Can we talk about Geno?

[Jag68Sid87]

I don't see a lot of chemistry between Jokinen and Malkin, to be honest. They seem to find each other a bit more on the PP when Jokinen is on the first unit, but for me it seems Jokinen wants/needs the puck too much to be on Malkin's line full time.

 

[DegenX]

Based on the way Shero values his players, especially his stars, there's a 0% chance of us trading Malkin. He'd have to be really terrible for a few years. Then he'd actually have to bang Shero's wife. And daughter. And son. and then maybe, just maybe, Shero would consider moving him.

Malkin has a NMC. He's not going anywhere if he doesn't want to. That also means that the potential return for him is diminished. Look at what happened with Nash. Lou is still a Canuck. There's also the possibility that if Shero comes to him asking if he'd waive that NMC for a trade, he'd opt to go the Kovalchuk route.

I don't see a lot of chemistry between Jokinen and Malkin, to be honest. They seem to find each other a bit more on the PP when Jokinen is on the first unit, but for me it seems Jokinen wants/needs the puck too much to be on Malkin's line full time.

Agreed. JJ has a league wide reputation as a slacker. That's why his last two teams have waived him. When the pre-season started, he was competing for a spot on Malkin's line. Once BB and Neal went down with injuries, he had no reason to be motivated. Currently half of his points are on the PP, and of the ES points one is an EN. And he has no real reason to be motivated now even with BB back because it's pretty obvious HCDB isn't going to break up that line, just like he isn't going to break up KCD ... even though both lines should be.

 

[Malkin112*]

Agreed. JJ has a league wide reputation as a slacker. That's why his last two teams have waived him. When the pre-season started, he was competing for a spot on Malkin's line. Once BB and Neal went down with injuries, he had no reason to be motivated. Currently half of his points are on the PP, and of the ES points one is an EN. And he has no real reason to be motivated now even with BB back because it's pretty obvious HCDB isn't going to break up that line, just like he isn't going to break up KCD ... even though both lines should be.

Also Dallas was leading the league at the time when he was traded to Tampa.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Malkin has a NMC now or when the new deal kicks in? Just curious.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Malkin has a NMC now or when the new deal kicks in? Just curious.

He definitely had one before the new deal, and according to capgeek this year is the only year Malkin has a NMC in his contract. I am not sure that's accurate, though.

 

[IcedCapp]

Malkin has a NMC now or when the new deal kicks in? Just curious.

both I believe. I think his old deal had a NMC that kicked in during the final year (this year) and the new one is a complete NMC.

I didn't look it up because I'm too lazy to type capgee....

but someone can correct me.

 

[darkbrew*]

The problem with Malkin's line is that Malkin can't shoot. When he can't shoot it completely destroys the chemistry of the line. Jokinen is forcing shots that could be fed back to Malkin because he refuses to shoot. I really feel something must be wrong with his shoulder.

 

[Phil68]

even if Malkin is not scoring goals, he is producing offensively. He will catch up in the point standings either with assist or goals or both! Plus he is making JJ look great on the offensive standpoint!

 

[Ogrezilla]

The problem with Malkin's line is that Malkin can't shoot. When he can't shoot it completely destroys the chemistry of the line. Jokinen is forcing shots that could be fed back to Malkin because he refuses to shoot. I really feel something must be wrong with his shoulder.

he took a few big shots on the powerplay last night

 

[Crafton]

are we talking about his awesome assist streak? shades of St. Louis era Oates.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

even if Malkin is not scoring goals, he is producing offensively. He will catch up in the point standings either with assist or goals or both! Plus he is making JJ look great on the offensive standpoint!

Malkin has only been involved with 7 of Jokinen's points and 3 of those were on the PP; 4 goals, 2 on the PP; 2 were secondary assists, 1 on the PP. Crosby's been involved in 5, 4 on the PP. Jokinen does have 6 PP points, though.

I thought it would be more, tbh; Malkin only contributed to 4 ES points. The PP is making him look good.

 

[Gallatin]

On another note - I have never seen Geno lose his skates like this season. He's falling a lot, especially in the corners when he's fighting for pucks.

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[DegenX]

On another note - I have never seen Geno lose his skates like this season. He's falling a lot, especially in the corners when he's fighting for pucks.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Well, there was quite the lengthy anecdote from Bibs last night regarding how often players change skates that began with Geno breaking in new skates after the morning skate ...

 

[Will Hunting]

My initial concerns about him are getting stronger and stronger. He´s only producing some assists on the PP. Guy is -8(worst on the team), has 3 ****ing goals with one of them being an emptynetter.

My question is, "will healthy Geno score at least 20 goals this season?"

I really don´t know the answer right now. Great problems to have with 9.5M player...

Also, as I expected, Neal isn´t helping that much...

With Crosby (stacked with Dupuis) slumping as well, this team is painful to watch. What an awful stretch of hockey. Shero should be embarrassed with himself. He´s a big part of reason why this is happenning. He brought this team (and players like Geno & Sid) into this position.

