Pre-Game Talk: NYI/PP morning tweets

[ColePens]

Letang needs a message sent to him. He's pathetic this season. I want to start seeing messages sent to players to rebuild the accountability in the locker room. If Sid/Geno want to east-west pass and turn the puck over.... even those guys.

 

[Malkin4Top6Wingerz]

I hope this is just "message sending" to Letang. He has consistently been a much better PP point producer than Martin, but I realize his results this year leaves a lot to be desired. To go to this long term would not be very wise IMO.

It's not an apples to apples comparison though. Martin has had much more of his PP time spent on the second unit where there is a huge drop off in talent alongside him. That would explain at least part of the gap that exists there.

I don't think Letang is as bad on the powerplay as some, mind you, but it does suffer at times from having too many Picasso's, and the second unit has the opposite problem. Martin provides a cerebral, calming presence on the back end and distributes the puck well to our best players. I also think his shot has improved to the point where he's actually a shooting threat now from the backend, plus he's better at hitting the net than Letang which is a big advantage on the powerplay.

At the very least it should send some sort of message to Letang that he needs to improve his decision making on the powerplay and stop being such a pump faking spaz.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Letang needs a message sent to him. He's pathetic this season. I want to start seeing messages sent to players to rebuild the accountability in the locker room. If Sid/Geno want to east-west pass and turn the puck over.... even those guys.

I think this seems like a bit much.

Letang hasn't been pathetic. He's steadily increasing his level of play after missing a decent chunk of games at the start of the season. And I'm generally pretty lukewarm about a lot of what Letang does and doesn't do.

This obsession with eliminating east/west plays is ridiculous, honestly. That's a huge part of the goal scoring formula. If they stop trying those plays... they lose a huge part of what makes them who they are. I don't ever want to see those guys turned into Jordan Staal... as badly as some fans seem to clamor for it.

 

[MeticulouslyDishevel]

Love this change to the PP. Let's see how long it lasts.

What's the over/under for Beau's ice time tonight?

 

[Murdoc27]

Only bad thing having Martin on PP full time is hes going to start racking up the points, it will be harder for the pens to sign him, i could easily see Martin next contract being something like 4 years 28-30 million.

Martin is good, but he's not going to make $7+ mil a year.

 

[MrBurghundy]

I think this seems like a bit much.

Letang hasn't been pathetic. He's steadily increasing his level of play after missing a decent chunk of games at the start of the season. And I'm generally pretty lukewarm about a lot of what Letang does and doesn't do.

This obsession with eliminating east/west plays is ridiculous, honestly. That's a huge part of the goal scoring formula. If they stop trying those plays... they lose a huge part of what makes them who they are. I don't ever want to see those guys turned into Jordan Staal... as badly as some fans seem to clamor for it.

I don't think he said he wanted to elimitate it. He said when they attempt it and turn the puck over. Or in other words making horrible passes to nobody in particular trying to force things and being too cute.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Only bad thing having Martin on PP full time is hes going to start racking up the points, it will be harder for the pens to sign him, i could easily see Martin next contract being something like 4 years 28-30 million.

Martin still has another year on contract. After that you have to believe with all the young D we have coming up that the Pens will have no choice but to let him go, but then again we all expected this with Despres and we keep playing and signing older veterans

 

[Jag68Sid87]

It's like someone is listening to our prayers.
That or Jacques Martin.
By this time next week Adams will be a healthy scratch.

Don't get cocky.

https://twitter.com/pgshelly/status/403919136033869824

I don't understand why they keep posting Gibbons on the right wing and Jokinen on the left. I'm pretty sure Jokinen has been playing the right side with Sutter and Gibbons since the line changes were made.

Letang needs a message sent to him. He's pathetic this season. I want to start seeing messages sent to players to rebuild the accountability in the locker room. If Sid/Geno want to east-west pass and turn the puck over.... even those guys.

I agree about the message-sending. I actually think Letang has played rather well lately. So maybe this is like message-sending with a seven-second delay? Better than nothing, Disco. Better than nothing.


The thing about the power play and Letang is, while I agree that Letang isn't a good PP quarterback, he should still play on the first unit (after his pennance). Malkin and/or Crosby should quarterback our power play. Every time. But Letang's skill and passing is needed on that first unit.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I don't think he said he wanted to elimitate it. He said when they attempt it and turn the puck over. Or in other words making horrible passes to nobody in particular trying to force things and being too cute.

Well... if that's the case, yeah. Obviously I don't want to see the puck turned over on an ill-advised pass that wouldn't have been any better off than a simpler play with the puck. But sometimes you just have to take that chance... like Malkin's setup of Gibbons the other night, as a recent example.

I get that turnovers are bad... but I think sometimes we concentrate too much on them. If it was the right idea but a good play/positioning by the D ends up nullifying it and leading to a loss of possession... well... that's just playing offense, IMO.

 

[Captain Hook]

I would like Martin kept around. Although I'd honestly like to give him a tad more term in hope of getting that cap number down a bit from the current 5 million.

