January grades and Pensburgh player of the month
by Hooks Orpik on Feb 1, 2010 8:00 AM EST
34 comments
Past months grades and Pensburgh Player of the Month:
The Penguins registered a 8-7 record in January; they started the month off rough with four losses in the first six games, before rebounding to win six of the last nine games of the month. A big part of the month was spent on the road and then without starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for injury.
A reminder, as always grades are based off of expectations. So, a guy like Eric Godard could get a better grade than a Evgeni Malkin, doesn't mean that Godard is a better player, just would have done better based on his role....
|
Goalies |
Grade | Comments |
| Marc-Andre Fleury | B+ | (5-4-0, 2.75 GAA, .920 save percentage on the month) Fighting through a broken finger on his glove hand, Fleury posted a solid save percentage and allowed 2 or fewer goals in the majority of his games. |
| Brent Johnson | B | (3-2-0, 3.04 GAA .903 save %) A monthly season high in minutes played, shots and saves for Johnson. He even probably "cowboy'd up" to return from injury while Fleury was done. And though his GAA was up, the save percentage remains strong. |
| John Curry | F | (0-1-0, 12.25 GAA .643 save %) Curry got his shot and only lasted 24 minutes. Sure the defense in front of him played poorly and you can't read too much into just one game, but a goalie has to put a better performance than a lacrosse goalie. Curry was brutal. Will he ever get the chance to redeem himself? |
| Alexander Pechurskiy | A | (0-0-0, 1.69 GAA .920 save %) As unsettling as Curry was, Pechurskiy got thrown in the fire and came out unburned, giving up only one impossible to stop goal against a buzzsaw opponent as a 19 year old on a one-day contract. Can't hope for any more. |
| Defensemen | ||
| Mark Eaton | C |
(15 games played, 0 goals, 4 assists, -5, 2 penalty minutes) Eaton had a few noticably bad games, which isn't a good thing for a player of his role. |
| Alex Goligoski | B- |
(13gp, 0g, 6a, -4, 8 PIMs) Still missing a couple games to injury, Goligoski has still been unable to revert to his early season form. Goose did have 3 PP assists and might be starting to turn the corner.. |
| Sergei Gonchar | B+ | (11gp, 3g, 7a, -4, 15 PIMs) Gonchar missed a few games but remained at nearly a point per game production and his play on the PP has helped turn the tide (7 PP points). |
| Kris Letang | B |
(15 gp, 2g, 5a, -3, 19 PIMs) Tripled his goal tally on the season this month, played in all the games and was a feisty force all month long. Also managed to get a shot on net in at least each game, a big deal for the young player trying to contribute. |
| Ben Lovejoy | B+ |
(4 gp, 0g, 0a, +3, 0 PIMs) Called up due to not much faith in Skoula and played well in another cameo. Lovejoy by now is probably the 7th best defenseman in the system, but unfortunately for him you only need 6 a night. |
| Jay McKee | B+ | (15gp, 0g, 2a, +1, 4 PIMs) Another solid month for the human puck blocker in McKee, providing a steady force for the team on the backend. |
| Brooks Orpik | B+ |
(11gp, 0g, 2a, even, 6 PIMs) A few games missed to injury but another steady, physical month for Orpik, who again boasts the best plus/minus of the defensemen |
| Martin Skoula | D |
(6gp, 0g, 0a, -3, 2 PIMs) Skoula lost the confidence of the coach and became a healthy scratch, even when all the defensemen weren't healthy. His time in the Pens lineup could be at it's end. |
| Forwards | ||
| Craig Adams | D+ |
(15gp, 0g, 0a, -7, 2 PIMs) Another month of zero production and more faceoffs losses than wins for the 4th line center. We shouldn't discredit his smart PK work, but with so many other forwards capable of that, Adams just isn't providing much. |
| Matt Cooke | B+ |
(15gp, 4g, 2a, +5, 14 PIMs) Season high this month in goals, PP goals, shots and biting incidents for Cooke. He's stiring the pot, chipping in occasionally and playing well in all three zones. |
| Chris Conner | B+ |
(2gp, 2g, 0a, even, 0 PIMs) Last time Conner was in the NHL, he made multiple mistakes that ended up in the wrong net. This time was highlighted by a two goal game that helped the team to a win. |
| Sidney Crosby | A- |
(15gp, 11g, 9a, -2, 8 PIMs) The offensive engine that's driving this team. Crosby had his best month in goals, shots and points/game on the season, and continues to provide the leadership and effort shift after shift, night after night. |
| Pascal Dupuis | B+ | (14gp, 3g, 5a, +4, 2 PIMs) Quietly a good month for Dupuis, who's pressed into a bigger role than perhaps his skill merits. Only missing one game after a scary boarding incident helps fuel the folklore. |
| Ruslan Fedotenko | B |
(14 gp, 1g, 7a, -3, 2 PIMs) Fedotenko's game has come around, he's distributing the puck and more importantly driving to the net and getting shots off. |
| Eric Godard | D |
(9gp, 0g, 0a, -2, 25 PIMs) Before suffering a significant groin injury, Godard continued the usual: not much ice-time, a couple bone-headed minor penalties and adding little to the team on the ice. |
| BIll Guerin | B- |
(14gp, 4g, 3a, -5, 2 PIMs) The vet trudges through another regular season with a good (not great or bad) middle of the season month....And he grew a sweet 'stache for losing the SO competition in practice. |
