PENS vs Montreal Canadiens Round 1 (Best Of Five)

[CascadiaPenguin]

Also, Sarge went from 5yr/25m contract to the Senators for 5.5m/yr for 2yrs (the one yr at less because of a CBA issue), then 5m/yr for 2yrs with the Stars. Pens signed him at 30/31yrs of age, he left at 36 and at 38 still was asking for 5.5m/yr (except that one shortened year). He was never a 50pt player in the 5 seasons after he left.

Gonchar was a fantastic powerplay point man and paired with a solid defensive defenseman like Orpik, a formidable top pairing guy, but Letang brings far more to the table, people can whine about him all they want, if Letang re-signs for 3 more years to retire with is buddy Sid (like Geno likely will), I see him taking a cut so they can keep winning until the end.

Why would anything change when they're older and really in a mentor role to a young squad that should remain winners if they do this right? I don't see 3 guys that are fantastic leaders like that, suddenly changing. Sarge also had that knee injury that really started to show why the Pens needed to move on. Letang had his neck f***ing FUSED and he's still an all-star player.

Dude also has a hole in his heart.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

So he's hole-hearted? That seems a little Extreme.

Yeah I'll show myself out.

 

[Gurglesons]

Gonchar went through a pretty bad stretch his first season then towards the end. Getting Moen'd in that Montreal series kinda brought the boobirds back out a bit (I always thought it was funny that he would be traded for Moen a few years later). I admit I was a little hard on Gonchar towards the end. But to be fair I always gave him his due on the PP, in particular. Where I often said I've never personally seen better on the Penguins when it comes to ALL the elements.

I think most people were over Gonch because Letang and Gogo both looked better defensively at that point and had similar impacts on the PP.

Letang was so good on the PP when there was a legit trigger man at the top.

 

[heysmilinstrange]

Which is why I ultimately have to laugh at the Murray situation, because, man I don't think people are actively salivating for Murray's inevitable shuffle off of this mortal coil like they were Gonchar.

Because, you and I might remember, when Gonchar died at the zoo, there was a significant portion of the fanbase that was REALLY excited about it.

What's this?

 

[HandshakeLine]

What's this?

There was a rumor here that a troll started but people believed that Gonchar had a heart attack at the Pittsburgh zoo while looking at the giraffes, was in critical condition, and then died. People believed it hard for like 48 hours, some people being really sad, but there was a lot of nasty shit posted (probably what the troll was looking to do).

 

[ColePens]

I remember how much hate Gonchar got. Like all the things people say other people say to Murray? That shit is sweet nothings compared to what people were saying, posting, and writing about Gonchar. It was straight up abuse for the first year he was here.

I was at a game in the first year where PENGUIN FANS booed him every time he touched the puck. HE WAS ON OUR TEAM.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Yeah, the Murray hate has nothing on that first year with Gonchar. It was brutal.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

All the Letang love makes my day.

I got you, les mon ami.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I remember how much hate Gonchar got. Like all the things people say other people say to Murray? That shit is sweet nothings compared to what people were saying, posting, and writing about Gonchar. It was straight up abuse for the first year he was here.

People did the same for Paul Martin too, absolutely raked him over the coals. Martin did sort of deserve it in his first year, but he bounced back and it takes time for players to adjust right away, especially for defensemen, veteran ones, that come over. Niskanen really took off in his 2nd year, same for Cole, etc.

Yeah, the Murray hate has nothing on that first year with Gonchar. It was brutal.

The Murray hate is comical, Sarge didn't deserve his, people just expected something insane out of him. Murray's hate is earned somewhat, he struggled and then it became the consistent thing he did to start each season, no one stepped up to defend Sarge like some big whiny baby, but they did for Murray.

If his ego is that f***ing soft, I am never going to feel bad for still wanting him gone.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I wanted to like Paul Martin. But he was just so painfully average.

He kind of was like a microcosm of Ray Shero's tenure, to me. Which isn't really fair but hey.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I wanted to like Paul Martin. But he was just so painfully average.

He kind of was like a microcosm of Ray Shero's tenure, to me. Which isn't really fair but hey.

I remember when the team got Jordan Leopold (before Andy Sutton murdered him), I liked him a lot better than the years we had Martin after that season. Albeit a short JL stint.

I think it's a fair assessment to make on Shero. Defense was soft. Shero loved his Martin's and Eaton types.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I remember when the team got Jordan Leopold (before Andy Sutton murdered him), I liked him a lot better than the years we had Martin after that season. Albeit a short JL stint.

I think it's a fair assessment to make on Shero. Defense was soft. Shero loved his Martin's and Eaton types.

He was definitely always looking for the next defenseman right over that next hill. Like Pizzaro and El Dorado. Which maybe would have been fine if he wasn't simultaneously burning almost every high pick also on defensemen.

I like Leopold pretty well, though. In his short stint. Yet another 99 draftee. Been talking about that star crossed class a lot, today.

 

[Nakawick]

I think we win it all. A Veteran team at full strength that is in win now mode. No excuse for being lackluster. Going with a Pens sweep against the Habs.

 

[ownal]

I think we win it all. A Veteran team at full strength that is in win now mode. No excuse for being lackluster. Going with a Pens sweep against the Habs.

