Post-Game Talk: |Pens vs Devil| loss | Be nice if our bottom 6 was even close to useful

[Ugene Magic]

We're witnessing what we expected to see once Letang lost his wheels and went from an elite skater to just an average one. His mental game can't compensate for his loss of speed.

The Rust contract is also showing what a lot of us feared. His numbers are mediocre when not feasting on the PP and his willingness to go to the dirty areas has diminished since pre-2019 Rust levels to compensate for the mediocre offense.

I'll admit I was fine with the Letang re-signing, more so for nostalgia reasons. But I wasn't a fan of re-signing Rust at all. Particularly because of who the coach was and his obsession with a certain line combination that never works.

Rust signing is exactly what they said it was, making Crosby comfortable in the last years for him. This is a tight nit group, so that's what they did. I wasn't so enamored with his signing either. Imagine the team that actually offered him more? How bad that would look about now for a player who never put in a full 82. Without the injuries a lot of these players would have looked worse not seeing those preferred minutes and top PP unit.

Never thought Rust was a true top six winger, or a sniper to be more specific. Flashes, sure, but that consistency? No. Those belong to the only two top six wingers they have in Guentzel/Rakell. Rust is a 3rd wheel, and same for Zucker.

But it's enough for this top six.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Hextall landed Rakell. Sid, Geno, Jake, Rust and Zucker were all here when Hextall took over. He didn't build shit. Credit for getting Rakell and keeping him, but he didn't inherit a skeleton top-6 of just Sid and Geno or something.

Agree that the bottom-6 is as comparable as those dreadful Gladams years. -shudder-

I mean yeah sure - he also brought in McGinn, Petry, etc.

The Carter thing is his worst move but Sullivan is the one contributing to it being worse by using him in OT, on the PK, and as the 3C. Remember when he was all power pointing it Sarge for Johnson and then finally started to healthy scratch him almost way too late? Sully relies on Carter for some bizarre reason. If he can finally see past the idiocy that was him thinking Jack Johnson does suck, yet can’t for the likes of Ruhwedel and Carter….

I mean f*** mate, remember when he kept playing Jankowski for like 40 some odd games when he was only good for a week of them? Then reluctantly played Gaudreau and he did well but he almost used him begrudgingly and all he did was keep succeeding and continued to elsewhere.

Hextall has his warts but he can fix them I think.

Sullivan to me is so close to the problems that he’s become the problem.

Rust signing is exactly what they said it was, making Crosby comfortable in the last years for him. This is a tight nit group, so that's what they did. I wasn't so enamored with his signing either. Imagine the team that actually offered him more? How bad that would look about now for a player who never put in a full 82. Without the injuries a lot of these players would have looked worse not seeing those preferred minutes and top PP unit.

Never thought Rust was a true top six winger, or a sniper to be more specific. Flashes, sure, but that consistency? No. Those belong to the only two top six wingers they have in Guentzel/Rakell. Rust is a 3rd wheel, and same for Zucker.

But it's enough for this top six.

The core contracts are hard to fault. It was making the core happy that Mario wanted before he handed things over to FSG but still maintained some control of the Pens. To everyone with any logic left in their heads - they saw that as making Sid happy.

Other teams are more willing to do the hard things. This team has refused to well before JR and Hextall. Gee I wonder why.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Pens need to trade Guentzel when they can. The core is old and to keep him and a huge contract while the extensions of the core and also Sids will come down will make it virtually impossible to do anything good to deepen the roster for quality. People hate it as an option but it’s one that needs to be done. Would Hextall do it knowing it’d piss off Sid? Not with Mario still in some some power and FSG as the new owners.

Moving Jake to get some solid prospects and a pick would help this team more than keeping him.

 

[Night Shift]

Pens need to trade Guentzel when they can. The core is old and to keep him and a huge contract while the extensions of the core and also Sids will come down will make it virtually impossible to do anything good to deepen the roster for quality. People hate it as an option but it’s one that needs to be done. Would Hextall do it knowing it’d piss off Sid? Not with Mario still in some some power and FSG as the new owners.

Moving Jake to get some solid prospects and a pick would help this team more than keeping him.

I agree. This whole philosophy of "who cares, spend all your picks now, wait till the core retires, and then focus on draft" isn't what's best.