 

[McDrailers]

You do? All I see is you come on here to ask weird questions around why our players suck.

In his defense I show up once a month to **** on Bylsma

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Without his shot Malkins overall game is gimped. It's definitely troubling, as he was not good last year either. Whether it's the lingering injury or something else, it seems like we haven't seen beast mode Malkin since the spring of 2012.

 

[AssistantCaptain*]

The real question is will Malkin finish this season with more goals than Yakupov?

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

The determination is there, he's playing well, but the production is unacceptable. Sorry, Geno. Gotta find a way to make it on the scoresheet much, much more often than this for your salary.

Hope it's just an extended slum and he explodes for a ridiculous amount of points soon.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

The determination is there, he's playing well, but the production is unacceptable. Sorry, Geno. Gotta find a way to make it on the scoresheet much, much more often than this for your salary.

Hope it's just an extended slum and he explodes for a ridiculous amount of points soon.

It's not even the points, per se, but the lack of goal scoring. His assist totals are actually pretty good. He's even got one more assist than Sid, and Sid's tied for the lead league in points. It's his goal scoring (or lack of) that's holding him down.

I'm a bit worried that shoulder of his is worse than they're letting on. It's simply not like the Malkin we've seen over his Pens career to be this bad at putting the puck in the net.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Geno hasn't been much of a goal scorer since his gigantic season a few years ago, to be honest. It's been a while since we've seen Geno just ripping one timers on the power play (more on that in a second), and we don't see him taking nearly as many hard wristers from the slot or the circles.

But the lack of power play goals for Geno? Look no further than Letang. Dude couldn't get the puck in Geno's wheelhouse for a one-timer if his life depended on it. It's so ****ing frustrating to watch.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Geno hasn't been much of a goal scorer since his gigantic season a few years ago, to be honest. It's been a while since we've seen Geno just ripping one timers on the power play (more on that in a second), and we don't see him taking nearly as many hard wristers from the slot or the circles.

But the lack of power play goals for Geno? Look no further than Letang. Dude couldn't get the puck in Geno's wheelhouse for a one-timer if his life depended on it. It's so ****ing frustrating to watch.

He scored a career high 50 goals only 2 seasons ago ...

His scoring trouble seems to have started last season, with his bum shoulder, and has carried over into this year. Having Letang as his PP point man partner doesn't help at all, but Geno's goal scoring issues seem to go deeper than that. Heck, even ignoring his 50 and 47 goal years, Geno's usually good for around 30-35 a year. This year he's on pace for 12.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

Geno's not scoring for a few reasons:

1) He's not shooting the puck anywhere near enough. He's shooting the puck about half as much as he did during his 50 goal season.

2) He's playing the point on the PP instead of setting up for one timers on the RH circle.

3) Geno himself. He's moping around the ice, especially after the play is over. His face immediately stares at the ice. He passes up scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity to pass the puck because he has no confidence in himself right now. Reminds me a lot of Ovechkin during his scoring slump. Basically Geno needs to pull his head out of his ass.

 

[Will Hunting]

Good thing is that Malkin can still make a big impact without scoring goals like he did tonight. Bad thing is that I´m not sure he will play like this every night.

As for his shooting, he has to have zero confidence with his shot now. Absolutely zero. He´s not shooting anymore and when he does, it´s either wide or blocked. He´s not going to break his scoring slump this way.

But if he plays every game like he did against the Ducks, I will give him a pass. I´m just scared that he won´t. It´s not easy to stay 100% focused and play good intelligent hockey when you are not scoring goals at all.

 

[madinsomniac]

The problem with Malkin's line is that Malkin can't shoot. When he can't shoot it completely destroys the chemistry of the line. Jokinen is forcing shots that could be fed back to Malkin because he refuses to shoot. I really feel something must be wrong with his shoulder.

the speculation in my part of the city is that Malkin hurt his shoulder and knows it needs surgery, but is trying to wait till after the Olympics to get it... which actually would make sense because his shots look like floaters when he does take them and he has little accuracy.... this is a guy who was racking up shots at over 4 per game for years up till he hurt his shoulder last year... now he is down to 2 and a half this year... there is something obviously wrong

 

[Shady Machine]

Geno hasn't been much of a goal scorer since his gigantic season a few years ago, to be honest. It's been a while since we've seen Geno just ripping one timers on the power play (more on that in a second), and we don't see him taking nearly as many hard wristers from the slot or the circles.

But the lack of power play goals for Geno? Look no further than Letang. Dude couldn't get the puck in Geno's wheelhouse for a one-timer if his life depended on it. It's so ****ing frustrating to watch.

Geno wasn't much a goal scorer last year (a 48 game season and the first 21 games of this season). So that's less than 82 games since he scored 50. That's definitely not "a few years ago". I mean, I'm all about criticizing him for his lack of goal scoring, but let's not make **** up.