Zbynek
Jarry friggin sucks dude
Definition of "I haven't watched a single Penguins game this year, but I'll comment as if I did anyway!"
"Fire Hextall" chant took over the arena in Pitt last night
- Thread starter UrbanImpact
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The Panther
Registered User
That's one (fairly dumb) way of looking at it. You could also say they got blown out by the team with by far the most regulation wins in the Western conference (and 2nd most in the NHL).
But, really, who cares who they lost to? When you've already lost three in a row, to then lose 7-2 on home ice to anybody is not a good look.
I didn't get that, either. I mean, I don't follow the Pens particularly, but it reminded me (as an Oilers fan) of when Kevin Lowe and the "brain"trust in Edmonton hired Steve Tambellini (ex-Vancouver Canuck of the hapless 80s' team) to be GM. I was, like, "Whaaat...??"
With all the available candidates, teams really don't need to hire someone who is 95% associated with the club's rival franchise. He's always going to be looked upon with some skepticism by the fanbase.
Yeah, I had a thread on here last season asking Pens' fans how they felt about the contracts to Crosby, Letang, and Malkin. The general response I got was that fans were pleased with it. I do think it's cool that clubs (post-salary cap) can afford to sign star veterans at slightly reduced rates, and thus possibly keep these guys as one-franchise-only career players. It's a good look, and I like it. That said, it obviously comes with a huge possible downside...
Crosby strikes me as a very smart guy with a broad perspective. Having already won three Cups, his legacy as a player is pretty safe. I think he knows very well that the odds of jumping to another team at a veteran rental or add-on, and winning the Cup with said team, are about 2%. So... why would he want to do that? I think he'll say put, as long as the Pens' org respects his wishes.
The east is brutal. I’m not surprised they’re only fighting for a wildcard spot. But I am surprised they’re trailing Buffalo in the standings.
Pens x
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- Oct 8, 2016
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Sid and Geno are still producing. Your theory would be right if they sucked, but they are one of our few bright spots.
Our bottom six is atrocious - he assembled this group. Dumped Marino and Matheson to bring in another 35 year old dman on an anchor deal, gave away McCann and Tanev to keep Carter and Blueger, do you need more? This has nothing to do with Father Time, but everything to do with father stupid.
He was a horrible hire and it’s pathetic it’s taken people this long to see he’s awful.
Habs 4 Life
No Excuses
SomeDude
Registered User
I never said Hextall wasn’t part of the problem, I said I’m not convinced he’s a big problem yet.
Mike Sullivan is the team’s biggest problem by far currently. His system is stale, does not fit this team anymore, and his refusal to adjust is killing them. If you bring in a different coach then you’d see how the players Hextall brought in respond. Watch what happens with Kapanen when he gets to a new organization. He’ll be back to being an affective player like he was in Toronto. Sullivan gave McCann similar treatment here, never putting him in a position to succeed. No GM micromanages to the point of dictating lineup decisions and call ups, that’s all on the coaching staff.
My point still stands that the Pittsburgh media are blaming everything on the GM and refusing to even consider the coach is contributing to the problem.
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Yeah. It’s just really weird to see considering how long Pittsburgh has been good and buffalo bad.
Pens x
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- Oct 8, 2016
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The tide is turning with the local media. Slowly, sully is getting called into question. The fan base fought me vehemently last year when I criticized sully - everyone was late to seeing he’s trash.
Also, the media is definitely influencing the team. Hextall had had to come out of hiding twice in the last week. I love it - keep him uncomfortable. Dude has treated this like a part-time job.
As for Kap, why did Hextall keep him when he saw how he was in the doghouse much of last year? You don’t keep a player like that when you basically gave your coach a 5 year extension.
ChaosAgent
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- May 8, 2018
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Best post on the Penguins in years. I say that as a fan.Yeah. I think the reality is just...the team is getting old, and slowing down.
I do think when you have a team that feels this "stale", sometimes just trying make a lateral move is worth a shot just to try for a shakeup. Just trying to get some fresher legs in there somehow would be worthwhile. But the core of the team is what it is, and on paper...it's really not too bad at all. It just doesn't seem to be working. So swap around some peripheral pieces. Try to swap one of your wingers for someone else. Do what you can to provide a spark or a different mix somehow to give the coach different options. However...
To me, that also screams for a coaching change. Sullivan has been there forever, and seems to be in a total rut when it comes to providing new answers. Not really an indictment of what he's got out of this squad previously, but sometimes a new voice just lightens things up and changes the tone, provides a spark. Honestly...i think Boudreau would be a really interesting fit on an interim "close out the season" sort of basis. His style of coaching and light mood seem like they might be just the ticket to get the Penguins moving in the right direction again, temporarily.
But the way the team is constructed with regard to age and cap structure...they're probably done as real "contenders". Years of being at the top eventually catch up to a team. That's just the way it goes.Fans always get upset, but years of trading away picks and prospects to make a push every season and trying to patch holes every year and compete...it leaves the cupboards pretty bare. No top-end young blood coming through. Things get "stale". You can backfill the roster with more older guys who are on paper, "decent" in their roles. But unless you can provide some significant jump and young legs somehow...you're just in a bit a long, slow death-spiral. Waiting to crash and rebuild.
Breaking it down, the "most things look decent on paper" starts to fall apart a bit more the deeper you scrutinize:
Top-6:
The biggest thing to me, is that their Top-6 Wingers are basically built like the "good old days", but Crosby and Malkin are old and can no longer carry mediocre guys that same way. To me it's like:
-Guentzel is fine riding shotgun to Crosby.
-Rakell, Zucker, Rust are such a deeply uninspiring group to fill things out though. Just a big bucket of "blah" and sort of more "Top-9 caliber" wingers. Any of them is fine if you've got one or two of these guys spotted in alongside other dynamic talent, but they're really lacking anything dynamic and explosive. As a group, it really falls flat when it makes up fully 1/2 of your Top-6.
Bottom-6:
The Bottom-6 is also maybe even worse when you really scrutinize:
-Carter is an okay #3C in isolation, even if he's not really the prototypical guy for the role. But he's also old and slowing down which just compounds the problem in the Top-6.
-Kapanen is probably exactly what they need more of in the lineup, but the coach seems to hate him and he seems to be a bit of a scapegoat for some reason...so...
-McGinn is a pretty solid bottom-6 winger, but he's only going to go as far as the rest of his line takes him - in this case, not very far.
-Blueger seems to have fallen off a cliff.
-Poehling is probably okay, where you can see Hextall at least trying to inject some youth there, but he's far from "dynamic" in any particular dimension.
-O'Connor, Archibald, Heinen though...what do these guys even do? What are they for?
The Bottom-6 is a place where you can easily make changes for relatively little cost. A place where you can get a bit of a "spark" without giving up much in return. When a team is stale, that might be a good place to start.
Defence:
The blueline also has lots of guys who are "fine" in their roles in isolation, but really underwhelming as a group if everyone is just "fine".
-Letang is still a good #1D, but he's missed a bunch of time.
-Petry is a fine guy to anchor a 2nd pairing.
-Dumoulin is slowing down, but still a Top-4D and fine with the right partner.
-Pettersson is like the definition of a #4D, that's fine.
-Rutta is a "premium" bottom-pairing D but that's about it.
-POJ seems to bring some live legs and that's positive, but he's not much more than a bottom-pair guy.
-Ruhwedel is a serviceable journeyman depth guy but that's about it.
Nobody really "over their head" in their role. But at the same time, there's basically zero "headroom" on anyone if they have to move up the lineup. They're all sort of slotted into a place on the depth chart where they're "fine" as long as everything is going as planned. Taken as a unit...that's just way too much "okay-ness".
Which is exacerbated in perception by what Marino has gone on to do for the Devils. He wasn't that guy for the Penguins...but he represented the sort of "younger player with headroom" that the entire team is currently lacking.
I think that's the largest problem with Hextall in general here. He's got his hands tied in a lot of ways with the core of a declining team, but when your team looks this "stale" and is floundering like this, you have to be seen to be doing something. Even if it's small, lateral moves. Do something to distract fans and try to shake up the vibe in the room, give the coach a new thing to try. Do something. Whereas most of Hextall's "big moves" were back in the Summer...and are currently looking like they moved in the wrong direction. Since then, he's been sitting on his hands while the team spirals.
It's where i agree. It's not really a problem he's likely to solve and it's not really a terrible roster or anything. But it's clearly not working, so you have to find a way to change it up. You're not going to get different results by doing the same thing.
The Panther
Registered User
I watched a bit of Hextall's presser after the game. It was awkward... but not as awkward as the last time I saw him interviewed post-game -- right after game 7 of the 1987 Finals, when he was interviewed and the cameras caught his pubes.
