams 4-2 with a 55 percent expected goal share with only 46 percent of the shifts starting in the offensive zone.

Good underlying numbers have never been a problem for Puljujarvi, and it is nice to see him get some results even if they do not jump off the page and wow you.

Honestly, I would not mind to see him get a little more playing time. Not only because him and O'Connor have played well together and have produced good results, but because they might be two of the best trade chips on the roster given their ages and cheap salaries.

I feel like the thinking with some of the offseason moves — Matt Grzelcyk, Anthony Beauvillier — was that you could sign them cheap, hopefully boost their value up and then flip them at the deadline.

But they stink.

O'Connor certainly has some value given his versatility and cheap contract, but I could envision Puljujarvi at least fetching a draft pick. Which is not bad for a guy that was basically signed as an afterthought with minimal commitment.

2. Matt Grzelcyk is unplayable

Speaking of the offseason additions, I have relatively low expectations for the Grzelcyk addition and he has failed to meet even those. I am not sure how much longer you can keep giving him a jersey. It looks bad. The results somehow look even worse.

He has played the fourth most minutes on the team, keeps getting premium roles in terms of his pairing, gets some of the most sheltered minutes on the team, and is still getting absolutely steamrolled.

The Penguins have been outscored 20-10 with him on the ice. His expected goals share and shot attempt share are both among the worst team, despite getting some of the heaviest offensive zone start usage.

He is being put into the best possible situations to produce results and perhaps even boost his trade value, and he is still getting crushed.

This is another one of those NHL additions that just makes you wonder what are they looking for and looking at when they bring in players from outside the organization?

3. It seems over for Tristan Jarry here

Unless he has some unforeseen and unexpected turnaround here, I am not sure what the path forward is for Tristan Jarry here.

The numbers and performance? Terrible.

The fans have turned on him.

The organization seemed terrified to play him at home after his demotion to the minor leagues.

When he did get back into the lineup, he gave up five goals in Columbus and then mostly played well against Tampa Bay, giving them a chance, before doing what he always tends to do in big minutes — self destruct.

It is like clockwork with him, and we are at a point here where you should not reasonably expect anything different. He has spent parts of nine seasons in the NHL. This is what you get.

4. How many more games like this can Mike Sullivan get?

Given the way NHL teams recycle through head coaches it is still baffling me to me that the Penguins have not made a coaching change.

You could have made a valid argument for it after the 2023-24 season,

The argument is only getting stronger with each loss and each blown lead this season that all look exactly the same as the others.

A coaching change is not going to fix this.

They are not Jim Montgomery or some other retread hire away from turning this roster into a playoff team. But there is something clearly not getting through here, and at some point you have to start wondering when the organization gets tired of getting embarrassed on an almost nightly basis.

The season started with them beating the bad teams and getting humiliated by the good teams.

Now they are struggling to beat even the bad teams. Or also getting humiliated by them.

Winnipeg, Utah and Vancouver on the rest of this home stand is not going to be easy, and it is not out of the question to imagine them getting swept in those games. If that happens, and they are ugly losses, you have to think the shoe drops at some point. Then again, it seems like we have been saying that for weeks.