OT: Around the NHL: The Countdown to Camp

[Richard]

I like watching the best, and the past 6 seasons the Hawks have been the best. Hell, they came within an ace last season of making I to the finals. So they lost in game seven of the conference finals and then managed to win the cup this year. So much for the short summer excuse.

I hope they win it next year so they can actually be considered a dynasty. That would be so cool. They are just fun to watch.

(I'll always love my Penguins)

 

[Deutschland Dangler]

 

[Shady Machine]

I don't think so. No individual trophies even though he's better defensively than Toews and should have a Selke under his belt. He's a great player but I don't see how his career equates to HHOF.

Why not? 3 Cups and 1000 career points. He will have over 500 career goals next season. 0.9PPG career average. One of the best wingers of the his era. How is that not a hall of fame career?

 

[Shady Machine]

Chicago just proved all pens fans excuses wrong. Chicago isn't big. Why don't they get hit? You can't catch up to the puck moving that fast and the stars spin out and barely retaliate. Injuries? No worries. Play draft picks? Wait...whaaaat? What about experience?

Pens organization should blame themselves for doing everything the Hawks didn't do to succeed.

Injuries? Their 5th dman was injured. I hardly call that a significant injury. They just chose to lean on 4 dmen heavily.

In terms of hitting, yeah when you are that good you don't need to be physical. The Pens aren't that good.

They are the new Red Wings. Such a well run organization.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

Nobody likes to use injuries as excuses and I won't here either. But this is what it is.

 

[Deutschland Dangler]

Nobody likes to use injuries as excuses and I won't here either. But this is what it is.

It's not meant to be an excuse, I just found it interesting.

 

[Shady Machine]

I agree with UM, you can't compare the Penguins and Hawks. The Penguins weren't supposed to do anything like the Hawks, each organization has a blueprint to win, Shero's blueprint over the past few years has been the wrong one, he married himself to old, declining players and mortgaged the future for old declining players. I liked everything JR has until his last trade, the Winnik trade sucked also but in hindsight, with a healthy lineup, Winnik in the playoffs is better than Sill.

UM didn't say anything worth agreeing with. Why can't you compare the Pens to the best team in hockey? Isn't that what the Pens wanted to become? Weren't both teams gifted star players through the lottery within a few years of each other?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I don't think the Hawks and Pens are a lot alike. Perhaps in potential (years ago) and there are some elements of each core that resemble one another. But the big thing is that the Hawks are a team that has always thought a few steps ahead and planned accordingly (which is why these hopeful tales of their incoming downfall make me chuckle) and the Pens are a team that willingly threw on the blinders and started thinking ahead only as far as the next TDL.

All the stuff about getting lucky with injuries and cap structure is secondary. Those things can be overcome with smart management and vision. And a lack of sentimentality. The Hawks already half blew up a Cup team once and quickly rebuilt another couple. The Penguins would done something like sign Brent Sopel for four more seasons because he was on THE CUP TEAM(!!!), has that experience and seems really nice.

The Hawks looked at their Cup in 09-10 as the start and knew that in order to repeat they had to keep moving forward. The Penguins won their Cup in 08-09 and everything they have done since seems almost like a fruitless attempt to turn back time.

 

[Shady Machine]

Agreed BlindWilly. I didn't mean to imply that the organizations are alike. However, they SHOULD be alike given the age of their core. The Pens should be comparing themselves to the Hawks and asking themselves "why aren't we winning more Cups like Chicago?"

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Agreed BlindWilly. I didn't mean to imply that the organizations are alike. However, they SHOULD be alike given the age of their core. The Pens should be comparing themselves to the Hawks and asking themselves "why aren't we winning more Cups like Chicago?"

It's all injuries and Sid and Geno's fault!

We'll get 'em next year when Pascal comes back!

 

[MrWilson*]

It's not meant to be an excuse, I just found it interesting.

Injuries KILLED the Pens this year. No question about it. Poor management gets some credit, but man, its tough to reconcile that many injuries/absences in that short a space of time. If they stayed healthy and had all signed personnel available? Pretty sure they get by the Rangers and anyone else thereafter. They showed up a shell of a team for Game 1 of the playoffs. So...get healthy and take over next season.

BTW...The superlatives being thrown around about the Hawkes and Lightning are comical. Bad, bad series in my opinion and really accomplished nothing more than punctuating the obvious--the league is becoming gentrified. Friendliest series I've ever watched, bar none. Boring as ****, with an anti-climactic ending.

Fire Bettman...

 

[plaidchuck]

The sour grapes here just because the hawks won are comical..

