Post-Game Talk: Pens 3, Panthers 2 - Now THAT Is What A 6M Winger Looks Like

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Don'tcry4mejanhrdina

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Aug 4, 2003
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This space.
Yeah, my man Marty gets a bad shake, but he's actually a pretty good comparison to Jake. Let's just hope Jake has better off-ice luck.

Straka is my second favourite player of all time. Very under appreciated guy. Like Jake, he had his own big playoff moments (just on a worse overall team). Like previously stated, he did finish 4th in scoring with 95 points (one point off the top 3 that year) plus he also had an 83 point season in the heart of the dead pick era (11th in the league). Guentzel is currently 36th in league scoring. I'd also say Straka was better defensively than Jake. It's too bad he had such bad injury luck (where have I seen that before?)

Having said that, Jake is still very young and he's doing all the right things. His game fits Crosby's like a glove which as we've all seen isn't exactly easy for any player to do.
 

HandshakeLine

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The big difference between Straka and Jake, IMO is speed. Straka had some serious wheels (which also helped his defensive play), and Jake hasn't shown that sort of high-end speed.

That said, Straka struggled a lot to put his game together in his early career, so I don't think it's unthinkable that Jake might actually end up being the better player in the end.
 

Big Friggin Dummy

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Feb 22, 2019
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It's unreal to me how Jake's career has taken off. Relatively unknown kid, drafted as a "Shero special", i.e. a smaller American center with no real exceptional qualities. Then he starts to perform well in WBS, gets a call up, plays really well but is sent down shortly after. Next time he's up, he's just absolutely ripping it up alongside Sid. Records set in the playoffs as a rookie, etc. Crazy stuff.

The term diamond in the rough is a bit cliche, but Jake's rise from a pretty nondescript guy in the middle rounds of a draft to one of the best young wingers in the game is absolutely fantastic. I'd imagine he'd have quite a few more points and goals if we didn't have to use him as a center for a bit in the wake of Bonino's departure.
 
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Icarium

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Feb 16, 2010
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We passed the gut-check once again but, boy, would it be nice to see someone else score for a change. It's been Sid, Jake and Geno, with McCann chipping in with some huge goals, for a while now. This time Geno concentrated on setting up Phil who just can't buy a goal and ZAR has turned back into a pumpkin. Two bad penalties for Geno too. Sid and Jake are magic but we can't rely on them only because for all his goals of late Geno's line isn't really a net positive most games, alas. Maybe we can rest Cullen and try to sparks things up with one or two call-ups from WBS. Biggest hope is Kessel finally scoring and the floodgates opening, he is shooting a lot in the last few games but remains snake-bitten. If that happens, it will be huge.

The forwards are still helping the defence a lot which is nice and I didn't notice JJ or Gudbranson much which is also nice. If we get this Murray, Sid and Jake against the Jackets, well, they would need to be very lucky to get a win in the next two games. But anything might happen, have to keep the intensity level high.
 

Pens x

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Oct 8, 2016
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+The Jake and Sid show

+Murray only let 2 pucks in

-It was kind of sad that we barely beat the Panthers
 

ncm7772

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Apr 10, 2016
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Pretty big win really. Now we have some breathing room against Columbus.

You’re kidding right? We’re two points up with no tiebreaker so if they win Thursday they will overtake us and we could be out of the POs again if MTL wins...

Wouldn't call it breathing room, but it certainly makes it "less bad" if things go poorly vs CBJ.

Did you actually watch this one? If not Ill save you the spoilers.

Simon and Hornqvist are both content to shoot from far out with no one around. Simon is trying to game Corsi like Kunitz used to. Hornqvist is just clueless out there because I'm pretty sure his brain is still scrambled.

Simon can actually enter the offensive zone though. Can't really win a battle, but if has time and space, he can flip the puck forward 5 feet at the blueline and get a weak shot on net with no rebounds.

This place is turning into Reddit with the garbage stats telling people what to think.

Wouldn't be shocked if he actually did that, haha.

Simon sucks. He butt.

We got two points, which is great, but we aren't getting secondary scoring to the level or degree we'll need to be effective in the post season. Sid is out of his mind of late with Guentzel not far behind. Everyone else upfront is kinda meh, although Geno at times is flashing some brilliance. But we need more from Bjugstad, Phil, Horny etc.

