Rob Scuderi made his return to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday after signing as a free agent to address the weaknesses on the team's blue line that were created when the veteran defenseman left the club after its Stanley Cup triumph in 2009.
After watching his defensemen struggle mightily against the physical Boston Bruins forwards during an embarrassing sweep in the 2013 Eastern Conference Final, general manager Ray Shero had to upgrade his blue line with a player of Scuderi's caliber.
The Penguins have plenty of defensemen who move the puck well, excel on the power play and rack up points consistently, but the lack of a shutdown player such as Scuderi who prevents the opposing teams' top scorers from taking over during the playoffs has been a real concern over the last four postseasons.
In that time, Pittsburgh's ability to keep pucks out of its net has been average at best without Scuderi.
Year GAA Rank
2013 2.67 10/16
2012 5.00 16/16
2011 3.14 11/16
2010 2.92 9/16
The Penguins do not have a goaltender capable of stealing important playoff games and bailing out the team's defensive mista ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Nicholas Goss
Is Rob Scuderi’s Return Enough to Cure What Ails Pittsburgh Penguins’ Defense?
July 6th, 2013 by Nicholas Goss Leave a reply »
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