Mark Madden: Penguins need to play different kind of hockey to succeed in new East division

The NHL allegedly starts Jan. 13 after a training camp of approximately 15 minutes. That’s right in the middle of the NFL playoffs. Will made-for-TV hockey capture America’s fancy? It didn’t this past summer.

With big financial losses guaranteed for every team, there doesn’t seem a logical reason to play yet. But the NHL never has been too big on logic.

Canada’s border is closed, precipitating a seven-team North (all-Canadian) division. The Pittsburgh Penguins will play in the eight-team East division along with Boston, Buffalo, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia and Washington.

That’s a tough division. Boston, Washington and Philadelphia finished with more points than the Penguins last season. The Islanders won their qualifying-round series. The Penguins did not. The Islanders finished within six points of the Penguins, the Rangers seven. The Rangers have lots of young talent and added No. 1 overall draft choice Alexis Lafreniere.

The East’s quality teams are mostly more physical than the Penguins. The Penguins are fast, but not as fast as they think they are or used to be.

The Penguins would run away with the North division. It easily will be the NHL’s worst. But in the East, they go into the season as no lock to make the playoffs.

All games will be played within the division. The top four teams in each division make the playoffs. No wild cards. It’s an unforgiving format. The Penguins will play each team in their division eight times. Things will get frisky. It might be a different kind of hockey.

That’s exactly what the Penguins need to do: Play a different kind of hockey.

The Penguins need to rely less on speed, more on experience and guile. The Penguins need to trap and counterattack. Let hockey IQ matter as much as legs.

Trapping has a bad connotation because New Jersey bored fans silly during the Devils’ peak period. They won Stanley Cups in 1995, 2000 and ’03. When the Devils got a turnover, they too often dumped the puck back in, then reset the trap. They stupefied foes into submission.

But arguably the NHL’s best team ever trapped, too: Montreal in the ’70s.

The Canadiens won four straight Cups from 1976-79, mostly trapping en route. But that team had crazy firepower, so it played a hyper-aggressive trap. When the puck turned over, the bleu, blanc et rouge did a jailbreak in the opposite direction. Defensemen overlapped. Winger Guy Lafleur scored 50 goals in each of those campaigns. The 1976-77 Canadiens scored 387 goals in 80 games and lost eight times, fewest in NHL history.

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang would run wild playing that system. Experience and anticipation would combine with skill and speed to carve foes up. Head-manning the puck out of chaos to sprinters like Kasperi Kapanen and Jason Zucker would make heads spin. The Penguins would be much better defensively. Opposition odd-man breaks would evaporate.

Too bad the Penguins won’t do that.

The Penguins, and especially the stars mentioned, want to skate, dangle and play a speed game. They believe in that style.

If you told Crosby, Malkin and Letang that trapping and counterattacking would guarantee them 46 wins over the coming season’s 56-game schedule, they would decline and say their way can do better. Coach Mike Sullivan would back them.

The Penguins really believe in their style, just like they believe their championship window is still open. But it’s the former that is slamming shut the latter.

Do the Penguins make the playoffs in that division? Probably. It’s 60-40.

But don’t forget the covid angle. The virus derailed a few NFL seasons. It will do the same in hockey barring quick and widespread distribution of the vaccine to healthy, young athletes who are in no danger whatsoever. Here’s betting that’s not a priority. Unless money talks.