Penguins Update: Can Ryan Graves (and His Game) Be Rebuilt?
I was thinking about our Penguins this morning, mind wandering about rather aimlessly, when it settled on defenseman Ryan Graves.
Immediately, I was reminded of the opening monologue to The Six Million Dollar Man, a popular ’70s TV show about an astronaut who was critically injured in a spaceship crash.
“Steve Austin. Astronaut, a man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man… Better than he was before. Better…stronger…faster.”
Can we, or more specifically our brand-new coaching staff, rebuild Graves, our version of the six million dollar man? (Okay, $4.5 million.)
The rangy, 30-year-old native of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, hasn’t looked comfortable from the moment he took his first tentative stride onto the PPG Paints Arena ice. He didn’t look comfortable paired with Kris Letang. He certainly didn’t look comfortable paired with Erik Karlsson (dear Lord). Heck, he didn’t look comfortable paired with anyone, except maybe the nachos vendor in the press box.
To my admittedly untrained eye, Graves appeared to be almost perpetually on the wrong skate, not to mention awkward and not the least bit clumsy.