Yup. But can they over come that and all the injuries, Sure. They arent good on the PK because they miss guys like Madden, Ladd, Versteeg and even sopel who were all EXCELLENT on the PK.
Ladd never killed penalties. Versteeg was usually on our third PK unit, so saw very little PK time. The top ten in PK icetime per game last year were Keith, Seabrook, Sopel, Madden, Hjalmarsson, Bolland, Toews, Brouwer, Fraser, Hossa. The top ten in PK icetime per game this year are Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson, Bolland, Toews, Hossa, Pisani, Campbell, Sharp, Dowell.
The problem isn't so much the guys we lost, as the guys we kept having their heads up their asses. The guys that made our PK so good last year, are the same guys that are making our PK so bad this year... Keith, Seabrook, and Bolland are the biggest factor here. Bolland especially, with his inability to win any fucking defensive zone faceoffs. Johnson and Pisani are supposed to be PK experts, so losing Madden shouldn't be that big a deal. Campbell has done a great job this season stepping into the PK. The guys getting scored on when we're shorthanded, are the guys we counted on to kill those penalties off the large majority of the time last year. Keith and Seabrook HAVE to get back to where they were last year. A large majority of our struggles this year fall squarely on those two.
