Christian Ehroff

[Joey]

Habs fan coming in peace. Wondering about Ehrhoff's game.

I have him in my pool and I have a good option on D, but would have to drop either Ehrhoff or Schultz (EDM). How is Christian playing this year? It appears the points aren't coming quite yet, so I was wondering why that is: poor play, unlucky play, bad spot in the lineup (2nd PP unit I see, while the 1st unit is stacked to all hell)? Is he playing well and it's just not coming yet?

I picked him up this draft because I was really excited to see him on the first PP unit like he was with Vancouver back in the day. It seems that might be out the window.

Any and all insight welcome, thanks


PS - side note / not as important: what do you think Maatta's point totals will be this year? He is in my other pool. Cheers!

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[canadianguy77]

He's been garbage outside of the 1st game.

 

[penguins2946*]

He wasn't noticeable tonight, which is probably a good thing. He hasn't been strong so far, but neither has any of our D minus Maatta.

 

[ProgOg]

He has been improving slowly. Not had much chemistry with his partner yet, but I'm expecting that to change.

 

[66-30-33]

He's garbage right now but i'm sure he will pick it up. Although he still does not get 1st PP minutes, which is silly.

 

[DearDiary]

He's having trouble adjusting along with Martin. I guess you could say Letang is too, he's moving around too much trying to find space for a stretch pass when he should be looking for quick short passes and not holding the puck so long

Martin+Letang still have habits from the old system, Erhoff as well needs time to adjust to the system which is completely different than Buffolo's

 

[Stad]

He's been better the past few games. He'll pick it up soon though.

 

[Joey]

Thanks, guys! I have a feeling I'll hold on to him. I don't want to knee-jerk drop people like some guys in my pool. Cheers!

 

[ColePens]

7 games = hot garbage. Luckily it's only 7 games.

 

[Saints11]

Ehroff will be fine. He has been affected by the uncharacteristic poor play by Paul Martin and the fact he hasn't been getting much time on the PP. Not really sure the Pens d-pairing are not still in transition. Time will tell regarding the depth of the total defensive corps.

 

[Shady Machine]

He's been disappointing overall. Lots of turnovers that I didn't expect. Those haven't come to haunt the Pens yet, but I expected more from him. It's only 7 games so not worried.

 

[Captain Hook]

He's not playing as good or smart as you'd like but you can still see the talent there. The guy still has plenty of speed and skill. Probably only a matter of time before he settles in. He just looks a bit lost in the new system more than anything, imo.

 

[jmelm]

I'm not sure if anyone else heard this, or any other evidence/rumors like this....


During the DET/PIT game the other night, I was watching the DET feed in which the announcers were talking about how Ehrhoff turned down a multi year offer from DET to sign with the Penguins, and that "the feeling is Ehrhoff will sign a long-term extension this season"


I'm not as plugged in lately as I usually am, but I don't recall hearing this before. It's not hard to imagine -- given that Ehrhoff is a proven player, he obviously chose Pitt in the first place, and that they may want to keep a veteran around after Martin (and hopefully Scuderi) goes. I am curious about this because it was obviously have long term implications for the trio of Pouliot/Despres/Dumoulin. If Ehrhoff re-signs, we REALLY have to, and should, trade one of those guys. If both Ehrhoff and Martin leave, I wouldn't trade any of those youngsters. It has cap implications too, of course.

 

[penguins2946*]

I'm not sure if anyone else heard this, or any other evidence/rumors like this....


During the DET/PIT game the other night, I was watching the DET feed in which the announcers were talking about how Ehrhoff turned down a multi year offer from DET to sign with the Penguins, and that "the feeling is Ehrhoff will sign a long-term extension this season"


I'm not as plugged in lately as I usually am, but I don't recall hearing this before. It's not hard to imagine -- given that Ehrhoff is a proven player, he obviously chose Pitt in the first place, and that they may want to keep a veteran around after Martin (and hopefully Scuderi) goes. I am curious about this because it was obviously have long term implications for the trio of Pouliot/Despres/Dumoulin. If Ehrhoff re-signs, we REALLY have to, and should, trade one of those guys. If both Ehrhoff and Martin leave, I wouldn't trade any of those youngsters. It has cap implications too, of course.

Yeah, Friedman speculated that in one of his 30 thoughts. He said that he expects that Ehrhoff will re-sign in January of February. It makes sense tbh. He's a good fit in our system (or will be once the kinks are worked out), and the Pens will be a contender for as long as he's here. The reasons why he took a cheaper deal this time around make sense as well. He can take a cheaper 1 year deal since he's getting an assload of money from Buffalo for the buyout, and the Pens can give him a higher cap hit next summer since Martin will be off the books.

I'd personally move Pouliot if we were to sign Ehrhoff to a 4 or so year deal (which is what I think he would get). While DP will be really good at the NHL level, he's redundant if we have Ehrhoff, and Maatta is more than capable of playing on the PP as well. If we were to sign Ehrhoff in January, I would start looking around to see what a package of Sutter, Pouliot and a 1st could get me in terms of top-6 wingers.

 

[jmelm]

Yeah, Friedman speculated that in one of his 30 thoughts. He said that he expects that Ehrhoff will re-sign in January of February. It makes sense tbh. He's a good fit in our system (or will be once the kinks are worked out), and the Pens will be a contender for as long as he's here. The reasons why he took a cheaper deal this time around make sense as well. He can take a cheaper 1 year deal since he's getting an assload of money from Buffalo for the buyout, and the Pens can give him a higher cap hit next summer since Martin will be off the books.

