Satan Still Has Value In Pittsburgh
Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins
Mar 6, 12:28 PM | Hype this story!
Make no mistake about it, Miroslav Satan is not viewed by Ray Shero and other members of the Pittsburgh Penguins management team as one of the best options for a scoring line.
Then again, his passive style leaves him as a bad fit for a checking or grinding line as well.
Those factors, combined with his $3.5 million salary, were the driving force behind his demotion to the AHL Wednesday afternoon
But Satan still has value to the Penguins as depth scoring winger.
Satan is a veteran and a proven scorer, as evidenced by his “disappointing” 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists). Obviously, at his $3.5 million salary, more is expected from him, which is why he was the odd man out when Bill Guerin arrived.
But Satan’s role with the Penguins likely won’t continue in the AHL permanently. As soon as Shero finds a way to fit his salary under the cap, Satan will be back – even if only as a healthy scratch.
If one of the Penguins’ top-line wingers should find his way to injured reserves, Satan will be able to fill in adequately.
How many teams have a 17-goal scorer waiting for an opportunity to get back into the lineup? Not many, that’s for sure.
He’s a luxury the Penguins are lucky to have.
But maybe more importantly than providing depth for the scoring lines, his demotion is a symbol of the new role definitions within the team.
Scoring wingers are in scoring roles. Checking wingers are in checking roles. And grinding wingers are in grinding roles.
Last night may have been the first time since the Stanley Cup Finals that the Penguins were able to ice a roster with four capable lines.
The result was a fast-paced, smooth skating, exciting game.
No longer – barring injuries, anyway – will the likes of Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cooke, and Tyler Kennedy take regular shifts on scoring lines. And no longer will Satan play alongside the likes of Eric Godard.
It’s a subtle improvement, but an important one none-the-less.
And the benefits will be reaped as the season winds down and the playoffs roll around.
Comments
DS
Mar 6, 02:12 PM
It’s quite nauseating that it took the firing of the coach to get this.
I know everybody’s high on Bylsma; I can’t deny it’s more pleasant not having the team mired in absolute FAIL, and I’m not one of the people who thought Shero should’ve lost his job as well, or instead.
I’m just disgusted that MT had to be the literal scapegoat for this to happen (Not blamed, just taking everybody’s mistakes as he goes).
Talk all anybody wants about how his system didn’t work anymore (yet in November they were still winning hockey games…), the personnel shortcomings, they needed a change, they needed a change, he didn’t fit the team anymore…
It should never have come to the point of his firing months after he was given a supposed three-year extension of trust.
To paraphrase Scott Burnside, no one complained when they were winning. And he didn’t forget how to coach eight months after taking them to the Finals.
The four full-season Pittsburgh Penguins coach is, and will forever be, a myth. (Ottawa and New Jersey have had coaches for longer than that, for better and for worse. That’s just sad.)
Andrew Rothey
Mar 6, 02:23 PM
Matt, I have to strongly disagree. I wonder if Ray Shero would treat any veteran player in the manner you propose and, even if he did, I’m not so sure Satan would actually be effective under those circumstances.
That is to say, keep him in the AHL so his cap hit is off the books, but without actually sending him there to play until such a time that a Penguins forward (who’s cap hit is high enough to allow the Pens to absorb Satan’s returning cap hit) is injured. At which time, Shero returns Satan to the 23 man roster, only to have him sit in the pressbox every game. On the odd chance that Satan is actually dressed after all these machinations, coupled with the rust he will undoubtedly build up from not playing in games and his already lacking intensity on the ice, I think its a stretch to think he would effective.
It is difficult to think he could be much worse, while still scoring 17 goals, but I have absolutely no faith that he could step into a stretch-run or playoff hockey game under those conditions and give the Pens anything resembling productive and effective play. Furthermore, I think most GMs, Shero included, show veteran players the respect of releasing/buying them out rather than putting them through what would be a fairly embarassing process for a once-accomplished player.
In short, I do not know which is cheaper, buying him out or simply paying his actual salary while “hiding” his cap hit in the AHL, but whichever makes sense from a financial perspective is what the Pens should do. I would rather have a Tim Wallace called up for the fourth line and move Kennedy or Dupuis to top line duty that put Satan back on the ice.
I do not mean to bash Satan, he is what he is and he has been perhaps somewhat unfairly targeted for the Pens troubles this season, but after watching the Pens of late, it is very obvious to me what kind of players Bylsma’s system needs, and Satan is not that type of player.
