News Article: Forbes' Hockey Analysis: It's not for us. To be revisited.

[hiptanaka]

I'd much rather this team be underrated than overhyped.

 

[KIRK]

I'm not going to bother reading, but not sure how he can list previous cup winners as an example when every one of them has been "top heavy"

I'm not going to bother reading because the Pens didn't acquire Kessel to bring a cup to Pittsburgh. They traded for him to help empower Sid and Geno to do that.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

While I think the article's "top heavy" comments are full of it...

I am more concerned about the Pens culture. Will Phil change it or will it change Phil?

We really need our team to have a more battle worthy attitude.

 

[Brock Boeser]

He is 27, he has a long time to get his ring or two. And he most likely will.

 

[Winger for Hire]

This top 4 is going to get less and less top heavy as the cap rises...

 

[Sideline]

He is 27, he has a long time to get his ring or two. And he most likely will.

To pick up on this point it's worth remembering that the Ottawa Senators traded 27 year old Marian Hossa to the Atlanta thrashers for Dany Heatley because Hossa wasn't a guy you could win with.

 

[Freeptop]

When I got to the following paragraph I wondered if the author would ever acknowledge the sheer number of injuries the Pens had to deal with last season:

Kris Letang had 54 points, tied for No. 71 among NHL players; Patric Hornqvist’s 51 were good for 85th. Along with Crosby and Malkin, those four were the only Penguins to post more than 40 points. No other Eastern Conference playoff team had fewer than six players above the 40-point line.

As it turns out, there is never a single mention of injuries in the entire article. It seems odd that the author would reference Crosby's and Malkin's points per game in the immediately preceding paragraph, but then only reference total points for any other player (including mentioning where Letang and Hornqvist ranked in total points, but not in points per game...)

Seems awfully strange to choose different stats for comparison in those two cases... and "coincidentally" the ones that make the Pens look worse.

Edit:
For the record, Hornqvist moves up to 45th based on pts/g, and Letang is at 50th.
The Pens also had 8 players on pace for over 40 points, but injuries kept them lower than that...

 

[Jules Winnfield]

"**** hithtory, daddeh..."

 

[HMPens]

When I got to the following paragraph I wondered if the author would ever acknowledge the sheer number of injuries the Pens had to deal with last season:


As it turns out, there is never a single mention of injuries in the entire article. It seems odd that the author would reference Crosby's and Malkin's points per game in the immediately preceding paragraph, but then only reference total points for any other player (including mentioning where Letang and Hornqvist ranked in total points, but not in points per game...)

Seems awfully strange to choose different stats for comparison in those two cases... and "coincidentally" the ones that make the Pens look worse.

Edit:
For the record, Hornqvist moves up to 45th based on pts/g, and Letang is at 50th.
The Pens also had 8 players on pace for over 40 points, but injuries kept them lower than that...

Not to mention the fact that Letang is a defenseman, and ranked 2nd in NHL in points per game until he got hurt, then fell to 4th.

 

[Son Goku]

This team's offense will be ridiculous but we aren't the only ones in the division getting upgrades. Columbus got Saad and Washington got Oshie. Getting Kessel does NOT give us a free pass. I think this team has to remember that.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I think what gets lost in translation is the fact teams got to grow with the cap while the Pens had two high end talents make 8.7 much, much sooner.

They had many advantages and even still today, but from next season on they will feel the effects while still not even close to what the Pens had to endure because the cap had risen so high since.

Cosby's cap# 8.7 vs NHL total cap# 56.8
2010 on Crosby's + Malkin's cap# 8.7 x2 = 17.4 vs NHL cap# 59.4 - 17.4 = 42.0 to fill out the rest of the roster.

2011 on for Toew's and Kane cap# 6.3 x2 = 12.6 vs cap# 63.4 - 12.6 = 50.8 to fill out the rest of the roster.

Not all things are equal.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

garbage

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

This is such a poorly constructed article/argument... not even worth discussing.

 

[Merc29]

Well I think people go to jail for less if he were to steal the Stanley cup and bring it to Pitt.


But seriously here is where I am at with this trade. For Sids entire career with the exception of two months he has never played with an elite winger, and now we have one and all of the sudden we're too heavy up top. What do they want us to do? Hope someone is so desperate to play on sids wing they'll play for league min? We will be fine.



As far as the defense is concerned, we're just fine. We didn't give up our two best prospects and we have I believe a solid 6 player core.
Top 4
Letang, Maatta, Pouliot, Cole... That's pretty solid.

Our only question marks

Scuderi, who everyone hates only because he makes probably .75 million more than he should and one year too long. Yeah if Dion Phaneuf was our 6th defenseman we be doing better but we can't have an all star core

Lovejoy who everyone is bitter about because we gave up Despres for him. There are a lot worse players out there. He and Scuderi are both excelant PKer's.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

The defense is younger and less proven than last year's.

The top six is night and day better than last year.

The bottom six is at least as good, and likely better as well.

If the article is saying that this team has questions, well ****ing duh. Name me a team that does not.

If the article is saying that this team needs to remain healthier a lot better than they have, well ****ing duh. Name me a team that does not.

If the article is saying that this team has players that need to step up, well ****ing duh. Name me a team that does not.

Basically this article is a joke that should have been entitled 'Things that make you go '****ing duh''.