If we get ahead of the curve now and Hextall did his due diligence for upcoming drafts, he hits on his selections we could have a nice team in a few years. Why wait to restock the system?

This is why I'm glad we have a patient GM not wasting assets for someone Sally will end up burying anyway.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I mean yeah sure - he also brought in McGinn, Petry, etc.

The Carter thing is his worst move but Sullivan is the one contributing to it being worse by using him in OT, on the PK, and as the 3C. Remember when he was all power pointing it Sarge for Johnson and then finally started to healthy scratch him almost way too late? Sully relies on Carter for some bizarre reason. If he can finally see past the idiocy that was him thinking Jack Johnson does suck, yet can’t for the likes of Ruhwedel and Carter….

I mean f*** mate, remember when he kept playing Jankowski for like 40 some odd games when he was only good for a week of them? Then reluctantly played Gaudreau and he did well but he almost used him begrudgingly and all he did was keep succeeding and continued to elsewhere.

Hextall has his warts but he can fix them I think.

Sullivan to me is so close to the problems that he’s become the problem.


The core contracts are hard to fault. It was making the core happy that Mario wanted before he handed things over to FSG but still maintained some control of the Pens. To everyone with any logic left in their heads - they saw that as making Sid happy.

Other teams are more willing to do the hard things. This team has refused to well before JR and Hextall. Gee I wonder why.

The other teams didn't have two generational talents. Especially one's who done as much as this one. It's like expecting the Pens to do what the Hawks did when they were deep with players prospects and picks. They will never be on that same plateau. Why? because the Pens will never be able to trade off quality due to the lack of low picks. They even screwed up the lone one they got for Staal.

What teams with low picks are going to be willing to trade them for Jake? He's gonna be UFA after next season. That means your best value is this offseason while he has a year of term at 29 at the start of next season. And wanting to compete for the last couple for Sid, why would they want to?

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I mean yeah sure - he also brought in McGinn, Petry, etc.

The Carter thing is his worst move but Sullivan is the one contributing to it being worse by using him in OT, on the PK, and as the 3C. Remember when he was all power pointing it Sarge for Johnson and then finally started to healthy scratch him almost way too late? Sully relies on Carter for some bizarre reason. If he can finally see past the idiocy that was him thinking Jack Johnson does suck, yet can’t for the likes of Ruhwedel and Carter….

I mean f*** mate, remember when he kept playing Jankowski for like 40 some odd games when he was only good for a week of them? Then reluctantly played Gaudreau and he did well but he almost used him begrudgingly and all he did was keep succeeding and continued to elsewhere.

Hextall has his warts but he can fix them I think.

Sullivan to me is so close to the problems that he’s become the problem.


The core contracts are hard to fault. It was making the core happy that Mario wanted before he handed things over to FSG but still maintained some control of the Pens. To everyone with any logic left in their heads - they saw that as making Sid happy.

Other teams are more willing to do the hard things. This team has refused to well before JR and Hextall. Gee I wonder why.

Pens need to trade Guentzel when they can. The core is old and to keep him and a huge contract while the extensions of the core and also Sids will come down will make it virtually impossible to do anything good to deepen the roster for quality. People hate it as an option but it’s one that needs to be done. Would Hextall do it knowing it’d piss off Sid? Not with Mario still in some some power and FSG as the new owners.

Moving Jake to get some solid prospects and a pick would help this team more than keeping him.

Sullivan's a huge problem and has been for years, but this forward corps, outside of the top-6, is miserable. Unsalvageable, imo. It's not a TOI distribution or deployment issue. They suck, full stop. Hextall is responsible for bringing in McGinn, hanging on to Carter for too long, extending Kap--a dude who has looked awful far more often than he's looked good, and seems to be permanently in the coach's doghouse, and not without reason. Heinen was a cheap gamble to see if he would be solid like last season--he hasn't been. Poehling is young but has had a pretty shit season when healthy with fractionary flashes of "maybe there's something there". Blueger's garbage, has failed time and again to take that next step to prove he's worth keeping around--and he's got, what, 2pts in 20 playoff games or something? Imo, the WBS kids aren't worth a damn, though I'd still play 'em over these 4th liners because they're dirt cheap and might (extreme emphasis on might) have some upside.

