Post-Game Talk: Pens 0, Caps 13

[deczola]

The fact that Holmgrem was a terrible GM and made terrible decisions, along with serious injuries to Pronger and Timonen, doesn't change the fact that they blew up so soon after being extremely close.

They blew it up to become one of the worse franchises in hockey the past few years and their future looks bleak. They haven't developed a D man in like 20 years!!! Their prospects at frwd are ok. They are loaded with lots of horrible contracts. They have to pay Voracek like 9+ million a year soon. They will have to overpay Sean Couts too (talk about a bad hockey player who people rave about).

 

[MeinerEiner]

If I were GMJR I´d say: **** this season, let´s retool!

Get rid of Martin, Ehrhoff, Scuderi, Sutter, Spaling, Sill, Kunitz, Ebbett, Adams and try to get some young, hungry players back.

I don´t even care if they lose any trade but they need that retool pretty bad!!!

 

[KIRK]

Maybe 871 should sit a few more out - we seem to be lights out whenever they're not around to be relied upon.

You think the result tonight would've been different with Sid out?

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Remember the first couple of playoff games against the Rags, when we held back and waited for them to make mistakes, supported Fleury defensively, basically a defense first attitude? The let our speed and skill go the other way on odd man breaks.

That was the game I envisioned Trotz bringing to this team. The game this team needs to play to have the best chance to win.

I have less and less faith in MJ, especially as the time between when we actually looked good in a single game fades further into the rear view mirror. It has been months now.

I agree, that was the style I thought was the best fit for this team. 5 guys that can be a threat on the counter attack and let the other team wear themselves out getting up ice. I think Geno would thrive forcing turnovers.

I also thought that MJ's style would be a pretty good runnerup, so

 

[Ogrezilla]

The fact that Holmgrem was a terrible GM and made terrible decisions, along with serious injuries to Pronger and Timonen, doesn't change the fact that they blew up so soon after being extremely close.

And how is what we're doing working out for us? 2 1st round exists, getting embarrassed in the conference finals with an incredible roster and getting embarrassed in the semis.

Its working better than trading their best players did for the Flyers.

Our best players are not our problem. The fact that our coaches and Shero have believed guys like Kunitz, Dupuis, Sutter and Adams are core pieces of our team is our problem. We aren't just carrying dead weight, we are rewarding it with guaranteed quality ice time.

 

[vodeni]

There are not enough minuses in this world to describe how fed up I am with Johnston's system, his roster, his in-game "adjustments", and Tocchet's powerplay.

Johnston's puck retrieval is passive and often allows the offensive player to have an even shot at the puck. The breakout is totally neutered against any team with structure, and the Pens have to revert to dump and chase where they can't dump the puck in and almost no one can aggressively forecheck. His neutral zone defense is increadibly passive. The d zone coverage is totally ****ed by playing wingers on their weak wings. And no one know what the **** they are doing. He iced one of the worst possible combinations of line-ups and only thought to fix it after the Pens were down at least 2 goals with only ten minutes left in the game. He or Tocchet were so fixated on toughness and physicality that they allowed the players to completely forget the fundamentals of hockey. Johnston can't make an in-game adjustment to save his life, and when Trotz adjusted to Crosby's line (namely pressure on Kunitz and Perron in the neutral zone) any hope of offense died. I am done with Tocchet's powerplay. It makes no ****ing sense and only works if everything goes absolutely perfectly. It has little to no real world application.


My disgust for the coaches is only equaled by the disgust I have for the quality of play. Pens were so focused on hitting players that they failed to play the puck or hockey at all. The fourth line was **** as it often is. Lapierre, Downie and Spaling is an offensive black hole and defensive liability as expected. ****ing Bennett shouldn't be on the LW. Sutter's whole line couldn't find their defensive cover areas if they were stapled to their faces. Perron and Kunitz coughed the puck up all night long. And Crosby got himself frustrated and out of the game being constantly double and triple teamed without another player on that line stepping up was insane.

