Observations of Players—Ryan Whitney

Ryan Whitney has been criticized (and that’s putting it mildly) on various message boards I’ve scanned this year. Some insane fans have taken to turning Whitney’s name into a girl’s name. And watching the game I watched I against the Rangers, and watching the games I’ve seen this year—I do not get it.

Against the Rangers, Whitney never made me nearly as nervous as did Joe Melichar and Sergei Gonchar. (Seriously, the fact that Joe Melichar matched up well against Jagr one night had far more to do with Jagr having one of those "off" nights. When Jagr has an off night, as he admitted in his autobiography, even the worst defenseman can stop him.) Now granted, Melichar and Gonchar were on the ice against Jaromir Jagr, and Jagr still makes me nervous when he’s playing my team. (Every other night I still root for Jags, but more on that a little later.) All I noticed about Whitney, seriously, is that the boy could make long outlet passes easily, that he pinched in, usually at appropriate times, and that he certainly had the skating speed and size to compensate for those occasions when he did pinch.

At the current moment, Whitney is not an All-Star defenseman (despite the OLN guy who mentioned that he felt that Whitney, perhaps, should be). But Whitney is already a solid NHL defenseman—yes, Pens fans, I’m talking to you. He can already skate as well or better than most defenders, and he knows how to make outlet passes that I haven’t seen Pens blueliners makes in years. Is there room for improvement? Sure, from what I could observe in my limited viewing experience and from what I’ve read, Whitney definitely needs to unleash his shot far more frequently. And yes, he probably needs more experience just to get used to when he’s playing offense and when he’s playing defense.

Sometimes I wonder if one of the reasons people dislike Whitney is because he’s six foot four, huge, and not at all physical. The attitude seems to be that Whitney needs to crunch people. To be honest and to be fair, let’s look at the top three defensemen in the league right now. How often do you see Lidstrom and Niedermayer making bone rattling checks? Instead, don’t you usually sees the respective captains of the Red Wings and Ducks making smooth outlet passes, unleashing their cannons of shots, and playing solid positional defense? Even taking Chris Pronger, who can still dish out checks, well, Pronger’s game has adapted to the new NHL. Just like Lidstrom and Niedermayer, Pronger plays solid positional defense, rushes the puck or makes an outlet pass, and wields his cannon of a shot appropriately while playing with an edge.

Right now, let me be very clear that I am not comparing a YOUNG defenseman—let me repeat, a YOUNG defenseman—to perennial Norris Trophy contenders and defensive stalwarts. At the moment, Whitney is not at, or even close to, the elite level of Pronger, Lidstrom, and Niedermayer—who can control the tempo of an entire game when they’re at their best. Yet do you know what I see in Ryan Whitney? I see a defenseman who, with proper development and coaching, actually has the chance to become a defenseman like Niedermayer or Lidstrom. A defenseman who has the skill to be able to control the tempo of a game, a defenseman who has the size and stamina to play long minutes, and a defenseman whose skating ability alone means that he might match up well against league superstars.

In a few years’ time, though Jagr may be retired, Whitney, a defenseman who by that point has hopefully learned positional defense, with his speed and skill, might be the defenseman who not only mans the number one unit on your power play but kills penalties and matches up well against the opponent’s best skating stars.

I know Pens fans who would scoff at that, and frankly, Whitney may turn out to be more one-dimensional that I would prefer. (Again, no direct comparison should be made here, but I loved Paul Coffey dearly, and Coff did break up that 2 on 1 in the 87 Canada Cup, lest you accuse Coffey of constant defensive deficiency.) Yet when I watch the YOUNG, YOUNG defenseman—I see a kid who’s a good player who still has a lot to learn. (Watch tapes of Pronger when he first played in the league; he had a lot to learn, too. Watch him today and learn the ultimate reward of time, patience, and effective coaching and development.)

And yet, Whitney is already a good player who has much to learn. He has the skill set already; it’s such a matter of learning how to apply the skill set, and that comes with experience, coaching, and development—and it doesn’t happen overnight. But in Whitney, I see potential, and not just potential to be good, but potential to be great—so how about laying off the kid for not yet being what he’s going to be and instead eagerly expecting him to become what it’s clear he can be—hopefully, eventually, some form of an elite, or at least, an All-Star, defenseman?
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