Please stop eating my sesame cake.
My previous handle was "JordanStaal#1Fan", but I am obviously biased.
To me, Staal was the perfect 3rd line center for this team. Great defensively, productive even when playing limited PP minutes. Enough talent to step up in the lineup when necessary. At the end of the day, he was more of a luxury though and that's why we had to move on when the cost became too high.
I certainly don't hate the guy or anything. He was a great depth center for this team and did his job well while he was here. But that was the beginning and end of it and I thought it was pretty obvious. I guess I just got tired of hearing how jam-packed full of potential he was and how utterly crucial he was to team success. I never saw it. Like you said he was a nice luxury while he was willing to play ball. Eventually he even bought the hype and didn't want to be a Penguin anymore because it was "holding him back."
Welp...
I would bet that if we could have a conversation with him, it would be more about the Pens not wanting to pay him 6M per for 10 years than his role.
I know it's off topic and I do think it is a non-tangible item that helps the team win.. but Bones was SOOO good at blocking shots, standing in shooting lanes, taking up valuable space, moving, etc. And it's hard because you cannot keep a stat on standing in a shooting lane. The guy was like a mini-goalie. And i'm not overvaluing shot blocking... but Sheahan and Bjugs were BRUTAL at taking the lane. BRUTAL. Bones was so consistent at forcing the play to an area that didn't matter.
shotblocking is one thing this team sorely misses... and why JJ is unfortunately needed on the roster ...
McCann is a decent second line center in sully’s system but he won’t want him at 3c because he wants a vanilla defensive minded guy even if that guy is meh at the role... it won’t surprise me if he tries someone else there even though McCann is the clear choice
The Penguins should have moved either Staal or Malkin early in their careers. Staal probably made the most sense, with him moving to LW and taking faceoffs for Malkin, but they never did that. It's kinda lunacy that Shero offered Staal $6 million a year to be the Penguins 3C, that's like $8 or $9 million in today's dollars.
I would bet that if we could have a conversation with him, it would be more about the Pens not wanting to pay him 6M per for 10 years than his role.
He did talk about the role when traded, but I do not buy it. He was playing close to 20 minutes a night. He was our match AND PK guy + he got PP2 and some PP1 when Sid or Geno were down.
I loved his game and thought he could be more than he was... but at the end of the day, I loved what he was. I do understand why he had to go and considering how Dumoulin has performed for us, I am very happy with this trade.
I get what you mean but it would have been monumentally stupid to move Malkin. I mean... I guess depending on return? I dunno.
Totally agree with the rest. Why they were so adamant on putting Malkin at LW and Staal at center I'll never know. It may have actually worked the other way around (like Staal's rookie year) and everyone could have been happy. Maybe.
Oh, I meant move one of them to the wing. I don't know why that part wasn't included.
Ray Shero offered him that ludicrous contract to be a Penguin. He turned it down. JR just basically put the same contract in front of him and he signed it.
I sincerely do think he was 100% of the impression that he was being held back here. And as you pointed out that's kind of ridiculous considering the amount of minutes he was pulling. I can't blame him for wanting to be all he could be but hey... that's life, I guess.
HOnestly did not remember Shero offering that contract. I thought that was the ask from Staal's camp.
Oh well. Scratch what I said then. It was definitely about role if he turned down the same contract.
Well shit now you got me second guessing myself a bit! Haha
But I'm pretty sure that's right. Probably.
A herniated disc explains a lot. He was likely trying like hell to avoid surgery, but rehab from a slipped disc is very slow going and it's easy to have a setback. Symptoms can be a nightmare too. My girlfriend had one a couple years ago and would regularly go numb down the entire right side of her body, experience vision blackouts, and a bunch of other nasty stuff. Best wishes to Bjugstad.
So he will be back just in time to screw up chemistry mid playoffs