PITTSBURGH, PA - JANUARY 21: Derrick Pouliot #51 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Chicago Blackhawks during the game at Consol Energy Center on January 21, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

(1) Will Derrick Pouliot be Playoff-Ready?

Pittsburgh’s rookie sensation Derrick Pouliot was demoted to Wilkes-Barre Scranton of the AHL on Saturday.

Head coach Mike Johnston said the move was to allow Andrew Ebbett to be recalled in case Sidney Crosby wasn’t able to play, but all of that overshadows a larger question: can Derrick Pouliot actually be trusted in the playoffs?

Pouliot’s play has slipped lately and Thursday’s game against Edmonton was probably his worst of the season.

He looked confused, disengaged, and/or totally lacking confidence on the defensive end of the ice.

Pouliot (51) simply watched Edmonton score their second goal.  That was the case almost the entire night:

This demonstrates a big risk with pushing young players into the NHL lineup before they’re ready. Pouliot is a wizard with the puck on his stick.  His patience on the breakout is fantastic.

He’s nowhere close to NHL-ready from a defending standpoint though.

A backup of strong defense can insulate a young forward as he makes mistakes and adapts to the NHL.

Rookie defensemen don’t have that luxury. Critical mistakes often end up in the back of the net and the confidence of a youngster can slip very quickly.

Getting a few games in the American Hockey League should allow Pouliot to regain some of that confidence, but coach Mike Johnston has to be careful with how he manages Pouliot over the next few weeks.

(2) Who gets the blame on bad plays?

Great work being done by @HockeyMeesh this season analyzing positive and negative contributions towards every goal from every Penguins game this year.

Here’s his summary as of a week ago:

Determining which players are contributing to goals for or responsible for goals against is tougher than it sounds.

Hockey is a fast game and it takes an understanding of coaching strategies and a lot of replays to get an accurate assessment.

Take this play for example.  Someone brought this play to my attention as an example of Kris Letang’s lack of situational awareness:

Letang cuts across the ice to challenge Anze Kopitar with the puck only to leave a forward open on his side of the ice for a scoring chance.  After one view, it seems pretty obvious that Letang is at fault.

After a few more views, he’s not the only one.

Letang’s read on that play is to evaluate the attack. If LA has an odd-man rush, he should back up and stay in his lane.

If Letang has backcheck support, he’s probably been instructed to challenge the puck carrier and seal off the ice, which he tries to do.

Black Comeau (17) should have noticed Letang coming across and switched his backchecking attention to chasing down Marian Gaborik.  You can’t blame him for lack of effort though.

Now watch Evgeni Malkin.

He takes a few strides after Gaborik and then glides the rest of the way down the ice. Malkin has shown more effort than usual on defense this year, but refusing to backcheck on a play like that would’ve meant a loss had Gaborik scored.

I’ve seen the same lack of backchecking desire even more from Sidney Crosby this season.

Good habits are born in the regular season.  You can’t turn it on and off as a player.

Good coaches instill those habits in their players.  You can’t selectively enforce the rules as a coach.

Maybe this example also explains why Letang seems so reckless based on the eye test, yet is an incredible +38 on the above chart.  He makes his share of noticeable mistakes, but he’s definitely not the only one.

Embed from Getty Images

(3) Did Beau Bennett play last week?

The lineup sheets say Beau Bennett dressed in every game last week, but I’m not convinced.

I thought Bennett might be relieved to make it through the trade deadline without being dealt. Instead, he’s once again become invisible.

I have a feeling this is the end of the Beau Bennett experiment in Pittsburgh. Health has obviously been a huge factor in his disappointing career so far.  He hasn’t taken advantage of opportunities either.

Bennett hasn’t shown the competitive drive or consistency necessary for success at the NHL level. It’s probably in the best interest of both sides to part ways in the offseason as Bennett heads into restricted free agency.

Embed from Getty Images

(4) Has David Perron always been this physical?

I knew David Perron had a competitive streak.

I knew he had a good shot and was willing to drive hard to the front of the net.

One thing I didn’t expect: the hits he’s been dishing out on the forecheck lately.

A 30-goal scorer with a friendly cap hit and an underrated physical game is worth sacrificing a first-round pick in my book.

Embed from Getty Images

(5) What if Connor McDavid ends up with the Philadelphia Flyers?

I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but I was.

The Philadelphia Flyers currently have a 6% chance of winning the draft lottery and the top pick in this year’s Connor McDavid sweepstakes.

All of the attention has been on cellar-dwellers like Buffalo, Carolina, and Arizona, but the NHL is phasing in a new draft lottery system that actually reduces the chances of the league’s worst team winning the top spot.

According to the NHL:

The odds of winning the first overall selection in the NHL Draft for the 14 non-Playoff teams will be adjusted to more appropriately reflect the current state of competitive balance in the League. This will result in a more evenly-balanced allocation of odds, with the 10 highest-finishing non-Playoff qualifying teams receiving higher (better) Draft Lottery odds than they received previously and the four lowest-finishing teams receiving lower (worse) odds.

I’m all for competitive balance and removing incentives to tank year after year — like Edmonton has done — but Carolina and Arizona need McDavid to give them relevance.

I hope the bingo ball goes their way.