The Pittsburgh Penguins have a problem with their third line and something needs to change.
It may be something we’ve all already known for a while now, but the Pittsburgh Penguins third line has analytically been ranked the worst in the NHL.
The Penguins have plugged Brock McGinn, Jeff Carter, and Kasperi Kapanen together for over 140 minutes this season and the numbers have just about disappeared.
Among forward lines who have played a minimum of 125 minutes together, McGinn, Carter, and Kapanen are producing at a 34.6% expected goals rate according to moneypuck.com.
That’s good for dead last in the NHL and a far cry from the line of Jason Zucker, Evgeni Malkin, and Bryan Rust who coast at 61.8%.
As for the third line, the rest of the analytics don’t get any better; they sit in the bottom five in a majority of the other analytical categories.
Expected goals against per 60 is 3.39 (fifth worst), expected goals for per 60 is 1.79 (tied for third worst), and expected goals for is 4.4 (fifth worst).
To say the third line should be Ron Hextall’s focus at the trade deadline would be an understatement.
The problems surrounding the third line is something everyone in the organization is aware of; Hextall knows about it, the coaching staff sees it every game, and the players themselves know they haven’t been on their game.
McGinn at one point had a fun scoring streak that saw him hit 10 goals on the season, but he has been blanked from the score sheet in 20 consecutive games now.
Carter had a great start to his Penguins tenure, but that is well in the past now as he has only picked up a single point in 14 games.
As for Kapanen, his speed isn’t enough anymore; trying to get back from an injury isn’t easy, but he sits with three points in 11 games.
When the Penguins won their back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, they did so with proper, well producing third lines.
The lack of production from this group is just about unplayable and something needs to change.
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