I'd say this is the worst place the pens have been in a long time.
Sid and Geno's best years are behind them, they don't really have much talent around Sid and Geno right now, they don't have many assets either.
Pens are probably the 4th or 5th best team in there own division, there isn't much to be excited about right now as a pens fan.
Completely disagree. Those changes needed to happen ASAP.The Penguins organization saw a decent amount of change last year. James Neal was moved out. Shero and Bylsma were both fired. David Morehouse was promoted.
For the past four years, the Penguins HFBoards community was advocating for the firing of Bylsma and Shero as it would ultimately help the team out. Shero was consistently mortgaging our future. Bylsma's system was strangling our star players and propping up AHLers like Adams into "key" roles. Everyone was ecstatic when the Penguins finally fired both and moved into a new era.
The only issue was that we ended up with an AHL coach and Jim Rutherford. In their first year they barely made the playoffs. They traded away Despres and multiple picks for UFAs. Our first was traded for David Perron who was less than advertised. They also used what money we did have on free agency for a defenseman, akin to Shero.
Now we are nearly one year removed from those changes and we have JR in charge of what is probably the most important off season in the Crosby era?
Is it actually an improvement to have JR and Johnston entering this off season? Or would it have been better to just stick with Shero and Bylsma for one more year and fired them this off season? Allowing for actual NHL coaches like Todd Mclellan and NHL GMs like Pete Chiarelli to take over important management positions rather than whatever is running our franchise right now?
I honestly believe that Shero and Bylsma being here one more year would've done less damage to our franchise than what JR and Johnston have done in one year. I see so many parallels between the Canucks and Torts and last year and the Pens.
Shall we revisit the posts in this thread? How does the trade change our stances on this team going into the off-season?
Honestly, with the way the Kessel deal went down, I'll say we are better off now. I thought for sure we were going to give up way too much, but JR pulled off a good deal. That the first rounder for next year is lottery protected is especially important in my opinion. I think this team is going to experience some serious pains this coming season, and being able to keep that pick is enormous. Our division will, if anything, be even more difficult than it was this year, I certainly wouldn't just assume we are a playoff team at this point.
The team would be a cellar dweller if not for the all-world talents of Crosby and Malkin. Instead of being a cellar dweller it'll be one of the middle-tier teams that exist to take low playoff spots and do jobs for the actual great teams, until Crosby and Malkin get pissed with the constant mediocrity and leave. Then it will be a real cellar dweller, we can all enjoy the X GENERATION again, and start the whole stupid process over with some high picks.
Kessel trade makes it about even, granted the off-season isn't over yet. Our offense already looks a lot better, but at a glance our defense looks about that much worse too.
I think simply the fact that we are finally building around our top two assets is a move in the right direction.
Now, let's just hope they realize we don't HAVE to win the cup next year. We have at least three years where we have Letang, Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel. Not to mention smaller pieces were kept in the Kessel deal with Hornqvist, Maatta, and Pouliot.
The best part is that having a legitimate top six with Hornqvist, Malkin, Crosby, Kessel and hopefully Perron gives us the chance to slow develop forward assets or in other words, do what Chicago did and play them as complimentary pieces.
I think it is clear after this free agency we are in a better place than last off season and fully take back my statements, that being said without the Kessel trade and the signing or trading for a player like Frolik or Sharp, I think my stance is completely different. If we struck out on this trade as in even giving up a player of DP or Maatta's stature in it, our team would have a miserable line-up.
I'd say this is the worst place the pens have been in a long time.
Sid and Geno's best years are behind them, they don't really have much talent around Sid and Geno right now, they don't have many assets either.
Pens are probably the 4th or 5th best team in there own division, there isn't much to be excited about right now as a pens fan.
I remember the pre Mario days and the post Jagr days when out leading scorer was Dick Tarnstrom. If you can't get excited about this team with 2 of the best players in the world, one of the most dynamic defenseman in the NHL, one of the most offensively gifted wingers, budding young stars in Maatta and Pouliot plus several other good players then go find another team to watch because we don't need you. Many fans would kill for this group. Some fans have been to spoiled.
The top-6 is better than its been in quite a while, and they are a couple of moves from having one of the deepest top-9s, maybe top-12s in the league, but now they have nothing in the system. They went from the deepest blue line in the league (opinion) to nothing and their get, in the end, was Phil Kessel. Elite player, for sure, but so many bullets wasted.
I don't know if they are in a better spot today than 2 days ago, or 12 months ago. They are in a different spot.