Ryan Poehling is 23 years old and had 85 games of NHL experience coming into this season after the Penguins acquired him from the Canadiens in the offseason, but he had yet to really establish himself as a legitimate NHL-caliber forward.
Nineteen games into his Penguins career, he's on his way to finally doing so.
"It feels good. I think I’ve always seen myself as that," Poehling told me following practice here at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday. "It’s been a long journey to get here. It’s only been three, four years, but you got to realize how blessed you are and how fortunate you are to get the opportunities that you do, because this is all I’ve ever wanted since turning pro. It’s taken a bit longer to get there, but it’s been great so far and I just got to continue to do that."
Poehling burst onto the scene with a hat trick in his NHL debut with the Canadiens at the end of the 2018-19 season, but struggled to make enough of a mark over the next several seasons before he was traded away. While he takes accountability for his own performance, he shared with me the difficulty of not having clear and consistent expectations during his time with the Canadiens.
"I think just being true to myself," Poehling told me when I asked how becoming a member of the Penguins has impacted him. "The coaches always preach being direct and fast, especially to me, and I think I’ve done a good job of that. When you know what you have to do, it’s easy to execute on your game plan. I felt like in previous years when I was playing, it was like, this is very inconsistent in what you want to see. So here, it’s nice to have those few bullet points, and if you do that, you know you’re going to have a good game."
Despite minimal quantifiable evidence to suggest Poehling was capable of being a trustworthy defensive presence, the Penguins threw him right into the fire at the start of the season as he centered the fourth line and worked on the penalty-kill in the absence of Teddy Blueger. While it took some time to adjust, he was just fine in that role until Blueger returned to the lineup on Nov. 15, even if he wasn't the same shutdown player that Blueger is.
With Blueger back in the lineup, Poehling has shifted over to the left wing of the fourth line. While the Penguins view Poehling as a natural center -- or at least they did during training camp -- his recent performance is making the case that playing on the wing might be the best way to get the most out of him.
In 15 games without Blueger, Poehling scored a goal and had two assists. In four games since Blueger returned, Poehling has a goal and an assist, but more importantly, he's been noticeably effective in all three zones, and that's backed up by the Penguins' results with him on the ice during that time. Here's how they've fared with Poehling on the ice at 5-on-5 over the last four games:
• Outscored opponents 3-1
• Generating 3.59 expected goals for per hour (third on Penguins)
• Allowing 0.97 expected goals against per hour (second on Penguins)
Poehling isn't the sole driver of those results, but it is worth nothing that all of those figures are better than the Penguins' results with Blueger on the ice so far.
One reason that I believe Poehling's overall impact might be stronger on the wing than as a center is because of a tendency to over-stickhandle. Centers often carry the burden of being the engine that transitions the puck up ice on top of their responsibilities in the defensive zone, but Poehling over-stickhandling meant that he was skating a tad slower than he could've been and that he wasn't nearly deceptive enough to effectively gain the offensive zone with possession.
That's not to say his motor won't allow him to take advantage of open ice when it's there, though, as we saw on his assist on Evgeni Malkin's goal in Chicago on Sunday night:
That said, with Blueger back and taking some of the transition duties off of Poehling's shoulders, Poehling is able to leverage his best skills, which he confirmed to me when I spoke with him.
"When the puck’s going on the other side of the rink, it’s easy to generate speed and push the D back or get in a footrace," Poehling said. "I think I’ve done a good job with those so far and just need to continue to do that and get more reps in that aspect."
As a line at 5-on-5, Poehling and Blueger's trio with Josh Archibald hasn't been filling the net, but they've been controlling play in a big way, as they've yet to allow a goal against and are generating 75% of the expected goals. Mike Sullivan has been pleased with Poehling on the left wing, as well as the fourth line as a whole.
"Yeah, we’ve been real pleased," Sullivan told me when I asked about Poehling shifting over. "We think that line has established an identity in how they’re helping us win. I love the fact that we have two center-icemen on the line so that we can be more aggressive in the faceoff circles, Ryan being one of those guys. The other benefit of that is, if by chance we lose a center-iceman, whether it be through penalties or equipment issues or injuries, whatever it may be, to have another center in the lineup gives us versatility during the course of a game.
