Get Zach Aston-Reese back up here.
And let that be just the beginning.
Because, if we're being honest after the Penguins casually smoked the tail end of another crooked cigarette Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, this by a 5-1 count to the Devils, the underlying problem beneath this team's underwhelming play since coming home from Canada is this: Their supporting cast of forwards brings them next to nothing.
Through 13 games, it's no longer an opinion ...
Matt Cullen: 1 goal, 2 assists
Riley Sheahan: 1 goal, 1 assist
Bryan Rust: 1 goal, 2 assists
Carl Hagelin: 1 goal, 2 assists
Daniel Sprong: 0 goals, 4 assists
Derek Grant: 0 goals, 0 assists
Now, Hagelin's been a mostly effective contributor to a mostly effective second line, but points are still needed. Patric Hornqvist's got four goals as a badly miscast third-liner, which Mike Sullivan finally began to address by moving him alongside Evgeni Malkin and Hagelin late in this game. The fairer targets, then, are Derick Brassard, who had a goal and four assists through eight games before getting hurt. And I'd throw in that Dominik Simon hasn't exactly risen above, with one whole goal skating alongside Sidney Crosby.
Can't stress this enough: I'm not absolving anyone involved in this latest embarrassment. That list runs legitimately 20 deep.
I mean, this happened in the third period. Just watch:
That, my friends, was a group that would have gotten shelled by the Shaler JV.
But here's the broader point: This roster won't function properly without real forward depth. And this isn't all about goals. If the third and fourth lines won't score, they've got to at least generate energy, possession, physical play. Something. Anything. And there's none of it in sight. The bottom six have combined for 95 total shots through 13 games, or 7.3 per game. In advanced analytics, every one of them ranks below the vital 50 percent mark in Corsi For percentage, meaning they've all been on the ice for more team shots conceded than taken.
Heck, Riley Sheahan and Cullen, who were expected to provide unprecedented center depth, actually have the two lowest Corsi For percentages on the team at 41.37 and 39.64, respectively.
Cullen was brought back, in part, for his leadership, as Jim Rutherford made clear the day of the reacquisition. So when the locker room opened after this game, I walked directly No. 7's stall to ask ... you know, what the H-E-double-hockey-sticks?
"Well, we haven't had any consistency," Cullen began. "The bottom six hasn't provided enough offense, and that's why we find ourselves in a tough spot right now."
I sure wouldn't dispute it.
So, what's got to happen?
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