I dunno, man. Both Sully and Hextall are hugely responsible for the dramatic decline of this team. We all knew the era was coming to a close and I've assumed the window slammed shut after the Habs series, but I didn't think it'd be this steep a drop off. Mario and his pedo-adjacent billionaire bud f***ed up in bringing in a guy whose whole approach is one of shrewdness and extreme patience if they thought this team still had any gas left. It's been muddled, mixed signals for the past few years on all ends.

Ownership falls at Sully's feet for some weird reason, and Sully seems adored by everybody outside of this forum, so it makes no sense to even discuss his potential firing/replacement. I started to question his coaching when he had zero way of dealing with, let alone solving, the aggressive forecheck of the Isles back in 2019. Knew for sure he was the wrong guy after he rode JJ-Schultz in the play-in which pretty nearly single-handedly torched this team. It's just not within the realm of realism to discuss the firing of a guy who was four consecutive 1st round failures deep and he got extended--two years before his *current* deal was even done. They couldn't even wait and see? It had to be then, of all times? Bizarre. I think he's a good two-plus seasons of entirely missing the playoffs away from being fired, and even then, I think the organization would just shrug and point to the age of the team and keep him around. I would not be surprised if he was the coach of the post-Sid/Geno chapter.

As for Jake, I agree with you. Though I think once you commit to moving Jake, you pull the plug on the era; Pandora's Box, etc. This isn't a situation where the team can benefit from a better fit by losing a bit off the stat sheet like Neal-Hornqvist, imo. When Jake's eventually moved, I hope it's for a really good prospect and a top-10 pick. I doubt this team has the spine to do it this summer, and by next season it'll be too late. They won't dump him in-season, imo. Think it has to be done at the draft like Staal's deal.

But I also think we all are much bigger dreamers and much more ambitious, to one end or another (fix things by performing roster/coach surgery or end the era and begin the rebuild), than ownership or the FO have any desire to be. So it's several more years of this ever-worsening, ever more boring bullshit until the era winds to a close like a dusty fart with Sid retiring. (Still doubt Geno plays that 4th season of this deal, and I'm not convinced Letang plays either the 5th or 6th years)

 

[Honour Over Glory]

And now the problem is you can’t move Jake because Sid loves having him as his winger and to make Sid happy they won’t in fear of him saying yeah I’m out and not staying anymore. Which is comical. They pandered so hard to put themselves in this spot. If I were Hextall I’d just quit and say f*** this franchise, he’s in a lose/lose situation from the get go. Ownership pushes the sully extension, he has to keep the core together which f***s the cap and now he has to fix a coach that refuses to see the issues and his mistake of keeping Carter is the only thing people want to focus on.

The other teams didn't have two generational talents. Especially one's who done as much as this one. It's like expecting the Pens to do what the Hawks did when they were deep with players prospects and picks. They will never be on that same plateau. Why? because the Pens will never be able to trade off quality due to the lack of low picks. They even screwed up the lone one they got for Staal.

What teams with low picks are going to be willing to trade them for Jake? He's gonna be UFA after next season. That means your best value is this offseason while he has a year of term at 29 at the start of next season. And wanting to compete for the last couple for Sid, why would they want to?

Not trading Jake will f*** them.
Keeping Jake will also f*** them.

One keeps Sid happy the other doesn’t.

We got the cups, now let’s just watch this entire team slowly burn to the ground and have nothing to show for it. There is no Gm in the league that can fix this because of the insane power the core has.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

The pens needed to choose Malkin or Letang. Malkin was the right choice, Letang wasn’t.

It’s funny. This ownership and Mario wanted to keep Crosby happy over making the moves to make the team a contender with older players like Sid and Geno. They were more enamoured with the fact that the trio have been together the longest in history etc etc.

And now we get Sully for a long time and he’s run out of answers years ago.

Sullivan's a huge problem and has been for years, but this forward corps, outside of the top-6, is miserable. Unsalvageable, imo. It's not a TOI distribution or deployment issue. They suck, full stop. Hextall is responsible for bringing in McGinn, hanging on to Carter for too long, extending Kap--a dude who has looked awful far more often than he's looked good, and seems to be permanently in the coach's doghouse, and not without reason. Heinen was a cheap gamble to see if he would be solid like last season--he hasn't been. Poehling is young but has had a pretty shit season when healthy with fractionary flashes of "maybe there's something there". Blueger's garbage, has failed time and again to take that next step to prove he's worth keeping around--and he's got, what, 2pts in 20 playoff games or something? Imo, the WBS kids aren't worth a damn, though I'd still play 'em over these 4th liners because they're dirt cheap and might (extreme emphasis on might) have some upside.

