Letang-Despres-Morrow-Pouliot

[theicebox]

Short Version:

In five years, is this a feasible top 4? No trades, keep them all.

Long Version:

After tonight's scrimmage, I am excited about Despres and Morrow, and I am starting to rejoin the Team-Shero-Drafting-School-of-PMD. Both Despres and Morrow need some polishing, but there is gold underneath their outer rookie shells.

We would be the Harlem Globetrotters of the NHL. I am being completely serious about this, I am excited. If all 4 can play D, and have elite offensive talent, we would skate circles around the competition, control both zones, and play with real life hacks. On top of this, we should (fingers crossed) have Crosby and Malkin for another decade.

Ages (2013 -> 2018)

Letang - 25 -> 30
Despres - 21 -> 26
Morrow - 20 -> 25
Pouliot - 19 -> 24

The latter three become next generation pseduo-Letangs at 24-26 in 2018, and Letang is in the prime of his career.

This formula requires getting creative with the winger situation, but I want to ask for a second opinion/try to stir the pot. We have 5 drafts between 2013 and 2018, we can also stock the wingerz cabinet. I am still on a hockey high from the scrimmage, please forgive me.

Click to read more...

 

[Captain Hook]

It might happen but there's also a possibility one of those kids may be used as trade bait.

I also hope a kid like Brian Dumoulin develops so that we have a big young defensive guy to put with one of those more offensive minded prospects like Morrow or Pouliot.

 

[Tender Rip]

Wasn't possible for me to watch the scrimmage, but going by the reports and the majority of comments here, it wasn't exactly Despres and Morrow who looked NHL ready when comparing to Bortuzzo and Strait...

Not wanting to be Debbie Downer as I have high hopes for both, just saying...

 

[theicebox]

Wasn't possible for me to watch the scrimmage, but going by the reports and the majority of comments here, it wasn't exactly Despres and Morrow who looked NHL ready when comparing to Bortuzzo and Strait...

Not wanting to be Debbie Downer as I have high hopes for both, just saying...

Bortuzzo and Strait are safe, but they are not elite. From attending the scrimmage, when Letang was paired with both Morrow and Despres, it was an elite pairing. Not perfect, but you could just see an intangible 'eliteness' about their on-ice performance. We always read on here that defense can be taught. Letang is a beast in both ends. These three prospects have a similar prospect toolkit as Letang.

Letang-Despres
Morrow-Pouliot (Portland pipeline)

This is elite. Dumoulin, Harrington, Maatta, these are all elite defensive prospects, they could be in the bottom 2.

This is purely in response to the balance that exists when Letang is partnered with other elite talent. Orpik is good, Martin has his days, but they are not elite. We do not have to water down pairings, if we have elite assets.

We have Crosby and Malkin, they are elite. I want an elite team. We have elite defensive prospects. Are Bortuzzo and Strait necessary in the long-term, if we have this oil pipeline that we are about to hit?

I am not talking about NHL ready for this season. I am talking about NHL ready for 2018. Bortuzzo and Strait will be NHL ready by then, but so too will our entire defensive stable. Really, it is awesome scary.

I know I am not a scout, but I watch enough hockey to see this potential.

 

[Giskard]

I love our D prospects ... even if 50% of them tanks we will be awesomely good

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I can almost guarentee you at least one will not develope as you . . . . and all of us . . . hope. The odds are just against them all becoming 1st or 2nd pairing defensemen. So I would say solely going by the odds, the odds are not good.

 

[fleaburn]

I really hope Despres makes the team. He just seems to have the awareness that alot of young defencemen take years to get. I've watched him in Saint John and as a lifelong Pens fan I've been following his career the best I can and I believe that he could be ready to handle lots of minutes at the NHL level this year.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

I can almost guarentee you at least one will not develope as you . . . . and all of us . . . hope. The odds are just against them all becoming 1st or 2nd pairing defensemen. So I would say solely going by the odds, the odds are not good.

Agreed, hopefully if Shero needs to make a move he chose the right one to move

Still very impressive as we speak that down the road we are looking at

Letang-Despres
Harrington-Maatta
Pouliot-Morrow
Dumoulin

 

[MurphyDump]

I really hope Despres makes the team. He just seems to have the awareness that alot of young defencemen take years to get. I've watched him in Saint John and as a lifelong Pens fan I've been following his career the best I can and I believe that he could be ready to handle lots of minutes at the NHL level this year.

Yet he's been a healthy scratch this year in WBS and apparently didn't look good at all last night in the scrimmage.

He doesn't have to clear waivers, send him back to WBS to mature and get more polished. It only makes sense.

I'd like to see us get rid of Lovejoy and keep Strait and Bortuzzo. I'm high on Bortuzzo, not only because he's another Thunder Bay boy, but he's got that Hal Gill type reach and coverage, yet can actually skate for his size. He could be that crease clearer that we're lacking.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

If Morrow and Pouliot both pan out, I'm not sure that pair is going to cut it at this level. I see a lot of good skating, passing, shooting, but a big lack of size and strength. We'll cross that bridge I guess.

