Penguins PK options

[Amen evil king]

Last year there were 15 Penguins with more than 1 minute of shorthanded time on ice per game. Only 5 of those are returning: Scuderi, Letang, Maatta, Lovejoy, and Dupuis. All of the heavy PK forwards are gone: Sutter, Lapierre/Goc, Winnik, and Spaling.

The defense looks fairly set for PK, but the forwards are a big question mark. I expect Fehr & Bonino to anchor the primary two units, probably with Crosby doing his 15-second shifts at the beginning/end of the penalty. Dupuis, if healthy, is also a lock. After that -- who knows!

The candidates as I see them:

Cullen: When in the lineup Cullen seems like a good guess for PK time, especially given the lack of competition. He doesn't have a ton of PK experience in his career, but was used heavily in Minnesota for a 3-4 year stretch at the turn of the decade.

Plotnikov/Sundqvist/Wilson: I'm guessing two of these guys will be in the lineup most of the time this year, and all have playing styles suitable for the PK. NHL coaches rarely use rookies to kill penalties though.

Perron: He didn't impress defensively last year, but he was used on the PK regularly in STL & EDM before coming here.

Kunitz: Kunitz as a third-liner could get a shot at the PK to give him a bit more ice time. Developing chemistry with Bonino or Fehr would help his case.

That's about it. I don't expect Johnston to give Malkin, Hornqvist (basically no PK experience in his career), Kessel, and Bennett any thought.

My guess at how it might play out, with two primary units and some occasional time for another forward pair (roughy how MJ ran it last year):

Fehr-Dupuis
Scuderi-Letang

Bonino-Cullen/Kunitz
Maatta-Lovejoy

Occasional PKers:
Crosby-Perron/rookie
Cole-Dumoulin

Kunitz and Perron as PK regulars is likely to raise some eyebrows, but do we have any better options? The lack of defensive specialists is a side effect of having scoring depth all throughout the lineup.

Who do you guys see as the PK regulars this year?

(Apologies if I missed any discussion on this in the mega threads.)

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[wej20]

Bonino - Dupuis
Cullen - Sundqvist/Farnham/Wilson/other 4th liner
Crosby - Kunitz

Fehr will be a top 4 PK forward when he gets back. Plotnikov will probably get some PK time at the start of the season, hopefully he can be an option.

Perron is probably the last forward I'd pick to PK, he's not good defensively and slow. We could see the return of Geno getting some PK time. I don't think Hornqvist would do a bad job. PK defense will be made up of Letang, Maatta, Lovejoy, Cole and Dumoulin. Obviously if they play Scuds then he'll PK a lot as it is the only thing he's not terrible at.

 

[Jacob]

Dupuis - Fehr
Cullen - Bonino
Kunitz - XXXX (Crosby, Malkin, Plots, etc.)

 

[WayneSid9987]

Yea:

Regular NHL PK'ers: Dupuis, Fehr, Bonino, Cullen, Sid
Guys that do it sometimes: Kunitz, Malkin (although i'd love to get Geno into the regular rotation)
Rooks that can do it(at the NHL level imo): Plotnikov, Sundqvist

 

[billybudd]

Fehr-Dupuis would be the forward pairing I'd lean on.

Cullen would be my center on the second unit, assuming he looks anything like the last time I really watched him, which, admittedly, was with Minnesota. Other guy would be an audition. Maybe Plotnikov, maybe Kunitz...maybe even Farnham if he can figure it out.

Late in the kill, I probably bring out Crosby/Kessel and try for the shortie. I realize Kessel isn't mister shotblocker, but neither is Grabner and the threat of his footspeed completely screws up the point guys on the other team's powerplay. Shot never even comes if you can make the defenseman gunshy about breakaways against.

 

[Jacob]

Fehr-Dupuis would be the forward pairing I'd lean on.

Cullen would be my center on the second unit, assuming he looks anything like the last time I really watched him, which, admittedly, was with Minnesota. Other guy would be an audition. Maybe Plotnikov, maybe Kunitz...maybe even Farnham if he can figure it out.

Late in the kill, I probably bring out Crosby/Kessel and try for the shortie. I realize Kessel isn't mister shotblocker, but neither is Grabner and the threat of his footspeed completely screws up the point guys on the other team's powerplay. Shot never even comes if you can make the defenseman gunshy about breakaways against.

Agreed. Fehr and Cullen are also each our best centers too, so separating them in our #1 and #2 units makes sense.

Nice to balance the speed out too. Cullen has 14 career shorties and we know what Dupuis can do. Fehr has 2 in the past 3 seasons.

Has Bonino killed penalties in previously? I'm on my phone and can't check NHL.com's stats tables.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Agreed. Fehr and Cullen are also each our best centers too, so separating them in our #1 and #2 units makes sense.

Nice to balance the speed out too. Cullen has 14 career shorties and we know what Dupuis can do. Fehr has 2 in the past 3 seasons.

Has Bonino killed penalties in previously? I'm on my phone and can't check NHL.com's stats tables.

He has.

To start, he muses on how the loss of Brad Richardson and Kevin Bieksa might affect the Canucks' penalty killing next season. Friedman points out that the Canucks finished the season ranked third overall on special teams, behind Washington and St. Louis. Vancouver's real strength was its penalty kill, which was second in the league to Minnesota's—a stat that got virtually no attention last season.

Considering that Bieksa ranked fifth among Vancouver's defensemen in average time shorthanded, I don't think we have much of a concern there. Friedman notes that Richardson tied with Nick Bonino for the most shorthanded ice time among forwards, averaging 1:57 per game. Penalty killing was certainly a strength for him, but he only played 45 games thanks to his ankle injury.

