Confirmed with Link: Penguins acquire Joseph Blandisi from Anaheim

[Scandale du Jour]

By the way, his nickname is "Blender".

f*** it, I am calling him Bender and imagining him as a selfish alcoholic robot with a heart of gold.

 

[Empoleon8771]

**** it, I am calling him Bender and imagining him as a selfish alcoholic robot with a heart of gold.

 

[ronduguayshair]

Did grant sign here before or after Cullen?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Did grant sign here before or after Cullen?

Think after. Wasn't he on a PTO?

Edit: Nevermind.

 

[WayneSid9987]

He's a 24 year old skilled agitator who is fast. He's a guy I can easily see the Penguins turning into a really solid top-9 forward. He had 17 points in 41 games in his rookie year and has been about a 30 point player per 82 games over his career already (26 points in 74 games). The only thing I don't get is why he hasn't been in the NHL for longer than he has been in the last 2 years.

ANA has solid winger depth in terms of young/speedy/skilled types now and coming soon.
Could be a case of wanting him to get more seasoned in the A while the likes of Gibbons and Sherwood played up.
As the season turns into the next one, ANA will have young forwards to sort out like Sprong, Terry, Steel, Comtois so he'd get lost in the shuffle pretty easily there.

I believe Blandisi also had a slow start to his season but has been coming on lately for the Gulls.

 

[ronduguayshair]

Think after. Wasn't he on a PTO?

Edit: Nevermind.

I never understood why grant signed here knowing he was the fifth center after having a breakout season last year. I guess he wanted to be on a winner?

 

[WayneSid9987]

I see that now after I did some research.

Way early to get excited, IMO.

Just gives the depth a different look.
JR basically has another DiPauli/A.Johnson type thats matured with NHL experience vs a lumbering utility C/LW in Grant.

 

[Tom Hanks]

I never understood why grant signed here knowing he was the fifth center after having a breakout season last year. I guess he wanted to be on a winner?

If it’s the only offer you gotta take it

 

[justafan22]

precursor to a bigger move

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Pens were never happy with Grant, Mackey just said on the radio.

Also heard a totally unrelated rumor out of WBS that Donatelli and Guerin called TB into the office yesterday to slap him in the face a few more times.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Pens were never happy with Grant, Mackey just said on the radio.

If this is the case, I don't really get it. Grant wasn't anything special, but he was fine I thought. If they were unhappy with him, what did they expect?

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

I expected it to be Blandisi-y or Blandy.

Definitely "Blandsy".

To make it even more positive, Blandisi is like an annoying rat out there too, so I think him and ZAR would work really well together on a grinding line because of that. Steve Dangles seems to agree that he may be a nice piece for the Penguins:



To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why he's not in the NHL right now. I would probably recall him to the Penguins immediately, which is kinda what I expect them to do.

He made the same impression on me the couple times I saw him in his rookie season with Jersey, but that was a few years ago so I dunno. If he's anything like he was then, I welcome the move especially since Grant was nothing special here and just one more roadblock for the Bluegeyman.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Dug deep to try and find some AHL stuff from this season:

 

[WayneSid9987]

More:

 

[Peat]

If this is the case, I don't really get it. Grant wasn't anything special, but he was fine I thought. If they were unhappy with him, what did they expect?

Him to use his size more. I don't know that for sure, but I've seen a few beat reporters talk about that (particularly Kingerski) and being more abrasive has been a big part of the Rutherford blueprint for the last year. Note how they replaced him with an agitator/pest.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

If this is the case, I don't really get it. Grant wasn't anything special, but he was fine I thought. If they were unhappy with him, what did they expect?

They want a physical presence in that role, and weren’t happy that he wasn’t throwing his body around enough I guess.

They have reverted back to the dinosaur philosophy, hence Wilson and ZAR.

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

They want a physical presence in that role, and weren’t happy that he wasn’t throwing his body around enough I guess.

They have reverted back to the dinosaur philosophy, hence Wilson and ZAR.

If your gonna be vanilla and meh you might as well be vanilla, meh and hit. I guess.

Odds are it wont matter much

 

[WayneSid9987]

More:

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

As a side note, Sprong is probably checking under his bed for Garrett Wilson.

 

[ronduguayshair]

They want a physical presence in that role, and weren’t happy that he wasn’t throwing his body around enough I guess.

They have reverted back to the dinosaur philosophy, hence Wilson and ZAR.

It’s all a reaction to what happened to us against Washington last year. I’m ok with less skill and more sandpaper on the fourth considering how offensive minded our top 9 is.

 

[Empoleon8771]

They want a physical presence in that role, and weren’t happy that he wasn’t throwing his body around enough I guess.

They have reverted back to the dinosaur philosophy, hence Wilson and ZAR.

My impression on the trade was that the Penguins wanted to add more speed, and since they already had a bunch of vanilla centers, they could afford to move Grant. If they're mad at Grant's play because he wasn't physical enough, I feel like they just didn't know who they were getting. The dude has always been Eric Fehr 2.0 from what I've read.

 

[Turin]

It’s all a reaction to what happened to us against Washington last year. I’m ok with less skill and more sandpaper on the fourth considering how offensive minded our top 9 is.

Which would be incredibly dumb.. because they lost because of Holtby being better than Murray and Geno tweaking his knee. The only physical event that had any significance was Giroux hitting Hagelin.

 

[Peat]

My impression on the trade was that the Penguins wanted to add more speed, and since they already had a bunch of vanilla centers, they could afford to move Grant. If they're mad at Grant's play because he wasn't physical enough, I feel like they just didn't know who they were getting. The dude has always been Eric Fehr 2.0 from what I've read.

A distinct and worrying possibility (also possible they were gambling on changing his game). I'm not against the lurch to physicality in and of itself per se but the way it's been executed is very open to criticism.

 

[WayneSid9987]

 

[ronduguayshair]

Which would be incredibly dumb.. because they lost because of Holtby being better than Murray and Geno tweaking his knee. The only physical event that had any significance was Giroux hitting Hagelin.

We’re talking the Washington series.

We couldn’t handle Smith pelley’s and others forecheck. I think we wanted/still want to add that to our fourth line.

Also, I think the Wilson hit on Reese cannot be understated.