Penguins Game-Day Rant

I was exchanging texts with PP colleague Caleb DiNatale, which served to set off me off regarding one of my biggest Penguins peeves.

Before I begin to ramble, please understand this by no means is intended to denigrate or demean the players I’m about to mention. Anyone who makes it to the NHL (or even the AHL or ECHL) are incredible athletes who are very good at what they do.

Rather my rant is pointed at the Pens’ organization as a whole and Kyle Dubas and Mike Sullivan in particular.

My particular bone of contention involves forward Matt Nieto, or more to the point his deployment. After coming back from multiple knee surgeries (kudos to him for doing so) he’s been a fixture on the fourth line.

My question is why?

Yes, I know he’s regarded as a good defensive forward and penalty killer. In his two seasons with the Pens he’s been on the ice for 13 5v5 goals for and only 10 against. All the more impressive given his ridiculously low offensive zone starts percentage of less than 15 percent.

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