gretskidoo
Registered User
- Nov 26, 2011
- 4,794
- 395
Nobody bite my head off, because I do believe the Penguins were a stronger contender than the wings prior to their moves.
However, how different was the quality of the two rosters prior to the deadline moves? This isnt a statistical comparisson, but rather for ***** and giggles. Im operating under 3 givens:
A) Pitt is more offensive.
B) Our team is more defensive. (Looking at GA/G the difference is negligble, but I do believe our team defence is better, our system is more defense focused)
C) Comparisons below arent always statisically relevent (ie. Neal - Franzen) but often are (ie. Fleury - Howard).
both teams have two top line centers.
Crosby -Zetterberg
Malkin - Datsyuk
both lines have good top 6 winger depth
Neal - Franzen
Kunitz (insane breakout year) - Brunner (good(?) breakout year)
Dupuis - Filppula
Both teams have "Grinders playing up the roster"
Cooke - Abdelkader
Bennett - Cleary
Both teams top defenceman are dynamic offensively and "meh" defensively.
Letang - Kronwall
Niether team has an outstanding shutdown defenceman
Orpik - Ericsson
Both teams have a rookie Defence playing solid hockey
Despres - Smith
Third line centers are of the same caliber
Sutter - Helm
The complimentary pieces are playing at similar levels
Martin - Kindl
Niskanen - Quincey
Kennedy - Andersson
Both starting goalies are of the same caliber
Fleury - Howard
Again, I dont think this team is an elite contender, but i dont think we are as far off as some people say. Obviously, our rosters and abilities are "trending" in the opposite direction of Pittsburg due to ages. But when you look at things on a single season basis we are still a very good team. Our record doesnt show it but I see two reasons for that:
-We have a habit of playing down to weaker teams.
-More man games lost to injury than any other team.
I would agree that we are not that far off. Most people on this forum have completely written the team off. With a couple of moves, primarily a legit scoring winger for Datsyuk and a good top 3(pref top 2) we can definitely be contenders.
Exactly. Obviously those two players arent available for a price this team should pay. But on a pieces basis, we are close.
Lets not forget that most teams would kill for the center depth we have.
Chicago has a hole in the 2C spot and they are still considered a contender.
Bennett has played better than Cleary.
Kindl has been ok but he's got almost nothing against Martin. Martin has played like legit #1 or at least top pairing D.
Letang is not 'meh' defensively.
imo.
For the cheap seats, one more time...
There is NOTHING Holland could have done to acquire Iginla.
There is no reason to b**** and moan about it. Iginla chose which team he wanted to go to and Detroit wasnt even on his list to begin with.
Face it, the detractors on this board arent the only ones who know Detroit is not a contender.
EVERYONE AND THEIR DOG is aware that Iginla picked Pittsburg and only Pittsburg. We all have understood and accepted that.
I wont accept people writing this team off. We have the tenth best record in the NHL and one team (LA) can take that from us by means of winning their games at hand.
Lets be real here, at this time Malkin and Sid are better compared to the rest of the league than Yzerman and Fedorov ever were.
They were never top 2 players at the same time
In 2008? As If I remember that particular argument.
Didn't we win the cup in 08 without Hossa and sign him for nothing for 08-09?
Because Bettman will force another GM to trade another 40 goal scoring power foward to Pitt for less than market value.