Is Satan Being Fizzled Out?
Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan 14, 02:09 PM | Hype this story!
Once considered a surprise player alongside Sidney Crosby, Miroslav Satan now finds himself playing on the third line with Max Talbot and Tyler Kennedy – a slight upgrade from his fourth line duties last week with Eric Godard and Dustin Jeffrey.
But, with a $3.5 million cap hit, the Penguins can ill-afford to pay him to play anything other than a scoring role.
Even worse yet, they can ill-afford to have him count against the cap and not play.
As they stand right now, the Penguins’ lines don’t seem to leave much room for Satan, whose downward spiral of late seems to have no end in sight.
One game is far too few to make an accurate determination as to how line combinations will work, but if last night’s win is any indication, Therrien’s newest concoction appears to be a winner.
Matt Cooke has agitated his way to the top line with Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, and scored a goal in his first game with the dynamic duo. In total, the line scored two goals and seemed to do something positive each shift.
Chris Minard, just re-called from the AHL, found himself playing comfortably alongside Jordan Staal and Petr Sykora. While the AHL’s second leading goal scorer didn’t pot one of his own, Staal did. Minard may not be the longterm answer for this line, but his style of play is reminiscent of Ruslan Fedotenko’s, making him a good player to keep around until “Tank” returns in early February.
The third line is where things get a bit fuzzy. Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot look great together, providing energy, defense and the occasional scoring opportunity, as evidenced by Kennedy’s goal last night. But Satan just seems out of place. It’s difficult to argue that Pacal Dupuis would look much nicer on that line once he returns for injury.
So what should the Penguins do with Satan?
He refuses physical contact and avoids the defensive side of the game, making him unsuitable for a grinding/defensive line. He also tends to float around under the radar waiting for a sneaky pass, but his shot isn’t what it once was, rendering him (mostly) useless on a scoring line.
It’s time for the Penguins to cut ties with Satan one way or another.
The first method should be to shop him for a trade. Maybe there is a team desperate for scoring that thinks he might benefit from a change of scenery.
The second method should be waivers. If he can’t be traded, it’s possible someone would take a chance on him without giving up much of anything.
If neither works, it might be worth demoting him. Even though the Penguins would still be on the hook for the remainder of his salary this season, he no longer would count toward the salary cap, leaving room for the Penguins to pursue a scorer as the trade deadline approaches.
Satan’s had his chance.
At times he’s looked good…very good. But more often than not, he’s failed to bury his opportunities and has looked lost.
His time is done.
Comments
Brandon
Jan 14, 03:30 PM
Agreed. And while Dupuis is injured I think Tim Wallace would look great as the other wing on the third line. Even more of an arguement can be made for when, if ever, Ziggy returns then you have Jeffery who has looked comfortable at both wing and center for an extra forward with Satan out of the picture.
Andrew Rothey
Jan 14, 03:45 PM
Anyone who follows this team has to be aware of Satan’s weak and dispassionate play. He provides nothing in terms of defensive coverage, battles along the boards, or forechecking. Even when the Pens do have a cycle working, he routinely gets outworked and muscled off the puck, effectively undermining the all-important puck possession battle.
It is no wonder why Crosby has been so frustrated the last 20 games; he has to do the work of two players on his line! If you look at the goals Satan has scored, perhaps 2, maybe 3, have been produced as a result of Satan’s own skill. Most others have been scored off Crosby’s brilliance, lucky bounces, or rebound tap-ins (assuming no defenseman was within distance to provide any physical resistance). Satan is not a winning player, he is essentially useless to this team, and should be LeClair’ed.
Particularly since Satan is on a one year deal, the money issue is 100% irrelevant. We cannot change his cap hit now and that does hinder our ability to improve the club this year. Since I cannot fathom any other GM taking him off our hands, that $3.5 million is likely in the books to stay. But why continue to hurt the team on the ice by playing him? That much the Pens can still change. He cannot play, so he should not play.
Dave
Jan 14, 04:06 PM
I think the decision with Satan should come down to whether there are still times that he can help the team more than whoever replaced him would. He isn’t physical and he’s taken some bad penalties recently, but he has good, quick hands, a good wrist shot and in general operates pretty well in the offensive end (unless he has to go into the corner). Perhaps we need to see how he does on the third line — it might be therapeutic for him to play on a more aggressive checking line. He wouldn’t be the first guy to be energized by being demoted or scratched — he had a very nice pass on Stahl’s goal last night.
It’s not a question of talent with him, it seems more like desire or attitude. Is it possible he’s injured? Before I gave him up for nothing I think I’d let him percolate on the third line for a while.
Justin Maffei
Jan 14, 07:19 PM
I agree with Satan being demoted, at least within the line-up. It has gotten to the point where I groan everytime I see him on the ice. I was looking forward to him coming to Pittsburgh, but he has been a disappointment.
Recently, I have been wondering something else. What is wrong with having Malkin as Crosby’s scoring winger? The two see completely comfortable together, and Malkin is far from a good faceoff man (41.3%). Putting Malkin on Crosby’s line would leave the line-up looking much as it did last night. Crosby (49.2%) would center the first line. Staal (47.4%) would be placed on the second-line, where many feel that he belongs. Talbot (53.5%) would be the third line center, a great position for him. The fouth line center would be Ziggy (62.9%), but until he returns, Jeffrey (40.3%) would take his position.
It has long been the argument that this is too much fire power on one line, but I do not look at it that way. Malkin and Crosby have shown that they can perform against anybody. Staal, Sykora, and Fedotenko/Minard would need to turn it up a little, but with time I believe that would happen. Talbot and Kennedy are solid to very good third liners and Minard or Cooke would also look good on that line. And of course you have the fourth line of bruisers, Godard and Bissonnette (he should definitely not be sent back down, but he probably will be).
Just wondering what others thought about that. Oh and if you want to check out the faceoff stats for yourself, this is where I found them.
Commenting is closed for this article.