 

[cygnus47]

Our D is barely playoff quality, that will still have to change if we're getting further than last year. Consistent scoring comes when the D get the forwards the puck in good positions and the forwards have the skill to take advantage. We're missing an entire 2nd pairing as it stands, one of our top 2 lines is getting little support from the D and will struggle in the playoffs.

 

[Son Goku]

Yeah it'll help a lot if Pouliot breaks out this year. I'm not worried about Cole at all. Letang and Maatta are my only worries with injury problems. More so with Maatta being such a young guy and not playing for so long. Hopefully doesn't hurt his development but Defenders don't start to peak or prime until their mid to late 20's.

 

[cajal]

It's interesting to see how the Pens went from being "media darlings" to "the Crosby/Malkin party is over".

At least we can all relax during the season next year, as a top-heavy team has never won the cup. Phew! I'm so relieved, maybe they'll be selling jerseys more cheaply soon.

 

[SEALBound]

Saying the Pens don't need a top end winger because of Crosby and Malkin having high ppg....is not watching games, but only looking at statlines. This team had issues lacking both high caliber scoring wings AND depth. Scoring has been a big problem in recent playoffs. Phil will help tremendously in that department. With the cap increasing, Phil's addition makes the Pens better in the top and bottom 6, as it should push some fringe top 6 guys into the bottom 6.

Defense is going to be a question mark, but having Martin vs Kessel doesn't make this a better team. We've already seen that movie.

Not only that but looking at a 4-5yr stat line of averages and trends. On a game by game basis, Sid and Geno need more help.

Those games against New York...all VERY close games. A goal here and there by Kessel could absolutely have turned the series. Same with the Boston series.

Yes, ultimately we lose series. When you lose, you lose, that's it. But in all honestly, if you objectively look at it...we are never THAT far away. We have never been blown out of a series the way we've blown others out. There's no reason to think that adding Kessel wouldn't be the little something extra we need to get past those series. Especially where scoring was an issue.

Adding to the top 6 helps the bottom 6 too. JR's search of having 4 scoring lines helps too. I'm thinking:

Perron-Sid-Horn
Plot-Malkin-Kessel
Kunitz-Sutter-Dupuis
XXXX-Sundqvist-Bennett

All scoring threats.

 

[KIRK]

Not only that but looking at a 4-5yr stat line of averages and trends. On a game by game basis, Sid and Geno need more help.

Those games against New York...all VERY close games. A goal here and there by Kessel could absolutely have turned the series. Same with the Boston series.

Yes, ultimately we lose series. When you lose, you lose, that's it. But in all honestly, if you objectively look at it...we are never THAT far away. We have never been blown out of a series the way we've blown others out. There's no reason to think that adding Kessel wouldn't be the little something extra we need to get past those series. Especially where scoring was an issue.

Adding to the top 6 helps the bottom 6 too. JR's search of having 4 scoring lines helps too. I'm thinking:

Perron-Sid-Horn
Plot-Malkin-Kessel
Kunitz-Sutter-Dupuis
XXXX-Sundqvist-Bennett

All scoring threats.

That line certainly would be a threat. To what or to do what . . . I can't say I'm entirely sure.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

It's not about our defense needing to step up as much as its can our defense stay healthy.

Because if the Pens defense can be healthy when it's crunch time, it can and will make a huge impact. For how good the top 6 is now, without Letang, getting a good transition out of the Pens end is atrocious. And without Maatta there having to calm things down in his end and being an underrated puck mover himself, the defense suffers. If Pouliot can step that part of his game up (PMD), the Pens will be just fine.

The team barely had Ehrhoff healthy for the year and just lost Martin. If you get a healthy Maatta back and Letang, that defense isn't losing as much as people will swear up and down about.

 

[KIRK]

It's not about our defense needing to step up as much as its can our defense stay healthy.

Because if the Pens defense can be healthy when it's crunch time, it can and will make a huge impact. For how good the top 6 is now, without Letang, getting a good transition out of the Pens end is atrocious. And without Maatta there having to calm things down in his end and being an underrated puck mover himself, the defense suffers. If Pouliot can step that part of his game up (PMD), the Pens will be just fine.

The team barely had Ehrhoff healthy for the year and just lost Martin. If you get a healthy Maatta back and Letang, that defense isn't losing as much as people will swear up and down about.

No, it's about the defense stepping up too, because right now, on paper, the Pens only have TWO top 4 defensemen.

Cole isn't a top four guy on an upper echelon team. He COULD be.

Pouliot isn't a top four guy on an upper echelon team. He COULD be.

Who else? Dumo?

Absent another move, you're going to need two guys who aren't top four defensemen to grow into those roles this year.

 

[Penguinator]

Off-topic but some of you might wanna check out the NHL talk board as there's a few Pens threads going on. A couple of them about Phil & a weird one on Pens not having enough 2way forwards to win the cup.

 

[JTG]

The question mark with this team lies in the fact it will have 4 blueliners on it who are in their mid to early 20's. I'm completely confident in the forwards at this point.

 

[Ogrezilla]

The question mark with this team lies in the fact it will have 4 blueliners on it who are in their mid to early 20's. I'm completely confident in the forwards at this point.

considering how much of a question mark our defense has been with guys in their 30s, I'm completely OK with this. I mean, you're not wrong. The D is absolutely a question mark. But there is nobody available who would change that, so I hope we just roll with what we've already got on D.