| Nick Johnson | B+ |
(4gp, 1g, 1a, -2, 0 PIMs) Showed a lot of moxy in his first taste of NHL action and didn't look out of place on an even strength line with the reigning scoring champion. |
| Tyler Kennedy | B- |
(14gp, 3g, 3a, +2, 2 PIMs) The little sparkplug did what he does on the 3rd line: grind, got some good cycling time, shoot the puck and chipped in some points |
| Chris Kunitz | I | (2gp, 0g, 0a, even, 0 PIMs) Kunitz deserves props for trying to fight through an injury that would require surgery. But, in the end he gets the I for incomplete. |
| Evgeni Malkin | B |
(15gp, 6g, 11a, -10, 16 PIMs) For all the talk of a slump, Geno broke out and started looking more like himself. That plus/minus looks nasty and he could still probably stand to stay out of the box a little more. |
| Mark Letestu | B |
(1gp, 0g, 0a, even, 0 PIMs) Only skated 9:54 this month, but was decent in his cameo. |
| Mike Rupp | C | (15gp, 1g, 0a, -5, 8 PIMs) His offense had cooled, but Rupp still adds a grit and has been playing his role on the team well. |
| Jordan Staal | B+ |
(15gp, 2g, 8a, +3, 12 PIMs) Only scored a goal in one game, but was all over the place as a center, winger, PP screener and stellar PK'er. |
| Maxime Talbot | C- |
(10gp, 0g, 1a, -4, 8 PIMs) Another month when Talbot didn't get on track and suffered two more injuries. But winter is about to break and as the thermometer heats up, so too does the Superstar. |
Based off these performances, who's your player of the month? Honestly, I think it's a pretty open and shut case as far as standouts, but I'm going to name the following finalists. Feel free to make a case for a write-in in the comments if you see fit.
0 recs |
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the unstoppable
Crosby simply the best, can see him winning the scoring and goal titles this year maybe even the MVP maybe depends if sedin keeps playing like a assist machine.
Crosby had 11 goals, only one other player (Malkin) had more than 11 points.
Pretty open and shut.
At this point I can only see really Fleury taking it from Crosby…
"I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two." -- Alexandre Daigle
I give it to Crosby. Staal is continuing to improve with every month that goes by, but Sid’s offensive firepower cannot be denied. He’s looked pretty sharp on the backcheck too.
For the team as a whole: B-
Escaped the month of January only one game oveer .500 due to inconsistent play and some serious defensive lapses from time to time, however, the powerplay is finally starting to produce, our passing has generally been good and occasionally spectacular, Geno’s slump seems to be abating, El Sid keeps disassembling opposing defenses, and we’re moving towards the spring when we tend to kick it up a notch, so I like our overall direction.
Staal All the Way
Don’t get me wrong, Sid is playing amazing hockey right now, but Staal boys and girls, Jordan Staal.
Yesterdays game was unfair that they were talking about how he hasn’t been getting any goals, but getting three assists in one game, always playing the puck and skating hard, and lets not forget, we had some pretty tough PKs this month against some pretty good teams, Staal is always there for them. Goals don’t define how good of a player you are, though they are nice. I love this guy.
A bee in a bird's nest never made no honey, and a bird in a hive sang no song.
Staal’s generating a lot of chances…He’s definitely a force out there. If he could just start finishing (or maybe get a little luck) he could have easily scored 5+ more goals this month and then he’d really be in the thick of things.
"I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two." -- Alexandre Daigle
Too easy to call… Sid’s just been head and shoulders above anyone else.
That’s why I voted for Sarge, cause I think this month we’ve seen again how important is he for the team’s success. Not only on the PP, but also for the W column. The Pens are 27-12-1 with Gonchar in the line-up and only 7-9-0 without him.
You have to see it for yourself...
Sid
No comparisons. Staal plays great defensive hockey, but this team would have been 4-11 in January without Sid’s goals.
and damnit Hooks...
Goddard deserved an F again and you didn’t give it to him. (At least Curry got his F)
It’s hard to look good with like 3 minutes of ice-time….And if no one wants to be your partner it’s about impossible to dance in today’s NHL.
I’ve been an outspoken Godard critic, but I think he’s got some reasonable circumstances preventing him from doing his thing.
"I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two." -- Alexandre Daigle
If the the general consensus is true, that goons are disappearing in the NHL and there is no need for a tough guy anymore, than that should spark an idea in Godard that maybe I should work on the rest of my game, like not giving up a penalty as soon as my skates touch the ice.
A bee in a bird's nest never made no honey, and a bird in a hive sang no song.
I’ve been an outspoken Godard critic, but I think he’s got some reasonable circumstances preventing him from doing his thing.
Agreed, and that is why I expected the F this time around. Goddard is capable of gettting at least 1 minor in EVERY three minutes of ice time and that is why he needs to go.