And the reason the series was boring was because west vs east is men against boys right now

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

It's all injuries and Sid and Geno's fault!

We'll get 'em next year when Pascal comes back!

There are very few teams that have had to deal with extensive injuries to key players like the Penguins have. There's simply no way to plan around losing Crosby and Malkin in 2011 or Letang this year. Start knocking off important players from Chicago or LA for an extended period almost every year and see how they fare. The chart earlier in this thread speaks volumes. It's not an excuse. It's a fact.

Which isn't to say the Penguins are winning Cups without injuries. God knows this team has been flawed. But the truth is that they've robbed us of actually seeing a cohesive team since, what, 2010?

 

[plaidchuck]

There are very few teams that have had to deal with extensive injuries to key players like the Penguins have. There's simply no way to plan around losing Crosby and Malkin in 2011 or Letang this year. Start knocking off important players from Chicago or LA for an extended period almost every year and see how they fare. The chart earlier in this thread speaks volumes. It's not an excuse. It's a fact.

Which isn't to say the Penguins are winning Cups without injuries. God knows this team has been flawed. But the truth is that they've robbed us of actually seeing a cohesive team since, what, 2010?

No excuse for 2012, just downright embarrassing.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

There are very few teams that have had to deal with extensive injuries to key players like the Penguins have. There's simply no way to plan around losing Crosby and Malkin in 2011 or Letang this year. Start knocking off important players from Chicago or LA for an extended period almost every year and see how they fare. The chart earlier in this thread speaks volumes. It's not an excuse. It's a fact.

Which isn't to say the Penguins are winning Cups without injuries. God knows this team has been flawed. But the truth is that they've robbed us of actually seeing a cohesive team since, what, 2010?

Of course it's a big factor.

I tend towards the sarcastic when it comes to that simply because it so often is the first thing off of many people's lips as soon as the most recent playoff ass-blasting is over and done with. And speaking strictly for myself... I'd have no problem moving on from certain core players that have proven to be a constant injury concern. I more or less subscribe to "plan for your seemingly inevitable injuries better or move on from those making it an issue to begin with." As you yourself said... it's hardly a small sample size, by now.

But point taken. This team never getting it's ass off of IR is going to cause some problems. That's impossible to deny.

 

[MrWilson*]

The sour grapes here just because the hawks won are comical..

And the reason the series was boring was because west vs east is men against boys right now

The west-vs east thing is a tired argument. That series could've gone either way. Frankly, the west wasn't terribly impressive this year--probably why Chicago got as far as they did. Nothing the Hawkes or TB did was really that impressive over 6 games. In fact, the series was, in a word, pedestrian. No bias, just telling it like it is. Boring, friendly hockey.

Whole thing was coaching. Best man won in that department. The teams themselves practically held hands til the end.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

Meh. Fully healthy we could have beaten the Rangers. We lost in 5 games, there is no denying that, but every game of that series was very close. And the Rangers were as good as any team not Chicago this year.

If there is one thing Pittsburgh/Chicago related I wish we could somehow go back and change it would be re-signing Hossa.

 

[UnrealMachine]

When the Penguins show up at the start of next season (even) older, slower, smaller and softer than the previous season (yes, it's possible), should we expect more, same or less frequency of injuries?

 

[Til the End of Time]

maybe the penguins shouldnt build their team around injury prone players.

 

[Darth Vitale]

Congratulations to the Hawks and Hawk fans. Well deserved.

 

[M0NTY26]

Okay, Reilly… we're all waiting on your decision.

 

[Freeptop]

maybe the penguins shouldnt build their team around injury prone players.

At this point, what choice do they have? It's either build around their best, but injury-prone players, or blow it all up and rebuild from scratch with no guarantee that it will result in anything close to what they've already got.

The sad thing is, it's the best players on the team that seem to be the most injury-prone.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

The only Chicago dynasty that is actually a dynasty that I bow to is the Bulls. Whatever this joke is by Bettman, it's not funny.

Also, **** the hawks and their smug fans.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Nobody likes to use injuries as excuses and I won't here either. But this is what it is.

Injuries are the only excuse you can use though. Confidence? Maybe not a good one, in the case of our Malkin. But my goodness, broken wrist? Torn groin? I feel bad for Bishop and Johnson.

The record for the Pens after Letang was out and then Despres moved and the team was cap strapped with 5 D is an eye opener for how badly the team was struggling with injuries.

If the Pens were in the same health situation as the Hawks, this team would have went deeper in the playoffs and I believe that even if people here don't.

 

[M0NTY26]

Yea… I love hearing about how tough Lebron is though for playing with cramps or taking a small bump from a camera.