Rebuild will be inevitable there as Crosby and Malkin get up in age. It's interesting to see how their rebuild goes. That was essentially a team that "only" needed to find the right complementary players for two top 5 centers in the game for a decade. If they aren't as lucky with the draft the next time, you might see a less top-heavy Penguins in the future. I think everyone got used to them being top heavy with two superstars for so long so a more evenly balanced team would feel a bit odd if it turned out that way in their next "era". They're almost synonymous with having two superstar centers for so long, that any other team construction would feel radically new.
Coastal Kev
There will be "I told you so's" Bet on it
Kaapo Cabana
Next name: Admiral Kakkbar
I mean
Somebody had to be in the drivers seat when they went off the cliff.
I don’t know what you guys want from him.
No real tradable assets, no cap space, old team.
Trading picks at the deadline would be idiotic for where this team is.
Tanking is the only other option.
Somebody had to be in the drivers seat when they went off the cliff.
I don’t know what you guys want from him.
No real tradable assets, no cap space, old team.
Trading picks at the deadline would be idiotic for where this team is.
Tanking is the only other option.
BigEezyE22
Continuing to not support HF.
Keep in mind this guy gave Carter 2 years with full NMC before he even spoke to Malkin about this recent contract.
Zbynek
Jarry friggin sucks dude
Here's the full order of events:
1. Gave Carter an immovable, over-35 contract with full NMC that aged like milk
2. Nickle&dimed Malkin (a HOF franchise legend) until the witching hour, when Sid and Mario stepped in. Geno ultimately signed because honestly, he's a great guy who loves playing in Pittsburgh. He could have easily tested the waters after being spurned by Hextall and the Pens would have been left without a 2C (just imagine how bad things would be now). People overlook this Hextall fact.
3. After nickle&diming Malkin, signed Kapanen who was in the doghouse all last season to an unexplainable 2x3.2million contract when he could have just not qualified him.
4. Hextall complains about the tough cap situation around the league.
5. Kapanen (to the surprise of no-one) continues to play like shit and get screwed around by Coach Sullivan
6. Hextall turns down a possible trade for Kapanen because he didn't want to trade him within the East.
7. Hextall sends out a note to all 31 GMs that Kapanen is available.
8. Hextall waives Kapanen.
TheGoldenJet
Registered User
The second best playoff performer of his generation is someone you can’t go to war with.
Got it, thanks flyers fan.
Coaches have an expiry date. Sullivan doesn’t seem to appreciate that his players are no longer able to play the same style to the same effectiveness that won the cup in 2016 and 2017. He no longer seems capable of motivating the players. He would make a good coach for an up and coming team.
Hextall signed Carter to a two year extension out of the blue last season ( a 35+ with a full NMC) and the wheels have fallen off Carter this season. He signed McGinn to a 4 year deal. He signed Kapanen to a two year extension and 8 months later on waivers. He traded Matheson and Marino without improving the D as a whole. He did not take steps to fix our goaltending situation.
Essentially our bottom 6 is a mess, unreliable goaltending with regard to Jarry not able to be trusted due to injury concerns and he made the defence older but not better. The Pens ”window” is the end of Sid’s contract and it sees like Hextall is pissing it away.
Hextall signed Carter to a two year extension out of the blue last season ( a 35+ with a full NMC) and the wheels have fallen off Carter this season. He signed McGinn to a 4 year deal. He signed Kapanen to a two year extension and 8 months later on waivers. He traded Matheson and Marino without improving the D as a whole. He did not take steps to fix our goaltending situation.
Essentially our bottom 6 is a mess, unreliable goaltending with regard to Jarry not able to be trusted due to injury concerns and he made the defence older but not better. The Pens ”window” is the end of Sid’s contract and it sees like Hextall is pissing it away.
ForsbergForever
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- May 19, 2004
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Not sure if talking about going to war with a Russian is the best choice if words right now...
Peltz
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- Oct 4, 2019
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PensPlz
Registered User
You mean you didn't like his GetGo commercial???
"CAN I GET A GRILLED CHICKEN WRAP?!?!?"
That wasn't just your favorite thing in the entire world?
You didn't just looooove seeing it every. single. freaking. commercial break?
"OOOOO WITH TOTS ON IT!!!!!!"
What's wrong with you?
Matty Sundin
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- Jul 18, 2006
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Teams should probably rebuild a few years ago. They just been a team that’s just good enough to playoffs and not much after that. They are setting themselves up for dark times after Crosby retires after years of just being mediocre.
Bear of Bad News
Your Third or Fourth Favorite HFBoards Admin
- Sep 27, 2005
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Leah Hextall currently reporting on-ice at the Penguins game on the Fire Hextall chant.