I am curious what he'll look like if Orpik moves on after this year. He's been a totally different D-Man since moving back to the right side and being paired with a big physical guy like Orpik.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Happy to see Zatkoff back in tonight. Dude didn't surrender a goal his last time out. He deserves to get back in there.

 

[orby]

I would like Martin kept around. Although I'd honestly like to give him a tad more term in hope of getting that cap number down a bit from the current 5 million.

I am curious what he'll look like if Orpik moves on after this year. He's been a totally different D-Man since moving back to the right side and being paired with a big physical guy like Orpik.

My first instinct would be to say "play him with Bortuzzo" but that might throw the other pairings out of whack. Either way, I'd like to see Martin stick around for another three years or so if his cap hit can be brought closer to 4 million than 5. He's rebounded so well since his disappointing season in 2011-12 and has definitely shown himself to be a great all-around defenseman.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Martin is good, but he's not going to make $7+ mil a year.

I disagree, a guy like Streit gets 5.2, Gonchar gets 5, Carle gets 5.5, Martin is way more valuable then any of them, then you throw in the fact that the cap is expected to go up over the next couple years, Martin could easily get 7+ on the open market, im expecting the pens to try and sign Martin over the summer, hes to valuable for the pens to lose.

 

[Shrimper]

Good to see Zatkoff playing, needs some more game time.

 

[Murdoc27]

I disagree, a guy like Streit gets 5.2, Gonchar gets 5, Carle gets 5.5, Martin is way more valuable then any of them, then you throw in the fact that the cap is expected to go up over the next couple years, Martin could easily get 7+ on the open market, im expecting the pens to try and sign Martin over the summer, hes to valuable for the pens to lose.

There are only 5 Defenseman in the league with caphits over 6.9 mil. Martin is not in a class with Weber, Suter, Doughty or Chara (the other contract is that of Brian Campbell's albatross). I could see someone paying 5.5-6 for martin, but they wont give more for fear of a Brain Campbel situation.

 

[Shady Machine]

Only bad thing having Martin on PP full time is hes going to start racking up the points, it will be harder for the pens to sign him, i could easily see Martin next contract being something like 4 years 28-30 million.

This is a silly thing to worry about since he is signed through next year. Martin will never be more than a 40 point dman IMO, if that.

 

[cheesedanish87]

There are only 5 Defenseman in the league with caphits over 6.9 mil. Martin is not in a class with Weber, Suter, Doughty or Chara (the other contract is that of Brian Campbell's albatross). I could see someone paying 5.5-6 for martin, but they wont give more for fear of a Brain Campbel situation.

What about Letang? you can't compare those contracts because they were signed under the old CBA.

 

[Shady Machine]

What about Letang? you can't compare those contracts because they were signed under the old CBA.

Fair or not, the highest paid dmen will be those that put up elite offensive numbers. Martin doesn't have that ability nor is he the all around package that Suter is. He won't be making over 6mil.

 

[cheesedanish87]

This is a silly thing to worry about since he is signed through next year. Martin will never be more than a 40 point dman IMO, if that.

I disagree, he had 23 points in 34 games last year without playing the top PP every night, hes signed through next year but i think they will try to extend him this summer.

 

[mpp9]

If we offered Martin the same deal he got before, he'd take it IMO. Maybe a slight raise. He gets his contract that'll take him until he's 39 while playing on a contender through its prime years.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Martin seems pretty content here.

I would be very surprised if he turns down something like 5.5 per over four-ish years. If it's offered. I just don't see any way he gets near 7 million unless a team goes full-Holmgren. And even that's a stretch. Maybe blacked-out-on-peppermint-schnapps full-Holmgren.

If we offered Martin the same deal he got before, he'd take it IMO. Maybe a slight raise. He gets his contract that'll take him until he's 39 while playing on a contender through its prime years.

^ Yeah -- what he said.

 

[Captain Hook]

Yeah, one thing that works in our favor is that Martin definitely wants to be here. He took way less money to come here in the fist place and he basically refused to leave when Shero offered to ship him off to another team last summer.

 

[Sidney BrOSSby*]

For me, not playing every game is important for Fleury. His work load needs to be finely monitored. I would like him to establish a healthy pace.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

If we offered Martin the same deal he got before, he'd take it IMO. Maybe a slight raise. He gets his contract that'll take him until he's 39 while playing on a contender through its prime years.

The advantage we have is in the early negotiation. If Martin goes into FA after a good year, he could easily get more than 5 mil x 4 years. But there is no guarantee of that for any number of reasons, injury, slowing down with age, or just having an off year.

So we need to use those things to our advantage in the negotiations this summer, and try to sign him to a 4 or 5 year deal. I can't imagine he'd take less than 5 mil a year. So you may be looking at a 4 x 5.25 type of situation, or another 5 x 5 or 5 x 4.75 type of situation.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Fair or not, the highest paid dmen will be those that put up elite offensive numbers. Martin doesn't have that ability nor is he the all around package that Suter is. He won't be making over 6mil.

When Martin Signed here he took less money at 5 million per year, since that time the value of PMD has went way up in the NHL, Martin play over the last year and 20 games has been great, the cap is going up, common sense tells you his contract also has to go up.