Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: Muzz/Letang are STARS tonight!

[Peat]

Simon has another assist last night and the ice was heavily tilted once again by Crosby’s line. But yea.. mess with that.

Thing is, the criticism was fair last night. He misplaced a lot of passes. If we had another RW in hot form, it would be tempting to make the switch. But we don't and even on a night with a lot to criticise, he still made a big play.

I'm not stuck on the idea Simon has to be there. But he's proven very useful there and shouldn't be knocked off that line just because. There needs to be a big pressing reason to do so.

Would you re-sign Simon for 5 years 3.5 mil?

We also have more options for that line now than we did the last two seasons.

I'd prefer cheaper for less but that deal wouldn't bother me. Fair for what he does and tradeable if we no longer wanted him.

And we have Kahun/Tanev instead of Sheary/Sprong/Hagelin/Pearson. Not a huge change.

No, I meant I’d rather have the cap space than Maatta.

Kahun is fine, he’s dirt cheap even if he’s still having some issues.

He's getting better, game by game. Played a big part in McCann's goal even if he got no credit. In person its easy to see that he does have skill and pace.

For me, he's a lot like Simon - he'll do a huge amount to get the puck to people in space, but he's not got a ton of finish himself. He's the sort of guy that'll do make a great third wheel or a decent bottom six option.

Was looking at him too as a potential trade for Schultz. Habs in need for Dmen...and keep reading how much they want Schultz. Someone they'd offer a big deal to.

Gallagher is Montreal's heart and soul. There'd be a small riot if they traded him for that little.

Also, where do you keep reading that the team with Weber and Petry want Schultz bad?

 

[The Worst One]

Meh..Kahun is 24 years old, RFA, and costs 900k. When people say "I wish we had cap space instead of Kahun!" - I think you are crazy. We moved Maatta's 4.1m out and Kahun is basically any roster player we call up.

He reminds me of a mix between Simon/Sheary. Sheary was a disaster when he first came up, falling down everywhere, then turned into a solid NHLer with a real NHL shot. Simon is finding his niche. Kahun is a mix between both, especially how he stickhandles. I think he should probably be F13 right now, but we will see when we get healthy.

Nonetheless - probably a prettttttty cheap re-sign at this point and let's just see what we have. We are like 8 games in and people are already stamping their opinion on a guy they've seen in 3-4 preseason games and 8 regular season. Let's be patient. Goodness.

Hey, could you please answer my question I asked earlier today? How did Teddy struggle?

 

[Slaaapshuter]

Rust is the only one coming back that I don’t see as a wrench in the machine right now.

I’m hoping Malkin sees what playing with discipline and structure is doing again for this team and he buys in...

AG and Bju are the antithesis of how this team needs to play.

It is worrisome because JR isn’t going to trade both guys away and Sullivan won’t sit them so...

Just have to hope they figure it out without derailing things. Maybe things fall apart before they are back and we are wishing for these guys, but I have my doubts and don’t see this as a fluke.

So what happens if the injured players come back, the energy injectors get sent down and the team looks like game 1 (i.e like the last 2 years)?

What does Sullivan do? What does JR do?

That kind of worries me. I'm sure it's not a coincidence the team looks better right now than the last two years, but does the FO see it?

 

[ColePens]

Hey, could you please answer my question I asked earlier today? How did Teddy struggle?

This isn't a reddit Q&A. That is my take on the game. Post your opinion if you disagree. Don't take my word as gospel.

Teddy had some bad turnovers. He's usually one of the most consistent players to rely on. He had some really bad turnovers, 2 particularly on the PK that could have hurt us. That line wasn't clicking as they did in past games.

As I noted - this is not enough to give him a negative. Just a step down from his past couple games. The guy is mega consistent. He made an error in the Buffalo game and then honestly cannot recall a single error until last night. And they were really bad on the PK. If that was ZAR, who ironically covered for TB, we would have talked about it in depth.

 

[PensandCaps]

I don't know anything about being a goalie, but 2 years ago, I never experienced jitters when Murray was in net. Now, he's like a QB with happy feet in the pocket. He constantly looks uncomfortable.

probably from getting hit in the head and ran into a bunch.

 

[billybudd]

I love having forward depth again

 

[The Worst One]

This isn't a reddit Q&A. That is my take on the game. Post your opinion if you disagree. Don't take my word as gospel.

Teddy had some bad turnovers. He's usually one of the most consistent players to rely on. He had some really bad turnovers, 2 particularly on the PK that could have hurt us. That line wasn't clicking as they did in past games.

As I noted - this is not enough to give him a negative. Just a step down from his past couple games. The guy is mega consistent. He made an error in the Buffalo game and then honestly cannot recall a single error until last night. And they were really bad on the PK. If that was ZAR, who ironically covered for TB, we would have talked about it in depth.

I asked for your opinion because I didn't watch the game. Thanks for answering.

 

[Crosbyfan]

The last PP he had one of his typical shin pad blocks, but he overall was great.

Letang still gotta Letang...

 

[Coastal Kev]

This isn't a reddit Q&A. That is my take on the game. Post your opinion if you disagree. Don't take my word as gospel.

Teddy had some bad turnovers. He's usually one of the most consistent players to rely on. He had some really bad turnovers, 2 particularly on the PK that could have hurt us. That line wasn't clicking as they did in past games.

As I noted - this is not enough to give him a negative. Just a step down from his past couple games. The guy is mega consistent. He made an error in the Buffalo game and then honestly cannot recall a single error until last night. And they were really bad on the PK. If that was ZAR, who ironically covered for TB, we would have talked about it in depth.

Word has it around the Pens complex that Teddy B is quite concerned with your critique....

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

So what happens if the injured players come back, the energy injectors get sent down and the team looks like game 1 (i.e like the last 2 years)?

What does Sullivan do? What does JR do?

That kind of worries me. I'm sure it's not a coincidence the team looks better right now than the last two years, but does the FO see it?

I have no idea... it will be a weird predicament.

You can't just bench millions of dollars worth of players can you? They already have 7+ million or so rotating in and out of the lineup.

I just keep trying to focus on the positive that Sullivan is who I believed he was, and JR gave him Spam and Twinkies to make his gourmet meals.

The hope here is that JR can now see the formula that works is the one that uh... worked. Maybe he makes a couple moves to bring in puck movers and or fast, disruptive fwds with skill, while moving out some dead weight (not all in the same deals obviously).

 

[ColePens]

Word has it around the Pens complex that Teddy B is quite concerned with your critique....

If we are going to critique ZAR or other players this way, we have to be fair across the board. No picking favorites. Except Hornqvist and Joe Vitale.

 

[Gurglesons]

I’m not sure why people are so frightened by the return of Rust, Malkin or Galchenyuk. Throughout preseason and the games they played in the RS they were playing this way.