The Best of HF: Rights and Wrongs

[ColePens]

We need a relaxed thread around here as the Pens organization isn't giving us much to cheer about.

Let's talk about some of our HF vision. What were we right about? What were we dead wrong about?

Right
- Led by Burgs, we have some awesome posters who know prospects well. I firmly believe the Pens organizational depth would be better with consensus HF-Pens picks over our overpaid scouts.

- Geno/Kessel & Hornqvist/Sid: People screamed during the preseason about the line make-up and they look to be right.

- Farnham, Vitale, Talbot, Letestu: Lots of posters, way before they were useful, raved about those players. Letestu is the one that really stands out.

- There is a 2010 thread about Dan Bylsma almost immediately when the season starts and a lot of us were being really cautious with some of his decisions early on. It's one of my favorite reads to go back to.

- Ryan Whitney: If you guys remember WVP's avatar, we were all right about wanting to move him.

- Personal one for me - I said w/ a coaching change we could win the Cup in 2009 when we were 9th or 10th in the East. I will cherish that HF Moment forever.

Wrong
- A lot of us thought Letang and Fleury contracts could have been dealbreakers for this team. I actually don't know where we would be without those two right now.

- The Iginla trade: This one comes with a disclaimer called Dan Bylsma. He was so poorly used here, but we all thought that night we won the Cup.

- Luca Caputi, Dustin Jeffrey, CPZ, Tangradi, Veileux: I'll just leave these names here.

- A tactician coach would change how this team plays in a positive way.



What do you got?

Click to read more...

 

[Pens1566]

Best I can do is :

- People who were pointing out Nisky was more than just a throw in on the Neal trade.

 

[billybudd]

Jmelm was pumping Dumoulin's tires as more than just one of the crowd since pretty much day 1.

Edit: for me, I said trading a 2015 first round pick for David Perron was risky, not something I'd have done and had the potential of majorly blowing up in our faces due to the depth in the draft making it likely that Perron level or better players were still on the board. Barzal went with that pick and he's Perron level or better at 18.

I also said Lovejoy was a scoch better than Despres, though I did specify that that could change quickly. Well, it changed after 5 games, so I'll call that a strikeout.

 

[Asuna]

I said Murray was gonna be better than Jarry......

 

[ColePens]

I'm surprised RRP isn't in here with his 3 trades that he basically called before they happened (months before, too).

 

[Evilo]

I think I called for Shero's head once he didn't sign our young unknown prospect Matt Moulson even though we needed help at wing.
Got a lot of heat for that, but it seemed so stupid at the time since we really needed a winger. First decision he made and it was all wrong.

 

[Winger for Hire]

-I was right to join up here and follow the action here as an alternative to the local media and other social media discussions.

You guys and gals are #1 in my book... even the couple of members on my block list.

 

[Cliff O Malley]

We all pretty much agreed that the Despres-Lovejoy was a good hockey move

 

[Zen Arcade]

I was right on Letestu and Dumoulin, Gibbons to a lesser extent.

I was wrong about re-signing Kunitz, he declined much faster than I anticipated. I was wrong about Letang too, he ended being a better player than I thought he'd be.

 

[Gold Diamond]

My biggest fail was saying Therein should not have been fired during the 08-09 season. I defended him to the death that year and we all know how that turned out.

 

[NMK11]

I feel like I remember a LOT of people wanting two PP units. Maybe with a different coach it could still work, but it was a flop so far.

 

[StaalForOne]

We all pretty much agreed that the Despres-Lovejoy was a good hockey move

ha

I was right on Letestu and Dumoulin, Gibbons to a lesser extent.

I was wrong about resigning Kunitz, he declined much faster than I anticipated. I was wrong about Letang too, he ended being a better player than I thought he'd be.

I liked Letestu early as well. I always thought he was better than Jeffrey, but Jeffrey had that one hot streak when Sid and Malkin were out and everyone was higher on him.

I was never big on Dumoulin, but he's been proving me wrong thus far.

I didn't like Sutter from his first interview with the team, and I don't think there was ever a time I was thrilled about him as a pen. If I'm being honest actually, I just didn't want to see Staal go, but the interview was icing on the cake.

I thought Tyler Kennedy would have made a good top 6 player to work with Sid at some point.

Theres way more I was wrong about as well, just those come to mind.

 

[eXile59]

We need a relaxed thread around here as the Pens organization isn't giving us much to cheer about.

Let's talk about some of our HF vision. What were we right about? What were we dead wrong about?

Right
- Led by Burgs, we have some awesome posters who know prospects well. I firmly believe the Pens organizational depth would be better with consensus HF-Pens picks over our overpaid scouts.

- Geno/Kessel & Hornqvist/Sid: People screamed during the preseason about the line make-up and they look to be right.

- Farnham, Vitale, Talbot, Letestu: Lots of posters, way before they were useful, raved about those players. Letestu is the one that really stands out.

- There is a 2010 thread about Dan Bylsma almost immediately when the season starts and a lot of us were being really cautious with some of his decisions early on. It's one of my favorite reads to go back to.

- Ryan Whitney: If you guys remember WVP's avatar, we were all right about wanting to move him.

- Personal one for me - I said w/ a coaching change we could win the Cup in 2009 when we were 9th or 10th in the East. I will cherish that HF Moment forever.

Wrong
- A lot of us thought Letang and Fleury contracts could have been dealbreakers for this team. I actually don't know where we would be without those two right now.

- The Iginla trade: This one comes with a disclaimer called Dan Bylsma. He was so poorly used here, but we all thought that night we won the Cup.

- Luca Caputi, Dustin Jeffrey, CPZ, Tangradi, Veileux: I'll just leave these names here.

- A tactician coach would change how this team plays in a positive way.



What do you got?

Yes but we have a chance to break it with Bennett. If he ever plays.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I will humbly take the credit for being the original Bobby Farham superfan. Followed closely by the other WBS watchers Zen Arcade and td_ice. Who deserve a lot more credit than me for being informed and insightful posters.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Warm Cookies was always right about how good Letang could become.

 

[Griffin6612]

I still miss Letestu a ton and wish we signed him

 

[WVP]

- Ryan Whitney: If you guys remember WVP's avatar, we were all right about wanting to move him.

Dude, I was just looking for that. Was going to bring it back when he announced his retirement.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

I knew drafting DP was a horrible mistake.

Not rocket science but Shero was a ****ing idiot.


I'm also one of the only posters who didn't want MAF shot into the sun for 5 years straight.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

One word.

Edzo.

 

[Rocket of Russia]

I'm mostly right and wrong on a majority of issues that wouldn't be seen as controversial or against the grain around here.

A few that could be considered as such (not the norm here):

Right

- I'm shameless in my Letang love. Have always dug his game and saw the value he added to every shift even if so many posters on here think he's a PP disaster or not too bright.

- Was an immediate basher of Lovejoy/Despres. Lots of talk on main board pens fans or even here was that Lovejoy was better "NOW" but it was very likely Despres would be better in the near future and going forward. I yelled at these people.

- Wanted Sid to get surgery on his wrist instead of opting for treatment. There's no definitive proof out there but isn't his wrist still bothering him?

Wrong

- Voted for Phil/Sid - being one of Kunitz's biggest detractors it's pretty funny that I thought even Kunitz couldn't drag down Sid/Phil.
- That does come with a clause - I did say if something's not working don't hesitate to switch it up.

- Strait. I b****ed and complained that we lost him for nothing, and I'll still cling to it being a symptom of bad asset management, but the Islanders fan base is all but begging for him to be waived. He just wasn't that good.

- Maatta - I do find him to be one of the more overrated prospects out there but I remember before his rookie year I was willing to use him as a toss-in for just about every trade scenario.

- Iginla
- Also comes with a clause - DB.

- Paul Martin bouncing back after 2012. Never saw that coming.

 

[PensandCaps]

i thought dumo was gonna prove hes a top 4 damn before the season, while people had him lumped in with erixson and gonch

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I knew drafting DP was a horrible mistake.

Not rocket science but Shero was a ****ing idiot.


I'm also one of the only posters who didn't want MAF shot into the sun for 5 years straight.

The first one is far from decided by any means, but the MAF defenders can definitely pat themselves on the back at this point.

 

[iFishyHD]

I can't exactly what I remember what I have and haven't said on HF. This may spark a session of looking at some old/bad posts of mine.

 

[PensFan68]

I wasn't big on some of the people overly hyped lately (caputi and tangradi come to mind) however going further back I was sure wrong on a couple guys. I really though kris beech was going to become a lesser version of Ron Francis. I thought he was good defensively and had enough offense to be a great top 6 guy. Him and I always thought Tomas surovy was going to become an elite sniper.


I know most hate him now, but I was HUGE on scuderi when he played in WBS. I kept wanting him up here as a solid defensive d man. I know he wasn't great for long, but for maybe 5 years he was steady at what he did

 

[dueling mullets]

That Kunitz's wheels fell off in the shortened season and he was done.