Penguins Update: Concerned About Our ‘D’
Yesterday Dan Kingerski posted an article on Pittsburgh Hockey Now questioning Mike Sullivan’s seeming reluctance to use recently recalled defenseman Mark Friedman. I was all set to chime in with a comment when I decided to write an article of my own. So Dan, this one’s for you. It’s not as if there isn’t reason or opportunity to use Friedman, especially with Jeff Petry on the shelf for eight more games, including this afternoon’s Metro square-off with Carolina. Brian Dumoulin’s struggles this season are an open secret around the league. Whether it’s the accumulation of wear and tear, injuries past and the fact that Dumo devoted his summer to rehabbing a knee instead of hockey training, his difficulties have been noticeable both statistically and to the eye test. Accordingly, he’s been dropped from his long-time spot on the top pairing next to Kris Letang to the third pairing. While managing his exposure to top-flight competition has helped to an extent (Brian’s a plus-4 over his past 18 games), he and present partner Jan Rutta have been the target of heavy forechecking by foes. Continue reading Penguins Update: Concerned About Our ‘D’ at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.
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Yesterday Dan Kingerski posted an article on Pittsburgh Hockey Now questioning Mike Sullivan’s seeming reluctance to use recently recalled defenseman Mark Friedman. I was all set to chime in with a comment when I decided to write an article of my own. So Dan, this one’s for you.
It’s not as if there isn’t reason or opportunity to use Friedman, especially with Jeff Petry on the shelf for eight more games, including this afternoon’s Metro square-off with Carolina. Brian Dumoulin’s struggles this season are an open secret around the league. Whether it’s the accumulation of wear and tear, injuries past and the fact that Dumo devoted his summer to rehabbing a knee instead of hockey training, his difficulties have been noticeable both statistically and to the eye test.
Accordingly, he’s been dropped from his long-time spot on the top pairing next to Kris Letang to the third pairing. While managing his exposure to top-flight competition has helped to an extent (Brian’s a plus-4 over his past 18 games), he and present partner Jan Rutta have been the target of heavy forechecking by foes.
Continue reading Penguins Update: Concerned About Our ‘D’ at Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog.
