GDT: Locker Clean Out Day

[Pancakes]

If the Penguins are insisting on keeping Johnson, I'd be tempted to try him and Gudbranson together on the bottom pair and running the hell out of Pettersson-Letang and Dumoulin-Schultz as my top-4. Sure, that bottom pair is Scuderi-Gill caliber in puck moving, but you're at least limiting the damage to 1 pair.

That pair would be a total disaster and I'd be worried about that ruining Gudbranson's confidence. He has been playing well here but with JJ he could fall back into old habits.

 

[Empoleon8771]

That pair would be a total disaster and I'd be worried about that ruining Gudbranson's confidence. He has been playing well here but with JJ he could fall back into old habits.

Yes, that pair would be a total disaster (most likely), but it prevents Johnson from dragging down a pair that you need to be good. Having a **** bottom pair is a problem, having a **** 2nd pair and an okay 3rd pair is a death sentence.

I think you need Schultz at his best to actually be a threat in the playoffs. Limiting the damage by separating Johnson and Gudbranson just hurts Schultz (or hurts Letang if you're playing Johnson with Letang), and I think you need Schultz to be good to be a contender.

 

[Turin]

Who cares? Can they win the Cup with Johnson? No

 

[Pancakes]

Yes, that pair would be a total disaster (most likely), but it prevents Johnson from dragging down a pair that you need to be good. Having a **** bottom pair is a problem, having a **** 2nd pair and an okay 3rd pair is a death sentence.

I think you need Schultz at his best to actually be a threat in the playoffs. Limiting the damage by separating Johnson and Gudbranson just hurts Schultz (or hurts Letang if you're playing Johnson with Letang), and I think you need Schultz to be good to be a contender.

Will be interesting to see what JR does with the defense this off season. He has said he likes that d core, and he's usually a straight shooter about stuff like that. Even so, it's such an expensive d, and are we really gonna run with Maatta or JJ or Pettersson or Guds as a frequent scratch?

I don't think so. So, whether he likes that d or not, one of those guys will be gone, and it will be interesting to see who.

 

[PensandCaps]

JJ should not be on this roster come August. If he is, the season is not worth investing much time into. Can't have the worst Dman in the league playing top 4 mins for you because the GM won't admit defeat.

 

[Ugene Magic]

sadly, he isn't great at being the only guy on his line able to do it. Need to get some help for the 2nd pair. Even if it's Petts.

Oh, I agree they need another D who can skate. I'd leave Petts on the 3rd pairing.

Riikola can probably work as well (on the LD) but will they give him a shot is another.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

JJ should not be on this roster come August. If he is, the season is not worth investing much time into. Can't have the worst Dman in the league playing top 4 mins for you because the GM won't admit defeat.

They can buy him out for 1m per... will be awhile on the books but it’s better than keeping him at 3.5m per.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Who cares? Can they win the Cup with Johnson? No

If they can win the cup without Letang and Hainsey as your top pairing RD I think they can win with JJ.

Just to put it out there, Chicago won with 1 1/2 pairings.

Seabrook, Keith
_____, Hjalmarsson

The other 3 were Oduya, Timonen and Rossival.

 

[Turin]

If they can win the cup without Letang and Hainsey as your top pairing RD I think they can win with JJ.

Just to put it out there, Chicago won with 1 1/2 pairings.

Seabrook, Keith
_____, Hjalmarsson

The other 3 were Oduya, Timonen and Rossival.

JJ is a liability. Hainsey might have been offensively limited but he wasn’t an idiot.

 

[Andy99]

Yes, that pair would be a total disaster (most likely), but it prevents Johnson from dragging down a pair that you need to be good. Having a **** bottom pair is a problem, having a **** 2nd pair and an okay 3rd pair is a death sentence.

I think you need Schultz at his best to actually be a threat in the playoffs. Limiting the damage by separating Johnson and Gudbranson just hurts Schultz (or hurts Letang if you're playing Johnson with Letang), and I think you need Schultz to be good to be a contender.

Worse than having a ****ty bottom pair is having a ****ty bottom pair than makes like $7.5 million...

 

[Ugene Magic]

JJ is a liability. Hainsey might have been offensively limited but he wasn’t an idiot.

You are missing the point here.

You don't have to have a complete stocked from top to bottom D to win. When Hainsey was in they were barely scraping by as well. The Pens still had the better team even with all the injuries.

 

[Pancakes]

Watching all these stacked top lines dominate in the playoffs almost makes me wonder if we should be loading up our first line with Crosby and Malkin.

 

[Andy99]

Watching all these stacked top lines dominate in the playoffs almost makes me wonder if we should be loading up our first line with Crosby and Malkin.

No, not for most of the game...only if they’re down...but we should have considered going Jake-Sid-Phil in the POs...

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Watching all these stacked top lines dominate in the playoffs almost makes me wonder if we should be loading up our first line with Crosby and Malkin.

Maybe not all the time but they sure should have found a way to get those two out there together a hell of a lot more (aside from the static PP) the last few years.

 

[Ugene Magic]

No, not for most of the game...only if they’re down...but we should have considered going Jake-Sid-Phil in the POs...

Maybe had they kept the band together one more year (save Fleury) we would have that dynasty tag.

