Post-Game Talk: Flyers? More like fallers. Pens - 6, them - 2

[Speaking Moistly]

Trying to speculate about the severity of a concussion seems like a pointless endeavor. Hell, my sister what was apparently a fairly significant one and still went to work where she stared at a screen all day and used public transit. Then when she was recovered she looked at the work she'd done and was like "what the **** was I doing?"

The time between his concussions is what worries me.

Fun little fact. Matt Cullen is on pace to play all 82 games. The last time he did that was in 2000-2001

Why would you jinx him like that?

 

[Asuna]

Why would you jinx him like that?

I knocked on wood

 

[Mischa]

Fun little fact. Matt Cullen is on pace to play all 82 games. The last time he did that was in 2000-2001

crazy that when he was signed I just wanted him to fill in for dupuis and fehr occasionally when they needed rest. now we're talking about benching fehr before him

 

[member 51464]

Booze. Delicious cheap Czech lager. And the realization that I have teach a 3 hour seminar tomorrow for American study abroad students about Socialist sex comedies.

Which comedies?

 

[tom_servo]

crazy that when he was signed I just wanted him to fill in for dupuis and fehr occasionally when they needed rest. now we're talking about benching fehr before him

Hell, we're talking about a guy who is essential to this team and a legitimate alternate captain. In fact, the 'C' could rightly stand for 'Cullen.'

He's within range of becoming the best Cullen in Pens history.

 

[#66]

I still hated the way he drafted but with the WB kids playing so well... Does Shero's drafting get more credit? Or did he shoot himself in the foot by never allowing them to play??

 

[Ogrezilla]

I still hated the way he drafted but with the WB kids playing so well... Does Shero's drafting get more credit? Or did he shoot himself in the foot by never allowing them to play??

I think his development and unwillingness to use young guys was the real problem, not the drafting. Though there obviously some questionable picks in there too.

 

[Winger for Hire]

We have to separate drafting and development to fully... just kidding. I don't want to get back into that again.

 

[Coastal Kev]

I still hated the way he drafted but with the WB kids playing so well... Does Shero's drafting get more credit? Or did he shoot himself in the foot by never allowing them to play??

I think Shero took the "win now from management" mantra and ran with it way too far.

It's like, "let's go to Vegas and win some money". That doesn't mean you should sell your house and liquidate all of your funds and place it all on red in the 1st 5 minutes.

 

[SEALBound]

crazy that when he was signed I just wanted him to fill in for dupuis and fehr occasionally when they needed rest. now we're talking about benching fehr before him

I do not care about names or contracts. I doubt Sullivan does either. Sans Kunitz, I think he will ice the 12 best skaters. If it comes down to it, I wouldn't hesitate to bench Fehr before Cullen. I doubt Sully does either.

That Kuhn-Cullen-Rust/Whoever line is too important to us. Right now we are getting goals from all over...we need that in the playoffs. The only thing that is up in the air is the 3rd line...or 4th line...or whatever the bottom 6 non Cullen-Kuhn line is.

Once Malkin is back I think you either do:

Malkin-Crosby-Horny
Kunitz-Fehr-Bennett (4th line)

or

Fehr/Sheary/Wilson-Malkin-Bennett.

It would be tough for teams to match up over the course of 7 games being able to role that kind of depth.

 

[billybudd]

I still hated the way he drafted but with the WB kids playing so well... Does Shero's drafting get more credit? Or did he shoot himself in the foot by never allowing them to play??

I don't know how you criticize him for not giving this crop a crack at the lineup. When he was here, most of them were still in college and I think Kuhn was either injured or learning the pro game in Wheeling.

Far as the guys before this group, most of them were bad, so it was correct that they didn't get much of a chance. It could be argued that Tangradi got 40 games too many, actually.

 

[Shady Machine]

I don't know how you criticize him for not giving this crop a crack at the lineup. When he was here, most of them were still in college and I think Kuhn was either injured or learning the pro game in Wheeling.

Far as the guys before this group, most of them were bad, so it was correct that they didn't get much of a chance. It could be argued that Tangradi got 40 games too many, actually.

Yup. None of these guys were ready when Shero was here. Shero should get plenty of blame for trading countless picks away. We didn't have many Rusts or Wilsons to develop between '07 and '11. I think it's still fair to criticize his drafting as well.

