Post-Game Talk: Cole's Plus/Minus: POWERPLAY GOALS, ZAR, EMPTY NETTERS

[KIRK]

What I love about being a part of Pens fandom is that we get to re-litigate the dumbest personel moves over decades in new and innovative forms. Mad about Hornqvist? Welcome to the Stevens trade. Longing for a hardworking blueliner who gives his all every game and hits everyone (or shoots the puck)- welcome to Orpik. Wishing we had a blueliner who was a PPQB, but also mad that he isn't a solid defensive defenseman? See: Stackhouse, Ron; Zubov, Sergei; Coffey, Paul; Whitney, Sugarplum Fairy; and Gonchar, Sergei.

Like elephants, we never forget. And we're only occasionally hunted and killed for the aphrodisiac powers of our teeth.

Like you, I'll never get over the Sugarplum Fairy for Iceburgh debacle.

 

[Pens x]

Ruined the team this off-season??? How do you figure that. Added Kapanen at RW and shipped out Hornqvist at RW so that is a big improvement while also with an eye to the future being 9 years younger and 10 times faster.

On defense getting rid of our worst defensman in JJ and Schultz and bring in Matheson and Ceci and that is a big improvement with those guys also.

So if your biggest gripe is his choices of two players making the minimum with Jankowski and Rodriguez then what the heck are you talking about? Hornqvist needed to go! You don't keep $5.3 million mid 30's winger that is not playing in your top 6. Matheson only cost $3 million this season in real money and Rutherford had to cut real money under $75 million. So while you are switching one bad contract for another all take my chances on the 26 year old defensman with good skill and skating pulling a Niskanen/Schultz over a winger we already knew was not going to be in our top 6 and was on the worst line during our playoffs last season.

We have had plenty of offensive production from our 3rd line and we have the forwards to make a great top 6 if we need to switch it up. We have the defensman to get the job done thanks to Rutherford adding Pettersson, Marino, POJ, Matheson, and Ceci. The team just needs to get a veteran netminder and they never cost much in trades even the good ones. We can survive with a 4th line of whoever works out best of Rodriguez, Sceviour, ZAR/McCann, Jankowski, O'Connor, and Lafferty. Give me that goaltender and I can live with the rest. Not going to have a perfect team with the self imposed real money cap.

I’m glad he realized Bjugstad had to go, and it was finally time to buy out JJ, but he left so many holes here. Also, having to pay those two clowns over $3 million this year is what lead to signing warm body free agents. I also still think he overpaid for KK and took on one of the worst contracts in the league in Matheson. (Sceviour was sat last week; another $1.2 million of dead cap)

For some reason, he thought it was a good idea to focus signing healthy scratch type players on day one of free agency. He also didn’t do a damn thing about our goaltending, which was obvious at the time that it was risky going into the season with tweedle dee and tweedle dum.

You rid yourself of JJ and go out and acquire Matheson? Come on now. That’s insane.

Now here we are - goalies bleeding goals and little talent outside of the top six forwards. The one thing JR did right was signing a dozen dmen this off season due to all of the injuries.

I hope Hextall and Burkie brought their shovels to dig out all of the **** JR left behind.

 

[BHD]

Looks like we're no longer talking about the game.