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Change The Game, Not The Players

Kris Letang and the rest of the Pens' defensemen may not be conventional, but they can be productive

Kris Letang and the rest of the Pens’ defensemen may not be conventional, but they can be productive

The Tampa Bay Lightning broke out in a big way last season. With their young, talented and quick players leading the way it hardly mattered when Steven Stamkos had one of his less prolific days or weeks. They took the common hockey idea that only these defensive stalwart teams were good enough to make it to the Finals and turned it on its head. They took purists’ plans and smashed them with their palm trees and sun. They made their money on small players and players from places others shy away from. They dared to be different and they had fun doing it under the direction of one hockey’s greatest leaders, Steve Yzerman. Instead of changing their players to be what everyone told them they needed to be, they decided to change the game instead.

In 2015-2016, The Pittsburgh Penguins have the chance to do the same kind of thing and they should seize it. Since losing Orpik, Niskanen and Martin pundits and media types have been wringing their hands. They all think the Penguins need an experienced defenseman, they need help on the blue line. When the USA TODAY ran a piece on why each team won’t win the Cup they went with the simple statement of “The Blueline” The standard replies sound something like:

  • They need to make a change.
  • They need someone who isn’t Derrick Pouliot because his defense isn’t sound yet.
  • Olli Maatta and Kris Letang are too injury prone.
  • They need someone bigger…they need someone with more experience…they need someone nastier…
  • Hey did you know Cody Franson is still available?!

Those pundits and media types need to get a grip.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have drafted high-end blue line talent in nearly every draft since 2009. Ray Shero liked to leverage this talent to acquire other forward talent, which wasn’t always a bad idea. But now, it’s time to use the pieces they didn’t trade away for themselves and according to everyone with a press pass it’s suddenly not enough?

Olli Maatta has one of the highest hockey IQs you’ll see. But he’s not top pairing worthy at least, not yet.
Ian Cole made trading Robert Bortuzzo look like highway robbery. But he isn’t a top four guy, he isn’t ready.
Derrick Pouliot and Kris Letang are cut from the same cloth. But no, this team needs its big hitting defenseman back.

These four players: Letang, Maatta, Pouliot and Cole make up the nucleus of the Penguins’ defense, but because none of them have played the antiquated defense role the media and even (if Gonchar’s PTO is anything to go by) some people around the team aren’t sure what to do. Here’s what you do, it’s actually a really easy concept. Stop trying to change the players and change the game instead.

Yes, losing Paul Martin is a blow, but the team let him go with the understanding that Maatta could take that role over and do it with young, fresh legs. He’s already played those minutes against the best players and he’s shined. He won a bronze medal with team Finland at 19. He clearly knows what he’s doing and would have played a huge role last season if he hadn’t had the worst year of bad luck known to humankind. They have Ian Cole, whose shot blocking and stick-on-puck skills make everything look so simple they didn’t need a big free agent name. Honestly, they have two guys who can play the role Martin was playing if you really think about what both Maatta and Cole are growing into. And yeah, Derrick Pouliot is going to make mistakes, but just untying him from the bag of bricks that is Rob Scuderi and Ben Lovejoy should help.

Stop trying to change your players. Stop trying to shove square pegs in round holes. Stop trying to judge Derrick Pouliot by the Brooks Orpik standard. After all, Matt Niskanen had never played minutes before he came to Pittsburgh and he blossomed into one of the most solid defensemen in the NHL.

This is the perfect season to let these guys shine, too. With the trade for Kessel, who joins Perron and Plotnikov as additions by Rutherford, and the return of Dupuis, this forward crop is as strong as its been in ages. These great players should help jump start the offense and give the defense a bit of a cushion to learn on the job during those first few months of the season. But the truth is, they probably won’t even need it.

It’s time to stop saying we need to get rid of this, and change this for that and time to start saying okay here’s what we have — an abundance of young talented defensemen and embrace it.

Leah is a hockey and city life contributor to The Point of Pittsburgh. She is a 2013 graduate from the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State University.