2014-15 Pensburgh Season in Review: Craig Adams

Age: 38 (April 26, 1977)

Contract Status: Pending UFA as of July 1, 2015 - Pens have announced he will not be back

2014-15 Stats

GP	TOI/GP	Goals	Assists	Points
70	9:44	1	6	7

Corsi For %	Corsi Rel %	Goals For %	Zone Start %	PDO
47.6%	-9.94	43.5%	27.3% Off / 26.4% Def	992

2014-15 Penguins forwards

Most frequent forward linemates

Linemates	Goals For%	Corsi For%	Total 5v5 time (492:57 for Adams)
Zach Sill	28.6%	49.7%	213:11
Marcel Goc	25.0%	47.4%	148:29
Maxim Lapierre	33.3%	43.6%	144:31

Some brutal stuff, it's interesting that the 4th line at the beginning of the season (Sill-Goc-Adams) got completely turned over by the playoffs with Sill and Goc getting traded and Lapierre coming in (and Winnik adding to the team and bumping Nick Spaling down). It's also interesting that very low GF% might have been the reason that the Pens brass felt the need to make such changes, even though with Lapierre, Adams did worse in the Corsi category, but got bailed out for the GF%.

Going down, with a fight

As this season went along, Craig Adams' role finally diminished. He might his first game action since 2010 when he went on the IR with a shoulder injury in December. Adams also had a turbulent January on the practice ice- coming the blows with Evgeni Malkin and dumping top prospect Derrick Pouliot in a rough battle. After that, Adams' Pens career ended with a whimper. His 9:44 on the ice this season was down significantly from 12:27 in 2013-14, and Adams was a healthy scratch all 5 of the Pens playoff games. Once the man who couldn't be removed from the Pens 4th line for many years, but this spring he finally was.

The Good

You'd have to dig deep to compliment Adams' season for 2014-15, but let's try. Adams had 183 hits (good for 3rd on the team among forwards) and he had 29 blocked shots (t-5th forwards) which is impressive considering his low TOI. Adams chipped in 6 assists (which equals his yearly total from 2012-2013 and 2013-14) and at least the opposition wasn't scoring a lot while Adams was on the ice at 5v5, he was on ice for a puny 11 goals for, but did only see 13 goals go in the wrong net. Also, for pure results of penalty killing, Adams didn't fare too poorly; his 4.63 GA/60 rate was 2nd best on the team among forwards who regularly played on the PK unit.

The Bad

This could fill a novel but a lot has been beaten to death, so we won't do much here. There's a reason you don't see too many 37 year old's in the NHL, especially one like Adams who was never an overly skilled, big or contributing member of a team in the first place. But, lest we forget 82% of Pensburgh readers wanted Adams back just 2 summers ago after a fairly impressive lockout shortened year (See the links above for all the old recaps). The lesson to be learned is the shorter the contract, the better for 35+ role players.

GIF of the Year

Giving a pie to Marc-Andre Fleury in honor of his 300th career NHL victory back in November.

Preseason expectations

Not a ton was expected, personally I probably Adams to continue his ironman streak, provide minimal production and hopefully be a decent enough penalty killer and chip in some of the hits, blocked shots and dirty work to free the more talented players up for the more skilled jobs.

Verdict

A disappointing end to a career that was longer than it had a right to be, on the surface. Adams didn't have a great year and was relegated down to healthy scratch territory by the end of the year for merit, he just wasn't doing enough to hang on to a spot in the lineup.

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Feel free to vote in the poll below to grade Craig Adams’ season on a scale from 1 to 10. Vote based on your expectations for him coming into the season -- i.e. 1 being "he was incredibly disappointing and I want him out now", 10 being "he was outstanding even beyond my craziest expectations".