Good point. Thought Bjugstad had a pretty blah game last night.
 

ncm7772

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Apr 10, 2016
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We passed the gut-check once again but, boy, would it be nice to see someone else score for a change. It's been Sid, Jake and Geno, with McCann chipping in with some huge goals, for a while now. This time Geno concentrated on setting up Phil who just can't buy a goal and ZAR has turned back into a pumpkin. Two bad penalties for Geno too. Sid and Jake are magic but we can't rely on them only because for all his goals of late Geno's line isn't really a net positive most games, alas. Maybe we can rest Cullen and try to sparks things up with one or two call-ups from WBS. Biggest hope is Kessel finally scoring and the floodgates opening, he is shooting a lot in the last few games but remains snake-bitten. If that happens, it will be huge.

The forwards are still helping the defence a lot which is nice and I didn't notice JJ or Gudbranson much which is also nice. If we get this Murray, Sid and Jake against the Jackets, well, they would need to be very lucky to get a win in the next two games. But anything might happen, have to keep the intensity level high.

Yeah, ZAR sucks. On the plus side, Kessel had several good chances.

4th line didn't do much. Bleuger coming back to Earth.
 

LittleSpoon

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Jan 17, 2016
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Good point. Thought Bjugstad had a pretty blah game last night.
Every time he does that slow spin move the puck just drifts off his stick. Still like what I see from him mostly, but yea he just loses that puck sometimes for no reason.
 
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2wayPlay

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Dec 25, 2018
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Wasn’t pretty but badly needed the 2. As long as we go 1-1 vs Columbus we should come out of this week in reasonable shape. Next 4 games are tough would love 4/8 points
 

cygnus47

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Sep 14, 2013
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Kessel looks like he's close to breaking through. I was worried when he wasn't even generating anything, I'm certain now that if he gets one or two the floodgates will open. Good to see him getting more involved in board play and puck battles. Having him going will help the PP tremendously too.

Johnson played a much cleaner game than he has recently. Even made a couple nice plays at the bluelines. Gudbranson makes me nervous every time he turns back with the puck but no big mistakes this game. Schultz is rounding into form pretty quickly too.

Can't say enough about Sid and Guentzel.
 
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ChaosAgent

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May 8, 2018
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Straka is my second favourite player of all time. Very under appreciated guy. Like Jake, he had his own big playoff moments (just on a worse overall team). Like previously stated, he did finish 4th in scoring with 95 points (one point off the top 3 that year) plus he also had an 83 point season in the heart of the dead pick era (11th in the league). Guentzel is currently 36th in league scoring. I'd also say Straka was better defensively than Jake. It's too bad he had such bad injury luck (where have I seen that before?)

Having said that, Jake is still very young and he's doing all the right things. His game fits Crosby's like a glove which as we've all seen isn't exactly easy for any player to do.

I think Jake has (or will soon) exceed Straka. Being on PP1 makes a big, big difference. Straka's 83 point season was mega-impressive as 61 of those were scored at ES. In his 95 point season, 55 were scored at even strength...the powerplay was great once Mario got back. IIRC we ran 5 forwards on PP1 with Kovalev and Straka at the points then.

Jake is on-pace for 67 even strength points right now. If he were on PP1, he'd be on pace for 90-100 points total and be sniffing the 50 goal mark for this year.

Maybe we'll want to see this for a couple more years before we move Jake above Straka, but I expect him to get there.
 
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harmonica

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Apr 21, 2007
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Allow me to blow your mind.

Skinner is a UFA this summer. He'll probably make about 8.5 mil per.

Kessel's 6.8 mil per. Maatta's 4 mil per.

I am aware. But that requires us to actually land somebody like Skinner or Panarin on a reasonable contract when others will be showering them with money.
 
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NMK11

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Apr 6, 2013
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Missed the game. Reading through this thread it looks like our physical defense is looking decent and ZAR sucks again?
 

ChaosAgent

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May 8, 2018
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I am aware. But that requires us to actually land somebody like Skinner or Panarin on a reasonable contract when others will be showering them with money.

@Soggy Biscuit made a proposal at $8.5M that was in the "showering with money" category. For a player like Skinner, $8.5M is inflated but realistic for July 1st prices. Panarin however would be closer to $11M but he's a step up from Skinner.