On top of that the officiating was a complete **** show. How many times did they have to re-drop the puck?

This is a team with talent. I don't know how or why the coaching staff and players are ****ing it up so badly.

other than that everything was good

 

[Michael8771*]

Barry Trotz has never won more then one round in the playoffs and only has done that twice. It won't be much different in Washington. Says what kind of mess the Pens are in right now.

Barry Trotz never had a team that had the offensive superstars that this team has. I think they're a formidable team. Not unbeatable, well, maybe to us they are, but they're pretty good.

 

[drpepper]

The Kings play twenty times worse then us in the regular season. A lot of this comes down to our stars, especially Sid playing like they don't give a ****. I'm curious how many cups we'd have if Malkin was wearing the C and Crosby was with the Ducks.

None

That is the most ridiculous thing you've said about Crosby.

 

[SidDidNothingWrong]

Honestly, I am not going to even act like I know what went wrong with our team tonight and what is wrong in general. All I know is, when push comes to shove and we play a team that WANTS it, we can never deliver. We are Digiorno's. Plain and simple.

 

[KIRK]

That was a clinic put on by the caps tonight.

Hard to take away any positives from the pens tonight, but its only 1 game, i thought the pens have been playing pretty good hockey the last couple games against the Hawks and Jets.

It's always only one game, and perhaps the Pens always look better in the regular season against non divisional opponents because non divisional opponents tend not to be as invested as divisional opponents.

EDIT: One other thing . . . for better or worse, the Isles, Rags, Caps, Jackets, even the Flyers to an extent spent the last half decade building themselves to beat us, and we didn't keep up with the times. And, when you look at some of this team's sacred cows, it's pretty clear that we still aren't.

 

[gordie]

If I were GMJR I´d say: **** this season, let´s retool!

Get rid of Martin, Ehrhoff, Scuderi, Sutter, Spaling, Sill, Kunitz, Ebbett, Adams and try to get some young, hungry players back.

I don´t even care if they lose any trade but they need that retool pretty bad!!!

Wow!!! Take away Martin, Ehrhoff and Scuderi and next year the only two D you can count on would be Letang and Maatta if healthy?

 

[penguins2946*]

So trade Crosby and Malkin? Might aswell do a full rebuild then.

Oh god no, I would never even consider something that drastic. However, just trading Neal isn't nuking the team, and this team really needs a nuke.

 

[Gurglesons]

If I were GMJR I´d say: **** this season, let´s retool!

Get rid of Martin, Ehrhoff, Scuderi, Sutter, Spaling, Sill, Kunitz, Ebbett, Adams and try to get some young, hungry players back.

I don´t even care if they lose any trade but they need that retool pretty bad!!!

If you were JR you'd trade our best face off player for Downie pt. 2 and probably turn this team into the next Canes. Old boys club is running this team. We need a fresh faced GM and a coach with prestige. Not the other way around. KIRK's post is 100% right.

 

[Michael8771*]

If I were GMJR I´d say: **** this season, let´s retool!

Get rid of Martin, Ehrhoff, Scuderi, Sutter, Spaling, Sill, Kunitz, Ebbett, Adams and try to get some young, hungry players back.

I don´t even care if they lose any trade but they need that retool pretty bad!!!

I just lowered my expectations for this season about two weeks ago. I'm prepared for the likely scenario of getting ousted early.

 

[Fleury3434*]

You think the result tonight would've been different with Sid out?

honestly yes i sorta agree. the pens play a different style when their stars are out. they play with passion and a feeling of they are trying to prove something. as soon as our stars come back we start playing like we deserve ****.

i honestly dont know what to do. i love crosby. but comeon dude i dont care about how many points you have. you are the captain of the team he needs to step up or be more vocal! he sits on the bench and pouts. BE A CAPTAIN CAPTAIN

 

[drpepper]

other than that everything was good

I drank a lot which helped and had no idea what was happening the last 5-6 minutes of the game. I had to watch multiple parts over again to understand anything.

