Should Sid or Geno be Involved in the PK Next Season?

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

First off, I am of the belief that Sid amd Geno will still be with the team next season. Now that we got that foolishness out of the way, I was considering that Sid and/or Geno need to have a role as a penalty killer next season. I don't think they should be on the first penalty kill team, but put out near the end of a kill as a threat to score a shorty or an even strength goal soon after the penalty expires. I don't expect them to be blocking shots either.

Most other teams have their best player on the PK, and we all saw how effective Giroux was for the Flyers on the PK. Also, when the Pens get in penalty trouble you have our best player sitting on the bench.

[Malkamaniac]

Giroux was effective because he has some semblance of defense. Malkin is good enough to get by but no way would I want him on the PK. Crosby? Sure.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I was thinking Sid would be a better option than Malkin, but didn't want to exclude him from the conversation.

[shafnutz05]

I'd love Sid on it, definitely not Malkin though. Despite the fact we scored some shorties this year, one of the biggest problems in the Flyers series is that we simply could not keep them honest. They had absolutely zero fear of our penalty killing unit.

[DelPen]

Malkin was very good on the PK in the KHL. Sid needs to be on the PK. That's what is soo good with the FLyers PK, you ahve to respect Giroux out there. Craig Adams? Not so much.

[pittsoccer33]

Malkin was amazing on defense against the Red Wings in 2009. Rewatch some of those games, he was like a vacuum in the middle of the ice. He was out there killing the penalty right before Staal scored that big short handed goal.

I thought Crosby looked very good all series and was happy to see to him go in and take that face off in game 5. I thought he was working hard the whole time and would he good at fighting for the puck and getting it out. I was surprised when he went right off the ice.

[owtahear]

Sid definitely. For faceoffs alone. Plus, if we are a bit more aggressive on our PK, I think he would get some odd man rush opportunities. Especially if he and Letang are on the ice. Plus speed. He would definitely add some speed element to the unit.

[shafnutz05]

I lost count of how many defensive zone faceoffs CRAIG EFFIN ADAMS lost. I have no idea what his purpose was on the penalty kill.

[Pavel Bure]

I don't know why they haven't been involved already. Heck Geno was a PK demon when in Russia then he got here and FHCMT didn't use him on the PK and HCDB doesn't use him on the PK dunno why.

[columbia]

I lost count of how many defensive zone faceoffs CRAIG EFFIN ADAMS lost. I have no idea what his purpose was on the penalty kill.

Is there a stats site that records face offs by zone, because it would be interesting to see that.
The NHL stats machine says he won 4 of his 5 PK face offs in the playoffs.

(Staal only won 8 of 23, in comparison.)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm? ... centageAll

[DontToewsMeBro]

When he wants to be, Malkin is a better defensive player than Staal and Crosby. Play him if he can afford the extra minutes.

[shafnutz05]

I lost count of how many defensive zone faceoffs CRAIG EFFIN ADAMS lost. I have no idea what his purpose was on the penalty kill.

Is there a stats site that records face offs by zone, because it would be interesting to see that.
The NHL stats machine says he won 4 of his 5 PK face offs in the playoffs.

(Staal only won 8 of 23, in comparison.)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm? ... centageAll

I stand corrected then, although I still think he was utterly ineffective on the PK. The problem is, even when we won defensive zone faceoffs, we flubbed countless clears.

[columbia]

I lost count of how many defensive zone faceoffs CRAIG EFFIN ADAMS lost. I have no idea what his purpose was on the penalty kill.

Is there a stats site that records face offs by zone, because it would be interesting to see that.
The NHL stats machine says he won 4 of his 5 PK face offs in the playoffs.

(Staal only won 8 of 23, in comparison.)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm? ... centageAll

I stand corrected then, although I still think he was utterly ineffective on the PK. The problem is, even when we won defensive zone faceoffs, we flubbed countless clears.

I wasn't trying to tweak you, man.
I would actually like to know what his D-zone face off percentage was for the regular season....actually, for all of them.

[darkstar57]

I think that one of them should always be out there for the last 30 seconds, let dupper, cooke, staal do the heavy lifting during the beginning of the power play, then let sid or malkin come on towards then end, they'll either get matched up against a tired 1 unit PP or a 2 unit PP. If lemieux worked the PK so should sid or malkin

[CERV96]

I dunno I thought we were going to get rid of one of these two according to what I have read in the past few days here.

[pfim]

I don't think they should take a regular shift, but they should each get some PK time, especially in the playoffs.

[Idoit40fans]

They should each play the pk. Not the last 18 seconds, they should take shifts. Malkin was good enough to take regular pk shifts for the stacked Russian national team before he played a single NHL game. He's careless with the puck sometimes, but he knows how to play the pk.

[offsides]

I'd like to see them out towards the end of kills when they would be the most dangerous.

[Bathgate]

Gretzky killed penalties; Lemieux killed penalties; Giroux kills penalties; that great leader Mike Richards kills penalties; and other superstars and stars have killed penalties. They score(d) a ton of shorthanded goals and their threat do do so is disruptive to the power play. Lemieux was frustratingly kept from killing penalties in his early years, but once he became a regular he scored an amazing number of shorties and was often used as the only forward on 5-on-3 kills.

Sid and Geno need to be turned loose on the PK next regular season to find out how effective they can be, so that they might be used in that role at crucial times and in the playoffs if necessary, and especially if they face the Flyers again. We saw how devastating Giroux was on the PK in the series. It's a reason you can argue he's now the best player in the game; he's a tremendous penalty killer, while Sid and Geno are not deemed worthy of the responsibility.

[Rocco]

I'd like to see them out there either at the end of PKs or to win defensive zone faceoffs.

[Penspal]

I don't think you should have both out there on the PK unless its desperation time (need a goal). But putting one out there slightly addresses antoher issue, the powerplay. I'd use Sid on the PK and have Sid on the 2nd PP unit. Malkin on the 1st PP unit and no PK. 1st PP seems to get about 1:10 - 1:30 of a 2 minute penalty.

[pfim]

The team was 3rd in the league in PK and 3rd in the league in SH goals. Not sure I really see the need to be honest.

If you said that they could have been used against the Flyers, I agree, as it obviously wasn't working. They spent a ton of time on the PK as well which keeps Crosby and Malkin off the ice.

[Defence21]

I lost count of how many defensive zone faceoffs CRAIG EFFIN ADAMS lost. I have no idea what his purpose was on the penalty kill.

Killing penalties, actually Mike Adams over at FF figured out that Adams was by far the best forward on the PK in the playoffs, playing an average of 7.13 minutes for every goal scored against. Next was Cooke at 5.75 minutes per goal scored, and then Park at 2.63. Like Michalek, he might not have looked it, but he was doing his job effectively stat-wise, anyway.

[owtahear]

I lost count of how many defensive zone faceoffs CRAIG EFFIN ADAMS lost. I have no idea what his purpose was on the penalty kill.

During Game 4 (or was it 5) after 3-4 consecutive face off losses in our end when we were shorthanded, and I am screaming to the TV "put in Sid", "put in Sid", finally Disco did and voila....Sid won the faceoff and we got the puck out.

[darkstar57]

I would argue Malkin over Sid on the PK is just because of Malkin reach with the Puck, one of the reason lemieux worked on the PK is his reach and he was a master with his stick. geno is the same way.