Now having said that, we have to still land this player. That Stone is already off the board is disconcerting. Visions of Zach Parise 2012 dance around in my head.

I think we can also upgrade Phil with a less flashy, but more 2-way type ala Ferland or Dzingel. That increases our potential player pool by a lot.
 

Peat

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Jun 14, 2016
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I don’t like that line...lacks some skill...
I’d rather see until Rust returns...
Jake Sid Horny
McCann G Simon
ZAR Bjug Phil

I'm not wholly in disagreement, but I think we've got to accept that McCann isn't leaving Sid's side anytime soon, which means Horny won't be there. And its not like Simon and Horny haven't had success on lines that weren't hugely skilled in the past.

Simon and ZAR. Hopefully become what we need. Simon with more finish...close to 20 goal scorer(if hes in top 9 thats not too much to ask). And ZAR using his body..being that mix of Kunitz and Horny instead of Glass and Adams. They are still young..we'll see. I stilll think guys like Bellerive and Bjorkqvist will replace them tho. Then theyll become what I said somewhere else. They have the long leash right now since nobody is really pushing them for PT but that will happen soon so we will find out .

I like both guys but I don't think they're ever going to be the sort of guy who really helps to consistently push the pace as a top 6er. Great cheap options to plug in as necessary and we can make do, but moving forwards, a more high end option seems more and more necessary.

It's unreal to me how Jake's career has taken off. Relatively unknown kid, drafted as a "Shero special", i.e. a smaller American center with no real exceptional qualities. Then he starts to perform well in WBS, gets a call up, plays really well but is sent down shortly after. Next time he's up, he's just absolutely ripping it up alongside Sid. Records set in the playoffs as a rookie, etc. Crazy stuff.

The term diamond in the rough is a bit cliche, but Jake's rise from a pretty nondescript guy in the middle rounds of a draft to one of the best young wingers in the game is absolutely fantastic. I'd imagine he'd have quite a few more points and goals if we didn't have to use him as a center for a bit in the wake of Bonino's departure.

Only played 5 games at C to be fair.

Missed the game. Reading through this thread it looks like our physical defense is looking decent and ZAR sucks again?

Defence is going well without everyone stepping up, including the forwards. Wouldn't want to see this defence behind our usual effort levels though.

ZAR was fine. Lacked the pop he had five or so games ago, but he was doing the right things. Just none of the chances for his line went in.
 

Night Shift

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Nov 3, 2014
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Hard to believe with the role the Pens have been on they can be knocked out of a playoff spot with a loss Thursday. Then again they are 4 points out of 1st in Metro
 

madinsomniac

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Jul 3, 2012
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I am aware. But that requires us to actually land somebody like Skinner or Panarin on a reasonable contract when others will be showering them with money.
And thats why you don’t go into ufa expecting to land someone.... it takes one idiot GM to offer your target 10mil per and drive the value to absurd cap hits and screw everything up... and the nhl has idiot GMs in spades...

Also you can make the best offer and if the player would rather play elsewhere for whatever reason you are screwed...

Same if you clear space planning to make an offer then they resign before ufa starts....

thats why all the fan deals that are “trade XYZ at the deadline for picks then sign player A And B in UFA are stupid... wait till ufa, sign your guys, if you get them then make deals afterwards
 

WheresRamziAbid

Registered User
Oct 31, 2013
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Im liking the way were playing recently. Getting back to that tolt the ice type at least against the teams we should be doing that to.

Despite the close result the shot chart is super encouraging.
 

harmonica

Registered User
Apr 21, 2007
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@Soggy Biscuit made a proposal at $8.5M that was in the "showering with money" category. For a player like Skinner, $8.5M is inflated but realistic for July 1st prices. Panarin however would be closer to $11M but he's a step up from Skinner.

Now having said that, we have to still land this player. That Stone is already off the board is disconcerting. Visions of Zach Parise 2012 dance around in my head.

I think we can also upgrade Phil with a less flashy, but more 2-way type ala Ferland or Dzingel. That increases our potential player pool by a lot.

Maybe I am being overly pessimistic but I just don’t see us signing Skinner even at something like $8.5. I don’t even know if I would want a winger at that valuation due to the term that will most likely need to be attached to it.

But if we were to get somebody like Skinner I am also fine with wholesaling Kessel and a couple dmen.
 
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