Post-Game Talk: |Pens vs Kraken | loss | The video coach was our best player

[Honour Over Glory]

I'm 95% sure this core doesn't have one last run in it, but I'm 100% sure it doesn't with Sullivan as the coach.

I know this is where Sullivan defenders will come in and boast if the team turns it around and makes the playoffs. But then when they lose in the first round again, those same folks will just pin everything on the players.

I'm 100% sure a new coach would utilize the young players in a more positive way. Something this coach has been unwilling to do for the vast majority of his tenure.

 

[spcastlemagic]

Please tell me we didn’t give Letang and Malkin NMCs.

 

[wheelz87]

Ugh. 4-0-1 was so long ago.
We can’t score anymore.
Kap is krap again. (as if he ever wasn’t)
Sid not collecting points like he was.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Kind of at a loss for what to say. As soon as Seattle got that equalizer, after two goals ruled out, I just got the feeling of “well, that’s it”

I’m getting strong 2014 Mike Johnston vibes.

Well good thing we didn't extend the HC for a bazillion years.

Also, holy shit Archibald is doubling down on bad habits, isn't he?

This game is going to ruin my morning, isn't it?

 

[AlphaMikeFoxtrots]

Trust me, Jesus is saying exactly the same thing right now....

I wish I trusted you less

 

[Pens x]

Just like Carter, this team extended Sullivan too soon. We’ve needed a new coach for years.

Archibald, for example, should be sent to the moon, but he is will continue to play since Sully hates young players. I’m so tired of Sullivan.

 

[metalan2]

Carter sucks. He's fine if he plays a Brian Boyle type roe, but that's it. Hopefully he's out for awhile.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Wow, this game is pretty putrid to watch.

 

[deakka]

At least we weren't too late to the Bedard race

 

[HandshakeLine]

WOW. This game is somehow more offensive to watch than the previous two disappointments. I'm almost impressed.

I give up, I'm just going to pull a @Randy Butternubs and do something more constructive with my morning, like go back to bed.

I dunno guys, this team. It's got moments where it looks good, but man, it looks like the whole team has just plain given up. @Extra Texture said it reminds him of the MJ year, and I'm inclined to agree. Just no fight in this team, the coaching decisions are baffling, and the team looks like a shell of itself from a week ago.

I ain't a spy or a sports psychologist, but something is majorly off with this squad.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Mood:

 

[AuroraBorealis]

WOW. This game is somehow more offensive to watch than the previous two disappointments. I'm almost impressed.

I give up, I'm just going to pull a @Randy Butternubs and do something more constructive with my morning, like go back to bed.

I dunno guys, this team. It's got moments where it looks good, but man, it looks like the whole team has just plain given up. @Extra Texture said it reminds him of the MJ year, and I'm inclined to agree. Just no fight in this team, the coaching decisions are baffling, and the team looks like a shell of itself from a week ago.

I ain't a spy or a sports psychologist, but something is majorly off with this squad.

The PK went 100% though!
Baby steps!

 

[Zbynek]

Only saw the highlights, but jesus f*** is Kapanen bad. Couldn't help but imagine the Benny Hill theme song on that second Kraken goal. The minutes he still gets from Sullivan blows my mind man.

People on here were actually defending his RFA contract over the summer.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Against my better judgement I toughed it out to see the GLG Kap was responsible for. And boy it was a stinker.

The whole bottom 6 just looks really really wretched lately. It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something. 6 players who were brought in as role players all simultaneously forgot their roles. Poehling at least seems to remember what he's supposed to do. But on the other hand, there's like $10 million dollars of not bringing anything positive to the table tied up in those 2 lines. Archibald, McGinn, Carter, and Kap are all incredibad as of late. And out of that 4, I think only one or two will be able to get out of that spin on their own.

I dunno, I get that this team isn't going to reach for the stars or anything, but I feel like watching this team shamble through an entire string of games this poorly is a bigger insult than just being massively bad or flaming out in the postseason.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Only saw the highlights, but jesus f*** is Kapanen bad. Couldn't help but imagine the Benny Hill theme song on that second Kraken goal. The minutes he still gets from Sullivan blows my mind man.

People on here were actually defending his RFA contract over the summer.

The thing with Kap that coaches, GMs, and sometimes posters come back to is that he has all the tools and he has used the tools for stretches at a time and looks like he's about to turn the corner and then... this.

McGinn hasn't looked like a player worth a contract for nigh on, what, 20-30 games now? Carter has been bad since about last March. Archibald has always been bad, so it's more of a return to the standard than anything else. Kap looked pretty good in the first 4 games, and now he's going the way of the rest of the bottom 6. Something's gotta give there. There's no way this team can carry 4 reclamation projects in the bottom 6. One or two of them would be fine.

 

[Zbynek]

The thing with Kap that coaches, GMs, and sometimes posters come back to is that he has all the tools and he has used the tools for stretches at a time and looks like he's about to turn the corner and then... this.

McGinn hasn't looked like a player worth a contract for nigh on, what, 20-30 games now? Carter has been bad since about last March. Archibald has always been bad, so it's more of a return to the standard than anything else. Kap looked pretty good in the first 4 games, and now he's going the way of the rest of the bottom 6. Something's gotta give there. There's no way this team can carry 4 reclamation projects in the bottom 6. One or two of them would be fine.

Everyone looked good in the first 4 games. These are the games that show our true colors.

Kapanen is f***ing garbage man.

Not sure what was more unnecessary, the 2 year term on his contract or the Sully extension.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean, I kind of get the Kap thing in the abstract-- he's got pedigree, he's got the tools in his toolbox that this team claims to love, he's young, he's got flashes of good play in the top 9. He's a little overpaid, but not heinously so, it's just that his bad periods are REALLY bad and we don't seem very good at bringing out his good streaks anymore. I don't believe in advanced stats (numbers are bullshit man and you can't make me believe they're real), but even just on the eye test, he's gotten worse since he's been here.

I absolutely do not understand why the Mike Sullivan signing was such a priority this offseason. That's the bigger sin than hoping a young player will turn it around.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I absolutely do not understand why the Mike Sullivan signing was such a priority this offseason.

I heard the main reason is ownership have formed a bond with him off ice. Some personal bias crept into the decision I feel.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I heard the main reason is ownership have formed a bond with him off ice. Some personal bias crept into the decision I feel.

It absolutely has that vibe. Boston-based company vibing with the Boston-raised HC in the nepotistic land of sports ownership is a pretty sure bet.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

It absolutely has that vibe. Boston-based company vibing with the Boston-raised HC in the nepotistic land of sports ownership is a pretty sure bet.

Yeah the timing can't be explained rationally from a hockey perspective, especially since it's new ownership that wasn't here for the Cups.
FSG have the resources to fire him anyway without blinking, but I won't be expecting it even if we turn into complete dogshit.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Bedard is probably a Matthews / Tavares type. Not generational.

Not to nitpick, but these two aren’t/weren’t really in the same tier. Agreed that neither is generational though.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Missed the game live, watched it this morning. Team looked slow as shit all night. Slow to react, bad reads, turnovers. Chasing the play all game. Letang getting burned by Wennberg is just a perfect microcosm of the night.

Pretty much the only guy I thought was a positive was Jake. Sid definitely looked better than recently, but still not quite right. Rakell continued his solid play too. but no production. Dumo looks immobile and braindead in any given situation; just totally f***in' checked out--he'll be Scuderi-bad by the time he's a couple years into his next contract, either here or elsewhere. Letang's been a wreck, which I guess you can *partially* attribute to playing alongside the shattered husk of Dumo, but I'm not sure that's entirely it. Uncharacteristic bad game from Rutta. Kap's fast but he's a f***ing total dipshit; pretty much a lock to make the worst possible play with the puck on his stick at all times. Feel like the game wasn't even as close as 3-1 indicates.

This is all setting up for the classic "Pens land a generational talent as their current generational talent heads into retirement" scenario. All part of the plan. In all seriousness, I think they'll still make the playoffs but the Cup window closed years ago.

-edit- Hey, could be worse. We could be Leafs fans watching the final days of Auston Matthews' career in Toronto--the team languishing while its star players are in their prime, as opposed to watching a buncha 35+ year olds on a victory lap after three Cups.

The Pens have been awful the last few games though. They'll be fine. Or they won't, who gives a shit? If they make the playoffs, they're getting booted in round 1 again.

 

[HandshakeLine]

My main sticking point is, while I don't expect this team to do much, I also don't expect it to be THIS bad, given what they have to work with. Right now, this is a team that is playing like less than the sum of its parts, even if the parts aren't all that great for the most part.

Please tell me we didn’t give Letang and Malkin NMCs.

Lol we give everyone NMCs. Rust, Malkin, Sid, Carter have NMCs. Jake, Zucker, and Rackell have NTCs. literally 7 of the top 9 are difficult, if not outright impossible to move.

And on the blueline, Petry and Letang have NMCs, while Dumo has a NTC.

 

[TooManyHumans]

This looks like a team that needs a coaching change. They have quit. Too bad Sullivan is locked in for life.

 

[HandshakeLine]

This looks like a team that needs a coaching change. They have quit. Too bad Sullivan is locked in for life.

It's like FSG looked at the Rooneys and went "Hmmmm... that seems like the best way to do things!"