Post-Game Talk: You can't fire me, I quit. Pens - 1, It's a Tarp - 3

[Deutschland Dangler]

1. Save drafting KK, is there anything substantively different that JR has done with this roster since replacing Shero that Shero would've done? Forget the talk. I'm talking actions.

Pulling the trigger on Hornqvist for Neal? Not throwing money at either Niskanen or Orpik? Signing Ehrhoff? Upgrading the backup position?

 

[Pancakes]

Two questions:

1. Save drafting KK, is there anything substantively different that JR has done with this roster since replacing Shero that Shero would've done? Forget the talk. I'm talking actions.

2. Is there one Pens forward, save Sid or Geno, who played tonight who's better than Jagr? Heck, is there one who didn't play who's better?

1. I think the Neal trade is not something Shero would have done.

2. Nope. I wish like hell we had Jagr

 

[Lomez]

Except for the fact that Geno has zero legitimate scoring line wingers, and Kunitz is playing like El Stinko.

Well, that's a whole different issue!

 

[gordie]

Yep, dude should clearly be scoring all of their goals also. 1 goal in the last 6 periods and a PP that is the second worst in the league over the last month.

Of course, you don't even understand simple assignments and who to assign blame when thing break down, so I'm not surprised at your spot on "analysis" of Despres being the reason for their failures.

When Ehrhoff, Maatta and Martin return, I suspect the Defensive Messiah Simon gets far less TOI. Just a hunch!!

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Two questions:

1. Save drafting KK, is there anything substantively different that JR has done with this roster since replacing Shero that Shero would've done? Forget the talk. I'm talking actions.

2. Is there one Pens forward, save Sid or Geno, who played tonight who's better than Jagr? Heck, is there one who didn't play who's better?

1. The Neal trade, signing Downie and possibly the Samuelsson trade. You might be able to throw signing Greiss in if Shero would have stuck with Zatkoff And probably not re-signing Glass, you could say the same for letting Orpik and Niskanen walk if we take inaction as the correct action.

Also, firing Bylsma.


2 is sad and I still don't want Jagr here now.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Keep Sutter for 3C with Bennett and Downie, and we'd be fine.

We can't afford that third line. We don't have the wingers for the first two lines to have Bennett-Sutter-Downie on Line 3.

Sutter needs to be sacrificed. And until we get two more wingers in here, Bennett should be in the top six as well when he gets back.

We should be trying to move Sutter, Kunitz, Martin, Spaling and Dumoulin right now. Before we give up anymore precious draft picks or any of the other youth we have, those are the expendables.

 

[KIRK]

1. I think the Neal trade is not something Shero would have done.

2. Nope. I wish like hell we had Jagr

1. I actually think Shero would've traded Neal. He would've been the roster fall guy no matter who was GM. And, you just know he'd have traded with Nashville. Only difference is that he'd have done Neal for Horny and a swap of firsts and drafted the best available defenseman. He also may have thrown big money at Nisky OR Orpik as someone suggested, but it would've been instead of signing Ehrhoff. But, make no mistake, if he couldn't have kept either, then the Ehrhoff deal was right out of the Shero GM Manual.

2. Me too. My point in asking the question was to reinforce that aspect of MTL's indictment of the Shero era.

 

[ProgOg]

A look at how bad the Devils are, and how low the Penguins have sunken.

 

[KIRK]

We can't afford that third line. We don't have the wingers for the first two lines to have Bennett-Sutter-Downie on Line 3.

Sutter needs to be sacrificed. And until we get two more wingers in here, Bennett should be in the top six as well when he gets back.

We should be trying to move Sutter, Kunitz, Martin, Spaling and Dumoulin right now. Before we give up anymore precious draft picks or any of the other youth we have, those are the expendables.

EDIT: One added benefit, beyond adding talent that might help Sid and Geno, would be the message dealing a few of those guys sends. Neal was a goner. Everyone knew he was going to be the fall guy from the roster for the last five years. Aside from him, it's still 'we are family' when it comes to roster management. That needs to change, big time.

 

[gordie]

Pulling the trigger on Hornqvist for Neal? Not throwing money at either Niskanen or Orpik? Signing Ehrhoff? Upgrading the backup position?

All good moves that have pointed this franchise in the right direction after 5 seasons in the wilderness. No problem with anything, except what looks like Taylor Pyatt 2.0 in Klinkhammer and that was for very little.

 

[Night Shift]

We can't afford that third line. We don't have the wingers for the first two lines to have Bennett-Sutter-Downie on Line 3.

Sutter needs to be sacrificed. And until we get two more wingers in here, Bennett should be in the top six as well when he gets back.

We should be trying to move Sutter, Kunitz, Martin, Spaling and Dumoulin right now. Before we give up anymore precious draft picks or any of the other youth we have, those are the expendables.

I've defended Sutter earlier in the season on this board because I thought he was playing better physically, but now nope.. he's as soft as they come.. For someone like him to not want to play here at the start I say ship him to Edmonton

 

[WayneSid9987]

To defend Sutter a bit. He did have the flu or mumps-like symptoms here lately AND he was probably the first or second best forward for us in the playoffs last year. Him not playing well right now is a less of a worry than say Kunitz and what he might look like in the playoffs or JR signing Erhoff and holding on to all 3 of Erhoff, Martin and Scuds this year.

 

[Hophog]

1. I actually think Shero would've traded Neal. He would've been the roster fall guy no matter who was GM. And, you just know he'd have traded with Nashville. Only difference is that he'd have done Neal for Horny and a swap of firsts and drafted the best available defenseman. He also may have thrown big money at Nisky OR Orpik as someone suggested, but it would've been instead of signing Ehrhoff. But, make no mistake, if he couldn't have kept either, then the Ehrhoff deal was right out of the Shero GM Manual.

2. Me too. My point in asking the question was to reinforce that aspect of MTL's indictment of the Shero era.

He would have also gotten one of Nashville's defenseman (in place of Spaling), as a throw in for Neal, and then drafted the best available dman later.

 

[Night Shift]

All good moves that have pointed this franchise in the right direction after 5 seasons in the wilderness. No problem with anything, except what looks like Taylor Pyatt 2.0 in Klinkhammer and that was for very little.

idk about that, Klink at least uses his size a little (not enough of it) Pyatt used none of it. I don't think he's adjusted here yet but hopefully he will be slotted to the 4th line by the time the new regime fixes this roster

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Didn't watch.

Glad I didn't.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

I can go either way. I do not believe he was responsible for the Jagr goal. I 100% the gap was fine and Scuderi needs to take him.

With that in mind, he got 7 SOG, and was cleaning up his own end all night. Do not think Pouliot's strong game is a coincidence.

Also, if someone is better than every other player at his position, I think a + is okay.

That said, Despres did not play a perfect game, and I believe he's getting caught up ice too much lately. Including when the team had the lead.

Despres was kind of in no-man's-land on that goal because even if Scuderi stayed on Jagr, Whitney would have been wide open in the slot.

I don't even have a problem with him playing deep in the offensive zone, as he is more offensively talented than most of our wingers. It's more that he occasionally is over aggressive in his own zone, putting him in poor position, but he has definitely improved over the course of the season.

 

[billybudd]

Add Bryan Rust to the group. He can skate, but can´t finish and can´t handle the puck.
Megna is hurting this team, so is Kunitz and Scuderi. Dumpoulin is just... MEH. We need to trade him if there´s a chance.

As a guy with "role player" upside but with no size and limited snarl, Bryan Rust is always going to have an uphill battle with me.

However,

It's tough to be hard on him right this second, let alone give up on him completely.

Understand, in the span of six months, Rust has gone from unheralded College player to playing against top pairings with a player that reads the play too fast for many of Canada's best (Nash, Staal). It's too extreme of a transition. Our injuries and lack of NHL prospects at forward is putting him in a position to fail.

What's happening with him would be like telling a scenery artist that she's singing lead Soprano on opening night three weeks into the job. It's too much to reasonable expect anyone to be able to do.

He would have also gotten one of Nashville's defenseman (in place of Spaling), as a throw in for Neal, and then drafted the best available dman later.

Neal for Josi Noonan and Sanheim sounds like something that would be right up Shero's alley.

 

[ProgOg]

To defend Sutter a bit. He did have the flu or mumps-like symptoms here lately AND he was probably the first or second best forward for us in the playoffs last year. Him not playing well right now is a less of a worry than say Kunitz and what he might look like in the playoffs or JR signing Erhoff and holding on to all 3 of Erhoff, Martin and Scuds this year.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sutter becomes more popular again on here in the future. He had a pretty solid season, and I still like what he did with Spaling and Downie (I think?) on a line.

 

[vodeni]

To defend Sutter a bit. He did have the flu or mumps-like symptoms here lately AND he was probably the first or second best forward for us in the playoffs last year. Him not playing well right now is a less of a worry than say Kunitz and what he might look like in the playoffs or JR signing Erhoff and holding on to all 3 of Erhoff, Martin and Scuds this year.

Sutter is OK to center 3rd, unless we can get a legit top six in a package, unfortunately they loved him beyond what he deserves, that crap of him centering Geno got to stop now!

 

[canadianguy77]

If we go into the playoffs with Scuderi dressing regularly and Kunitz playing top-6 minutes, we're sunk before we even leave the harbour. I wish those two would retire.

 

[Lomez]

We can't afford that third line. We don't have the wingers for the first two lines to have Bennett-Sutter-Downie on Line 3.

Sutter needs to be sacrificed. And until we get two more wingers in here, Bennett should be in the top six as well when he gets back.

We should be trying to move Sutter, Kunitz, Martin, Spaling and Dumoulin right now. Before we give up anymore precious draft picks or any of the other youth we have, those are the expendables.

Given age, general suckage, and contract situations, what could we possibly expect to get for anyone except Sutter and Dumoulin?

 

[MtlPenFan]

Two questions:

1. Save drafting KK, is there anything substantively different that JR has done with this roster since replacing Shero that Shero would've done? Forget the talk. I'm talking actions.

2. Is there one Pens forward, save Sid or Geno, who played tonight who's better than Jagr? Heck, is there one who didn't play who's better?

1. Just KK was good enough. As for the rest, you could argue he identified Comeau and Downie (and rightly so) as legit bottom six players that immediately upgraded the team at that position. When we were healthy, I liked the lineup even though the top six still wasn't quite ideal. We've gotta give it more time before passing judgement. There's a LOT to clean up here.

2. I can't remember the last time a Pens player scored a goal like Jagr did outside of 71 or 87. I'm not talking about Sutter winning a race down the wing and scoring one of his goals with a clear shot at the net. I'm talking about backing off a D, using the D as a screen and firing a shot so perfect you hear a "PING" first before it goes in.

And if we're gonna talk about Shero: I eat up the WJC every year. I love watching the best kids in the world play, and I have yet to see Pens prospect mentioned. Nothing. Zero. Quite the legacy.


HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT: WATCH THE THIRD PERIOD OF CHICAGO AND NASHVILLE. I'm begging you guys to just watch Chicago's cycle game and how EVERYONE gets involved and how during their cycle, the puck almost never touches the boards.

 

[ProgOg]

Guerin sounds pissed:

Bill Guerin gives his three impressions of Pittsburgh's 3-1 loss to New Jersey.

1. We didn’t have enough guys going tonight.

2. We didn’t score on the power play, we didn’t generate enough on the power play.

3. We turned pucks over in the wrong areas against a team that’s notorious for creating turnovers and scoring off those opportunities.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

To defend Sutter a bit. He did have the flu or mumps-like symptoms here lately AND he was probably the first or second best forward for us in the playoffs last year.

That's just it. If Sutter is our best or second-best forward in the playoffs, we'll lose every single playoff year. Because he's simply not good enough for that type of role. Why not trade him for a player who might end up being a better help for 87 or 71? So that, you know, 87 AND 71 are CLEARLY our two best players in the playoffs?

It just makes too much sense. Edmonton made the Roy for Arcobello deal today. I wonder if they'd do Sutter for Perron straight up...that would allow them the luxury of sending Draisaitl back to the WHL.

As an aside, how brutal was the Oilers' decision NOT to send Draisaitl to Team Germany for the WJC? That's ridiculous.

idk about that, Klink at least uses his size a little (not enough of it) Pyatt used none of it. I don't think he's adjusted here yet but hopefully he will be slotted to the 4th line by the time the new regime fixes this roster

Klinkhammer shouldn't be playing ahead of Farnham if/when we get healthy.

 

[penguins2946*]

At this point, I'd claim Heatley just to get Megna off the NHL roster. Seriously, he's so bad.