If Teddy Blueger's finally in, who's finally out?
Much as it's fun to presume Jim Rutherford's minor move yesterday will lead to a major move today or soon, the fact is, this collection of forwards won't fully make sense until Mike Sullivan gets past his undying wish to recreate the HBK Line. Or, to word that another way, to create three scoring lines.
The makeup just isn't here. At least not now.
Ask yourself this: If tonight's game against the Lightning were Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, how would the top two lines look?
Here's mine:
Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Rust-Malkin-Kessel
Maybe Bryan Rust doesn't belong on a theoretical top-six, but the game isn't played on theoretical ice, and Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel need a defensive babysitter almost as much as they need each other, so go with what works rather than worrying about labels.
After that, candidly, who cares all that much?
It's no crime against hockey to stack two lines, then hope for some solid possession/checking from the other two. That's doubly true when the power play -- at least when it isn't coughing up shorties -- is as formidable as this one. Prioritize the most realistic chance at generating five-on-five offense, then squeeze some grind and grit from the third and fourth lines. Make sure those guys are fronting the puck and doing all that other stuff the Penguins don't do when they're lazing through, oh, some random Monday against the Devils.
I mean, really, what was Patric Hornqvist doing on the third line the other night?
What's Kessel doing on the third line ever?
Sullivan needs to coach for today, not for the lineup he wishes he had or, worse, for the one he had a couple years ago. That'll start with inserting Blueger on one of those third or fourth lines, scratching ... I don't know who if it isn't Derick Brassard ... and proceeding with any plan at all that's based in the present.
• Go right back to Matt Murray. Facing the NHL's No. 1 team, go with the team's No. 1 goaltender. Besides, there's no need to mess with what had been shaping up as the ideal solution before the break.
• "It's a tough period for me, but I'll be back. I want to play right the next game," Malkin was saying after practice Tuesday in Cranberry. "I know my level. I know I'm a good player. I want my game back."
That's more than talk with this guy. Bash his performance, but trust me, it's never for lack of fire. He's exasperated right now.
• There'll be no Blueger hype here. He's a smart, solid, two-way center acquired with a second-round pick who, in the context of a contender, is a complementary player at his very peak. But if he does get into the lineup tonight, it's worth paying attention to his talent for playmaking in tight quarters. He can be surrounded by two, three opponents and squeeze the puck through traffic to an open teammate -- and the right open teammate -- seamlessly.
• He's also a pretty cool kid, as conveyed in an exclusive interview with him last night by our Taylor Haase.
• The Lightning are by far the league's best team at 37-10-2 with a plus-59 goal differential and -- get this -- they're a goal away from becoming the first team to reach 200 goals in 50 or fewer games since the 2005-06 Senators. Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman ...
Ha! Just watch, the Penguins will smoke 'em!
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The Patriots' Tom Brady celebrates the AFC championship last week in Kansas City, Mo. - AP[/caption]
• Completely unprepared to pick a Super Bowl winner. I'd take the Rams' talent, and there's no doubting Aaron Donald and the ample analytics supporting that a hard push from the interior of a defensive line is the best way to get to Tom Brady. At the same time, I can't concoct any plausible scenario in which Bill Belichick won't outwit a young quarterback with two weeks to prepare.
Leaning toward New England.
• Anyone else troubled that the Patriots' championship would be their sixth, matching the Steelers' total?
Or that the playoff victory would be their 37th, also matching the Steelers' total?
Both are NFL records, obviously, and both would stand for all eternity if justice were served. Because, lest anyone forget, Belichick and Brady cheated. That's not a shot at them. That's not my personal stance. It's been substantiated by the league itself, through the league's follow-up punitive actions.
If the cheating influenced one Super Bowl victory or even one playoff victory, they've got no business being mentioned in the same breath as the Steelers in this context.
• Both of these things can be true:
1. Belichick and Brady are great at what they do.
2. Belichick and Brady are cheaters.
One doesn't preclude the other.
• If anyone ever suggests that the Steelers of the 1970s cheated because they used steroids, politely inform them that the NFL began testing for steroids in 1987 and issued its first suspensions for steroids in 1989. Also, steroid usage didn't become illegal under U.S. law until Feb. 27, 1991.
If it's not breaking a rule, it isn't cheating. Once it is breaking a rule, it is cheating.
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Barry Bonds' head in Pittsburgh and in San Francisco. - AP[/caption]
• On a similar note, Major League Baseball added steroids to its banned substance list in 1991. The year before Barry Bonds' final season in Pittsburgh. So everything he did in San Francisco was cheating.
• Freddy Galvis, the top free-agent shortstop not named Manny Machado, signed with the Blue Jays yesterday for a year and $5 million guaranteed. In making 157 starts for the Padres last season, he slashed .248/.299/.380 with 14 home runs, and he committed nine errors over 1,401 innings.
He clearly was eminently affordable. He'd have made the Pirates a stronger team, even if Erik Gonzalez is all that they hope.
• At PiratesFest over the weekend, when a fan asked Neal Huntington about the possibility of adding Galvis, he replied, “We feel like we got a young Freddy Galvis. His name is Erik Gonzalez.”
Galvis is 29. Gonzalez is 27.
No opinions needed. Ever. Just write what they say.
• See you at the rink! Bundle up!
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