• Way up here a mile above sea level, the NHL's best team by that same symbolic mile recently shipped out to Pittsburgh not one but two lefty defensemen: Ilya Solovyov and Sam Girard.
And I'm getting the distinct impression the wrong one's getting all the love.
Solovyov's 25 years old, still a reasonable age to be considered a prospect at his position. He stands 6 feet 3, 208 pounds, with shoulders wide enough he'd make Jiri Slegr blush, and he isn't shy about putting that frame into physical play or his booming shot.
Yet he's been a healthy scratch for half of the 18 games the Penguins have played since his acquisition, and I can't come close to comprehending why. In the nine games he's suited up, he has four assists, a plus-2 rating, seven hits, seven blocked shots, and, maybe most striking, the top possession metrics of any defenseman. To be specific, when Solovyov's on the ice at five-on-five, his team's registered 53.88% of all shot attempts.
This despite the irregular action.
This despite the coaching staff outright depending on him defensively, as evidenced by his being sent over the boards for only four offensive-zone starts out of 148 total.
This despite being saddled with whoever happens to be deployed on the right side of the third pairing, now the roster's most glaring shortcoming, or being slid over there to play it himself.
This despite delivering gems like the sliding pokecheck of Utah's Dylan Guenther two nights ago in Salt Lake City -- see photo above -- plus another breakup of a two-on-one.
Whereas ...
In the seven games Girard's been healthy since his arrival, he's suited up for all of them AND averaged 18:41 of ice time, five minutes more than Solovyov. In that span, he's got zero points, a minus-2 rating, three hits, four blocked shots and more giveaways, especially early in his time, than anyone could reasonably track.
As for those possession metrics based on shot attempts at five-on-five among defensemen:
NATURAL STAT TRICK
I won't take this too far. Small sample sizes 'n' at.
But one trade isn't more important than another as it relates to the asset usage that follows, so it shouldn't matter to Kyle Dubas or Dan Muse that the Solovyov trade came at a lower cost. Nor should it matter that Girard's making $5 million this season and next, compared to Solovyov's NHL minimum $775,000 salary on a deal that expires this summer. If anything, it should heighten the urgency to see more of the one who might be lost.
I mean, look, everything I'd heard from management a year ago was that they'd hope to get bigger, stronger and more defensive on the left side of the defense. So, give this guy a shot.
PENGUINS
• Give it up for Egor Chinakhov, not just for what's above but also for pumping up seven points -- a goal and six assists -- through Evgeni Malkin's five-game suspension that ends here tonight -- 9:38 p.m., Ball Arena -- with the Penguins' game against the Avalanche.
I had a good talk with Chinakhov near the start of this trip, and one thing I really appreciated hearing was that, one, he gets he doesn't need to force-feed Geno the puck and, two, no one urges the kid to shoot more than Geno himself.
He needed to rise up in this scenario and did so. Encouraging sign.
• Crazier still: In those same five games, Chinakhov and Karlsson, who also had a goal and six assists, were tied for second in the NHL in points, behind only Nikita Kucherov's 10.
• Also stepping up through the suspension: Anthony Mantha with four goals and two assists, Bryan Rust with three goals and three assists, Tommy Novak with three goals and one assist, Noel Acciari with two goals.
• Viewed another way, the Penguins just went 2-1-2 without Geno and, of course, without Sidney Crosby, as well. And they're still second in the division, having sacrificed a single point:
NHL
None of those other teams plays tonight, by the way.
• Only in Denver, man: The feels-like temp outside, as I'm typing this after a daylong snowfall, is 9 degrees. Today's high will be 52. Tomorrow's will be 74.
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. Taylor Haase and I are on the entire five-game, eight-day trip, and we'll obviously have a ton more after this one.
THE ASYLUM
Grind: Leave Solovyov alone
Good Monday morning!
• Way up here a mile above sea level, the NHL's best team by that same symbolic mile recently shipped out to Pittsburgh not one but two lefty defensemen: Ilya Solovyov and Sam Girard.
And I'm getting the distinct impression the wrong one's getting all the love.
Solovyov's 25 years old, still a reasonable age to be considered a prospect at his position. He stands 6 feet 3, 208 pounds, with shoulders wide enough he'd make Jiri Slegr blush, and he isn't shy about putting that frame into physical play or his booming shot.
Yet he's been a healthy scratch for half of the 18 games the Penguins have played since his acquisition, and I can't come close to comprehending why. In the nine games he's suited up, he has four assists, a plus-2 rating, seven hits, seven blocked shots, and, maybe most striking, the top possession metrics of any defenseman. To be specific, when Solovyov's on the ice at five-on-five, his team's registered 53.88% of all shot attempts.
This despite the irregular action.
This despite the coaching staff outright depending on him defensively, as evidenced by his being sent over the boards for only four offensive-zone starts out of 148 total.
This despite being saddled with whoever happens to be deployed on the right side of the third pairing, now the roster's most glaring shortcoming, or being slid over there to play it himself.
This despite delivering gems like the sliding pokecheck of Utah's Dylan Guenther two nights ago in Salt Lake City -- see photo above -- plus another breakup of a two-on-one.
Whereas ...
In the seven games Girard's been healthy since his arrival, he's suited up for all of them AND averaged 18:41 of ice time, five minutes more than Solovyov. In that span, he's got zero points, a minus-2 rating, three hits, four blocked shots and more giveaways, especially early in his time, than anyone could reasonably track.
As for those possession metrics based on shot attempts at five-on-five among defensemen:
NATURAL STAT TRICK
I won't take this too far. Small sample sizes 'n' at.
But one trade isn't more important than another as it relates to the asset usage that follows, so it shouldn't matter to Kyle Dubas or Dan Muse that the Solovyov trade came at a lower cost. Nor should it matter that Girard's making $5 million this season and next, compared to Solovyov's NHL minimum $775,000 salary on a deal that expires this summer. If anything, it should heighten the urgency to see more of the one who might be lost.
I mean, look, everything I'd heard from management a year ago was that they'd hope to get bigger, stronger and more defensive on the left side of the defense. So, give this guy a shot.
PENGUINS
• Give it up for Egor Chinakhov, not just for what's above but also for pumping up seven points -- a goal and six assists -- through Evgeni Malkin's five-game suspension that ends here tonight -- 9:38 p.m., Ball Arena -- with the Penguins' game against the Avalanche.
I had a good talk with Chinakhov near the start of this trip, and one thing I really appreciated hearing was that, one, he gets he doesn't need to force-feed Geno the puck and, two, no one urges the kid to shoot more than Geno himself.
He needed to rise up in this scenario and did so. Encouraging sign.
• Crazier still: In those same five games, Chinakhov and Karlsson, who also had a goal and six assists, were tied for second in the NHL in points, behind only Nikita Kucherov's 10.
• Also stepping up through the suspension: Anthony Mantha with four goals and two assists, Bryan Rust with three goals and three assists, Tommy Novak with three goals and one assist, Noel Acciari with two goals.
• Viewed another way, the Penguins just went 2-1-2 without Geno and, of course, without Sidney Crosby, as well. And they're still second in the division, having sacrificed a single point:
NHL
None of those other teams plays tonight, by the way.
• Only in Denver, man: The feels-like temp outside, as I'm typing this after a daylong snowfall, is 9 degrees. Today's high will be 52. Tomorrow's will be 74.
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. Taylor Haase and I are on the entire five-game, eight-day trip, and we'll obviously have a ton more after this one.
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