The Penguins featured a characteristically lethal power play in 2018-19, ranking fifth in the NHL with a 24.6 percent conversion rate. But they have to replace a major part of the PP now that Phil Kessel is an Arizona Coyote.
Kessel has potted 36 power play goals since the start of the 2015-16 season, which ranks just outside of the top 20 among all skaters. The main player whom the Penguins acquired in the Kessel deal, Alex Galchenyuk, could help fill the void. Galchenyuk has 33 power play goals since 2015-16. His power play responsibility has grown, too, as he averaged a career-high 3:11 of PP time last year (compared to 2:57 in 2017-18 and 2:16 in 2016-17). Galchenyuk might not have as prominent a role with the man advantage here — not on a team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin — but he’s capable of burying some shots.
MORE PENGUINS
• Galchenyuk’s D: Galchenyuk could see significant power play time in Pittsburgh, and he does have a 30-goal season to his name (2015-16). But he could stand to improve on the other side of the puck, to put it kindly. Over the past three seasons, Galchenyuk’s teams have surrendered 3.7 percent more shots during five-on-five play when he is on the ice compared to when he’s not skating, according to Natural Stat Trick. That’s the 10th-worst relative shot rate among all NHL forwards who logged at least 1,000 even-strength minutes over that time frame. Galchenyuk’s teams have also allowed 5.3 percent more scoring chances when he’s skating during five-on-five situations compared to when he’s on the bench (second-worst among all forwards). Kessel could get away with poor or indifferent defense because he was an elite scorer. If you’re going to resemble Kessel away from the puck, you’d better rack up more than 40 or 50 points.
• Lighting the lamp: The 2018-19 season was a charmed one for Jake Guentzel, who established himself as Crosby’s new wing-man, earned a $6 million per year contract extension, and scored 40 goals. The former third-round pick out of Nebraska-Omaha has shown a rare ability to net goals during the early stages of his career. Guentzel has scored 78 goals during his first three NHL seasons, which ranks behind only Mario Lemieux (145 goals), Evgeni Malkin (115), Pierre Larouche (113), Rob Brown (106), Crosby (99) and Jaromir Jagr (93) in Penguins franchise history. And that’s with Guentzel only getting a partial NHL season in 2016-17. With Sid creating havoc in front of the net and making silky-smooth passes, Guentzel should push well beyond 100 careers goals next year.
To continue reading, log into your account:
