The NHL has “paused” its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear if it will resume. So, with one eye still on the future, the Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel and Mike DeFabo are looking back at what each Penguins player did in 2019-20. We started with the captain, No. 87, and will count down by jersey number.
It wasn’t a Jack Johnson level of outrage when Jim Rutherford and the Penguins handed out a long-term contract to Brandon Tanev on the first day of free agency last July. But some fans and media members expressed skepticism.
How could they give $21 million over six years to a 27-year-old fourth-liner and penalty-killer, a guy who had 51 points in four seasons in Winnipeg?
The Penguins, obviously, weren’t bringing in Tanev for his scoring. After a lazy regular season and a stunning first-round sweep, they said they wanted to again be “hard to play against.” Tanev is hockey’s answer to Sonic the Hedgehog, a blur of a winger who revs up and pinballs from opponent to opponent.
So after shedding the salary of Phil Kessel, who they believed was a big part of the problem in 2018-19, they used a chunk of that newfound cap space on Tanev. Those skeptics grumbled that the Penguins went too far in terms of both salary and term. But the team believed Tanev was exactly what they needed.
As it turns out, the Penguins actually got more than even they had hoped.
Tanev’s endless energy was infectious both on and off the ice. His relentlessness made him a tone-setter for a team that turned out to be extremely hard to play against while Sidney Crosby and others were out. And the chatterbox lightened up a veteran locker room that can feel like a waiting room at times.
Tanev, who played all but one game before the season was suspended March 12, was first among Penguins forwards with 65 blocked shots. He had a career-high 33 takeaways. And with 244 hits, he could have become the first Pittsburgh player since Brooks Orpik in 2008-09 to dole out 300 hits in a season.
The Penguins were banking on all of that. They were not expecting several clutch goals from someone who scored just two game-winners for Winnipeg. Tanev had a pair of overtime tallies among his four game-winners in 2019-20.
Big goals, a bunch of blocked shots and nearly four hits per game? Yeah, needless to say, the skeptics of the Tanev signing have been sufficiently quieted.
DEFINING MOMENT: This one wasn’t in OT, but one of his game-winners came in one of the team’s biggest victories. In the third period Jan. 7 in Vegas, Kris Letang snapped a pass up the wall to Tanev, who blazed behind the defense and tucked the puck inside the left post to beat Marc-Andre Fleury.
STAT THAT STANDS OUT: The trio most often trotted out by Mike Sullivan was Tanev next to Teddy Blueger and Zach Aston-Reese. That checking line often pinned frustrated All-Stars in their end. The Penguins had 56.1% of the scoring chances with those three on the ice at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick.
IF THE SEASON RESUMES: Sullivan should reunite Tanev, Blueger and Aston-Reese. That hard-working, momentum-building line is built for playoff hockey.
LONG-TERM OUTLOOK: Tanev has five years left on his deal at $3.5 million per season. The Penguins ponied up to get him last summer with the present in mind. Good call. But they are also optimistic that Tanev’s wheels and want-to will allow him to remain an effective player for most, if not all, of his contract.
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: April 18, 2020, 11:00 a.m.