I can see that if Crosby rebounds and JJ can play like he did the first 50 games.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I can see that if Crosby rebounds and JJ can play like he did the first 50 games.

Only way JJ is useful is if you put Marino with him and let the shine off of Marino infect JJ's brain into thinking he is a legit NHL'er beside the rookie.

 

[Nakawick]

I can see that if Crosby rebounds and JJ can play like he did the first 50 games.

The break helped us tres beaucoup

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I just want to watch hockey again. Even if it's a shitty, rec-league, wannabe tournament cosplaying as the NHL playoffs.

Kind of worried about Jake's shoulder though. Can't imagine he's been able to have access to the finest of facilities and medical staff to ensure the best recovery from a pretty serious surgery due to the pandemic.

Ah well.

 

[canadianguy77]

I can see that if Crosby rebounds and JJ can play like he did the first 50 games.

Rebounds from what? He had garbage on his line in Simon, a little bit of Jake, Zucker, and Sheary. I think he did fine considering the matchups he gets every game.
Some people really underestimate how having one bad player on a scoring line can really screw with the line's effectiveness.
I'm more concerned about Crosby taking a while to get back into game mode. He's never really been a fast starter.

 

[canadianguy77]

I just want to watch hockey again. Even if it's a shitty, rec-league, wannabe tournament cosplaying as the NHL playoffs.

Kind of worried about Jake's shoulder though. Can't imagine he's been able to have access to the finest of facilities and medical staff to ensure the best recovery from a pretty serious surgery due to the pandemic.

Ah well.

The guy is wealthy. He can have access to whatever he wants if he's willing to pay.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Rebounds from what? He had garbage on his line in Simon, a little bit of Jake, Zucker, and Sheary. I think he did fine considering the matchups he gets every game.
Some people really underestimate how having one bad player on a scoring line can really screw with the line's effectiveness.
I'm more concerned about Crosby taking a while to get back into game mode. He's never really been a fast starter.

Crosby was dreadful right before COVID shut down the season. Zucker and Sheary were carrying that line.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Crosby was dreadful right before COVID shut down the season. Zucker and Sheary were carrying that line.

TBH, it looked like he re-aggravated his previous injury, so here's hoping time off lets him finish recovering.

 

[Empoleon8771]

We were just talking about the Jagr trade in the other thread. THAT wasn't what sunk CP... it was that 2005 season.

I was excited, too. Palffy alone had me pumped nevermind a young phenom, Mario and the rest.

But I think a lot of people had some reservations looking down the lineup and realizing their 2C was Lasse Pirjeta and beyond Gonchar the defense was kind of a mess.

Late to the party, but I honestly feel like that 2005 team was only as bad as it was due to Olczyk's coaching. Like sure, the roster had obvious flaws and Lemieux and Palffy retiring just made it worse. But that team shouldn't have been a cellar team, they should have been mediocre if they had a decent coach.

The moves CP made were idiotic, he spent a ton of money on a bunch of older players that didn't fit into the new NHL, but the thing that sank that team was Olczyk being a bad coach. It's pretty damming on Olczyk's job here that Therrien didn't have a worse record than him despite the Penguins losing Lemieux, Palffy, Recchi, Tarnstrom and Jackman while Therrien was coaching.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Olczyk's still salty about what a terrible coach he was. I can only imagine what was said behind closed doors if he's still so whiny about it 15 years later.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

So if the playoffs have 16 teams, and the regular season is officially over, then do the stats from this play-in tourney not count towards anything?

If Geno gets a hat trick it doesn't count towards his season stats or his playoff stats?

From what I understand, play-ins will count as playoff stats:

From the Dept. of "Is The Qualification Round a Playoff Round?": The NHL tells ESPN that stats from the play-in and round-robin games ARE PLAYOFF STATS, and will be tabulated as such. This comes after the league officially named stats-based regular-season award winners today: David Pastrnak and Alex Ovechkin shared the Rocket Richard (goals); Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak won the Jennings Trophy (goals against); and Leon Draisaitl won his first career Art Ross Trophy (points).

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Late to the party, but I honestly feel like that 2005 team was only as bad as it was due to Olczyk's coaching. Like sure, the roster had obvious flaws and Lemieux and Palffy retiring just made it worse. But that team shouldn't have been a cellar team, they should have been mediocre if they had a decent coach.

The moves CP made were idiotic, he spent a ton of money on a bunch of older players that didn't fit into the new NHL, but the thing that sank that team was Olczyk being a bad coach. It's pretty damming on Olczyk's job here that Therrien didn't have a worse record than him despite the Penguins losing Lemieux, Palffy, Recchi, Tarnstrom and Jackman while Therrien was coaching.

From how I'm reading it yeah their records were about the same at 8-17-6-0 for Olczyk and 14-29-8-0 for Therrien. There is absolutely no doubt that Olczyk wasn't cut out for the job... it's like the Penguins figured since he said some clever things on the air he would naturally transition that to the ice and... no. Olczyk didn't seem to have much of a plan other than assuming he was basically coaching an all-star team and shit would work itself out.

Olczyk's still salty about what a terrible coach he was. I can only imagine what was said behind closed doors if he's still so whiny about it 15 years later.

He always got SO salty that "the team wouldn't give me Fleury" as if he didn't have him the entire year that we're talking about above AND with a significantly upgraded roster and STILL cratered.