Apologies for the protracted absence. It was neither intended nor desired, and the proximity of my return to Frank's departure is nothing but coincidental.

The Penguins are mired in a six-game losing streak. We all know this, and as we've seen in the comments here, Elmo hasn't taken the news well. Not to be all emo, but how much longer must we endure this?

/dyes hair black, puts on eyeliner

One of the most reliable methods to tell how well a team is playing is their possession numbers. Since we still don't have a hard and fast zone time statistic from the NHL, we're forced to use surrogates. I'm a fan of the Fenwick number. Applied to a team, it equals the number of shots on goal plus the number of missed shots, minus the same numbers of the opposing team. Positive numbers indicate that a team has possessed the puck more than their opponents, because a team obviously must possess the puck in order to shoot it.

Normally this number is considered to be relevant only for 5v5 play, but I'm going to include all strengths in this post. Let's take a look at what the Penguins have been doing in this losing streak.

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As was the case last year, I'm putting up threads for each position:  C, W, D and G.  Maybe it's just that the Penguins don't figure to be big players this year, but it doesn't seem like the crop is that strong.  These lists are based on the TSN lists minus people who had salaries under $1M last season because otherwise the lists would be as long as both my arms.  I'll include Penguins anyway, though.

Jump for the list.

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As was the case last year, I'm putting up threads for each position:  C, W, D and G.  Maybe it's just that the Penguins don't figure to be big players this year, but it doesn't seem like the crop is that strong.  These lists are based on the TSN lists minus people who had salaries under $1M last season because otherwise the lists would be as long as both my arms.  I'll include Penguins anyway, though.

Jump for the list.

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As was the case last year, I'm putting up threads for each position:  C, W, D and G.  Maybe it's just that the Penguins don't figure to be big players this year, but it doesn't seem like the crop is that strong.  These lists are based on the TSN lists minus people who had salaries under $1M last season because otherwise the lists would be as long as both my arms.  I'll include Penguins anyway, though.

Jump for the list.

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Traditionalists in hockey circles are nearly unanimous in their distaste for the so-called charity point a team gets if they simply manage to make it to overtime.  Likewise, many people dislike the shootout, deriding it as a sideshow or skills competition.  Every team's point total is inflated due to some games being worth three points, but the inflation is never equitable across the board.

I've devised a quick and dirty Charity Point Index (CPI) to determine which teams are the biggest benefactors of the charity point, and then I'll discuss how the standings would have been different if the league suddenly decided to go back to 1998-1999 standards for scoring, when games could end in a tie and overtime losses were treated as actual losses, and there were always 2460 points to be had.

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This is really part two of the Bargain Score post from yesterday.  However, this time, instead of looking at GVT versus cap hit, this time we're going to be looking at GVT versus time on ice.

Because GVT is a counting stat, not a rate stat, players with more time on ice get more opportunity to increase their GVT, much in the same way that a slugger who plays 150 games is more likely to hit lots of home runs than one who plays 20.

After the jump, I'll throw some data at you.

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Managing a salary cap in today's NHL isn't simply about making sure you don't go over—apologies to Mr. Lamoriello—but about making sure you get proper value for your cap expenditures.  While I am not going to discuss here what is the right and proper cap hit for someone with Deryk Engelland's skill set, we can talk about who is a relative bargain so far this year and whose salary is an albatross.

Jump with me.

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Games like this have a way of being disappointing.  You're hyped up for facing a repeat playoff nemesis and then you find out Joey MacDonald, their backup to the backup goalie is playing.  Then you start wondering if it's going to be one of those games where the goalie who shouldn't have a good game instead has a stellar one and you're left wondering why you wasted your time.

This wasn't one of those games.

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Panthers vs Penguins coverage - Panthers vs Penguins preview - Litter Box Cats

Sports talk was abuzz with worry that the Penguins were going to look past the Panthers toward the Capitals game the next night.  The Pens showed that those worries were unfounded tonight in a 5-2 rout.

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We all know the fuss that's been made over the years about finding a legitimate scoring winger for Sidney Crosby.  You've said it, I've said it, the neighbor's dog probably barked it at some point.  But what does "Top 6" actually mean, and more importantly, how many of those players do we already have?

Jump with me.

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On a night where the Penguins needed a big win, a big win is exactly what they got, including a solid defensive game from Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek, who finally looked comfortable together.  Read more after the jump.

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There has been a debate in some of the threads here at PensBurgh regarding Evgeni Malkin's average shift length. Is it too long? Is it longer than it was before? How does this compare to other young stars in the game?

Answers after the jump.

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