 

[TorstenFrings]

I knocked on wood

But did you spit on a black cat?

 

[HandshakeLine]

Which comedies?

Haha, that perked someone up.

Dušan Makajevev "WR: Mysteries of the Organism", which is super explicit and pretty hilarious. And Miloš Forman's "Loves of a Blonde" which is less explicit and sadder but just as funny in parts.

 

[Shaftception]

Thanks, that was what I was looking for.

Is there another team out there with similar speed to ours doing similar to what we do? There have been several that come to mind in the past. Ironically Haglin's Rangers of a few years ago, Montreal had a very quick team that gave some of the heavier teams like Boston who we had trouble with fits. But current teams? Which does what we do?

Obviously the devils style has continued to give them fits no matter what year it is, and is the glaring outlier in this recent run of there's, so that hasn't changed.

Buffalo has actually scored a fair bit against them all year, took them to the shootout during this streak as well. Make of that what you will.

 

[Gurglesons]

Yup. None of these guys were ready when Shero was here. Shero should get plenty of blame for trading countless picks away. We didn't have many Rusts or Wilsons to develop between '07 and '11. I think it's still fair to criticize his drafting as well.

'07 - We drafted Muzzin and Bort
'08 - We moved most of our picks in the Hossa deal. Also we went to the Cup Final.
'09 - We drafted Despres a solid top four option with 30th overall.
'10 - We drafted Rust and Kuhn. So I think Rust developed.
'11 - Morrow and Harrington will probably end up being NHL defenders. We also drafted Wilson who has looked good so far.

So, let's stop with the "Shero sucks at drafting" nonsense.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

I think Shero took the "win now from management" mantra and ran with it way too far.

It's like, "let's go to Vegas and win some money". That doesn't mean you should sell your house and liquidate all of your funds and place it all on red in the 1st 5 minutes.

Gambling on Alexei Ponikarovsky was more like putting it all on 00.

 

[Gurglesons]

Gambling on Alexei Ponikarovsky was more like putting it all on 00.

Man, trading Caputi and Skoula for Poni really predestined our fall in 2010.

Like, do people honestly remember a lot of Shero's trades and just pretend like the majority of them were like the Morrow for Morrow one?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Shero's overall draft history is just okay. He drafted a grand total of 1 guy in his time here outside of the 1st round that ended up anything more than a top-4 D or a top-6 forward. Murray will probably make that 2, but it's too early to definitively say that now.

Shero's non 1st round picks yielded a decent amount of depth players. I'd say all of Bortuzzo, Strait, Johnson, Jeffery, Rust, Kuhnhackl, Murray, Harrington, Wilson and Sundqvist all were/are solid depth players. However, he had a ridiculous amount of guys who became nothing. If not for Pechurski getting in for that emergency game, his 2008 draft would literally not even have 1 NHL game played. His 2006-2009 drafts were all varying levels of mediocre to just straight up bad. His 2008 draft was downright horrible, his 2009 draft was bad (only not downright horrible because of Despres) and his 2006 was mediocre (yielded only 2 fringe NHLers after 1st round). The only draft that is debatable is the 2007 draft, only because it yielded Muzzin. However, Shero didn't even sign him, so I don't know how you could credit Shero with that one.

Shero's 2010-2012 are really his only good draft years, and even then, only 2012 was really great.

 

[Asuna]

Nice to see us pass the Kings now. Very impressive.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Any context for that graph... because it looks like a whole lot of nothing to me

 

[Asuna]

Any context for that graph... because it looks like a whole lot of nothing to me

The higher you are in the graph, the less shots the team allows. The more you are towards the right, the more shots the team generates.

Basically top right corner is ideal.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Any context for that graph... because it looks like a whole lot of nothing to me

I think the Pens are playing good, fun hockey for most of the game.

 

[Winger for Hire]

I think the Pens are playing good, fun hockey for most of the game.

Well, why can't we just say that

The higher you are in the graph, the less shots the team allows. The more you are towards the right, the more shots the team generates.

Basically top right corner is ideal.

Thanks. I figured their position in the chart was good, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Nice to see us pass the Kings now. Very impressive.

Statistically we have been one of the best, arguably the best, team in the NHL for over half a year now in the stats which best predict playoff success.

I wonder if the Pens are flying somewhat under the radar still though and not thought of as in that top tier.