I dunno, man. Both Sully and Hextall are hugely responsible for the dramatic decline of this team. We all knew the era was coming to a close and I've assumed the window slammed shut after the Habs series, but I didn't think it'd be this steep a drop off. Mario and his pedo-adjacent billionaire bud f***ed up in bringing in a guy whose whole approach is one of shrewdness and extreme patience if they thought this team still had any gas left. It's been muddled, mixed signals for the past few years on all ends.

Ownership falls at Sully's feet for some weird reason, and Sully seems adored by everybody outside of this forum, so it makes no sense to even discuss his potential firing/replacement. I started to question his coaching when he had zero way of dealing with, let alone solving, the aggressive forecheck of the Isles back in 2019. Knew for sure he was the wrong guy after he rode JJ-Schultz in the play-in which pretty nearly single-handedly torched this team. It's just not within the realm of realism to discuss the firing of a guy who was four consecutive 1st round failures deep and he got extended--two years before his *current* deal was even done. They couldn't even wait and see? It had to be then, of all times? Bizarre. I think he's a good two-plus seasons of entirely missing the playoffs away from being fired, and even then, I think the organization would just shrug and point to the age of the team and keep him around. I would not be surprised if he was the coach of the post-Sid/Geno chapter.

As for Jake, I agree with you. Though I think once you commit to moving Jake, you pull the plug on the era; Pandora's Box, etc. This isn't a situation where the team can benefit from a better fit by losing a bit off the stat sheet like Neal-Hornqvist, imo. When Jake's eventually moved, I hope it's for a really good prospect and a top-10 pick. I doubt this team has the spine to do it this summer, and by next season it'll be too late. They won't dump him in-season, imo. Think it has to be done at the draft like Staal's deal.

But I also think we all are much bigger dreamers and much more ambitious, to one end or another (fix things by performing roster/coach surgery or end the era and begin the rebuild), than ownership or the FO have any desire to be. So it's several more years of this ever-worsening, ever more boring bullshit until the era winds to a close like a dusty fart with Sid retiring. (Still doubt Geno plays that 4th season of this deal, and I'm not convinced Letang plays either the 5th or 6th years)

For me Sully was a problem the year before JR quit. Now with Hextall he’s continued to be a problem. Maybe you fire Ron and hire someone else and things stay the same or get worse with the new GM and then they finally fire Sullivan. By then the damage is so beyond done it’s not fixable anymore. I think Ron can fix things but I also don’t think Mario and FSG will let him.

As for Jake. Keeping him long term means the time we could have gotten something for him to prepare for the next stage of this franchise is now gone. They’ve prioritized keeping Crosby happy over the future of the franchise.

Idiotic.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I'm still not convinced Sid would like, snap and go ballistic if this team started the tear down. He certainly wouldn't be happy, and probably wouldn't keep playing after his current deal is up, but that's fine. If nothing else, Sid's a robot who has been programmed to deal with the professionalism side of hockey since he was a tween. He was fine when the team dealt his BFF Colby. He was fine when the team dealt his BFF MAF. He was fine when the team allowed Kunitz to walk. He'll be fine if the team grows the spine to trade Jake for a huge haul while his value's at its highest.

I don't think for a second Sid would ever ask for a trade. Dude's idol is Yzerman and a big part of that is Yzerman being a Red Wing from start to finish--the one team deal is huge to Sid, and as a creature of fanatical, obsessive-level habit, he wouldn't just pack up all his shit and move for the final few years of his NHL career. I just simply don't buy that, genuinely.

I have to think Sid also follows in Yzerman's path of going into some kind of managerial role/scouting before eventually being a GM or development coach with this team. Maybe he just completely leaves the public eye, but I think hockey's too much a part of who he is at his core, so he'd come back before long if he tried.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

I mean yeah sure - he also brought in McGinn, Petry, etc.