As far as not having dance partners, I agree, it takes two to tango, but it seems that once you get the HWY designation, no one marginal will drop the gloves. Some call Laraque a snob for only wanting to fight guys in his league, but the other side of the coin is Goddard. He is willing, but very few others want to go with him. Either way you look at it, you need skills beyond pugilism to exist in the league and Goddard doesn’t have anything else. At least he is cheap.
Probably would have been 0-15 without some sort of goaltending. How many goals would the team have given up if Godard was out there playing 3rd line C instead of Staal?
Not my favorite way to look at things.
meant figuratively, not literally. Other than Sid, and maybe Dupuis and Cooke, this team underachieved in January offensively. We won’t ever know the outcome w/o Sid, but it would not have been pretty.
The rest of your statement is silly, but I guess it proved a point (I think?).
Why not Staal
Has the best =/_ on the team, recently had a streak of points, not that Sid does not deserve it, but for that matter we should give it to him anytime he is playing, I disagree with you Hooks in one player although perhaps inadvertedly you may agree with me. I believe that at this point Lovejoy IS the 6th defensman for the Pens, Maybe coach B knows it and does not want to say it for other reasons (i.e. trades) but his play is much better than Skoula’s who is atrocious. Also Adams, I agree with you I have been commentiong here many times that he is as or even more useless than Goddard (at least he can fight). As for PK, there are plenty of players that can do , plus lately Sid (who else) has been taking his turn on PK.
How about J. Staal for Selke candidate, what do you think. Although it may be an oxymoron to think of any Penguin historically (except Ron Francis) as Selke candidate, I think Jordan Staal should be considered. Big mistake by Steve Y of not picking him for the Canadian Olympic Team (gain for the Pens, he’ll get some rest) He is going to rely only on Drury for PK.
I disagree with you Hooks in one player although perhaps inadvertedly you may agree with me. I believe that at this point Lovejoy IS the 6th defensman for the Pens, Maybe coach B knows it and does not want to say it for other reasons (i.e. trades) but his play is much better than Skoula’s who is atrocious
Did you mean 7th d? I don’t see Lovejoy better than the more experience guys like Eaton and McKee. If so, I would agree with you, Lovejoy is a better option than Skoula at this point.
How about J. Staal for Selke candidate, what do you think
I definitely think it’s valid for consideration, given his PK contributions. It’s a tough award to win, Toews is also having a pretty good defensive season. I think Staal’s low faceoff numbers may hurt him, if he could become a 50%+ guy in the years to come that would give him another stat to tout.
Canada has so many great players I don’t really think they’ll miss Staal. They can use guys like Toews, Richards, Morrow, etc on the PK and still not miss a beat. I don’t think JStaal would have looked totally out of place at the Olympics, though.
"I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two." -- Alexandre Daigle
Correction noted, I mean’t 7th, defensman. Your faceoff % is apoint well taken. As far as PLK in the Olympics, I think he is superior than the players you mentioned, because od the bigger playing surface and his reach. A fact also brought up by non other than Don Cherry when he picked him for his “Olympic team”. You are correct he would not look out of place at all.
This year it is, since the only place to play in Vancouver is NHL style….I believe in ‘14 it’ll be the regular IIHF standard of the wider European rinks.
"I'm glad I got drafted first, because no one remembers number two." -- Alexandre Daigle
Why not Staal.
The old mantra goes “defense wins championships”, but even Jersey in the lockdown days had to score goals. Staal is a large gear in the engine that is the Penguins, but Sid is the fuel that gives them the spark.
Yeas Ulf nobody is denying Sid. By the way isn’t it great that we have so much young talent that is hard to pick.
By the way isn’t it great that we have so much young talent that is hard to pick.
I hope we have this argument for the next decade.
I hope you are right. In this era of salary cap it may be hard. But on the other hand because of the reputation , championships, player treatment, fans etc. a lot of players fortunately want to play for the Pens, although in the end money talks, as it is in all jobs, that helps arranging player contracts.
Had to give the vote to Sid. He’s 9 assists are only 2 short of Malkin’s assist total but he added five more goals. FLeury played a strong game against Detroit the other night but he’s had a few rough breaks here and there too. 5-4 isn’t a bad record by any means, nor is his save percentage perceived as abysmal, but I think without Sid or the other guys padding some goals he isn’t getting a ‘W.’
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That may be so, but when you look how MAF has been hung to dry at times (Same goes for BJ), he has been great, MAF is not a Vezina goalie imo, he’s a W goalie and in the end he will get them. Esp come playoff time that is a very important trait in a goalie imo.
There is a knack to flying: it's learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
by Sid the captain on Feb 2, 2010 11:50 AM EST up reply actions
oh no doubt about it. The Pens really didn’t need Tommy B or Wregget to be Vezina goalies either. They could afford to give up two or three goals a game and still get the win. In fact, I’m starting to see the frightening comparison of that with Washington as of late. They don’t need their goalies to stop everything. They’re putting up 5 goals a game on offense. Not many teams can do that. They’re outgunning everyone and it’s a frightening thing
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