By Jeff
The Pittsburgh Penguins are atop the Atlantic Division, and winger Chris Kunitz is a big reason why.
Kunitz came over in 2009 when the Pens were on the outside of the playoff hunt despite being in the Stanley Cup Finals the prior year. Since then he has been the most consistent player on the roster after stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
In his time as a Penguin, Kunitz has score 76 goals and 96 assists. Many will say he benefits from playing almost exclusively with Crosby, and when Crosby was out he was with Malkin. These people certainly have a point, but other players like Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Max Talbot, Alexei Ponikarovsky and others who have played with the stars mentioned above have not found anywhere near that success.
This season is no different. In fact, Kunitz is probably having his best year of his career. He's fourth in the league in scoring. That's right, the undrafted Kunitz has more points than Alex Ovechkin, Claude Giroux, Eric Staal, John Tavares, Patrick Kane, Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk and both the Sedin twins.
How is Kunitz doing it? First, even if you don't watch hockey you can tell that Kunitz just knows where to be on the ice when he plays with guys like Crosby and Malkin. He finds an opening in the defense from the holes created in the defense created by the team's stars. Second, he understands that Crosby and Malkin are special talents. He makes sure he gets them the puck whenever he can. Third, he is getting pretty lucky! He has a career shooting percentage of 12.8. He's at 25.9 this year. There is no way anyone could keep up that pace.
Or could they?
Kunitz's shooting percentage is ridiculously high, but when you play with someone like Crosby, it doesn't seem impossible for him to keep it up. Crosby demands so much attention Kunitz has more opportunities where it's just him and the goalie. He also understands that Crosby and Malkin can get the puck on net in situations where ordinary men could not. So what does Kunitz do? He crashes the net and takes punishment in exchange for a chance to put it home.
Kunitz is not often mentioned with the league's stars because he's not flashy, but he will go down as the best move Ray Shero has made.
I still think you need to emphasize Sid is playing possibly as good as he's ever played, and of course his linemates are going to benefit. Looking at the point totals of the guys you compared him to, does his skating ability and puck handling match up with any of them? Kunitz was scoring 20+ in Anaheim playing on a line with Selanne, so he's always played with talent.
ReplyDeleteHe's got a great shot, and you didn't talk about how strong he is in his backchecking, but I don't see how he could be on a pace for a 45 goal year if it were a full season, and at age 33 without a lot of other factors in play.
And just to be a jerk and argue some more, I'm going to go with the Neal/Niskanen eventually being his best one.
Agree with Zanic on both. Kunitz is having an amazing season, but I don't think it's a coincidence that Sid is playing about as good as he ever has. Kunitz is doing a great job of getting him the puck and then heading to an open space and/or in front of the net. Kudos to Kunitz for taking advantage of the situation and finishing most of his chances, but I think the fact that Duper has 11 goals in 26 games shows the level that Crosby is playing at right now. Dupuis is solid, but he's on pace for a 35 goal year in a full season. That's just crazy.
ReplyDeleteNeal>Kunitz (although Kunitz's forechecking and backchecking makes that one tough)
Niskanen>Tangradi
Goligoski<Whitney
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ReplyDeleteAlso, those two trades are going to make teams wary of trading with King Shero. You just know you're going to get robbed.
ReplyDeleteMike, I think I was pretty clear in describing how Crosby (and Malkin last year) allow Kunitz opportunities he would not get with normal players.
ReplyDeleteCrosby is playing near the best we've ever seen, no doubt. He is the best player in the world. But couldn't you say that part of his success also comes from the contributions of Kunitz, and to a lesser extent, Dupuis? It is just a great line with the combination of grit, speed, awareness and skill. How many lines in the NHL have such defined roles that the three men stick to each night?
Dupuis had a career year last year and only had Crosby for a quarter of the season. Again, I'm not trying to downplay Crosby's play this year, he is the league MVP, I just don't want to take away from Dupuis' production when other players couldn't put up these numbers with Sid.
As for the star players I mentioned Kunitz is ahead of in the scoring race, the answer is no. He doesn't skate or puck handle better than any of them. But this year he is being more productive than all of them.
I was having a bit of fun with the title. From a skill standpoint, Kunitz doesn't have the ability a lot of the high-profile players do. He is a role player who plays his role extremely well and this year it is paying off.
As for the Neal trade, we'll see. Neal had a bad start, was great last year with Malkin and Kunitz and has been pretty good this year. He disappears at even strength sometimes and takes some terrible penalties. He certainly has more talent than Kuntiz, but I don't think he's as smart or mature as Kunitz.
Silly argument, though. As Greg said, both deals worked out incredible for the Pens. Hell, let's throw the Hossa deal in the mix. Hossa was around for less than 1/2 a year, but Dupuis has been a top line and PK contributor for the past 3 years while Angelo Esposito never saw the NHL, Colby Armstrong is with his 4th team, Erik Christensen remained a 4th line center and the draft pick ended up being Daulten Leveille, who has bounced around the minors since being drafted.
...so what you're trying to say is I'm right?
DeleteYes, you made the observation that Crosby is having a hell of a season. Very astute.
ReplyDelete