I actually feel refreshed after the rant.

I just have no idea what Johnston is doing as a coach other than ****ing it up royally against Metro teams.

 

[gordie]

Barry Trotz never had a team that had the offensive superstars that this team has. I think they're a formidable team. Not unbeatable, well, maybe to us they are, but they're pretty good.

Caps have a garbage D and Holtby is nothing any contending team would seriously worry about. Stop building up a bunch of mediocre losers because of loss in January.

 

[Pens1566]

The main board is a gem right now. Pens goon it up is the headline.

 

[penguins2946*]

They blew it up to become one of the worse franchises in hockey the past few years and their future looks bleak. They haven't developed a D man in like 20 years!!! Their prospects at frwd are ok. They are loaded with lots of horrible contracts. They have to pay Voracek like 9+ million a year soon. They will have to overpay Sean Couts too (talk about a bad hockey player who people rave about).

And again, those aren't results of trading Richards and Carter. The Flyers got Simmonds, Voracek, Couturier and Schenn for those 2, and those 4 and Giroux are the only forwards on the Flyers that aren't completely terrible. The Richards and Carter trades were good, everything else is terrible.

Its working better than trading their best players did for the Flyers.

Our best players are not our problem. The fact that our coaches and Shero have believed guys like Kunitz, Dupuis, Sutter and Adams are core pieces of our team is our problem. We aren't just carrying dead weight, we are rewarding it with guaranteed quality ice time.

The point wasn't that we need to trade our best players. The point was that we need to nuke this team, and just trading Neal isn't nuking this team.

 

[Gurglesons]

None

That is the most ridiculous thing you've said about Crosby.

I love Crosby, but eventually he needs to step up. A closed door meeting, something. He's been floating the past six months, anyone denying that is kidding themselves. Something is off with him and every game like this we get blown out in we just see shots of him starring into the distance like where the **** am I.

 

[Michael8771*]

Caps have a garbage D and Holtby is nothing any contending team would seriously worry about. Stop building up a bunch of mediocre losers because of loss in January.

lol really? It's just one loss? We've been abysmal against this division all season long. It's far from being a one game observation.

 

[deczola]

the team look lifeless tonight and MJ had no answer to what the Caps were doing

I can take losing if there is effort and some type of attempt at competing. Tonight's performance was dreadful. Letang just stood there and watched Fehr with no effort to defend on the play. The most basic attempt at D there nullifies any goal scoring chance there.

 

[cajal]

Can we have another three or four all-star breaks in a row please?

There are so many players on this team that simply don't give a ****. They have no drive and no pride in what they do. When you have as many of those types of players as the Pens have, it's impossible to consistently do anything except get embarrassed.

The family won't make major changes, though. As a few have said, JR has made the surface changes but probably won't get rid of the passengers on this team. More and more it seems that upper management wants this rotten group to remain together.

Pittsburgh Penguins 2014/2015: You thought we made major changes? Surprise! We're the same weak, spineless group that we always were!

Truly sad stuff, and even worse because a lot of the wounds are self-inflicted.

Not a great time to be a Pens fan. I'll take a mediocre team that tries its *** off over this tripe.

I'll still be rooting, regardless. I just have to be sure to be surrounded by soff stuff to throw at the TV during games.

 

[Ogrezilla]

The point wasn't that we need to trade our best players. The point was that we need to nuke this team, and just trading Neal isn't nuking this team.

My mistake I guess, but to be fair you specifically cited them trading their best players as your description of how they nuked their team I really like our best players. Nuke the ****** players who are treated like our best players.

 

[BlacknGold4life]

"********: @penguins Apple came out with a new iPhone Update. Don't you think it's about time 2 update our 4th line #update #NHL #Pens #old #Slow #weak"---twitter