Stop Putting Him On TV

I happened to check in on the "frenzy" that TSN was calling its free agency coverage, and it became quite apparent that there was one member of the panel who was slightly different than the rest. Somehow, Pierre McGuire was invited back to the TSN set to inform listeners of all his worldly knowledge regarding every player who was mentioned on the program. I get that NBC wasn't doing wall-to-wall coverage of the first day of free agency, but there's no reason to send McGuire back to Canada. We never asked for him back.

Pierre McGuire was on Pittsburgh's 93.7 The Fan radio station today where he was talking about Pittsburgh's free agent moves. In particular, he seems to like the 6-year contract worth $21 million that GM Jim Rutherford gave former Winnipeg Jet Brandon Tanev, and he seems to be thumbing his nose at the rest of the hockey pundit fraternity with his comments. The following tweet from Eric Hagman sums it up nicely.

Loved this quote from Pierre McGuire on @937theFan regarding critics of Tanev signing "I love the pundits--who I don't even know who these people are--that write stuff. I've been in the league 31 years. I wonder how many of these people saw Tanev play."

— Eric Hagman (@esh714) July 2, 2019

Hoo boy. Where do we start on this one?

Brandon Tanev was an effective checking forward when placed with specific players in Winnipeg's setup, allowing him to score career highs of 14 goals and 29 points. He led the Jets in hits this past season which, if one looks at when hits are thrown, means that Tanev did most of his work when the Jets didn't have the puck. For a possession-heavy team like the Penguins, those hits won't matter much unless they have someone doing the hard work of recovering the puck.

As NHL reporter Scott Billeck wrote,

But Tanev away from those two, or without at least Lowry as Copp bounced around this past season, isn't pretty.
Tanev w/ Lowry, Copp - 58.27 CF%
Tanev w/ Lowry - 52.74 CF%
Tanev w/o Lowry, Copp - 38.08 CF%
Tanev w/o Lowry - 41.49 CF%

— Scott Billeck (@ScottBilleck) June 27, 2019

In other words, without the two possession drivers on his line who did a lot of the heavy lifting on that line, Brandon Tanev was a non-factor when he wasn't playing with Adam Lowry and Andrew Copp. That 38% Corsi number is downright awful, and it's something that the Penguins should be aware of when composing lines this season. Brandon Tanev won't make you better. Instead, the opposite is true in that Tanev needs possession-driving players for him to be effective.

I get that some people see Pierre McGuire as some sort of hockey authority at some level, but people have been calling him on his garbage for years. If we jump back to 1994 to a Jeff Jacobs' article in the Hartford Courant, Jacobs wrote,

This is a guy who famously led the Hartford Whalers to an impeccable 23–37–7 record before being mercifully relieved of his job after losing all the respect of his players, and he's claiming he can outwit anyone in the NHL? Excuse me while I stifle the laughter.

On top of that, Jacobs added this amazing piece of journalism.

It's an effective strategy to hold Mario Lemieux to no goals in a game, but it's also not true. In a game on October 17, 1992 where Pierre McGuire was the assistant coach for the Whalers while working with head coach Paul Holmgren, the boxscore tells a different story as Mario Lemieux scored Pittsburgh's third goal at 16:15 of the first period before assisting on Kevin Stevens' hat trick goal at 8:20 of the second period. If allowing Mario Lemieux to score a goal and add a helper is "shutting him down", Pierre McGuire needs his head checked.

If NBC wants to have him on their broadcasts as a Madlibs-esque character who spews random, but mostly useless, facts about players on either team, they're welcome to do so. His "eye test" on Brandon Tanev doesn't hold water just as his coaching abilities didn't ever hold water. It's at this point that Pierre McGuire should save a little face by shutting his yap.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!