@ DS, I would have agreed strongly with you a couple weeks ago. But results speak for themselves and, while it is unfortunate that a good coach was fired, his successor has found results in the standings and with the performance of individual players (see, Jordan Staal). This is professional sports, not kindergarten, everyone does not get treated fairly and they all get paid very good money for both their services and, in Therrien’s case, ceased services. If the team had tanked following Therrien’s firing, you would find many people in agreement with you. But with the Penguins not only winning, but playing so much stronger as a team, its tough to argue with the firing.
Now, if Therrien had Kunitz, Adams, and Guerin, would he have done the same? No one knows, but what we do know is Dan Bylsma is doing something right and I can’t second guess his promotion in the face of all these Ws.
DS
Mar 6, 03:05 PM
Andrew:
Because they looked great in losing to and then beating the Islanders by one goal, and by repeatedly blowing two-goal leads to Montreal and Chicago??
They’ve looked great with the acquisition of new PLAYERS. Hopefully that will continue.
They also looked great that game in Philly in January where they all decided to turn on a dime and resemble a competent functioning NHL hockey team again.
I just wonder why Lindy Ruff and John Stevens still have their jobs after epic stretches of fail last year, and MT is a victim of the expectations he helped to create. It’s not kindergarten. But it is very peculiar to the Pens. The results may not be arguable. The method most definitely is.
If they do as well as they did last spring, wondrous new coach and methods and all… I still wouldn’t expect to see Dan Bylsma at the helm in Pittsburgh in 2013.
TheOneAndOnlySurge
Mar 6, 03:16 PM
@Andrew, a player cannot be bought out untill the offseason, so the only way for the Pens to get Satans salary off the books was to waive him and place him in the AHL. As for him playing, well he actually would play better under the current system than MTs. He still would lack the physical side that is needed in both systems but it would be less noticable in the current system. Shero is actually trying to save face for Satan but in reality he can’t. Satan has become very soft and ineffective. He gets some lucky bounces because he hangs out in the soft spots but not enough.
As for MT himself. Somewhere along the road this year, he lost his players. He might not of coached any differently but his players stopped responding. Usually this happens under tough coaches because players get tired of being put down and they lose confidence. Every team MT has coached eventually runs into this situation and it follows about the same timeline.
Bylsma is as they say a players coach. He feeds you complements and tells you how to improve in a positive way. This may last or it might be a temporary boost. Either way we are winning and in the end that is how a coach is graded.
DS
Mar 6, 07:57 PM
Okay, Surge, so the end of the “timeline” was somewhere in that month between January when they somehow responded from nowhere to play extremely well and beat the Flyers, and that last game in Toronto. I see. How’d Scotty Bowman manage to win all those Cups before and after the Pens decided they hated him?
I’m not saying Michel Therrien is Scotty Bowman, but I think you may be confusing “Mike” with “Keenan”.
I don’t believe they quit on him; I don’t believe they were incapable of doing what he asked. (There was actually an article in the fall, when they were winning, that talked about how he didn’t feel he had to be such a taskmaster this season, because everyone knew each other.)
I would have believed it around New Year’s. (One would think they’d rather, oh, MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, than worry about if they like the coach or not. You know, like professional athletes, and not like children.)
We’ll see how long Danny B’s ‘good-cop’ tenure lasts.
As for Satan, I can’t believe they’d stick him in WBS...I’m pretty sure they could use him in Nashville on re-entry waivers, at least, and I think Shero has some influence down there.
Andrew Rothey
Mar 7, 11:32 AM
@ DS, I do not know if you ever played sports or not, but there are times when a coach is so hard on his players for long enough that they lose confidence in themselves and the coach can no longer motivate them properly. That is one the most important tasks of a coach: finding ways to motivate players to become better. And Therrien could no longer do that with this group of players. And of course they are capable of playing effective hockey, look at how they started the season and how they’ve played lately.
Also Scotty Bowman won exactly 1 Cup with the Pens and it was after they started hating him.
AKPensFan
Mar 7, 04:35 PM
To those curious about Satan: He WILL be asked to report to WBS at some point. Doubtless, Shero will give him some time to mull over his options, but you cannot assign a player to the minors to simply park salary without having them report to your minor league club at some point. If you want to recall a player thru re-entry waivers, 1/2 of their salary cap hit remains on your books. The Pens are so close the cap that they cannot even afford that modest amount at this point. Satan will spend the remainder of the season in the minors until and/or unless someone is injured.
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