GDT: Penguins Training Camp

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Anyone heard anything about Tanev skating with the boys? I can't recall seeing his name mentioned.

 

[wej20]

Anyone heard anything about Tanev skating with the boys? I can't recall seeing his name mentioned.

He's still counting all the money JR is paying him.

 

[JackFr]

My initial expectations are:

Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
Galchenyuk - Malkin - Hornqvist
McCann - Bjugstad - Kahun
Tanev - Blueger - Simon

But I would prefer to see

Guentzel - Crosby - Simon
Galchenyuk - Malkin - Hornqvist
McCann - Bjugstad - Kahun
Tanev - Blueger - Rust

 

[Empoleon8771]

One thing I'm a little surprised about is that the Penguins haven't released their 3 training camp teams yet. The first practices start in like 35 minutes with teams 1 and 2 practicing, but the Penguins haven't specified who is on what team yet. That's something I would have expected to be out by now.

You can usually get a good idea of what their initial line combinations are based on the training camp team rosters.

 

[UnrealMachine]

My initial expectations are:

Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
Galchenyuk - Malkin - Hornqvist
McCann - Bjugstad - Kahun
Tanev - Blueger - Simon

But I would prefer to see

Guentzel - Crosby - Simon
Galchenyuk - Malkin - Hornqvist
McCann - Bjugstad - Kahun
Tanev - Blueger - Rust

I like most of that preferred lineup. I'd worry though that Hornqvist doesn't have the wheels and is not quite strong enough defensively (a strong need for Chuk/Malkin). I'd be more inclined to put Rust there. If Kahun is strong defensively (I don't know if he is?) then I'd consider putting him there, as he has at least shown that he can play with highly skilled players. I'd just flat out try to trade Hornqvist - he doesn't really fit anywhere other than PP1.

 

[MrBurghundy]

One thing I'm a little surprised about is that the Penguins haven't released their 3 training camp teams yet. The first practices start in like 35 minutes with teams 1 and 2 practicing, but the Penguins haven't specified who is on what team yet. That's something I would have expected to be out by now.

You can usually get a good idea of what their initial line combinations are based on the training camp team rosters.

Looks like they are starting out with

Guentzel-Crosby-Kahun
Galchenyuk-Malkin-Rust
McCann-Bjugstad-Hornqvist

 

[Empoleon8771]

Right on time then

Jumping to unreasonable conclusions, team 1 looks to have Guentzel-Crosby-Kahun, team 2 looks to have Galchenyuk-Malkin-Rust and Tanev-Blueger as a combination and team 3 has the 3rd line battle between McCann and Simon to play with Bjugstad and Hornqvist. Pettersson and Schultz are also on the same team, that might be interesting to see if they play together at first. I tend to take more out of forward lines than D combinations from these teams, though.

 

[MrBurghundy]

Also Johnson-Letang looks like a pairing?

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Team 1 - Jake Sid Kahun
2 - Gally Geno Rust
3 - Simon Bjug Horny

Hmm

 

[Empoleon8771]

Also Johnson-Letang looks like a pairing?

If you read into how the D are split up (I read into that less than the forwards), it would suggest the D pairs are:

Johnson-Letang
Dumoulin-Gudbranson
Pettersson-Schultz

Like they're probably not that, but that's interesting enough to speculate about. In theory, you could use Dumoulin-Gudbranson as a shutdown pair and send out Johnson-Letang and Pettersson-Schultz in offensive situations, so I don't think it's ridiculous to speculate that they could try that.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Playing JJ with Sid's line and Letang makes sense if the plan is to trade him as soon as humanly possible.

 

[MrBurghundy]

They are probably scared shitless to pair Johnson with Gudbranson.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Also Johnson-Letang looks like a pairing?

Cue the "No god no" Michael Scott gif.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Playing JJ with Sid's line and Letang makes sense if the plan is to trade him as soon as humanly possible.

I feel like they'd pair those two together because Letang is probably their best bet to negate out the awful analytics Johnson provides. I'm pretty confident in both Dumoulin-Gudbranson and Pettersson-Schultz being solid 2nd pairs, and if Johnson can manage to not sink Letang, I think that defense may actually work.

They're probably not actually going to run with those D pairs though, so it's a moot point.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Cue the "No god no" Michael Scott gif.

 

[xlm34]

I think I remember them saying something in the past that they like to pair a younger guy with a veteran on D during training camp. So I don’t know how much to read into the rosters.

That said, I could also be completely making that up.

 

[Malkinstheman]

The RW on that line will probably be a revolving door throughout camp.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The RW on that line will probably be a revolving door throughout camp.

It might be but Kahun might also run away with the position. I think it's telling that he's getting the first crack at the top line RW spot.

 

[Empoleon8771]

 

[Peat]

It might be but Kahun might also run away with the position. I think it's telling that he's getting the first crack at the top line RW spot.

Tell that to Sprong

What do the gray jerseys mean in this context?

Also... Poulin-Lafferty-ZAR's an interesting line. If you want to be premature and aggressive, that could maybe be next year's 4th line.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Tell that to Sprong

To be fair, I think the intent was for Sprong to run away with that spot. He just sucked there

I bet @pixiesfanyo is happy to see that Galchenyuk-Malkin-Rust is the starting 2nd line.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Tell that to Sprong

Delete that name before "they" see it.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Guentzel-Sid-Kahun
Chucky-Geno-Rust
Mccann-Bjugstad-Hornqvist
Tanev-Blueger-Simon
ZAR

Thats some unreal forward depth. Depending on how blueger plays, we could have two third lines again.

 

[Andy99]

I always thought they’d give Kahun a spin at L1 RW...

Also, team 2 offers what I think they should try for L2...Tanev-G-Gally...we’ll see...

 

[Peat]

To be fair, I think the intent was for Sprong to run away with that spot. He just sucked there

I bet @pixiesfanyo is happy to see that Galchenyuk-Malkin-Rust is the starting 2nd line.

Maybe. They moved away from it quick enough.

I do have to say, I think this is possibly the best iteration of the top 6 we could have out there right now.