Bye-bye, Derick Brassard.
Two sources within the Penguins told me late Saturday night, this after the 4-2 loss to the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena, that the team is beyond exasperated with Brassard, and one of those sources told me he's become "trade material" for Jim Rutherford. And when pressed upon the timing of that, the source responded only that there was real urgency.
Wow, can't imagine why, huh?
Look, there was blame enough to go around the building for this one. Kris Letang was so abysmal he sat and waited in the locker room for reporters to enter so that he could state exactly that. Evgeni Malkin still hasn't scored a five-on-five goal since the day before Halloween. There were at least five Philadelphia breakaways by my count. There was another short-handed goal. There were missed shots, passed-up shots and right-into-the-logo shots.
But sorry, I'm past the minutiae of the moment. Because this problem's bigger, and it couldn't be clearer this problem now needs a bigger solution.
Start with subtraction: Get Brassard out of here. And hurry, before anyone grabs a copy of video like this:
Someday, when Brassard comes back as a visiting player and gets one of those video tributes, they should just play that clip on a minute-long loop.
Let's set the scene: The clock showed 2:32 remaining in regulation, the Flyers were up by a goal, and Mike Sullivan was pretty much forced to deploy a line of Brassard between Tanner Pearson and Dominik Simon.
Why?
Because he wanted to send out all his biggest guns with the goaltender pulled about 40 seconds later, which he wound up doing. And because, candidly, he doesn't have anything but hope in that regard anymore. It's just hope. He has to hope someone can somehow achieve something. Or at least kill time.
Instead, that up there, Brassard spinning harmlessly on the perimeter, then dropping the puck -- blindly on the backhand, right to the Flyers' Michael Raffl -- was what Sullivan got, nearly giving away the empty-netter before big boys could take the ice.
And this happens the day after Sullivan invested nearly 20 minutes of one-on-one time with Brassard -- in intensive conversation -- Friday following practice in Cranberry.
Enough.
Brassard's a super-likable guy and a total pro off the ice. It's impossible not to gravitate to him. But a swell personality plus two goals will give you all that he's meant to the Penguins this season and, really, ever since his arrival.
Rutherford's made many more good moves than bad, but the price in the complex three-team exchange that brought Brassard here in February was Ian Cole, Ryan Reaves, top goaltending prospect Filip Gustavsson and the first-round draft pick this past summer. The return has been six goals and 12 assists in 41 games, including playoffs. And for all that playoff panache Brassard was supposed to bring, that saw a single goal in 12 games.
Worse, there isn't even an intangible impact seen most nights. There isn't possession, fire, a spark of any kind. And don't even bring up shots on goal. In this game, he was the Penguins' only forward to go without one. And it wasn't a mirage. Oh, he skated -- he always skates -- but it was in the usual stop-free circles and nowhere near what Sullivan calls "the battle areas."
There's nothing. Just nothing.
And the reason that's so damaging, even within all else that's been a bummer through this 10-10-5 start, is that it basically ties Sullivan's hands with line combinations. His system is built on a three-scoring-lines, in-your-face-at-both-ends philosophy. Those two concepts go arm in arm. Energy is needed. Fight is needed. So when Brassard brings nothing, and the coaches try to get him going by adding Phil Kessel to his line -- that began the other night in Winnipeg -- all that results is Kessel being dragged down.
Before joining Brassard, Kessel had a nine-game points streak. After joining Brassard, he had two total shots in two-plus games, and Malkin would get stuck with one-goal Bryan Rust, who's at least trying but still can't buy another.
I asked Sullivan after this game how hard it must be right now to conjure up second and third lines, and his response was dead-on.
"Our fourth line's been really good," he began, and I nodded back. It has, including another Riley Sheahan goal on this night.
"And I think Sid's line's been really good," he added, and that's not even an opinion. The captain remained ablaze with his fifth goal in three games.
Then came a pause.
"And we've got to find a way to get some more production through the middle of the lineup," he'd proceed. "You know, we've got good players there. We've got good players. And we've got to find the combinations that give us more consistent success."
Which sure sounds like Brassard/Kessel will be kaput, come the next practice Monday morning.
"Quite honestly, they haven't gotten a lot since they've been together," Sullivan said of his third line, which also included Zach Aston-Reese. "So that's something the coaching staff has to look at."
It won't work. Whatever it is, if it involves Brassard, it won't work. And that's because he flat-out doesn't fit here.
Why?
To start, here's what Patric Hornqvist had to say when I asked what's needed for more five-on-five production from the other lines:
Needless to say, that man gets it. Heck, he embodies it.
I asked the same of Tanner Pearson, who also gets it despite being a newcomer. In this game, he led the Penguins with four shots.
"It's really just about bearing down in certain situations," he said. "I had a bunch of chances tonight, obviously, but even when you aren't getting chances, it's about putting pucks to the net, getting bodies there. Anytime you do that, it makes the other team scramble a bit, and that's when you can get a little room to get creative."
Yes, yes, 14 times yes. That's it. This dude probably still hasn't gotten a couch for his apartment and he completely gets it.
Brassard doesn't. He never gets past the first phase of that process Pearson described. He doesn't get pucks to the net, and he almost never treads there himself. As a result, he just won't work here.
Is it possible he was more productive elsewhere because he played in defensive, counterattack systems?
Sure, and it's a theory I've heard posited within the Penguins. If he hangs back in a trap, like Guy Boucher's system in Ottawa, then takes a turnover the other way, his skating and skill are all that matter. It's him, a teammate and one other opponent to beat. No grit necessary.
But again, that won't work here. Sullivan likes the counterattack, too, but he doesn't live for it. He wants pressure at all points, possession in the attacking zone and all those other hard-area traits. I won't accept that Brassard doesn't care, and I won't accept the vague, popular theory that he can't function on a third line, because that's nothing more than a number.
But I absolutely accept that he isn't a hard-area player and that he never will be.
Sounds like the Penguins have accepted that, too, and that's good. Time to undo the mistake. Move him for a draft pick, move him for whatever, but clear the prorated remainder of the $3 million cap hit, and clear the depth chart for someone who fits.
No apologies. No regrets. Move forward with someone who actually wants to move forward.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Flyers, PPG Paints Arena, Dec. 1, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
