I have been reading a lot of tweets about the constant movement of Pens defensive prospect Scott Harrington the last few days. I personally have been calling for him to play over the likes of Simon Despres the last few days, but the majority of the tweets have been about his constant shuffling between Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh. It is a common question with a pretty interesting answer, one I have decided to provide some answers to for you all.
So, why is Scott Harrington going back and forth? Well, that will be answered in my second section. Let's first look at who Scott Harrington is and then go in-depth into why he is here and the current Penguins player that he is being tied to in this process. Let's have at it, the Curious Case of Scott Harrington.
Who Is Scott Harrington?
Who is Scott Harrington? If you have been following me for a while, he is the guy I have been referring to as "Press Box Hero," since he has been sitting in the box every night watching the boys play. But Scott Harrington is more than that.
Scott Harrington is a 21 year old defenseman from Kingston, Ontario. The 6'2", 210lbs defender was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2011 NHL Draft. He played his junior hockey in London for the Knights, the same junior team as current Penguin Olli Maatta. Fun fact, Maatta and Harrington were the top-pairing for the Knights from 2010-2013.
Harrington made his professional debut for the Baby Penguins during the 2013 playoff run, getting in two games before making the full time jump to the AHL last season. In 76 games for Wilkes-Barre last season, Harrington was a +9 rating and scored 24 points (5G-19A). He was featured on their penalty kill and was one of their best defensive defenseman.
Scott is not like fellow prospect Derrick Pouliot or like current Penguin Kris Letang. He is not even like his old pairmate Olli Maatta. Harrington has puck moving ability and is capable of putting up points, but he is definitely a defensive defenseman. He specializes in blocking shots and killing penalties, not joining the rush and running the power play. He's the kind of defenseman I personally love. He's not flash, he's more thunder.
Harrington has jumped the depth charts the last two seasons and significantly this year. He is ahead of the likes of Brian Dumoulin and Philip Samuelsson at the moment - two guys who made their NHL debuts last season. Johnston and staff like his game and he will be playing in Pittsburgh...eventually.
When will Scott Harrington play for the Pittsburgh Penguins? Well, that is a question that is not exactly easy to answer. But let's hold off on that for a little bit and finally answer to why the "Press Box Hero" has been sitting here for the last two weeks.
Why the Round Abouts Between Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh?
Like all young players, Scott Harrington is learning the rigors of the NHL game, style, etc. He played often in the preseason to get more of a taste of higher level competition. He has been re-called and sent back to Wilkes-Barre since the season started for two reasons. So for those of you who have been wondering why Scott Harrington has been the "Press Box Hero" and not playing, then getting sent to WBS, here is your two part answer:
Firstly, Scott Harrington keeps getting sent back to Wilkes-Barre on weekends to keep his legs up and get game time. The AHL usually plays 2 or 3 games in 3 days on the weekend and don't often play during the week. So, if you have noticed the trends, Harrington - and Ebbett too - have been being sent down on the weekends. Management is doing that to get them playing time. He can get the game experience he needs on the weekend and then get recalled Monday morning and come back with the big club.
Now, why is he sitting here and not playing. LIke I said before, Scott Harrington is learning, but more specifically, he is being tutored by one particular Penguin defenseman. That defenseman I s Rob Scuderi.
Now before you all go calling this moronic and questioning my sanity as well, here me out because I will try to give you a logical explanation with evidence to why Harrington is being tutored by Scuds.
Why Be Tutored By "The Piece?"
I know I am one of the few out there in Penguins Nation that still believes in Rob Scuderi; a notion that I am often berated on social media for. Regardless of that, I still believe in Rob Scuderi and I believe that he is a great tutor of young defensemen. Just ask the Kings. Alright, so let me try to sell you on why they want Harrington to watch Scuderi and learn from him.
First, let's begin with Harrington being drafted in 2011. Every player that is available in the draft or coming out of college are scouted to ridiculous depths and are often compared to current or former NHL players to what kind of player they will mirror. When Harrington was drafted in 2011, the player he was immediately compared to was Rob Scuderi. Many in the organization jumped on Scott because they wanted to replace the man they lost the summer after winning the Cup. The Pens franchise loved Rob Scuderi, and so did the fan base until he had a rough year last season. The Pens hoped that they would be able to strike the gold of 2006-09 again with the young defenseman from the London Knights.
Next, Rob Scuderi is a very good teacher. Some professional athletes don't like to take young players under their wings because they don't want to basically help the organization replace them. Scuderi was never like that. He was a partner to young Kris Letang in the 2008 season and would go on to teach and tutor every young defensemen on the Kings roster that would go on to win two Stanley Cups in three years. The Kings specifically stated that they brought Scuderi in to teach the likes of Drew Doughty, Slava Voynov, Matt Greene and Alec Martinez to become solid defensemen. When he became available following the 2013 playoffs, the Pens did the exact same thing the Kings did in 2009, brought him in to tutor the deep corps of young defensemen. Need more proof of this, go back and watch the first episode of "In The Room" for last season and you will see Scuds talking to the young defensemen and Bylsma stating in the interviews he is here to teach these young players. If I recall correctly, Harrington was specifically mentioned.
