Penguins Notebook: Really Ugly Stats; New Take on Jarry; Sid’s Watch

The Pittsburgh Penguins will not make the playoffs, and they long ago bid adieu as that ship sailed. It seems we’ve skipped over the post-mortems and gone straight to the birth announcements of the rebuild.

It makes sense because once you begin to look at the Penguins’ season numbers, they’re abysmal.

For starters, Erik Karlsson is second among NHL defensemen with 129 giveaways, trailing only MacKenzie Weegar (140).

But Karlsson’s generous puck management is just the start of the numbers dive, courtesy of MoneyPuck.com. With their advanced analytics tools, we can see so many things, such as Philip Tomasino’s average shot distance is several feet further (over 28 feet) than that of most players (around 25 feet), and his projected shooting talent (expected finishing ability) is 13.4% below average.

Ouch.

For what it’s worth, Tommy Novak’s shooting talent is statistically well above average, and his average shot distances are much shorter.

This reporter fell into a rabbit hole of advanced Penguins stats, and very few of which were good news.

One bit of positive is Kris Letang. His turnover rate decreased dramatically, and he wasn’t even in the top 35. For a player who has frequently been a problem in that regard, his more conservative play may speak to several things, but at least he had the puck on his stick and not the opposing team’s.

Letang still ranked in the top 50 for giveaways (48th, 90 giveaways).

However, Karlsson’s outlook improved only slightly when we sorted by defensive zone giveaways. He dropped to 12th with 67, but Letang jumped up to 34th overall with 58 D-zone giveaways.

Perhaps the only thing that saved fellow Penguins blue liner Ryan Graves from being higher on the list is a lack of games. Graves has played in only 57 games this season, most of which have been lower minutes on the third pairing, yet he still ranks 114th of 588 NHL players with 41 D-zone turnovers and 57 total giveaways.

Graves is just one of four Penguins’ defensemen to appear in the top 20% on the naughty list.

Matt Grzelcyk fell to 101st overall after the games Wednesday night. He’s 99th of the 588 NHL players with 44 defensive zone punts.

No, the Penguins aren’t the worst–Utah HC has three defensemen (Ian Cole, Mikhail Sergachev, and Olli Matta) in the top 10 of defensive zone gaffes. Vegas has three in the top 30 and Toronto has four in the top 50.

So, the Penguins aren’t alone, but they follow it up with loose defensive structure like few other teams. Their Eastern Conference worst -56 is a lighthouse signal for more.

The Penguins are the fifth-worst team, with 175 high-danger shots against them, and the fourth-worst team in medium-danger shots against them. In case you’re wondering, they’re ninth worst in low-danger shots. The drop in low danger shots could well be attributed to the volume of better shots they give up. Teams don’t fire shots indiscriminately against the Penguins because they can do better.

Interestingly, the Penguins are the sixth-best team in high-danger shots, but 13th in medium danger, and 11th in low danger. So, they’re getting good shots or no shots?

In fairness, Sidney Crosby also appears on the giveaway list near No. 100, but given his high minutes and down-low play, those turnovers are rarely costly but more of a job hazard.

Tristan Jarry

We had one of those awkward moments Thursday. PHN spoke at length with goalie Tristan Jarry last week. He used the word audition several times and admitted he knew the remainder of the season was an audition for him to claim a roster spot for next season.

On Wednesday, general manager Kyle Dubas said he expected Jarry to return next season, but it would be an “all-out battle” among the five Penguins goalies.

Read More: Dubas Says He Expects Jarry Back; ‘All Out Battle’ Coming

Thursday, coach Mike Sullivan said Jarry would start against the St. Louis Blues. So, we asked if he, too, felt the remainder of the season was an audition for Jarry. He flatly said, “No,” twice.

“No. I mean, what’s an audition? Every time players go on the ice, they get judged. That’s just the world that we all live in. So, by definition, I guess you could say every player fits that category on every team,” Sullivan said. “That’s the world we live in, you know? Jarz has played extremely well for us since he’s come back, and he’s playing up to his capability. and that was our hope when we brought him back up. And he certainly has done that for us. On most nights, he’s given us a chance to win by making a timely save. And we know that’s what he’s capable of.”

Not quite the answer I expected, but OK.

Then, a former NHL player offered PHN a little nugget. Jarry is playing so well lately, those games in Florida notwithstanding, because he is fighting for his job; he does view them as an audition. So, why didn’t he view those games in the first half of the season the same way?

Perhaps Jarry will learn from the experience. Perhaps he will not. Stay tuned for next fall.

Sidney Crosby’s New Watch

This week, Crosby invested in NORQAIN, a wristwatch company. The Swiss-made watches generally cost between $2000 and $6000, which is the price range for an entry-level luxury watch.

Switzerland protects watchmakers with strict rules on what can claim to be Swiss-made. Specifically, the movement must be Swiss-made, and the assembly and inspection must also be done in Switzerland.

The company is family-owned, including by co-founder Mark Streit, a defenseman on the Penguins’ 2017 Stanley Cup-winning team. Streit started the company after his 12-year NHL career.

“I’ve been wearing NORQAIN watches and following the brand since its first appearance at the All-Star Game in San Jose in 2019. The brand has been growing incredibly fast around the world since then, and I’m really excited to join and support its further development while teaming up with Mark again. I am excited to work with NORQAIN and see what we can do together moving forward.”

According to the company’s press release, “Crosby is a longtime watch collector and one of the earliest fans of our brand, owning several of our watches. He actually gifted one to Malkin, too, in 2019, with a special engraving for his 1,000th point.”

As some of you know, I am also a “watch guy.” The timepiece Crosby is wearing in the picture is the Wild One turquoise skeleton watch. It is made of carbon fiber instead of stainless steel and has an in-house NORQAIN Calibre N08S movement that uses 26 rubies (that’s very good). The 42mm dial retails for $5760.

If you’re curious, after the morning skate, it looked like he was wearing a Neverest Glacier 40mm.

The company has certainly put together a fine watch. I’m partial to the glacier blue dials, for which they ran a small ad campaign a few years ago.

According to the watchmaker’s website, the closest retailer in the Pittsburgh area is Joyce’s Jewelry on Main St. in Uniontown. The next closest retailer is in Fairlawn, Ohio, just outside of Akron.