"But in particular, that line, I think, has established an identity with our team, just as far as how we deploy them. We have ultimate trust in that line and their ability to defend, get a lot of D-zone starts, play against other team’s top lines if we need them to, and they do a real good job for us. They chipped in offensively on this latest road trip, which is even more of a bonus, and Ryan’s been part of that, as well. They’re also all part of the penalty-kill on top of that, so there’s a lot of reasons that I think that group of three has been real beneficial for us, but we’ve been pleased with the line."
Four games isn't a sample size to take to the bank, but the early returns on Poehling playing the wing with Blueger as his center are overwhelmingly positive.
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Casey DeSmith was the only player absent from practice. Emergency backup goalie and UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex goaltending coach Mike Chiasson geared up and hit the ice in place of DeSmith.
Following practice, Sullivan said DeSmith is being evaluated for an upper-body injury, though holding him out of practice was more precautionary than anything. DeSmith holds a 3-4-1 record this season with a .909 save percentage, 2.88 goals against average and 0.95 goals saved above expected based upon the quality of chances he's faced, per Evolving-Hockey.
• No changes were made to the forward lines or defense pairings during practice. Here's how they lined up ...
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Danton Heinen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald
Marcus Pettersson - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph - Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta
Kasperi Kapanen - Chad Ruhwedel
• Kasperi Kapanen's placement as a defender on an extra pairing during line rushes indicates that he isn't going to find himself back in the lineup anytime soon. He has been a healthy scratch in six of the past seven games, and the lone game he did play in that stretch was due to Filip Hallander's illness when the Penguins played in Montreal on Nov. 12. That's an extremely valuable $3.2 million wasting away in the press box. Something's got to give sooner or later.
• Some changes were made to the top power-play unit that continues to struggle. Jeff Petry was elevated to the top unit in place of Bryan Rust, giving the Penguins a three-forward, two-defensemen setup.
"Well, we’re just trying to find combinations that are going to help us have success," Sullivan responded when asked about the change. "We’ve been riding the same guys here for quite a while and trying to work through the process. We’re exploring some different options for us to see what might work, and we’ll continue to try that, but we have the versatility of other guys that we could utilize. We’re trying to put players in positions where they thrive and put players in positions to be successful. That’s part of the thought process.
"I think sometimes just tweaking things a little bit can be helpful when groups struggle, whether it’s the power play or a line or a defense pair, whatever it may be, and just making little tweaks that might jog a mindset or change the psychology of the group, and sometimes that breeds some success. But we’re going to explore a few different things and see if we can find something that can bring us more success than we’ve had to this point."
• Here's a look at the personnel used on each of the special teams units ...
PP1: Crosby, Guentzel, Malkin, Petry, Letang
PP2: Carter, Zucker, Rust, Rakell, Joseph
PK1: Blueger, McGinn, Dumoulin, Rutta
PK2: Poehling, Archibald, Pettersson, Ruhwedel
• It's flying under the radar a bit, but Brian Dumoulin is settling into his reduced role on the third pairing quite nicely. Over the past four games with him on the ice at 5-on-5, the Penguins have outscored opponents 3-2 and controlled 60.4% of the expected goals, the second-highest mark among Penguins defensemen during that time.
Last week, Dumoulin told me he's getting back to trusting his reads and instincts rather than overthinking things. I have more on that in our most recent Friday Insider.
• Sidney Crosby currently ranks second in the NHL with 18 points during 5-on-5 play this season. It's not a stretch to suggest Crosby would be rivaling for the league-lead in all-situations points if the Penguins' power play was chugging along at a level everyone knows they're capable of. I asked Crosby if there's anything to his hefty 5-on-5 production, or if it's just a matter of pucks going in right now.
"Yeah, it hasn't been any emphasis -- It just kind of worked out that way," he told me, pausing for a moment to try and put his finger on it. "Yeah, I don't really have a great explanation for that one."
• Ty Hennes was promoted from skills coach to assistant coach following practice. Taylor Haase has more on that here.
• The Penguins return to game action on Wednesday against the Flames here at PPG Paints Arena. They'll hold an optional morning skate at 10:30 a.m., then puck drops for the game at 7:08 p.m. I'll have your coverage of the morning skate, then Dejan Kovacevic and Taylor will join me for the game.
