The Penguins may be ready to give Nick Robertson another crack in the top six, and it’s about time.
Pittsburgh’s latest loss to Anaheim only deepened the mess around a team that has stumbled to a 6-10-2 start, and while there’s no single cure for everything that’s gone wrong, the lineup looks like one area the club is willing to tweak before Wednesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. During Tuesday’s practice in Anaheim, the Penguins rolled out a fresh set of combinations in the bottom nine while leaving Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell together on the top line.
Rutger McGroarty, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton ahead of Sunday’s loss to the Ducks, skated on the fourth line with Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar. Tommy Novak moved into the third-line center spot between Ville Koivunen and Justin Brazeau, taking Hendrix Lapierre’s place. And on the second line, Robertson slid in beside Egor Chinakhov and Ben Kindel.
That’s a notable change for a player who has been one of Pittsburgh’s most productive forwards all season, even while being used in a limited role. Robertson, 25, has seven goals and no assists. He’s a shoot-first winger, and his hardest shot this season has registered at 88.08 mph, which ranks in the 84th percentile of the league.
Still, the lack of assists isn’t hard to explain when you look at who he’s been skating with. Robertson opened the year on Crosby’s line and stayed there for two and a half games before dropping lower in the lineup.
More recently, he’s spent time on the fourth line with Dewar and Lizotte, and he’s also been a regular on the penalty kill while Bryan Rust remains out another four-plus weeks with a lower-body injury. Dewar has two goals and five points in 18 games, while Lizotte has no goals and five assists.
He’s also done all this with barely any power-play time, despite averaging a career-high 13:01 per game. Robertson’s 20.6 percent shooting percentage is also a career best, though that number may not hold up over the long haul.
Even so, the underlying numbers paint a strong picture. According to hockeystatcards, Robertson owns the highest net rating among Penguins skaters at plus-2.1, and most of that comes from a plus-1.9 defense rating, the third-best mark on the team. Natural Stat Trick tells an even clearer story: among Penguins forwards, Robertson leads in expected goals share at 58.77 percent, scoring chances for share at 61.73 percent and high-danger chances for share at 60 percent.
And he’s done it while starting only 18 shifts in the offensive zone this season, compared with 57 neutral-zone starts and 55 in the defensive zone.
That’s why the move back up the lineup makes sense. Robertson’s speed, forechecking and shot give him a chance to do damage with better finishers and more dynamic playmakers, and Pittsburgh’s coaching staff appears to see that fit. His two-way game has also grown in Pittsburgh in a way it hadn’t during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“He’s scored a chunk of goals for us,” head coach Dan Muse said following Tuesday’s practice. “He’s shown the ability to create offense.
He drives a lot of things just with his work and tenacity. He can put that line, whoever he’s playing with, in good offensive situations.
So, something to look at.”
The setup with Chinakhov and Kindel could be especially interesting. Kindel’s vision and distribution, along with his improved speed, should help create better looks for Robertson, while Chinakhov’s speed and finishing touch could open the door for even more production.
At this point, Robertson is scoring at a 33-goal pace, which would blow past his previous career high of 16 from last season. For a player producing that much while mostly being buried in a bottom-line role, the demotion never made much sense in the first place.
If this new look sticks against the Sharks, it will be worth watching whether Robertson can keep building on a season that has been quietly excellent and, frankly, underappreciated.
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