By Mark Madden
October 22, 2017
Steven Stamkos #91 of the Tampa Bay Lightning celebrates a goal against goalie Antti Niemi #31 of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the first period at Amalie Arena on October 21, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)
The Penguins’ early-season stumbles are easy to diagnose: After playing 213 games over the two seasons prior, they can’t deal with games on back-to-back nights when the second opponent hasn’t played the evening before.
That scenario has taken place on three occasions in October, each time on the road against a quality foe. The result: 0-3, with six goals for and 22 against.
The same situation occurs twice in November: Nov. 2 at Calgary and Nov. 11 at Nashville. Bet big on the Flames and Predators.
It’s hard to imagine bigger problems than a 10-1 loss at Chicago Oct. 5 and a 7-1 defeat at Tampa Bay this past Saturday.
But goaltender Antti Niemi is at the root of those problems.
Signed as the backup this past off-season, Niemi isn’t giving the Penguins a chance to win, or even compete. Niemi’s goals-against average is 7.50, his save percentage .797. Chop the former number in half, and it still stinks.
The Penguins trailed 4-0 inside of 10 minutes at Chicago on Oct. 5, and 3-0 after one period at Tampa Bay in the Penguins’ last game. That is unacceptable goaltending no matter how tired or sub-par the Penguins are in front of Niemi.
Niemi had his worst numbers as a pro last season with Dallas. He’s currently proving that was no hiccup, but the beginning of an outright disintegration. As bad as Niemi’s statistics are, he’s looked even worse in the compilation.
It was good to see Coach Mike Sullivan make Niemi play all 60 minutes in Saturday’s defeat at Tampa Bay. A primary purpose of playing Niemi is to rest top goalie Matthew Murray, and that can’t be compromised every time Niemi implodes, which is too often. Leave Niemi in there to take his medicine.
Niemi’s contract is chump change: One year, $700K. The Penguins could cut him, pay him, and be none the worse off.
Three games might seem too short a sample to write off Niemi, but there’s no denying his horrific stats or how awful he’s looked.
The Penguins need to consider options. The most obvious is Tristan Jarry, currently toiling for the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club.
Jarry, 22, was a second-round draft pick in 2013. He’s off to a shaky start in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton: His goals-against average is 3.96, his save percentage .883. Then again, that’s star-quality stuff compared to Niemi.
Management would prefer to keep Jarry in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by way of development via playing at least half the games there.
But Murray is 23, just one year older. He’s projected as the No. 1 goalie for the next 10 years. What’s the end game re: Jarry’s development? He’s not going to beat out Murray. Then again, Murray beat out Marc-Andre Fleury.
Success for the Penguins should trump Jarry’s development. But Jarry has played just one NHL game. He offers no guarantees at the top level. But how could he possibly be worse than Niemi?
God forbid Murray gets hurt. As he often does.
The Penguins filled one hole on at least a temporary basis by trading winger Scott Wilson to Detroit for center Riley Sheahan. The Red Wings also received a third-round pick in the deal. The Penguins got a fifth-round pick.
Wilson was a seventh-round pick in 2011 and had performed mostly inconsequentially in Pittsburgh.
Sheahan might have been the NHL’s worst player last season: He didn’t score in his first 79 games and was minus-29. Sheahan has zero points in his first eight games this campaign.
But Sheahan has size (6-foot-3, 226 pounds) and pedigree: He was a first-round pick in 2010. Sheahan kills penalties and won over half his face-offs last season. He’s an improvement over Greg McKegg and Carter Rowney, both marginal NHL players.
Sheahan may initially be the Penguins’ third-line center. But he probably won’t have that job come playoff time. Expect GM Jim Rutherford to acquire an upgrade over Sheahan before the NHL’s February 26 trade deadline, and Sheahan will drop to the fourth line.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
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