We need to be hard to play against.
If you’ve heard Penguins coach Mike Sullivan say it once, you’ve heard him say it a thousand times.
OK, maybe a million times.
And by “hard to play against,” Sullivan isn’t talking about his team’s star power. He’s talking about physicality and puck pursuit and shot-blocking and playing the game intelligently. He’s talking about sandpaper, grit, jam and any other hockey cliché that means “hard to play against,” and the Penguins, for the most part, have been missing it since they won consecutive Stanley Cups.
They never replaced the sheer determination and will of a Chris Kunitz or a Nick Bonino or even an Ian Cole or a Trevor Daley — guys who would crawl over broken glass to win a game. Consider the “series” against the New York Islanders. Nothing happened. The Penguins went down meekly.
Their bottom-six forwards, in particular, have lacked any definable personality over the past two seasons. Too often, they were easy to play against.
All of which is why you should be quite pleased with the club’s latest addition — winger Brandon Tanev — and not overly concerned that his contract will take him roughly to age 84.
The Penguins signed Tanev, 27, to a six-year, $21 million contract at the opening of free agency Monday because he provides what they have lacked. He is, as his father described him in a recent Sports Illustrated article, “a bundle of fire.”
Tanev is, as his college coach from Providence, Nate Leaman, was telling me Monday, “A go-go-go player, high energy, high-compete, great speed. I can’t remember a game when ‘Tanny’ didn’t have his legs.”
Anyone comparable come to mind, insofar as players Leaman has coached or coached against?
“No, and I guess what I mean by that is, that’s why he made the NHL [undrafted, just like Kunitz],” Leaman said. “The combination of size [6 feet, though just 180 pounds], speed, tenaciousness and smarts make him a little bit of a one-of-a-kind, you know?”
Yes, I do — and that doesn’t mean Tanev is bound for the All-Star Game. It just means he is a player with excellent speed and a willingness to block shots (81 blocks last season), hit people (278 hits) and kill penalties. He had five short-handed goals over the past two seasons. Mike McIntyre, who covers the Jets for the Winnipeg Free Press, tells me Tanev was a fan favorite who “hits anything that moves and is willing to sacrifice his body in a way that few players do.”
That, my friends, is part of what the Penguins have been missing. This move likely was helped along by the money freed from the Phil Kessel trade and the NHL’s lower-than-expected salary cap. With even a little more extra cash, the Jets might have made a play for Tanev.
McIntyre added that Tanev drew a bunch of penalties last season (he also scored 14 goals) and might have the ability to move up and down the lineup — that folks in Edmonton were even wondering if he might be a fit with Connor McDavid.
Leaman spoke of Tanev as a late bloomer, a kid who grew a couple of inches while he was at Providence and changed his body when he started working out under the guidance of ex-Penguin Gary Roberts, who has a training facility in Toronto, and, as you remember, was a complete maniac as a player (the very definition of "hard to play against").
I texted Roberts on Monday to see if he still works with Tanev and if he could describe him in one word.
“Yes, I do,” Roberts said. “Determined.”
Roberts then added, “Ultra Fit!”
Tanev finished his college career in style, scoring the national championship-winning goal in 2015 against Boston University. So he has that big-game pedigree from the early days, which is what guys like Bonino and Bryan Rust arrived here with, as well.
“He cut across the slot on a faceoff play,” Leaman recalled, in describing the title-winning goal. “Hopefully, Mike Sullivan, as a BU alum, doesn’t hold that against him.”
Nah, I’m thinking Sully’s OK with it. I'm thinking this is Sully's kind of guy.
Joe Starkey: jstarkey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @joestarkey1. Joe Starkey can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
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First Published: July 1, 2019, 7:26 p.m.