 

[Shady Machine]

If Morrow and Pouliot both pan out, I'm not sure that pair is going to cut it at this level. I see a lot of good skating, passing, shooting, but a big lack of size and strength. We'll cross that bridge I guess.

?? I'm not sure if it's the right pairing, but Morrow from all accounts is physical and Pouliot seems to be pretty thick for his height. I think they would be fine physically.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

?? I'm not sure if it's the right pairing, but Morrow from all accounts is physical and Pouliot seems to be pretty thick for his height. I think they would be fine physically.

Plus either way they don't necessarily have to be paired that way. Could easily someone like Morrow paird with Dumoulin and could try to build Pouliot and Maatta together.

 

[eXile59]

I'm saying out of Despres, Morrow, Pouliot, or Maata one busts. Maybe two. Not because of their talent right now but just because odds of all them panning out are pretty slim. If they do some one give this scouting staff an award considering 3 out of 4 of them came from the end of the 1st round where historically has been a rough area to get great players when compared to the other 2/3 of the 1st round.

 

[BronzeSpruce]

Agreed, hopefully if Shero needs to make a move he chose the right one to move

Still very impressive as we speak that down the road we are looking at

Letang-Despres
Harrington-Maatta
Pouliot-Morrow
Dumoulin

not being a smart ass but i hope shero didnt pass up on top 6 forwards for first round bottom pairing defensemen ( pouliot -morrow)

 

[BronzeSpruce]

in 5 years who plays with crosby at a reasonable price? dupuis and kunitz will be retired by then. we wil need at least 2 top 6 forwards. shero better get em now. hopefully we draft late the next 5 years so i dont expect drafted players to start in the nhl for 3-5 years.


Bennett-Crosby- ???????
Neal-Malkin-???????

 

[The Tang]

You can never tell if a prospect will really pa out; there's always busts. But I did like what I saw.

As for Burtozzo and Strait, they may be fine but I'm not really expecting much more than bottom pairing guys.

It might happen but there's also a possibility one of those kids may be used as trade bait.

I've been thinking about that for quite some time given the depth of defensive prospects we have after this past draft. I won't be surprised at all if we see another Neal-Goligoski type deal in the near future.

 

[BronzeSpruce]

You can never tell if a prospect will really pa out; there's always busts. But I did like what I saw.

As for Burtozzo and Strait, they may be fine but I'm not really expecting much more than bottom pairing guys.



I've been thinking about that for quite some time given the depth of defensive prospects we have after this past draft. I won't be surprised at all if we see another Neal-Goligoski type deal in the near future.

my issue with that is, those guys come with higher cap hits like neal and kunitz. wouldnt it be nice to have production out of a top 6 pedigree forward on and entry level contract for 3 years or so. not to many top 2 pairing dman you have no place for

 

[End of Line]

Most likely pairings:

Despres-Letang
Harrington-Morrow
Dumoulin-Pouliot

 

[The Tang]

my issue with that is, those guys come with higher cap hits like neal and kunitz. wouldnt it be nice to have production out of a top 6 pedigree forward on and entry level contract for 3 years or so. not to many top 2 pairing dman you have no place for

It most definitely would and honestly I was disappointed we didn't take a forward in the first round. But as it stands, these are the cards the Pens have and Shero has been able to find a way to make the most of them.

 

[BronzeSpruce]

Most likely pairings:

Despres-Letang
Harrington-Morrow
Dumoulin-Pouliot

now with this i understand dumoulin was picked up in a trade but your going to put an 8th overall pick on the 3rd pairing???? fail shero IMO if that happens

 

[BronzeSpruce]

It most definitely would and honestly I was disappointed we didn't take a forward in the first round. But as it stands, these are the cards the Pens have and Shero has been able to find a way to make the most of them.

im not trying to be negative here. i do trust shero but today after hearing that we might lose one of our D prospects for nothing really made me mad. i immediately thought of 2 first round picks bot Dman. the number of dman we have just doesnt make sense to me. im not a GM i know but you gotta trade the prospects for wingers eventually and like i said they normally come with a higher cap hit than an entry level rookie that we SHOULD have drafted in the first place. so your trading Dman or drafting 6-7th Dman in the 1st round. im just frustrated right now.

 

[The Tang]

im not trying to be negative here. i do trust shero but today after hearing that we might lose one of our D prospects for nothing really made me mad. i immediately thought of 2 first round picks bot Dman. the number of dman we have just doesnt make sense to me. im not a GM i know but you gotta trade the prospects for wingers eventually and like i said they normally come with a higher cap hit than an entry level rookie that we SHOULD have drafted in the first place. so your trading Dman or drafting 6-7th Dman in the 1st round. im just frustrated right now.

I completely understand where you're coming from, don't get me wrong. Our balance of forward/defense prospects is horribly tilted and other than Bennett there's (seemingly) not a whole lot to look forward too unless one of the guys surprises everyone.

Maatta I get because he dropped so much and they must be really really high on Pouliot if they took him 8th. I was more surprised they didn't try to nab an offensive prospect instead of Dumoulin.

 

[GuillaumeLetsundress*]

Bortuzzo has a good shot at making the squad this year?

 

[shureshot66]

Bortuzzo has a good shot at making the squad this year?

It would appear that he has already has made the team.