Then there are the numbers to consider. Aside from last season, when Rob Scuderi missed thirty games due to a broken ankle and when he returned was not anywhere close to 100%, he has incredibly solid career numbers. For proof of that, take a look at the chart below that has Scud's defensive stats for his career.
Defensive Point Shares: the estimated number of points contributed by a player due to his defense.
Now, I want you to take a look at a couple of these statistics above. We are going to skip points and plus/minus, since points are not a big concern for a defensive defenseman and plus/minus is misleading. Here are the few I want you to look at.
Firstly, look at the short handed average time on ice (SH ATOI) and the team rankings. Rob Scuderi gets a ton of penalty kill time. Frankly, he is a penalty kill specialist. He averages close to three minutes per game for his career and ranks within the top five each year on his teams. Most often, he is the top two in short handed minutes. The few exceptions when he is four or five, he is still one of the top two defenseman in short handed ice time on the team; in these particular cases, forwards have more icetime than the defensemen do as was the case for example for the 2007-08 Pens. And just for everyone's information, Rob Scuderi still leads the Pens this year in average ice time while shorthanded with 3:23 per game. These numbers, and success in that role, is what they hope Scott Harrington will replicate when he joins the big club. He is one of the Baby Pens top killers as it is and he will be expected to do the same in Pittsburg.
Next, I want you to look at the giveaway numbers (GIV, GIV/Gm, SH GIV). For those out there who are Corsi and Fenwick gurus, this one will be more of you. If you look at the numbers, Scuderi is pretty smart with the puck. He averages roughly half (0.57 to be exact) giveaways per game for his career and less than half of that while he is on the penalty kill. What that tells me is he is smart with the puck, especially on the penalty kill. That is key to the success of a defensive defenseman. The success of the PK is reliant on being responsible with the puck in these those instances. The numbers show Scuds does that, and the Pens want Harrington to see what he does in those instances and replicate them in his own game.
Finally, look at the Defensive Point Shares (DPS and DPS TM RNK) stats. DPS is the estimated number of points contributed by a player due to his defense. Most defensemen who lead in this category are defenseman who are more offensive minded. Now, Rob Scuderi is often among the team leaders in this category in his career among ALL players on his team - forwards and defensemen alike. He ranks in the top four every year except last season, when he was significantly injured. This is rather impressive considering he has played on teams with several offensive defensemen such as Letang, Doughty, Niskanen and Voynov. Just another stat that helps the team and one the Pens hope Harrington can replicate.
Putting It All Together
So there is your answer. Scott Harrington is going down to WBS on the weekends to get the games in and he spends the rest of the time up here to study Rob Scuderi. Now, I know most have given up on the "Piece" and his abilities over the last year, but you have to cut him some slack for last year. Prior to last season, Scuderi missed a grand total of 25 games over a seven year span. For a guy that is not too fleet of foot to begin with, a broken ankle for a guy dependent on being able to push off to move side to side was going to severely hurt his game.
Now, enough defending, let's get back to the issue at hand. Scuderi is the perfect tutor for Scott Harrington. The numbers I provided above prove that Scuderi was a very good defensive defenseman in this league. His play is not flashy, it never has been and never will be, but if you looked up consistency in the dictionary Scuds' picture could be there. He was consistently good for seven years and one bad year last year. He's been solid this season and that will help Harrington as well. Scuds isn't flashy as I said, but his techniques around the net and the little things he does are incredibly valuable. Harrington is already a solid defenseman; one who I believe could step into the lineup tomorrow and succeed. He will benefit greatly from watching Scuderi and learning these tricks.
Scuderi may be past his prime, and Harrington is only starting to come into his own, but the two are linked and for quality reasons. Scuderi is invaluable at this point in his career as a teacher alone and Harrington will only benefit and grow from the information that Scuds can provide him.
I hope that answers your questions on the curious case of Scott Harrington. I hope that you all can see from the information and statistics provided, that Scuderi is a good example for Harrington to learn from and grow into. The "Piece" was vital to the 2008 and 2009 Cup run teams. Harrington I feel will be that valuable down the road for the Pens future Cup runs. He needs to grow, he needs to learn and he will have the best tutor in Rob Scuderi.
In fact, I will close with this statement: At this time say two or three years from now, we will look back on this whole situation and think that Harrington has developed into a very good NHL defenseman, that Rob Scuderi's teaching were important to his growth and that his nickname will no longer be the "Press Box Hero" but "The Piece Jr."