Metzer: For now, Penguins’ tweaks better than mass change
The Penguins haven鈥檛 passed the eye test every night through their first 22 games and that has been concerning. They are still cruising along with a 13-6-3 record, sitting in second place in the Metropolitan Division and as of Sunday morning possessed the fourth-best point total in the league.
But the worriers are starting to worry.
That worry was magnified after an ugly 6-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Friday, a game that pushed every armchair GM to start calling for change.
Trade player A, waive player B and call up player C because when the sky is falling, mass change is needed.
Luckily the people who run the organization don鈥檛 make many knee-jerk decisions. They study the landscape of the league, look at analytics and other variables before making decisions that aren鈥檛 dictated by emotion.
General Manager Jim Rutherford is always working the phones to see if there are ways to improve his club. Rutherford tends to make his first deals in December, at least if his Penguins鈥� history holds true. His first in-season trades have come on Dec. 5 and 14 over the past two campaigns.
But now, the changes have been internally, by way of lineup shuffling by coach Mike Sullivan. Sullivan, who hasn鈥檛 been shy about tinkering with his lineup when things have dipped below his expectations, gave a different look on Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils and got immediate results.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to change for the sake of change,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e at our best as a hockey team when we have balance.
鈥淚n the absence of their (injured forwards Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz) goals, we try to move people around we think are going to give us a balanced attack.鈥�
Sullivan elevated Matt Cullen to the top line alongside Sidney Crosby, put rookie Jake Guentzel with Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust, reunited the HBK line and moved Eric Fehr back to center with Tom Kuhnhackl and Scott Wilson.
We鈥檝e seen similar units before, but they clicked Saturday, producing 49 shots on goal and three goals in pushing the Penguins past the Devils 4-3 in a shootout.
鈥淚 thought all the lines were pretty good,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淚 thought we had good momentum. I thought the shot clock was an indication of that.
鈥淲e鈥檝e liked Rusty with Geno for awhile. We鈥檝e had him there, we鈥檝e taken him away, we鈥檝e had him there. We like the balance. When we put Phil with [Bonino] and [Hagelin], we feel as if we have some real elite talent on three lines that present some challenges for the opponent.鈥�
The more shocking move came on the blue line where Sullivan opted to make defenseman Brian Dumoulin a healthy scratch.
Dumoulin, who was a staple on the blue line during the run to the Stanley Cup last season, has patterned the team in working through personal ups and downs. He鈥檚 picked up two assists, 29 shots on goal and a minus-4 rating even though he has spent the bulk of the season on the top pairing with Kris Letang.
The healthy scratch preceded a game in which he played a season-low 14:18 minutes at Minnesota.
Sullivan explained the rationale for the move.
鈥淎s far as Brian was concerned, we felt his game has struggled a little bit as of late and sometimes as a young player it鈥檚 not a bad thing to watch a game from up top, and I think it offers a really unique learning experience,鈥� Sullivan said.
鈥淏rian Dumoulin鈥檚 a good player and he鈥檚 going to be a big part of this team but we felt as though it was an opportunity for him to take a step back, hit the reset button, get an opportunity too watch a game from up top.鈥�
The Penguins hot, albeit inconsistent, start has allowed them to make some lineup changes to find the most effective mix and that is the best course of action for now. That isn鈥檛 to say that bigger or more significant changes aren鈥檛 on the horizon, but Rutherford has the luxury of making them on his own terms.