Wait. Are you... are you trying to use these acquisitions to defend Hextall?

 

[BusinessGoose]

Sid would get mad at himself for not being able to carry an entire NHL roster by himself before he ever got mad at the org or team for making him the only skilled player left on said team.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Wait. Are you... are you trying to use these acquisitions to defend Hextall?

No, I’m trying to point out that with the bad there’s good. If all we have is Carter to shit all over then we’re not as bad off as we think with Hextall the way we were with Shero or JR.

Sullivan on the other hand has done far more damage.

Carter is awful and Hextall should own that one and we all here have been making it sound that way each time. But to act like he hasn’t made this or that move or enough (apparently the Marino and Matheson deals weren’t trades?).

But the shit Sully is pulling is ridiculous. That is the biggest problem. A team that plays well and has a few bad eggs is the Gm not doing enough. But a team playing poorly and a couple of bad eggs is not just a GM problem, it’s the coach and the GM to me is who you keep between the two until the end of the season. If you don’t like what Hextall does with a new coach in the off season then fire him. But Sully needs to be the first to go before Hextall.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

The pens needed to choose Malkin or Letang. Malkin was the right choice, Letang wasn’t.

It’s funny. This ownership and Mario wanted to keep Crosby happy over making the moves to make the team a contender with older players like Sid and Geno. They were more enamoured with the fact that the trio have been together the longest in history etc etc.

And now we get Sully for a long time and he’s run out of answers years ago.



For me Sully was a problem the year before JR quit. Now with Hextall he’s continued to be a problem. Maybe you fire Ron and hire someone else and things stay the same or get worse with the new GM and then they finally fire Sullivan. By then the damage is so beyond done it’s not fixable anymore. I think Ron can fix things but I also don’t think Mario and FSG will let him.

As for Jake. Keeping him long term means the time we could have gotten something for him to prepare for the next stage of this franchise is now gone. They’ve prioritized keeping Crosby happy over the future of the franchise.

Idiotic.

It was a long series of errors that snowballed out of control, imo. Tom Wilson ran around like a dickhead and pissed JR off so, in the event that JR ever knew what he was doing (not convinced, think he just got astronomically lucky), he went haywire and started to do all sorts of dumb shit right after the 2nd of the back to back. Constant hemorrhaging of assets, mindless decisions, overspending to land *his* guys, things that seemed to be at odds with the team/style his organization won with. Culminating in the much publicized pissbaby tantrum and stomping off, leaving this team kind of f***ed for two reasons; he spent a shitload of time and assets chasing a 3C after Bonino was allowed to walk, and he spent huge for two middle-6/3rd liners in Zucker and Kap. The previous owners then decided they'd go full pendulum swing the other direction and landed a guy like Hextall who is the antithesis of JR--a mistake if there was any intention of still gunning for Cups as opposed to letting the rebuild slowly take shape. Ownership changes hands while the team's in the midst of losing their 4th straight 1st round series. Ownership extends a failed coach well beyond his expiration date two years before his current deal is even done for some dumb f***ing reason. Ownership gives Hextall the directive of going all-in for Cups, but JR left a shitshow in his wake with no assets and awful cap structure, which Hextall only compounded with moves like Carter's extension, Kap's extension, McGinn's signing, getting more expensive on the blueline, locking into a shitty goaltending duo, etc.

Now we're here. Shit's f***ed, unsalvageable, and the team's too afraid to admit it and pick a direction; go for the hail mary and fix it in the next 12 months, or start the rebuild. Instead, I assume they'll do neither, and this shitslop will continue to get less watchable and more unlikable from top to bottom.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Sid hasn't even made an honest women out of his girlfriend because he puts hockey over such things. I mean, there's being very private about you personal life, and there's being that stringent about it where you put off family and such matters. Where I'm going with this is, I doubt Sid is staying past his current contract. He's given up a lot.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

No, I’m trying to point out that with the bad there’s good. If all we have is Carter to shit all over then we’re not as bad off as we think with Hextall the way we were with Shero or JR.

Sullivan on the other hand has done far more damage.

lol McGinn is a waste and Matheson@$4.9M >>> Petry@$6.3M.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

No, I’m trying to point out that with the bad there’s good. If all we have is Carter to shit all over then we’re not as bad off as we think with Hextall the way we were with Shero or JR.

