CALGARY, Alberta -- To be clear, Derick Brassard's participation in the 2018-19 NHL season isn't optional.
Yeah, a lot of good stuff's happened to the Penguins on this side of the border the past few days: They outmuscled the league's hottest team in Toronto. They outgunned one of the league's fastest teams in Edmonton. Sidney Crosby's set straight any doubts about the planet's best player. Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel are clicking again. Patric Hornqvist's scoring again. Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin have been the league's premier defense pair this month. Matt Murray's settling, too.
But all of that and a whole lot more still won't undo the damage Brassard's doing to the broader picture.
He needs to produce.
He needs to produce points, not just pointless, shift-killing spins around the rink, and he needs to get around to doing that, oh, by 9:08 p.m. today against the Flames here at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
If that sounds harsh, consider that it's barely even an opinion on my part: Through seven games, he's got one goal, one assist and nine shots. Of that output, the goal and six of those nine shots came in that wild, weird opener against the Capitals. Which means that, ever since the hockey got serious, he's got no goals and three shots over the past six games.
Seriously, that's three shots over 110 shifts!
To continue reading, log into your account:
