Post-Game Talk: 0-2 in the Mulligan era

[PPenguins724]

This organization has always lived and died by having a generational talent on the roster.

The blueprint for long term sustained success without these guys is out there - Unfortunately the Penguins would rather invest in another billboard than building a scouting department like Detroit.

Why, yes, I'd love to collect all the antiques in the league, mix them in with the two guys who nobody saw blossoming and hire the most- what was your term? "Billboard" coach in the league to throw **** at a wall and hope it sticks.

Sorry that ownership couldn't foresee Lemieux's chronic back problems, hodgkin's lymphoma, etc. and Crosby's concussion. They must have really disappointed you. That, or you really have no clue what you're talking about, and anyone with half a brain would take Crosby and Malkin over Tatar, Nyquist and co.

Also: Pouliot, Maatta, Sprong, Bennett, Plotnikov, Kapanen, Goligoski, so on.
For not possessing many firsts over the last decade, I think there's a pretty darned good scouting department.

 

[DeadPuckEra]

Why, yes, I'd love to collect all the antiques in the league, mix them in with the two guys who nobody saw blossoming and hire the most- what was your term? "Billboard" coach in the league to throw **** at a wall and hope it sticks.

Sorry that ownership couldn't foresee Lemieux's chronic back problems, hodgkin's lymphoma, etc. and Crosby's concussion. They must have really disappointed you. That, or you really have no clue what you're talking about, and anyone with half a brain would take Crosby and Malkin over Tatar, Nyquist and co.

Also: Pouliot, Maatta, Sprong, Bennett, Plotnikov, Kapanen, Goligoski, so on.
For not possessing many firsts over the last decade, I think there's a pretty darned good scouting department.

Your reading comprehension needs some improvement. Why are you so angry?

 

[Son Goku]

I can't see Crosby on a different team. I want him to retire here.

 

[IcedCapp]

Shift one: Kunitz turns the puck over at the blue line. Crosby is at the net, but the puck never gets there.

Shift two: The puck goes to the point and from the point, it goes into the corner. Crosby wins the puck race/battle and gets it back to the point/slot area, which results in a good scoring chance.

Shift three: no shot on net. Puck goes behind the net, Crosby gets it. Attack ends with Kunitz turnover.


Shift four: No net-front opportunity, shift ends with Sid's "drive" and backhand shot that knocks Rask's mask off


Shift five: attack ended by Perron's penalty


These are the five 5-on-5 shifts Sid had last night. In each shift where he had the opportunity, Sid went (and was the only guy to) to the front of the net.

The number of shots on goal from the other 4 guys once Sid was at the front of the net: 0.


Again, I am not absolving Sid of his bad play, but going to the net is not his issue, especially as of late.

(no, I don't plan on going through all of his shifts last night. The point is there, the guy is going when he has an opportunity)

 

[brewski420]

See I don't get this. When I watch other teams, I find it LESS painful to watch. The Penguins are worse from an entertainment perspective than many teams in the league right now.

Overall the product is more boring, but relatively speaking, the Penguins entertainment value has gone down more than other teams.

I agree with this. When watching other teams, albeit in a version of the NHL currently being played not as entertaining as it could be, I find good execution and good team hockey with skill being shown by more than just a few teams/players.

 

[Vyruz Reaper]

To me, it's clear that the team is playing faster, more determined. Boston had basically one scoring chance in the 2nd, and it wound up a goal. The Pens carried the play, they just can't finish.

This, to me is a confidence thing.

 

[IcedCapp]

This, to me is a confidence thing.

I agree. Sid and Kessel, specifically, handle the puck like people who have no confidence in themselves.

 

[joeyjake5]

Yes, the game has changed and scoring is down mostly to oversized and un-needed goalie equipment. Just to name two goalies who are string-beans and I mean string-beans that use oversized equipment and they look like Darth Vaders in the net>>> Rask and Dubynk.

Compare Barrasso and MAF as to who looks bigger in the nets and remember TB is much bigger than MAF. The answer is MAF because of larger and unnecessary goalie equipment.

Scoring will go up next year. I just read an article, don't ask where since I changed to Windows 10 and can't find anything any more. But the article said, providing the NHL and the union agree, all goalies will be measured by the NHL as to the size of their equipment. Jerseys supposedly will be form fitting and no more Michelin men look a likes. And if you can believe this, goalies right now can order their equipment directly from the manufacturer w/o NHL supervision. So if they actually take a size 10 in something, they can order a size 11 or 12 and who would know. And the NHL has turned a blind eye to this. If this is corrected next year, scoring will be up and you will see w/o question who the good goalies are. No more just "fill the net". H

 

[Shady Machine]

Scoring will go up next year. I just read an article, don't ask where since I changed to Windows 10 and can't find anything any more. But the article said, providing the NHL and the union agree, all goalies will be measured by the NHL as to the size of their equipment. Jerseys supposedly will be form fitting and no more Michelin men look a likes. And if you can believe this, goalies right now can order their equipment directly from the manufacturer w/o NHL supervision. So if they actually take a size 10 in something, they can order a size 11 or 12 and who would know. And the NHL has turned a blind eye to this. If this is corrected next year, scoring will be up and you will see w/o question who the good goalies are. No more just "fill the net". H

It will probably have an effect, but doesn't address obstruction, defensive systems, 5 man walls blocking shots, etc.

 

[Joejosh999]

Scoring will go up next year. I just read an article, don't ask where since I changed to Windows 10 and can't find anything any more. But the article said, providing the NHL and the union agree, all goalies will be measured by the NHL as to the size of their equipment. Jerseys supposedly will be form fitting and no more Michelin men look a likes. And if you can believe this, goalies right now can order their equipment directly from the manufacturer w/o NHL supervision. So if they actually take a size 10 in something, they can order a size 11 or 12 and who would know. And the NHL has turned a blind eye to this. If this is corrected next year, scoring will be up and you will see w/o question who the good goalies are. No more just "fill the net". H

Pretty vague

http://www.usnews.com/news/sports/a...sal-could-limit-how-goalies-pad-their-numbers

Though it's good that the league gets a look after they order from the maker, bottom line is many goalies customize their gear later anyway.
Jerseys are relatively form fitting now, and the width of pads is regulated.

Maybe you can do something with the pants. Though my preference was to have pants and upper body stuff smaller to make movement more easy, I guess it varies based on the goalie.

I don't think this will make a huge difference.

 

[Winger for Hire]

It will probably have an effect, but doesn't address obstruction, defensive systems, 5 man walls blocking shots, etc.

This has the biggest affect on scoring. Call the damn rule book and lets play hockey.

 

[Fordy]

no idea why sid is getting ****. crosby worked extremely hard last night and got zero help from his wingers. at least you can say perron was trying but he never left the perimeter and was generally out of sync with everyone

kunitz should be donating his hockey equipment to one of crosby's charities

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

It will probably have an effect, but doesn't address obstruction, defensive systems, 5 man walls blocking shots, etc.

I think it will have a noticeable effect given we'll get to see who can actually play goal as opposed to who has been best trained to take up the most space and absorb the most pucks.

I thought whoever said to outlaw leaving your skates to block shots was on to something. I would almost try to take it a step further and figure out some way to rule out 'purposely' blocking shots, as in you have to be making some sort of effort to take the puck. This as opposed to simply standing 5 strides away from your man and basically playing goal with your shin guards.

Another one they should implement without a second thought (I think Scotty Bowman may have been the one to suggest it) was to make pinning someone to the boards illegal. Too many plays where the flow comes to a complete halt while one guy bear hugs another. Nothing bad can come of getting rid of that.

Of course knowing the people that get paid to figure this stuff out they'll likely just make a 2-on-2 overtime instead.

 

[Joejosh999]

Ehh I was never a big fan of tinkering with shot blocking. No question Torts took it to a ridiculous degree though. But don't think the answer is to add rules around it.
The one thing I did like was to angle the goal posts inward, on the notion that more post-shots would deflect into the net, not out.
I guess we could crunch some numbers and make an educated guess how much that could increase scoring, without increasing the actual 4x6 space.

 

[Joejosh999]

I've always favored starting with the actual rule book, beginning with obstruction, and call it ruthlessly.
It has worked before.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I think it will have a noticeable effect given we'll get to see who can actually play goal as opposed to who has been best trained to take up the most space and absorb the most pucks.

I thought whoever said to outlaw leaving your skates to block shots was on to something. I would almost try to take it a step further and figure out some way to rule out 'purposely' blocking shots, as in you have to be making some sort of effort to take the puck. This as opposed to simply standing 5 strides away from your man and basically playing goal with your shin guards.

Another one they should implement without a second thought (I think Scotty Bowman may have been the one to suggest it) was to make pinning someone to the boards illegal. Too many plays where the flow comes to a complete halt while one guy bear hugs another. Nothing bad can come of getting rid of that.

Of course knowing the people that get paid to figure this stuff out they'll likely just make a 2-on-2 overtime instead.

I was the one who brought that up a few months ago and several brought up reasons (which I do not recall right now to be honest) why it might not be practical.

 

[Winger for Hire]

I would also like to see the diameter of the posts and crossbar narrowed. Small change, but think about all the shots that hit the post, I would wager that narrowing the posts/crossbar will allow a decent amount of them to either go in cleanly or ricochet in the net instead of back out into play.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Ehh I was never a big fan of tinkering with shot blocking. No question Torts took it to a ridiculous degree though. But don't think the answer is to add rules around it.
The one thing I did like was to angle the goal posts inward, on the notion that more post-shots would deflect into the net, not out.
I guess we could crunch some numbers and make an educated guess how much that could increase scoring, without increasing the actual 4x6 space.

I was the one who brought that up a few months ago and several brought up reasons (which I do not recall right now to be honest) why it might not be practical.

Yeah I mean I'm not under the impression anything I said is perfect for sure. I'm just in favor of anything that gets players skating, and other than clean checks I'm against almost anything that doesn't. Anything that favors speed and puck skills can contribute to a little more of a finesse element when constructing a winning team. You'll always need many types of players, they just need to swing roster composition a little more into the direction of skilled hockey players.

 

[Fordy]

if you get rid of pinning against the boards kunitz will be literally not even playing hockey anymore out there

 

[Asuna]

if you get rid of pinning against the boards kunitz will be literally not even playing hockey anymore out there

That's a good thing

 

[Winger for Hire]

if you get rid of pinning against the boards kunitz will be literally not even playing hockey anymore out there

*Not that I'm accusing you of wanting to protect Kunitz's career, just wanted to use this meme*

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

Crosby is getting too much hate. He has his issues this year no doubt, but you can't ignore how bad Kunitz/Dupuis have been on his lw all year.

At this point Kunitz turns the puck over at least 10 times a game. Not only is he a bad player, he's so bad that he will kill any line he plays on.

 

[iFishyHD]

I would like to see a LW Perron with Sid. Perron on RW is just bleh all around.

 

[SEALBound]

I would explore

Perron-Sid-Hornqvist
Kunitz(if he HAS to be in the top 6)-Malkin-Kessel

 

[Jacob]

Crosby is getting too much hate. He has his issues this year no doubt, but you can't ignore how bad Kunitz/Dupuis have been on his lw all year.

No doubt. He's done more with less, though.

I would explore

Perron-Sid-Hornqvist
Kunitz(if he HAS to be in the top 6)-Malkin-Kessel

This makes sense. Perron, Sid & Hornqvist were good last year for a decent stretch as I recall. Sid might want some speed on his wings but he's going to have to adapt. It wouldn't kill him to slow his neutral zone game down a bit anyway, since he's just flubbing pucks and getting poke-checked so easily. Maybe Plots with Malkin instead of Kunitz.