News Article: DEJAN KOVACEVIC: Did you like this year? Good, no changes this off-season.

[PensFanSince1989]

Is Pittsburgh that much better than Edmonton? It's not like he's choosing between below zero weather and sunny Florida/California or even the "big city draw" of places like New York or Los Angeles.

yes. a big definite yes

 

[BrookswasHere44]

Give me a team in Seattle already. I've been with this team for 20 some odd years but this ownership\management group is insufferable

 

[Ogelthorpe]

I don't think it is entitlement to think the Pens have a good core to work with. Sid, Geno, Letang, Maatta, Horny, Perron, Fleury, is a good start. Giving Babcock the reigns to make the adjustments to the supporting cast is a good way to point the organization in the right direction rather quickly.

I think Babcock has the ego to think he can fix any problem, and the brains to think with our core, that the fix could come rather quickly.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I don't think it is entitlement to think the Pens have a good core to work with. Sid, Geno, Letang, Maatta, Horny, Perron, Fleury, is a good start. Giving Babcock the reigns to make the adjustments to the supporting cast is a good way to point the organization in the right direction rather quickly.

I think Babcock has the ego to think he can fix any problem, and the brains to think with our core, that the fix could come rather quickly.

And what happens to the Pittsburgh 9?

He's not going to come here and then have to fight with eight other guys when he wants to make a transaction.

The organization is broken. No smart hockey person in their right mind is going to want anything to do with this franchise.

 

[Penguinator]

Blame injuries. Same old carp.

But carp is good! If cooked well.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

It's illustrative to look at how many young players are helping other teams in these playoffs.

 

[lastcupever75]

the good - hearing from 'the top' that sid and geno aren't going anywhere. that idiotic thinking even started to creep into some fans here thinking moving geno would be a good idea....no no no

the bad - 'no major moves' probably means we don't deal or try to deal from an organizational strength in letang or fluery where we can bring back maximum return.
this may mean we see another young promising D man dealt and/or murray/Jarry thinking all we need is a tweek.

hopefully that doesn't mean guys like sutter,kunitz,scuds, erhoff wont be shopped around/let go.
they need to go, obviously

 

[Uemoda]

As much as this irritates me, it's hard to disagree with his stance on the actual roster.

If it were my money, Johnston and co. would be gone, but only in favor of a more experienced coach, of which there are many available. Morehouse, Guerin, Botterill, Karmanos, etc. would be gone. Rutherford would get a stern talking to and I would need to have confidence in him going forward. If not, he gets replaced ASAP.

That said, the actual roster just needs to cut dead weight and make a couple risks to get back to contender-status. Doing something crazy like moving Malkin is just suicidal for the franchise. Kunitz and Scuderi need to go, however possible. Seriously shop Sutter. Only re-sign Comeau out of the UFAs. And try to get a couple young wingers in some trades (honestly, it might mean moving Pouilot if we want a good one). And give Dumoulin-Harrington the reigns for the 3rd pair, Sundqvist on the 3rd line. Try to sign some promising KHLers or NCAAers - go after one of them hard, preferably Panarin.

It simply takes the right moves to get us out of this. We're not a lost cause yet. But this offseason is pivotal. And I wouldn't trust the Pittsburgh 9 with my lunch money, let alone an NHL roster. That's where the real problem lies.

 

[Gooch]

Give me a team in Seattle already. I've been with this team for 20 some odd years but this ownership\management group is insufferable

Pretty much same here, especially with the Seattle part.

 

[joeyjake5]

Kunitz and Scuderi [/COLOR]need to go, however possible. Seriously shop Sutter. Only re-sign Comeau out of the UFAs. And try to get a couple young wingers in some trades (honestly, it might mean moving Pouilot if we want a good one). And give Dumoulin-Harrington the reigns for the 3rd pair, Sundqvist on the 3rd line. Try to sign some promising KHLers or NCAAers - go after one of them hard, preferably Panarin.

It simply takes the right moves to get us out of this. We're not a lost cause yet. But this offseason is pivotal. And I wouldn't trust the Pittsburgh 9 with my lunch money, let alone an NHL roster. That's where the real problem lies.

I agree with most of the above. But this off-season will determine how soon the pens get back to an elite status being a legit cup contender. AT least 3-4 outside faces and some internal have to be on the roster for next year. .

 

[madinsomniac]

The defense is fine... next year Maatta and Letang will be the top pair... that will be great. Pouliot will only get better. Same with Dumoulin. Harrington also will be at least ready for bottom pairing minutes... there is more than enough there to build a really solid defense with.

On offense KK and Sundqvist are the logical additions, but there are more risk/reward guys in the pipeline that just need a shot to see what they have... I still think that if he was healthy, Zlobin makes an impression on a lot of people this yea, and the GM corps still seems awfully high on Blueger too.

 

[BigBenSF*]

Man, talk about controlling the message...

I just sent a bunch of negative tweets under the #Pens hash tag. No swear in or anything, but stuff like what we discuss on the boards.

Guys, within 2 minutes they were gone. Deleted immediately. Positive messaging all around, with #Pensin7 all over the place.

Are you saying that Twitter deleted your tweets? That doesn't happen unless you committed a serious violation that would be grounds for an account suspension.

 

[WayneSid9987]

The only thing that angers me at this point is the "9".
Have no faith that they can turn this ship around.

I'm actually starting to like MJ and Agnew. I was iffy with how the season ended but they've put up a good showing in these playoffs. I wouldn't mind them back at all unless Babcock comes to town.

Guys like Kunitz and Scuderi we're gonna be here all year. MJ's a teacher, he tried to teach them as best he could and they just aren't working out. Hopefully, the "9" and MJ/Agnew come together and set this team on a new course where youth comes into the system and they trust in MJ's abilities to teach young players cuz that is what he's best at. Not trying to make old players in their twilight years better.

 

[MtlPenFan]

That's big stuff alright but i was curious about ...the other stuff.

Thanks anyway.

Well, it was a lot of "You're getting what you deserve, clean house, etc."

LOL I was really pissed today, and not just about the team.

 

[ObsessedCreative*]

People thinking DP51 being in the pens top 4 as a good idea is down right hilarious!

Bring on that lottery pick

 

[Confounding Factor]

Yeah I'm convinced MJ and JR are here to stay for another year. Not sure about his assistant coaches. Maybe we can get to the second round next year...

 

[BHD]

Paying three coaches and possibly three GMs? I can't see ownership being too inclined to do that.

 

[Shady Machine]

People thinking DP51 being in the pens top 4 as a good idea is down right hilarious!

Bring on that lottery pick

That's a risk they may have to live with if they want to build a contender up front. Lot of teams are looking for top 4 dmen and those guys are going to get paid. I'm not in favor of the Pens spending 5MM with term for any of those free agents so we have to go with the kids. Personally my pairs would be:

Maatta-Letang (true 1st pairing playing 25min a night)
Dumoulin-Cole
Pouliot-Lovejoy
Chorney

I'd probably play those bottom two pairing close to equally. Maybe 19 and 16 or so.

Give them 40 games. You still have Harrington in WBS if an injury occurs. It's obviously risky because of Letang and Maatta's health, but the Pens made them key cogs of their defense so they have to rely on them.

 

[PensFreak]

People thinking DP51 being in the pens top 4 as a good idea is down right hilarious!

Bring on that lottery pick

I don't think he would be an ideal choice there. I think he'd be best suited to play in the 'Goligoski' role. 6th d-man playing a lot of PP time, sheltered even strength minutes for now. That said, I would rather see him in the top 4 than Scuderi or Lovejoy.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

People thinking DP51 being in the pens top 4 as a good idea is down right hilarious!

Bring on that lottery pick

Because having Scuds or Lovejoy in the top four is a better idea? Because that's what I'm seeing now and I'm about 99% sure DP can't do any worse.

