How has Chucky looked for you guys in pre-season?
I remember thinking to myself he'd be lethal on a team like the Pens back when he was a Habs. Is he going to be used on the RW half-wall for his one-timer on the PP even though that's typically where Crosby hangs out?
He and Malkin looked absolutely great together, the chemistry between the two is clearly evident. That's Malkin's spot on the powerplay so he's not standing there, the Penguins powerplay is still TBD because they have like 8 top PP unit worthy players. He had a goal in the last pre-season game from the left half-wall on the PP, it was an absolute rocket of a wrist shot from the top of the circles.
Am I looking at something wrong? Natural Stat Trick says for last year:Horny's line did better when away from Sid last season, Sid's line did better when away from Horny this season. Horny's improved Malkin two seasons in a row. Horny and Bjugstad had a better xGF% than Sid and Horny.
Those numbers aren't telling me that Horny and Sid are better together.
It's interesting seeing so many people who lambasted trading Sprong talking up Petts a year later.
That was a fantastic trade then. And it's even better now.
Am I looking at something wrong? Natural Stat Trick says for last year:
Crosby with Hornqvist : 60.88 xGF%
Crosby without Hornqvist : 55.93 xGF%
Hornqvist without Crosby : 52.24 xGF%
Which is about on par with other seasons.
OK, but even still, they had a solid 58 GF% last year, had a better GF% together every other year, had a better xGF% together every year except for Hornqvist's first year in Pittsburgh (it was close), and with the limited minutes and xGF% from last year it says to me there might be a little bit of flukiness in there.I was using GF% - sorry for not saying
How is Poulin?
Was high on him for the draft.
I think the Pettersson signing guarantees Johnson is sticking around. That'd be kind of a kick in the teeth to Pettersson to ask him to sign a cheap 1 year deal because of cap room issues and then turn around and make a trade to get a bunch of cap room.
OK, but even still, they had a solid 58 GF% last year, had a better GF% together every other year, had a better xGF% together every year except for Hornqvist's first year in Pittsburgh (it was close), and with the limited minutes and xGF% from last year it says to me there might be a little bit of flukiness in there.
Also, when you add in Guentzel, Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist had a 64 GF% and a 60 xGF%. So maybe it wasn't so much Hornqvist bringing down Crosby as it was whatever non-Guentzel LW bringing down Crosby-Hornqvist.
Yinz got room on that Marino bandwagon? I'm preparing a fine meal of crow.
He won't make it out of camp unless both Johnson and Ruh run into each other, but he's looking at an early call up.
With DeSmith playing the full game today and being on the lineup tomorrow tells me that Jarry's getting the full game tomorrow, which makes sense to me. The Penguins seem to really be treating the backup goalie spot as a competition. I think DeSmith has been good in the preseason, but I think the Penguins are hoping that Jarry plays himself onto the team.
Not going to lie I was so unimpressed with Jarry’s big club stints that I would have anxiety about giving him the job even with a good preseason.