Pittsburgh Penguins: Three Major Differences Between Last Year And This Year
Feb 3, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi (4) and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo (41) talk on the ice against the Ottawa Senators during the first period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 2-1 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
While Maatta has been a nice defenseman to add to the roster, the real defensive addition to this Penguins team is Rob Scuderi. Scuderi will be fine giving up power play shifts and assists to Maatta, he is a classic defenseman focused on the other side of the ice, and that may have been the biggest weakness for Pittsburgh’s playoff roster last year.
While Marc-Andre Fleury took a lot of heat for his performance in the first round of the playoffs last year – a performance that landed him on the bench – he, like all other goalies, was given far too much of the blame. Here is a chart of all of the Islanders shots in that first round against Fleury:
Look at the areas with the greatest fluctuation of shots. Pretty close to the net, right? In fact, nearly 60 percent of the Islanders shots came within 30 feet (or a little past the faceoff dot and closer). That was a 10 percent increase from the Islanders’ average in the regular season.
The Penguins defense was allowing far too much traffic around the net in last year’s playoffs and hung Fleury out to dry far more than people talked about. Here is more proof:
That is a chart of all 14 goals the Islanders scored against Fleury in the first round last year. Nine of the 14 goals came within 20 feet. Only three of them were scored from beyond 30 feet. So, Fleury most definitely didn’t play well, but he wasn’t exactly giving up all soft goals. For the most part he was stopping the ones he should.
Penguins management realized this and took the action to get a defensive defenseman in the offseason. They knew they had a good one in Scuderi, as he spent his first five seasons in Pittsburgh so the Pens’ organization was familiar with his work.
While Scuderi has missed 29 games to a broken leg this season, in the other 29 he has played he’s been as stable as any defenseman in the league. It’s tough to prove this as defensive statistics are far from perfect and none paint a picture of the true value of a defenseman.
But, take this as some example of proof: Scuderi averages the same amount of shorthanded time on ice as Zdeno Chara does for the Boston Bruins, considered to be one of the best defenders and defensive units in the league.
Scuderi’s effectiveness on the penalty kill is evident as the Penguins shorthanded unit ranks second in the league, behind only New Jersey. As a defensive force who already has two Stanley Cups under his belt, Scuderi’s value will only increase come time for the playoffs.