After the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Marcel Goc via trade, we reached out to our buddies at Litterbox Cats to get some advanced scouting and information about where Goc is coming from and what to expect as he joins the Pens. What resulted was an interesting and open conversation, presented here, and we hope you enjoy it.
Would you please describe Marcel Goc's game? What line was he on, usually? What role did he have? Was he good at it?
Goc is a versatile two-way center who spent most of this season centering Florida’s third line. That’s the proper role from him as he is good defensively, strong on draws, and is skilled enough to chip in offensively. At times during his stint with Florida, he did play in the top six but he doesn’t really produce enough points to justify that role, although he is capable of filling in for a spell if one of the centers above him is injured and he has to move up a line.
Along the lines of being a center, and from looking at his faceoff numbers, it appears Goc mainly played center in his days as a Panther. Did he ever play wing? Do you think he could?
Goc is definitely a center and I don’t really remember him ever playing much (if any) wing for the Panthers, but during the last lockout, he did flip flop between center and wing while playing for Adler Mannheim in Germany, so he is indeed capable of doing so.
Moving forward how do you think Goc will fare with the Penguins? They're definitely a team looking for better players in the bottom six forward category, but have Brandon Sutter as a 3rd line center. What can Goc add to the Pens down the stretch and in the playoffs?
Goc is a savvy veteran and hard worker who can do a little bit of everything. He will definitely help out the Penguins’ bottom six whether it’s on the wing or perhaps centering the 4th line, where he would be a likely matchup problem for the opposing 4th line center. I think Pittsburgh fans will like what they see from Goc, and I think he'll do well there.
Thanks to Todd, and be sure to check out Litterbox Cats for news and notes about the Goc trade from the Florida perspective.