I'd personally move Pouliot if we were to sign Ehrhoff to a 4 or so year deal (which is what I think he would get). While DP will be really good at the NHL level, he's redundant if we have Ehrhoff, and Maatta is more than capable of playing on the PP as well. If we were to sign Ehrhoff in January, I would start looking around to see what a package of Sutter, Pouliot and a 1st could get me in terms of top-6 wingers.

I really, really DO NOT want to trade Sutter. Pouliot by himself should, conceivably, get us a very good forward prospect. Adding one other substantial piece into that package (another 1st rounder) should get us an even higher tier young prospect/player. Adding Sutter would not only hurt our team's depth & balance, but I think it's completely unnecessary. If there's a team that's looking for a solid 2-way veteran, we could look at adding Nick Spaling.

And let's not forget the package of assets we could get in a Martin trade, if we wanted to then add any of those to a trade package. Moving Sutter is completely unnecessary and counterproductive, if we're willing to put assets like Pouliot, Martin, a 1st rounder and others on the table.

 

[td_ice]

He's not playing as good or smart as you'd like but you can still see the talent there. The guy still has plenty of speed and skill. Probably only a matter of time before he settles in. He just looks a bit lost in the new system more than anything, imo.

YeAh, I feel the same way Captain. But, he sure has been underwhelming so far.

 

[#66]

I like him as a player but he just doesnt look good.

To be honest it looks like disco hockey again. Let the defense play defense and stop having them run around like centers. Joining the play is one thing but the Pens... Well theyre the Pens.

Anyone remember when coaches made lives easier for their players by implementing structure and support? The league was so much better when hockey was about hand skills and sense. Now its all about moving your feet and putting pucks on net. Its like a glorified foot hockey league.

 

[eXile59]

I think a lot of people overrated the signing to begin with. People were saying at the time that he could make Martin expendable.

I think he'll eventually fit in nice as a number 4.

 

[mpp9]

I thought last night was his best game yet. Didn't make any major mistakes and played 24 minutes, nearly all at ES, where you didn't really notice him.

Once he gets confident, we'll see the skill and skating soon enough.

 

[mpp9]

I think he'll eventually fit in nice as a number 4.

He played 24 minutes last night with all of our top 4 healthy. MJ leans heavily on those guys, but he's certainly not going to be a conventional #4.

 

[Jacob]

He's been below expectations but his issues are fixable. Mostly it's been 1-3 very blatant turnovers every night.

I'd like to see him on the first PP unit either with Letang or in his place, because he's better at getting pucks on net from the point. Maybe in doing that, he'll get some points, and some confidence. His brain's probably a little fried from his time in Buffalo.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

What will really help amp up his confidence, and keep flow to his game is playing him on 1st PP. We can't expect the guy to automatically re-sign if he's getting zero power play time with our big guns, lots of playoff teams will give this guy the keys to their PP. He's not exactly playing for his last contract, Gonch is 40 and just signed a 2x5m contract.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I really, really DO NOT want to trade Sutter. Pouliot by himself should, conceivably, get us a very good forward prospect. Adding one other substantial piece into that package (another 1st rounder) should get us an even higher tier young prospect/player. Adding Sutter would not only hurt our team's depth & balance, but I think it's completely unnecessary. If there's a team that's looking for a solid 2-way veteran, we could look at adding Nick Spaling.

And let's not forget the package of assets we could get in a Martin trade, if we wanted to then add any of those to a trade package. Moving Sutter is completely unnecessary and counterproductive, if we're willing to put assets like Pouliot, Martin, a 1st rounder and others on the table.

I disagree. Trading Sutter instead of trading our 2015 1st rounder should be a no-brainer. We have Sundqvist. We have Spaling. We have Goc. Uher is playing well down on the farm. Sutter is worth more to us via trade than he is on the third line. Also, I don't want to trade Pouliot. He's the guy who knows Johnston's system best. He's going to thrive here. I don't want to move him.


As for Ehrhoff, we shouldn't commit big dollars to this guy. Buffalo got burned big time. I don't trust him, and we can replace him from within.

No Ehrhoff would mean more minutes for Despres and Harrington, and that's alright with me.

 

[Get To Our Game]

He's been below expectations but his issues are fixable. Mostly it's been 1-3 very blatant turnovers every night.

I'd like to see him on the first PP unit either with Letang or in his place, because he's better at getting pucks on net from the point. Maybe in doing that, he'll get some points, and some confidence. His brain's probably a little fried from his time in Buffalo.

Yeah, I agree with all of this. Add in the fact that he's the only new defenseman on the team, and he should be expected to have the longest settling in period. I'm not sure that he's a good fit with Martin.

One thing that I've noticed in his brief powerplay time is that he's really good at gaining the offensive blue line with control. Our current unit often seems to have trouble with zone entries and getting set up, and if he eventually can provide that role it could make the unit that much more dangerous. Well, that and his great shot and above average passing ability.

I think (hope) he should settle into the #1 unit before too long.

 

[billybudd]

I'm not really feeling the hate for this guy. He's doing little offensively, but that's not necessarily the worst thing in the world for a D.

It's worth pointing out that the Pens goals against with him on the ice is microscopic thus far this season (which is probably why his ice time keeps going up). And the maligned Martin/Ehrhoff pairing has been scored on a whopping once on the season.