Confirmed with Link: Penguins re-sign Matt Cullen (1 year, $1M)

[Honour Over Glory]

Last season, the team signed him to be a 4th line C and he played like a 3rd line C instead, at worst he actually plays like a 4th line C. This allows Sundqvist to continue to get better in the AHL and gives the team a solid 4th line C that will continue to mentor the younger guys and be a big part of the team's leadership group.

I don't want to see Oskar rushed and Cullen is a luxury on the 4th that this team should be happy to have. Nice to see Cullen back.

 

[Brandinho]

Last season, the team signed him to be a 4th line C and he played like a 3rd line C instead, at worst he actually plays like a 4th line C. This allows Sundqvist to continue to get better in the AHL and gives the team a solid 4th line C that will continue to mentor the younger guys and be a big part of the team's leadership group.

I don't want to see Oskar rushed and Cullen is a luxury on the 4th that this team should be happy to have. Nice to see Cullen back.

Agreed. Cullen's production likely will slip, but even then, it's a virtual guarantee that he'd produce more than Sundqvist. I don't believe in his upside, but if he's ever going to develop adequate offensive skills, he needs a bit more time in the A getting legitimate minutes.

 

[JTG]

Even if Sundqvist only develops into a 4th line center, he's still a big rangy guy with a real mean streak. I'd be excited to see him in that role.

Sundqvist has the look of a late bloomer to me.

 

[Darth Vitale]

I like it. Hopefully he gets limited minutes and maintains his wheels for a would-be playoff run / Cup defense.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Looking at his shooting percentage last year, and his zone starts, it's safe to say his scoring will be down. With 43% of his starts in the D zone, and only 26% in the O zone, it's amazing he was able to produce his best Goals/60 since 2008/09, when he was used as a 2-way center with a few percent lean towards O zone. Even more impressive is that we scored more goals with him on the ice than we gave up, both regular season and post season.

In any case, I expect Fehr to be on his RW, and he shot at 1/2 his career percentage. So those two players produced 19 goals for us last year in the regular season, and I'd expect them to combine for about that many this year, so our overall scoring shouldn't fall off.

Pretty much what we saw in the post season, with Fehr on about a 10 goal pace, and Cullen on about a 13 goal pace. Which would be amazing from a 4th line, considering Kuhn projects as a 30 point/10 goal player if he claims that L4 LW spot.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Looking at his shooting percentage last year, and his zone starts, it's safe to say his scoring will be down. With 43% of his starts in the D zone, and only 26% in the O zone, it's amazing he was able to produce his best Goals/60 since 2008/09, when he was used as a 2-way center with a few percent lean towards O zone. Even more impressive is that we scored more goals with him on the ice than we gave up, both regular season and post season.

In any case, I expect Fehr to be on his RW, and he shot at 1/2 his career percentage. So those two players produced 19 goals for us last year in the regular season, and I'd expect them to combine for about that many this year, so our overall scoring shouldn't fall off.

Pretty much what we saw in the post season, with Fehr on about a 10 goal pace, and Cullen on about a 13 goal pace. Which would be amazing from a 4th line, considering Kuhn projects as a 30 point/10 goal player if he claims that L4 LW spot.

Someone getting 30 points 10 goals on a 4th line is amazing.
I don't see it with only 4th line time though.

Honestly I am interested in how we we roll our lines

 

[Elvs]

A Swedish story on Matt Cullen

I had a chance to write a story on Matt Cullen, as one of his former coaches is now coaching my local team in Sweden.

http://pt.se/sport/piteas-tranare-hyllar-nhl-veteranen-10180184.aspx

I posted a translation on the the mainboard:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2118437

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Nicely done. Thanks for posting it, here.

A lot of question marks this upcoming season... Cullen isn't much of one. Super thankful to have him aboard for one more year. He's absolutely a glue guy on this team. And still a pretty damned good player.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Someone getting 30 points 10 goals on a 4th line is amazing.
I don't see it with only 4th line time though.

Honestly I am interested in how we we roll our lines

Considering a couple minutes of PK time for the whole line per game, they should get 11 mins or so ES time, which is just about rolling 4 lines.

And yes, if we get that production, that will likely be among the most productive 4th lines in the league. In terms of productivity, we have (2) 1st lines, a 2nd line (Geno) and a 3rd line.

 

[billybudd]

I had a chance to write a story on Matt Cullen, as one of his former coaches is now coaching my local team in Sweden.

http://pt.se/sport/piteas-tranare-hyllar-nhl-veteranen-10180184.aspx

I posted a translation on the the mainboard:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2118437

Just logged in to cross post your post from the mainboards here. Great work.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

The thing about Cullen and if we are stuck with Fehr all year is that both do double duty as wingers and centers on this team to spark certain lines and we've seen Cullen up on the 2nd and 1st line as a LW, so I don't see him hitting the totals he did last year, but the guy isn't going to not produce decently for a swiss army knife of a player on this team.

And this time, it won't piss us off because it's not Craig Adams that is moved up and down, it's Matt Cullen, a guy that actually has some skill to his grinder game.

 

[PensPlz]

Even if Sundqvist only develops into a 4th line center, he's still a big rangy guy with a real mean streak. I'd be excited to see him in that role.

Sundqvist has the look of a late bloomer to me.

I rather have young players that are being developed for the specific purpose of playing on the 4th line rather than have our 4th line be aging former top-players whose wheels have just fallen off. (Not referring to Cullen)

 

[JTG]

I rather have young players that are being developed for the specific purpose of playing on the 4th line rather than have our 4th line be aging former top-players whose wheels have just fallen off. (Not referring to Cullen)

There's a give and take with that though. A long list of considerations also.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I rather have young players that are being developed for the specific purpose of playing on the 4th line rather than have our 4th line be aging former top-players whose wheels have just fallen off. (Not referring to Cullen)

I hate the idea that a 4th line C is an after thought with most people (not saying anyone here). I've always seen it as the real weak link on a team, if they iced a weak ass 4th line, they were never going to make it far and it's always been the case for each cup winning team.

I like Oskar Sundqvist a lot for what he will be (when he's developed into it), but I hate this notion people have that he should learn on the job for the 4th line, I think he's better suited to be on the top pp, pk, play final minutes to shut down a team, play final minutes to tie the game up, shadow players to shut them down, etc.

And where will he learn that? AHL. It's what that league is for, for NHL teams. He's NEVER going to get that in the NHL, Cullen basically buys him time and Cullen is ****ing amazing, he's probably one of my fav 4th line C's and I get to see the guy play on the Pens for 2 seasons now, that makes me happy to see because the guy is such a fantastic player for what he does and you really gotta hone in on what he's doing in each game to really appreciate the effort at his age.

With that said, I want to see Cullen flanked with 2 younger wingers to learn from him and Sundqvist getting call ups for stretches to soak up that knowledge as well.