This hockey season has been more vexing than most because of
the runaway train of groupthink which has utterly dismissed and bagged players
who don’t fit the Pittsburgh Penguins traditional prototypes. The group has
been absolutely sure Jack Johnson should be exiled from hockey to a snow
farm in Siberia that Erik Gudbranson is one of the worst defensemen in the NHL,
and that Dominik Simon should be buried in the AHL.
The group comprised of blogs, Twitterverse and
other social media which channel emotions and create perception has
spoken. Fortunately for those in that group who root for Penguins success,
they’re wrong. Dead, flat wrong.
There weren’t many who dared to explain — repeatedly — that
Jack Johnson was doing yeoman’s work as a right-side defenseman but he would
significantly improve when placed on the left side with a puck-moving
defenseman like Justin Schultz.
The move happened and suddenly Jack Johnson is seen as a
physical, stay-at-home defender who has helped the Penguins suppress their
opponents’ scoring chances. Gee, who would have guessed?
The vociferous objections and attacks on the player were
well out of hand. Did Evgeni Malkin or Phil Kessel miss a defensive assignment
but Johnson was on the ice, too? Johnson’s fault. Be the only defender back on
a two-on-one? Still Johnson’s fault. It became an obsession with being right
about Johnson.
Just look at his Corsi! His Corsi for gosh sakes is well
below 50 percent! He’s terrible! The attacks this writer received paled in
comparison to the player who was outright savaged on social media.
Especially over the last few games which the Penguins should
have won but bad luck, or lousy goaltending cost them points, the
spotlight has shown positively on Johnson’s contributions.
It’s amazing what you see when you’re open to it.
Sure, any attempt to explain the subtleties, nuances or
outright misconceptions has been met with merely turning up the volume. If all
of Penguins Twitterverse agrees, how could they be wrong?
Easy. Hockey isn’t a game that can be adequately quantified
on paper like baseball, nor can it be boiled down to individual performances
like the NBA. Hockey at the NHL level is a complex orchestra of improvisation
within boundaries. What may be an incorrect positioning on one team is the
preferred coverage on another.
And in the absence of direct knowledge, the group fills in
the gaps. If everyone says a player is terrible, he must be terrible, right?
Erik Gubranson has spent only 63 minutes in a Pittsburgh
Penguins sweater. He was physical, he was a presence in the defensive zone, he
will provide the emotional lift of physical pushback, and he was beaten once on
the perimeter by Buffalo Sabres forward Casey Mittelstadt.
It was a stellar performance but what you will focus on
largely depends on what you want to see.
The truth is Gudbranson has hockey skills which the Penguins
want to mine. They think he can be a solid defenseman, and for this gamble they
gave up the low, low price of the unneeded Tanner Pearson. Oh by the way, the
Penguins also made the trade after realizing they would be without their top
three defensemen for a while. And after San Jose Sharks power forward Evander
Kane mocked their bench.
But the group still had angst and thus screamed.
Gudbranson’s Corsi is terrible! He must be terrible! Or, as the player
said and a few cautious hockey analysts pointed out, he was in the wrong
situation (Read
Gudbranson’s honest assessment of his time in Vancouver here).
After seeing the early returns, which seems more plausible?
Gudbranson has the makings of a solid, physical third pairing defenseman
capable of playing in the Penguins system. He may not succeed, but it seems
like lunacy to write him off.
Or perhaps the group will concede one good game and wait for
their next opportunity to pounce. Johnson, Gudbranson, and Simon will make a
mistake. Will have a bad game or three. There will be an opportunity.
And poor Simon. His greatest crime was displaying a two-way
game and NHL readiness before departed prospect Daniel Sprong. Without a
pedigree or years of emotional investment, Simon was the object of frustration
as Penguins fans wanted Sprong to succeed but Simon played ahead of him.
Moreso than the others, the ability to understand what Simon
brings–and what he doesn’t–is important to understanding the Penguins. As we’ve
written a few times (including
here), Simon usually makes his line better. But he doesn’t possess a
lot of finish, yet, or maybe never will. Nor does he carry a significant cap
hit. Simon at $750,000 was far more valuable to the Penguins than $3.75 million
worth of Tanner Pearson.
So maybe it’s time to turn down the volume of the group
which includes a lot of young, talented writers still learning the game
(hopefully) and a lot of fan fear. Stanley Cup champions will come and go, but
the game of hockey will remain. Use this season as a learning experience that
hockey has all types of players and very few are bad at hockey. Some just need
the right situation. Some have skills which don’t show up on the stat sheets or
advanced stat sheets. And some do have skills which hit the stat sheet but not
in the same quantity as a star player.
And like so many of us in one area or another, maybe it’s
time to break free from the group.
No comments:
Post a Comment