 

[The Old Master]

though.

Watching all these stacked top lines dominate in the playoffs almost makes me wonder if we should be loading up our first line with Crosby and Malkin.

at some point
i'm sure it will at some point happen..... need to have a 2nd line center ready to go though

 

[theicebox]

Watching all these stacked top lines dominate in the playoffs almost makes me wonder if we should be loading up our first line with Crosby and Malkin.

Guentzel - Crosby - Malkin
Rust - McCann - Hornqvist
Simon - Bjugstad - Kessel
Johnson - Blueger - AstonReese

?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I don't think Sid/Geno as a line would dominate all that much. They'll get their share of points just based on their individual talent, but I don't know if they'd "click" like a lot of these stacked lines do.

The few times they play together, I don't see them noticeably tilting the ice like when you see Edmonton put McDavid and Draisaitl together or even the Bergeron/Marchand/Pastrnak line.

If anything, I think Kessel and Crosby works better than Malkin and Crosby. But that never seems to last beyond a game or two.

 

[Ogrezilla]

I don't think Sid/Geno as a line would dominate all that much. They'll get their share of points just based on their individual talent, but I don't know if they'd "click" like a lot of these stacked lines do.

The few times they play together, I don't see them noticeably tilting the ice like when you see Edmonton put McDavid and Draisaitl together or even the Bergeron/Marchand/Pastrnak line.

If anything, I think Kessel and Crosby works better than Malkin and Crosby. But that never seems to last beyond a game or two.

Agreed. Especially since Geno would be playing out of position. Stacking lines only makes sense if 1: you are talking about stacking a center and wings or 2: you have such a good 3C that he should be playing 2C. Centers are just too important for it to make sense for us to move Geno to Sid's wing.

 

[cassius]

The thing with Hornqvist is JR would need to move him a year too early, instead of a year too late.

If he’s a Pen next season and has a bad year, he’s going to be in JJ territory. Right now it’s one bad year and I highly suspect a number of contenders would want him.

JR has to weigh the chances of him bouncing back vs him declining further and becoming a bad contract.

JR isn’t a proactive GM that would move a guy a year early IMHO though... so... ya.

Yup... I see this being Fleury 2.0

JR should have dealt Fleury a long time ago... yet he held onto him until the bitter end and had to part with a 2nd rounder just to get rid of him.

I see the the same thing happening with Hornqvist.... he'll hold onto him until he's essentially a negative value player much like Fleury.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Yup... I see this being Fleury 2.0

JR should have dealt Fleury a long time ago... yet he held onto him until the bitter end and had to part with a 2nd rounder just to get rid of him.

I see the the same thing happening with Hornqvist.... he'll hold onto him until he's essentially a negative value player much like Fleury.

You know Fleury didn't have negative value right? It was an expansion draft, not a trade. We essentially traded Fleury and a 2nd for Rust. And even that's not a fair representation of what his value would have been. That was a team knowing that we couldn't really keep both goalies and they took advantage of the situation. If it was just a regular offseason, we'd have had plenty of bidders for Fleury.

 

[cassius]

You know Fleury didn't have negative value right? It was an expansion draft, not a trade. We essentially traded Fleury and a 2nd for Rust. And even that's not a fair representation of what his value would have been. That was a team knowing that we couldn't really keep both goalies and they took advantage of the situation. If it was just a regular offseason, we'd have had plenty of bidders for Fleury.

Confirmed Trade: - [VGK/PIT] '20 2nd to select Marc-Andre Fleury

A trade happened: Vegas got Fleury - Penguins gave up a 2nd round pick

Pretty straight forward

 

[ColePens]

Yup... I see this being Fleury 2.0

JR should have dealt Fleury a long time ago... yet he held onto him until the bitter end and had to part with a 2nd rounder just to get rid of him.

I see the the same thing happening with Hornqvist.... he'll hold onto him until he's essentially a negative value player much like Fleury.

This might be the worst take ever...

We probably don't win a Cup w/o #29 in 2017. Soooooo I f***ing hope it's like MAF 2.0! Bring us another cup!

 

[Pancakes]

I don't think Sid/Geno as a line would dominate all that much. They'll get their share of points just based on their individual talent, but I don't know if they'd "click" like a lot of these stacked lines do.

The few times they play together, I don't see them noticeably tilting the ice like when you see Edmonton put McDavid and Draisaitl together or even the Bergeron/Marchand/Pastrnak line.

If anything, I think Kessel and Crosby works better than Malkin and Crosby. But that never seems to last beyond a game or two.

I don't know if we've seen it enough to say how they'd click. They've never really had extended time together.

 

[cassius]

This might be the worst take ever...

We probably don't win a Cup w/o #29 in 2017. Soooooo I ****ing hope it's like MAF 2.0! Bring us another cup!

How many meltdowns did Fleury have during his tenure as a Penguin? Too many to count

Murray on the other hand? 2 cup wins in his first 2 years.

I'm happy with how it all played out, personally. Fleury should have been riding the pine a long time ago and maybe this team would have won another 1-2 cups. It's no coincidence that the Pens started winning once he started sitting on the bench. Better late than never though

Pens fans overvalued Fleury... there's a reason why the Pens had to give up a 2nd rounder just to get his contract off the books