The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Steve Downie and Daniel
Carcillo because they had to. Downie is
a cheap shot artist with a little skill and Carcillo is goon with even less
skill. Carcillo will fight anyone, which is good, but he will always take a
stupid penalty…which is bad. Carcillo is a modern day Craig Berube which means
he’s a Neanderthal. Downie is a class A rat. A
crap disturber who has more than once gone over the boards just to
injure people including Penguins and NHL poster boy Sidney Crosby. Downie has
few friends but one of them is newly hired Penguin assistant coach Rick
Tocchet. Tocchet is a folk hero in Pittsburgh and he was hired by Pittsburgh’s
new management specifically to make the Penguins a tougher team.
The Pittsburgh Penguins needed to get tougher. Tougher not
only as a team that would fight more often but also throw more hits, grind in
corners and generally just be a harder team to play. The Penguins since their
most recent Stanley Cup have become a super talented but small soft team to
play against. They are the NHL version of Disney on Ice. A show packed with
familiar stars and fun for the whole family but unable to win playoff series.
It wasn’t always that way, the previous regime took over a team
with young baby faced stars who they “won” after being at the bottom so long
they stockpiled lottery picks. Not only did these stars need protection but the
franchise also needed to reacquire respect on the ice. In the rough and tumble
world of the NHL respect is bought and it’s earned. The Penguins brought in big
,tough and sometimes dirty players like Gary Roberts, Georges Laraquae, Mike
Rupp, Jarkko Ruutu , Matt Cooke to name a few. Along the way they went to two
Stanley Cup finals , won one and were near the top of the league in penalties
and fighting majors. Everything was swell unto the debacle on Long Island in 2011.
The debacle on Long Island was a game long brawl between the
Penguins and the New York Islanders ( who were looking for respect , NHL style).
The game’s crimes scenes were so over the top they actually made the lead story
on ESPN’s SportsCenter. Lebron must have had the night off.
Penguin’s owner /legend Mario Lemieux was so appalled he
wrote a famous letter to the NHL league asking it to clean up its act and he
started with his own house. Tough guys were moved out and not replaced. A defenseman
Deryk Engelland was asked to play team enforcer as well as take a regular shift
on defense and Matt Cooke was rehabilitated then not signed. Big, heavy forwards who live in the corners and in front
of the net were replaced by small, light players who would rather make a
nice pass than a bone crunching hit.
Since the organizational shift Pittsburgh have not advanced
in the playoffs has far as any member of the Penguins organization or their fan
base thinks they should have and the main reason/excuse being the i was too small and soft. GM Ray Shero was replaced
by Jim Rutherford and Head Coach Dan Blysma was replaced by Mike Johnston. Sure
Shero and Blysma won but not in June in six years. Prevailing thought was if
the team was tougher they would have. The theory of if Crosby isn’t being cross
checked in the head he might score.
I agree whole heartily agree the Penguins need to get bigger
and tougher but they didn’t not win a Cup in five years solely because of toughness
but that’s another column. I don’t hate the signing of Carcillo on principle
and just think there were better fits than Carcillo. Mainly three former
Penguins Mike Rupp, Ryan Malone or Paul Bissonette. Each is bigger than
Carcillo and has more hockey skill the Carcillo even if for Biz Nasty only
barely. Sure Daniel is a better fighter but more important than fighting
prowess is the former Penguins don’t randomly lose their minds and take stupid penalties
that hurt the team. Stevie Downie I don’t want on the Penguins or in the NHL.
He has purposely injured people and the Penguins and the league don’t need him.
As for Downey I’m trusting Tocchet. Tocchet could probably tame a wild tiger so
why not Downie.
The Penguins realized
if the NHL is not going to play nice why should the Penguins. Time to fight
fire with fire and reestablish the respect the Penguins once had but lost
thinking the NHL would change. You know
the old saying if you can’t beat them, join them