Sullivan on the other hand has done far more damage.

Hard disagree. The blueline "shakeup" was a valiant attempt but accomplished nothing in terms of on-ice performance. I don't miss Marino or Matheson, but I have been very underwhelmed with Petry, Smith can't get through the roster logjam, POJ's been super up and down (mostly down), and Rutta's been whatever when healthy (with a nod to Letang's game dropping off a f***ing cliff as soon as he signed his six year deal, not Hextall's fault, but y'know, of course). The entire bottom-6 is Hextall's work, and it's hands down the worst in the league. Sully's been a shitshow, but Hextall's right there with him. He's not hemorrhaging assets left and right, which is definitely a positive, but he's also locked the team in with extremely mediocre or downright awful talent in the bottom-6, and soon, in goal.

It's time for this place to stop trying to weigh the scales as if there's one side that needs to be loaded up with a ton of fault. Sully's garbage, we all agree, but Hextall is as bad. It's not entirely his fault, part of the blame has to fall on the shoulders of the ownership that hand-picked him to steer the ship after JR, but Hextall's a colossal problem nonetheless.

-edit- Just for clarification, JR deserves a shitload of blame, as does ownership, past and present.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

lol McGinn is a waste and Matheson@$4.9M >>> Petry@$6.3M.

I think Matheson and Petry are both flawed to a similarly dramatic degree. Neither is good in their own zone, but the idea was probably to get a bit more physical on the blueline and a more direct contribution to the score sheet beyond Letang than what Matheson delivered. I don't think there's really much difference in terms of anything. He's a worse skater than Matheson (which is whatever, because Matheson was too squirrely to skate the puck safely out of danger most of the time anyway) and he's more expensive, which is what kinda sucks.

But yeah, McGinn's dookie. Good thing he was only signed for 4 years.

 

[Gurglesons]

lol McGinn is a waste and Matheson@$4.9M >>> Petry@$6.3M.

Matheson can’t play defense.

Petry is arguably the best defensive D we have.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Matheson can’t play defense.

Petry is arguably the best defensive D we have.

Whew, that's a shame.

 

[Gurglesons]

View attachment 653341
Whew, that's a shame.

I mean, Petry is being used so oddly here. I don’t understand why you bring in a player that can eat the difficult minutes for Letang and then still play Letang 24-27 a night.

Also we have no fluidity on the PP, it’s just the same unit. Makes no sense.

Petry is pacing for 38 points over a 82 game season. His goal totals are really disappointing, but I think if we make the playoffs we will see his value more.

 

[SomeDude]

When do playoff tickets go on sale?

They should have campaign of “We only get one series per year, this is your only chance” to help sell Round 1 tickets.

 

[Factorial]

They should have campaign of “We only get one series per year, this is your only chance” to help sell Round 1 tickets.

If they make it.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I mean, Petry is being used so oddly here. I don’t understand why you bring in a player that can eat the difficult minutes for Letang and then still play Letang 24-27 a night.

Also we have no fluidity on the PP, it’s just the same unit. Makes no sense.

Petry is pacing for 38 points over a 82 game season. His goal totals are really disappointing, but I think if we make the playoffs we will see his value more.

I like to give you shit for an over-attachment to a guy who hasn't been very good because I know you have had a soft spot for Petry for years, even suggesting having him replace Letang if Letang were to retire/walk (and my physical recoiling at the notion).

 

[SomeDude]

If they make it.

They would really have to suck to not make it. That being said, someone should let them know that games in hand are only useful if you win some of them.

 

[ChaosAgent]

I like to give you shit for an over-attachment to a guy who hasn't been very good because I know you have had a soft spot for Petry for years, even suggesting having him replace Letang if Letang were to retire/walk (and my physical recoiling at the notion).

I'm just not gonna say "Peff Jetry"s name because I want to avoid flame wars for a couple months.

That said, he has turned on Zucker apparently (and I haven't the foggiest why; Zucker is awesome right now). So maybe Petry's days are numbered.

They would really have to suck to not make it. That being said, someone should let them know that games in hand are only useful if you win some of them.

You can also turtle for dear life for the last 10 minutes of regulation then get the loser point in overtime. One of our specialties.