 

[thecore]

That's a risk they may have to live with if they want to build a contender up front. Lot of teams are looking for top 4 dmen and those guys are going to get paid. I'm not in favor of the Pens spending 5MM with term for any of those free agents so we have to go with the kids. Personally my pairs would be:

Maatta-Letang (true 1st pairing playing 25min a night)
Dumoulin-Cole
Pouliot-Lovejoy
Chorney

I'd probably play those bottom two pairing close to equally. Maybe 19 and 16 or so.

Give them 40 games. You still have Harrington in WBS if an injury occurs. It's obviously risky because of Letang and Maatta's health, but the Pens made them key cogs of their defense so they have to rely on them.

The Pens are not going to buy out Scuderi and not sign a veteran defenseman. If they don't buy him out, that actually might be a good thing as it means they want Pouliot or Dumoulin to take his ES minutes on the second pairing over the course of the year.

I would honestly overpay Beauchemin a bit to get him here to anchor our second pairing. Say 3 years @4.25per. If not him, I promise it will be someone else. No way do they go into the season with that many young guys in the lineup. In the below scenario, you have really good balance between the pairings.

LD-RD
Maatta-Letang
Cole-Beauchemin
Lovejoy-Pouliot
Dumoulin

And enough hand wringing of Dumoulin has #7. He will play at least 50 games if only due to injuries, as we see every year.

EDIT: one last thought - imagine how good this defense would be with this many guys who can actually shoot the puck in Johnston's system. The reason we suck so bad on offense is it's predicated on shots from the point at least making it past the initial defender. We don't have guys who can shoot while moving right now.

 

[cygnus47]

That's a risk they may have to live with if they want to build a contender up front. Lot of teams are looking for top 4 dmen and those guys are going to get paid. I'm not in favor of the Pens spending 5MM with term for any of those free agents so we have to go with the kids. Personally my pairs would be:

Maatta-Letang (true 1st pairing playing 25min a night)
Dumoulin-Cole
Pouliot-Lovejoy
Chorney

I'd probably play those bottom two pairing close to equally. Maybe 19 and 16 or so.

Give them 40 games. You still have Harrington in WBS if an injury occurs. It's obviously risky because of Letang and Maatta's health, but the Pens made them key cogs of their defense so they have to rely on them.

And when Letang goes down for 15-20 games next year, we'll have one top 4 D again. We need at least one legit top 4 addition to insulate the 74 3rd pairing D we have. Dumo and Pouliot are ready for consistent 3rd pairing duty and Lovejoy and Cole top out at that. I mean, unless we commit to making this a 2-3 year process.

 

[dueling mullets]

I urge EVERYONE to watch Chicago the next few days.

EVERYTHING flows from their d-men. EVERYTHING. Joining the rush, leading the rush, and the ability to just get away from danger, taking away the need to smack it off the glass stupidly and hand it back to the opposition.

I live in Chicago and have a bunch of hawks fan friends who range from casual to season ticket die hards. I was watching pens game 4 with a guy who maybe watches 5 hawks games all year and then some of the playoffs. After 10 minutes, he's talking about how the pens can never get the puck out of their zone, and "I don't think I've seen crosby or malkin get the puck with speed once yet, the defense seems to just try to throw the puck up the ice to no one to try and get it out." The hawks defense is so good at the transition game that a guy who watches 15 hockey games a year could instantly tell the difference between the two teams.

 

[Coastal Kev]

I live in Chicago and have a bunch of hawks fan friends who range from casual to season ticket die hards. I was watching pens game 4 with a guy who maybe watches 5 hawks games all year and then some of the playoffs. After 10 minutes, he's talking about how the pens can never get the puck out of their zone, and "I don't think I've seen crosby or malkin get the puck with speed once yet, the defense seems to just try to throw the puck up the ice to no one to try and get it out." The hawks defense is so good at the transition game that a guy who watches 15 hockey games a year could instantly tell the difference between the two teams.

What makes it worse is all we have drafted and signed FA are PMD's. What in the hell is going on around here????

 

[Uemoda]

What makes it worse is all we have drafted and signed FA are PMD's. What in the hell is going on around here????

in·com·pe·tence

inˈkämpədəns/
noun
inability to do something successfully; ineptitude