 

[Jacob]

Nice.

 

[mpp9]

His skating looks pretty terrible in highlights I watch. Makes Neal's stride look awesome.

I suppose if you put him with Cullen or Dupuis, it's not as big of a deal.

 

[Amen evil king]

Bonino has spent a lot of time on the PK over the last 3 years, and last year was 3rd in the league for blocked shots by a forward. He's a lock. He isn't the best at faceoffs though, so perhaps he's best paired with Cullen.

Good point re balancing speed Jacob. That gives me more confidence that we'll see Fehr-Dupuis and Bonino-Cullen (is Cullen still fast?) as the primary forward pairings.

And yeah, I'd love to see Geno get PK time. But we've been wishing for that for years without success.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

im not expert of Fehr or Bonino when it comes to special teams? How have they been on their previous rosters? Also wasn't Cullen a PK mainstay in Nashville?

I'm also curious about Kessel on the PK? Put him with whomever ends up being the most defensively sound pivot and try to help him cherry pick a few shorties with his speed when you can catch a worn out PP unit with tunnel vision.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

There are decent options.

Cullen, Fehr, Dupuis, and Bonino will be the main stays I think, it'll be a bunch that rotate in for help.

 

[billybudd]

Easiest way to get distribution of ice time right for forwards is to designate players for one special team or the other, but, ideally, not both. Bonino might be a capable PK guy, but I think I'd rather see what he looks like mirroring Perron on the second powerplay unit, at least at first, before I use him as anything other than a sub or a 4th stringer on the PK. What stands out to me about Bonino is that he has soft hands close to the net. That seems like something that's more valuable in a powerplay guy than a pk guy.

We've got the depth that we don't need to overwork any of our players, at least on paper. I know I said I'd have Sid and Phil killing penalties, but I'm talking about 15-20 seconds against tired units.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Imagine that, a guy we can use on the 2nd pp unit that isn't useless using his linemates...I miss you never Sutter.

 

[Amen evil king]

Easiest way to get distribution of ice time right for forwards is to designate players for one special team or the other, but, ideally, not both. Bonino might be a capable PK guy, but I think I'd rather see what he looks like mirroring Perron on the second powerplay unit, at least at first, before I use him as anything other than a sub or a 4th stringer on the PK. What stands out to me about Bonino is that he has soft hands close to the net. That seems like something that's more valuable in a powerplay guy than a pk guy.

We've got the depth that we don't need to overwork any of our players, at least on paper. I know I said I'd have Sid and Phil killing penalties, but I'm talking about 15-20 seconds against tired units.

Potentially, but a 2nd PP and 2nd PK role for Bonino is very manageable (and pretty normal for a 3C). Fehr and Dupuis I can see getting a ton of PK minutes since they're both too good to be limited to the 10-12mins they'll get at ES, and unless Fehr gets the net-front spot on PP2, they're unlikely to see PP time.

If Sundqvist sticks I could see the coaching staff apply the same logic, and put him out there on the PK in part to get him more involved in the game.

I'm really interested to see how the icetime all plays out this year. If Fehr, Bonino, Dupuis, Bennett, and Kunitz are all in the bottom-six, they're all potential 30-35+ point players that should be getting ~15 min a night. But is there enough icetime to go around?

It's been a while since we've had a fourth line that deserves more ice time than it will likely get.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

I wonder how Duper will be used. I wouldn't be surprised if they go out of their way to limit his shot blocks.

 

[PensandCaps]

Well crosby i feel like should PK hes pretty good defensively and has that speed and may scare the other PP into passing near his lane. Id pair him with duper, Speed kills.

 

[Son Goku]

Yea:

Regular NHL PK'ers: Dupuis, Fehr, Bonino, Cullen, Sid
Guys that do it sometimes: Kunitz, Malkin (although i'd love to get Geno into the regular rotation)
Rooks that can do it(at the NHL level imo): Plotnikov, Sundqvist

This

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Rust can definitely PK. But I find it doubtful that he starts the season on the team.

 

[drpepper]

Rust can definitely PK. But I find it doubtful that he starts the season on the team.

I didn't think Rust was a big PKer in the AHL last year.

I thought Sheary, Uher, Kostopolous, and Kuhnhackl along with Rowney and Megna did most of the penalty killing.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I didn't watch much (any?) WBS last year, but he did it at Notre Dame. I guess he'd have to do it in the AHL before NHL.

 

[BHD]

I wonder whether Agnew will change the approach to the PK with the new personnel.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Bonino Fehr Cullen Sundqvist

Give Kunitz and Crosby some time.

Throw out Malkin again omg.

I JUST WANNA SEE HIM OUT THERE SHREKING PEOPLE

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Hopefully, this is the year we FINALLY play our two best players on the penalty kill. Some of us have been saying this for an eternity but having Crosby and Malkin out there on the penalty kill gives the PP something else to think about, other than scoring a goal. And it always keeps both Sid and Geno in the game no matter how it's flowing.

This should have been happening all along but hopefully we have the right personnel finally to make this a reality.

I also like what Sid told Johnston apparently re: 3 X 3 hockey...SportsNet suggested the other day that Crosby told Johnston to use 3 forwards in overtime.

LOVE it.

 

[Jacob]

Hopefully, this is the year we FINALLY play our two best players on the penalty kill. Some of us have been saying this for an eternity but having Crosby and Malkin out there on the penalty kill gives the PP something else to think about, other than scoring a goal.

Yeah, "break their ankles."

I see the benefit with Sid & Geno being used very sporadically or at the tail end of the 2 minutes but PKing is mostly chasing and shot-blocking and I don't want either one doing that.