News Article: Eddie Olczyk article

[billybudd]

Problem as I recall it was them interfering with each other on the power play. As usual Mario directed the PP from the left boards, and he wanted Zubov to shoot from the outside. But Zubov wanted to run the PP himself as he was used to, and almost never shot the puck. It just didn't work out.

Pretty much this. There was a sequence against, I think, Washington in the playoffs where Zubov kept distributing the puck every time he got it. The recipient just passed it back immediately and the other 4 guys yelled shoot or pointed at the net (etc).

When he finally did shoot, he scored a goal, of course.

Like, everybody understood that Mario was going to work the PP from the left while Jagr floated toward the back door and someone stood in front of the net, and when that wasn't working, Jagr would work from the right and Mario would look for soft spots. The two mirrored each other with everyone else in support.

All they needed Zubov to do was hold the line and fire the puck, but he just wasn't understanding this.

 

[vikingGoalie]

Eddie was in over his head. He is a smart hockey guy, whether he can be successful as a coach who knows. Part of why Mario had him put in place was because the vets were running the team. Eddie was trying to be a head coach and unless Mario and Craig Patrick back him he might as well be pissing into a strong head wind....

The only question I have is whether the vets just tuned him out because he was laughably incompetent, or would they have tuned out any coach.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Pretty much this. There was a sequence against, I think, Washington in the playoffs where Zubov kept distributing the puck every time he got it. The recipient just passed it back immediately and the other 4 guys yelled shoot or pointed at the net (etc).

When he finally did shoot, he scored a goal, of course.

Like, everybody understood that Mario was going to work the PP from the left while Jagr floated toward the back door and someone stood in front of the net, and when that wasn't working, Jagr would work from the right and Mario would look for soft spots. The two mirrored each other with everyone else in support.

All they needed Zubov to do was hold the line and fire the puck, but he just wasn't understanding this.

Moving Zubby because of Lemieux was ridiculous IMHO. For all the nonsense about Zubby not shooting the puck, he racked up 12 seasons where he posted double digits in goals. Patrick traded one of the elite offensive blueliners in the league for the next ten years after he was dealt, for three seasons of Hatcher.

This is kind of turning into a Lemieux bashing thread for me, but I honestly loved the guy. However, the Pens org gave him way too much say in things.

His rift with Bowman and the way he pushed him out of the org still pisses me off to this day. I'm 99.9% certain the Pens would of won at least one more cup under Bowman if not more. However, from all I've read and heard, Lemieux wanted to do things his own way and that was that.

I guess in the end Zubov and Bowman had the last laugh winning four cups between them while Lemieux never reached the cup ever again.

 

[billybudd]

Moving Zubby because of Lemieux was ridiculous IMHO. For all the nonsense about Zubby not shooting the puck, he racked up 12 seasons where he posted double digits in goals. Patrick traded one of the elite offensive blueliners in the league for the next ten years after he was dealt, for three seasons of Hatcher.

This is kind of turning into a Lemieux bashing thread for me, but I honestly loved the guy. However, the Pens org gave him way too much say in things.

His rift with Bowman and the way he pushed him out of the org still pisses me off to this day. I'm 99.9% certain the Pens would of won at least one more cup under Bowman if not more. However, from all I've read and heard, Lemieux wanted to do things his own way and that was that.

I guess in the end Zubov and Bowman had the last laugh winning four cups between them while Lemieux never reached the cup ever again.

It wasn't just Mario. It was everyone who complained that he wouldn't shoot. Francis would yell at him. Jagr would. Mario would. They all would.

Doesn't make moving him for Hatcher right, but I do understand the frustration they had. It was frustrating to watch. Nobody in his lane because all the other threats had to be respected and he just would not pull the trigger.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

It wasn't just Mario. It was everyone who complained that he wouldn't shoot. Francis would yell at him. Jagr would. Mario would. They all would.

Doesn't make moving him for Hatcher right, but I do understand the frustration they had. It was frustrating to watch. Nobody in his lane because all the other threats had to be respected and he just would not pull the trigger.

The Pens were used to Murphy who was much more of a gunner than Zubov. They really needed to give it another season, but Zubby became their scapegoat which was absurd.

The guy was a driving force behind their run to the ECF and played one of the greatest individual games in franchise history agt the Caps in the famous quadruple OT game. Most people remember Nedved for that game, but Zubov was the real star.

He was a huge reason the Rags won the cup a couple of seasons earlier as well.

Gainey once said the Zubov for Hatcher deal was the fastest one he ever accepted in his career. It took him just a few minutes to agree to it.

Obviously he did something right with the Rags and Stars, since he was a point machine and racked up double digit goals almost every season.

It's one of those trades I'll never understand, but like I said, Zubby had the last laugh.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Pretty much this. There was a sequence against, I think, Washington in the playoffs where Zubov kept distributing the puck every time he got it. The recipient just passed it back immediately and the other 4 guys yelled shoot or pointed at the net (etc).

When he finally did shoot, he scored a goal, of course.

Like, everybody understood that Mario was going to work the PP from the left while Jagr floated toward the back door and someone stood in front of the net, and when that wasn't working, Jagr would work from the right and Mario would look for soft spots. The two mirrored each other with everyone else in support.

All they needed Zubov to do was hold the line and fire the puck, but he just wasn't understanding this.

It did result in this.

http://www.letsgopens.com/pens-shoot-the-puck.mp3

Oh...And Zubov didn't like everyone seeing him nude so he took sponge/washcloth baths and it floated around he stunk, and it really bothered, Mario.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Mark Recchi most certainly did not practice what he potentially 'preached' w/ the Penguins that season. He was lazy, took careless penalties, and shortcuts galore.

I remember watching Recchi that year and thinking he was an example of what not to learn from a veteran.

Between messing with the rookie and being generally oblivious, Recchi 2.0 was kind of like the post X-Generation's Rod Farva: