67Leafs67
Registered User
- Nov 8, 2014
- 774
- 631
I definitely think the Penguins will want to retool, but blowing it up entirely seems unlikely. I doubt they move on from Matt Murray for no reason...he's was solid down the stretch, and seems like he had a good enough bounce-back season after last year's rough off-ice challenges. Plus he is only 24.
Obviously Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel are staying up front, and Letang will stay on the back-end. Other pieces are definitely moveable, but there are a lot of pieces that don't really need to be moved. I think they just need to rework this team to be more defensively sound, and maybe younger and quicker. Rutherford has made some questionable moves, like bringing in Johnson & Gudbranson as defensive solutions, that kind of make me question his ability to successfully retool.
What it comes down to is a reevaluation from the top. What kind of team does Pittsburgh need to be around their core group? What direction is the NHL moving in that Pittsburgh can keep up with? What are the weaknesses that need to be addressed --> probably 5v5 defense. Maybe Pittsburgh moves Kessel to a team like Carolina that is lacking in talented finishers, and picks up one of their good defensive players, something along those lines.
Obviously Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel are staying up front, and Letang will stay on the back-end. Other pieces are definitely moveable, but there are a lot of pieces that don't really need to be moved. I think they just need to rework this team to be more defensively sound, and maybe younger and quicker. Rutherford has made some questionable moves, like bringing in Johnson & Gudbranson as defensive solutions, that kind of make me question his ability to successfully retool.
What it comes down to is a reevaluation from the top. What kind of team does Pittsburgh need to be around their core group? What direction is the NHL moving in that Pittsburgh can keep up with? What are the weaknesses that need to be addressed --> probably 5v5 defense. Maybe Pittsburgh moves Kessel to a team like Carolina that is lacking in talented finishers, and picks up one of their good defensive players, something along those lines.