The Pittsburgh Penguins can't seem to get much right at this point. They've got the 26th-best offense in the NHL, despite a forward corps that at the season's outset looked like it could potentially put up record numbers, and a defense that despite favorable stats - they're somehow seventh in the league, giving up just 2.35 goals per game - has been wildly inconsistent. Captain Sidney Crosby is playing like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders and the defense, led by players like Ian Cole and Rob Scuderi, has underachieved to an astounding degree. It's troubling then, amidst the team-wide funk, reports of potential ownership meddling and the suggestion that maybe Crosby really is playing like he has the entire weight of, if not the world, at the very least the city of Pittsburgh, pulling him down, that Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is now openly questioning the personnel decisions of head coach Mike Johnston.
Here's what Rutherford had to say last week regarding Johnston's handling of recent draft pick, Daniel Sprong...
"I have been urging the coach to get him in there," Rutherford said to Josh Yohe of DKonPittsburghSports, via Yahoo Sports' Greg Wyshynski. "We need him in there so we can get a better look at him."
Rapidly approaching the 40-game mark - despite having appeared in only 14 games, Sprong has been on the Penguins roster since the beginning of the season and the team has now played 26 games - Rutherford will soon be forced to make a decision on his talented young forward. Keeping him on the Pens roster for the remainder of the season means Sprong accrues a season towards unrestricted free agency, which means an earlier date at which Rutherford, assuming he's still around, must then pony up dough on a new contract for a player likely not yet to carry an established value.
The team has already made an ample investment in Sprong, trading up to get him in the draft and burning the first season of his entry-level deal by keeping him in the NHL. But something seems to have gone amiss between Rutherford and Johnston lately, as Sprong has now been a healthy scratch for 12 of the Pens' games this year and hasn't suited up since Nov. 17. Worse, when he has played his time on ice has been under 10 minutes for most of the year, bottoming out at 5:11 against the Minnesota Wild, the last game in which he appeared.
Sure, two goals and zero assists isn't a great statline. And sure, Sprong has shown that he's a rookie still working to find a consistent game. But something certainly seems fishy in Pittsburgh if the GM wants to see the kid play - despite essentially telling the media he and Johnston aren't seeing eye-to-eye on this, Rutherford made clear that he'd never tell Johnston who to play - and the head coach simply doesn't feel he's up to the task.
Johnston's defense-first mentality likely plays a big role in his decision-making on Sprong - the Dutch winger wouldn't be the first young NHL player to come to the pro game with failings in his own zone - but the issue here isn't really Sprong or his game; it's about whether the disconnect on a player belies a deeper disconnect between Johnston and Rutherford.
