Dominik Simon hasn't scored since Jan. 19 in Las Vegas, 15 games ago. He has three goals in his past 40 games.
Obviously, not good. Especially considering that he's played alongside Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby a fair amount in that span.
It's not for a lack of trying, either. In the past five games, Simon has attempted a combined 23 shots at five-on-five, most on the team. He's recorded 16 actual shots on goal at five-on-five over that period, also the most on the team.
He just can't finish.
What gives?
"It sucks, to be honest, to not score for awhile," Simon said of his drought. "But I'm trying to stay with it. To be honest, I'm not worried too much because I think it'll go in. But let's see how it goes. Just trying to stay with it, trying to put pucks on the net and help the team in other ways that I can to win."
Simon generated nine shot attempts in just 11:46 in Tuesday's overtime win over the Panthers. He followed that with five attempts in 13:34 in Thursday's 3-0 win over the Blue Jackets, the second half of which he spent back on the top line with Crosby and Guentzel. He recorded these two shots on goal:
... and this failed deflection attempt on the power play:
... and two attempts that were blocked.
Simon has gone through periods like this before. I've watched him throughout his time in the organization, beginning with his years in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. When I first spoke to him last season, he had two goals in 15 games, which was quite the drop-off in production from his first two seasons in the AHL. When I asked about that drought at the time, he explained it with, “Probably because I’m shooting bad right now."
He's honest, if anything.
I asked if he feels that way about his game now, too.
"Yeah, probably," he said. "I better shoot, like, 5,000 pucks and see if it'll change. I don't know. I had a couple that almost went in. It's about getting some greasy ones, some rebound or something."
Simon said the message from coaches during this time has been to just keep shooting, because those attempts still create pressure, and still create rebound chances for other players on the ice.
Mike Sullivan offered an endorsement, both with his action to move Simon to the first line -- Jared McCann was dropped to the third -- and with this assessment:
Simon's many attempts are one reason why he has the second-highest Corsi For percentage this season among players who have played at least five games for the Penguins, at 54.49. His advanced stats have been a touchy subject with fans, for good reason. Nobody wants to hear about how great his Corsi numbers are when those attempts aren't actually going in the net.
But still ... I had to ask him if he even knew what Corsi was.
He said he had never heard of it.
Not surprising, a lot of players haven't. I briefly explained the concept and how his numbers looked this season, and he asked about it until he understood. And he doesn't care much for fancy stats, either.
"It's cool, but I would change it for goals right away," he said.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Blue Jackets, PPG Paints Arena, March 8, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS