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DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: The missing piece



If Todd Reirden can’t fix the power play, then eyes and ears should be wide open.

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29 Comments

  1. From 2016-2020 the Pens were top 3 in the league on the PP. In the 2020 offseason, Todd was hired, and from that til, until today, the Pens are 13th in the league now. Someone in the media needs to sack up and challenge the coaches on this. It’s unacceptable and wasting the final seasons of the core.

  2. I think that it may not be necessary to 'fire' Todd Rierden, but i do think its beyond time to remove him from that particular role.
    The reasons are that the results arent coming, like barely at all, and we're just going to keep the same leadership going, as far as coaching is concerned?
    Goodness gracious.

  3. yea DK it really is baffling why the Pens cant score on the power play when they can usually score plenty 5 on 5. It has to be a personnel issue. It's not like the coaches cant assemble the x's and o's for an effective PP. Perhaps the PP lines have too many generals and not enough corporals? You know.guys who do the grunt work..net presence, grit, and all that. Wouldnt hurt to have one PP unit with only one Hall of famer on it and see what happens. Ed

  4. Hey DK, curious on your thoughts. We have a great top 6 and a great top 4 defensive pairing. Think it'd just be smarter to run the powerplay with our top 2 lines of offense and our top 2 def lines accordingly? Literally change nothing, get the extra man instead of running the top 5 likely to score during normal 5 on 5? Just spitballing here

  5. As a certain portly pundit of Pens Hockey has frequently remarked, the Pens HAVE a “Gord Smith”……….his name is ERIK KARLSSON.
    Let EK65 run the PP from the ice.

  6. DK, how can you, on one hand sing the praises of Sullivan and on the other hand so clearly and correctly point out the criminal weakness in the PP, and by extension, Todd Reirden? Who chose coach Reirden and who continues to support Coach Reirden at the expense of the PP performance?

  7. Rierden needs to be replace. This PP is pathetic. Letting them figure it out isn't working. It seem like when there on the PP they lose momentum. During the game all I say is no PP they give there opponent life after they kill it or shorthanded chance after shorthanded chance. SMH…

  8. Great news to hear we are hiring Mr. Gord Smith! I am a big fan of Gord! I especially love his version of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald's Power Play" – Welcome to Pitt Mr. Smith!!

  9. Until they work on and adopt a shoot first, gritty mentality on the PP it will never change. They can't pass their way to a top 10 unit

  10. They should hire Joe Mullen. He ran the Flyers power play and they were great. He also learned from EJ during his time with the Penguins.

  11. Like I've said many times, good and even great coaches get fired all the time in the NHL when objectives aren't met, and the Penguins need not look any further than Bylsma and Bowman for their own examples of this. I'd be amazed if they are 6 points or more out of a playoff spot come February, and looking like they have no shot at climbing and Dubas doesn't pull the trigger on a coaching change. All the other 'reasons' and excuses have already been sorted out. Now, it's all on the coach to make it work. And no, they won't make the playoffs unless they drastically improve the Power Play.

  12. All the Penguins need to do to fix the Power Play is to look at what NJ is doing and do that. What do they have and what do they do, and find a way to emulate it. Can't or don't want to? Have fun golfing in April then.

  13. Dk, what's going on with Malkin? He has 1point/goal in the last 5 games. He hasn't been a positive player in the last 5 games. The Malkin fire hasn't been there. Is he hurt? Is he not happy with his line mates? Seems like he's missing out there

  14. If at some point they are still struggling to climb in the standings, they are still hurting themselves the same way in games, and don't feel a coaching change will help and isn't the answer, there's really nothing left to say other than, remember when.

  15. My non-professional thoughts on the power play. Seems as though the defenses just funnel the play in to the center of the ice or the pens are just playing that way. I think there should be more angles w. shots taken more from the sides..and more net presence for the obvious reasons. It's simple geometry/angles. Also the Pens have enough skills to have 3 PP units with 3 different point guys when every one is healthy..why not try 3 units w. each unit going one balls out shift. Some thing(s) need to change..

  16. DK, i think Karlsson needs to become the outspoken leader of this team. Sullivan has kind of let these veteran guys motivate themselves and fair enough given their experience, success and maturity. That being said, i think Karlsson brings levity and fun back into the room. He seems to always be smiling and seems to just love hockey. Perhaps thats an attitude thats been lacking on a team so caught up in its own downfalls. I think he gets into the zone on the powerplay the best and should be the guy the look to to create things when they get the extra man. Crosby leads by example but in a quieter way, no disrespect there.

  17. Definition of Insanity: Insanity is doing the exact same thing over and over again, expecting change….

  18. I love when you defend Sullivan. You couldn’t be more wrong. He’s stale. He doesn’t make enough adjustments and yes, he can coach the PP. He may be a good coach but the system he believes in hasn’t been working here the last two seasons or so. There’s a reason we have routine finishing problems with the same players. Other players go to other teams and do better than they do here. If we played like Boston, we’d be winning too. Get some new ideas in here

  19. We need a guy like Hornqvist again, someone who isn't afraid to get down low and jam pucks in the net!!

  20. Is it Reirdan's fault when PP1 does what they want to do with no accountability? This is more on Sullivan. You finally switch up the PP by putting Malkin on PP2 and decide to make a concerted effort have a player in front of the goalie, only to switch back to the perimeter all star lineup.

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