Salary Cap: Pittsburgh Penguins Salary Cap Thread - HARD KNOCK LIFE...FOR US!

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Man I WISH they'd play Crosby and Malkin together like... at all. It's been a common gripe of mine the entire Sullivan tenure.

 

[molon labe]

That failed spectacularly the last time they did that when Brassard was an absolute dud here, though.

Also, if you're concerned about having a guy who can sot up when Crosby or Malkin get hurt, you should be advocating to keep McCann. Having McCann on LW and sliding to 2C if Crosby or Malkin gets hurt is a good position to have him. His problem is that he's ill-suited to be a 3C for how the Penguins want to use their 3rd ine.

I'm not championing getting rid of McCann. However - as a 2C he'd be severely outmatched on most nights.

Also - the Brassard experiment should not be the litmus test on having another offensive C in Pittsburgh. He was a combination of a guy who severely underperformed, as well as being caught up in a coaching system that completely neutered any hope of offense from the third or fourth lines.

 

[Andy99]

..Continue to go on record here to push for another offensive C in the lineup. Defensive 3C isn't getting this team anywhere it hasn't already been in the past couple seasons. Our woes have not come from the lack of ANOTHER 'shut down' line or lack of faceoff wins. We're disillusioned in believing that Sid and Geno can do all the work - and have surrounded them with guys who can't put the puck in (or sometimes even on) the net.... and any defensive issues we've had have been well documented - and have not stemmed from the 3C position.

We need another guy who can slot up when Sid or Geno go down - or when they play together (which is happening more frequently as they age and we score less...finding ourselves in 1 goal games).

agree—we need another Kessel like impact player to take some pressure off Sid and G...we didn’t win until we had that...they’re probably better off going after someone like Hall though because those kind of impact players at center aren’t really available...you have to draft them...a terrific offensive 3C isn’t really going to materialize but playing someone like Hall on the third line during the playoffs would be more likely to happen (though not likely to happen objectively speaking)

 

[molon labe]

Man I WISH they'd play Crosby and Malkin together like... at all. It's been a common gripe of mine the entire Sullivan tenure.

I don't think we're far off from seeing it happen.

Though, that might be wishful thinking.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I don't think we're far off from seeing it happen.

Though, that might be wishful thinking.

Crosby is the only acceptable center for Malkin to ride shotgun on the wing for, IMO.

I don't want to see it all the time I'm just a little irritated that we NEVER see it.

 

[pistolpete11]

Crosby is the only acceptable center for Malkin to ride shotgun on the wing for, IMO.

I don't want to see it all the time I'm just a little irritated that we NEVER see it.

That's one thing I do miss from the Bylsma days. Putting Crosby and Malkin out there together near the end of periods or after icings or if they really needed to generate some offense, etc. I don't know if the statistics backed it up, but it seemed like a good idea.

 

[molon labe]

Crosby is the only acceptable center for Malkin to ride shotgun on the wing for, IMO.

I don't want to see it all the time I'm just a little irritated that we NEVER see it.

I'd try the inverse. Geno is more creative, and at this point I think Sid has a more accurate shot (and the obvious advantage on the boards).

 

[chethejet]

When you have Crosby and Malkin aging a GM can't afford to be so hit and miss with his decisions. GMJR has made thing s worse due to not grasping Pens needed more balanced roster as to skill, size and physicality. GMJR now has to move his bad decisions and higher cost RFA's to assemble the last roster for a cup run. It is a failure from the get go to add pieces that just didn't fit together after he went soft trading Cole and Reeves for Brassard. Monumentally stupid for an experienced GM to make that move when that team was playing as good as anyone at the time. Quite frankly him and Sully will be gone after this year. Then the needed rebuild should begin and the Pens have a decent corp to build around. Poulin, Legare, Jarry, Jake, Kap, Marino, and with some development Maniscalco, POJ and O'Reilly. Get back young top prospects and picks for Geno, Letang, Horny and go from there

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

That's one thing I do miss from the Bylsma days. Putting Crosby and Malkin out there together near the end of periods or after icings or if they really needed to generate some offense, etc. I don't know if the statistics backed it up, but it seemed like a good idea.

I thought it was always interesting when people would say stuff like "they don't play well together, anyway" as if to rationalize it.

Uh... that is not at ALL the way I remember Crosby and Malkin on the same sheet of ice. They seem to find each other... a lot. If there is a problem there it was always that they toyed with the puck between them TOO much and wouldn't shoot the damned thing enough.

I'd try the inverse. Geno is more creative, and at this point I think Sid has a more accurate shot (and the obvious advantage on the boards).

I'd be down with that, too. Malkin seems a little better at charging through the middle of the ice and through the NZ and dragging defenders with him, too.

One way or the other it's really weird that this practice has been entirely abandoned.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm not championing getting rid of McCann. However - as a 2C he'd be severely outmatched on most nights.

Also - the Brassard experiment should not be the litmus test on having another offensive C in Pittsburgh. He was a combination of a guy who severely underperformed, as well as being caught up in a coaching system that completely neutered any hope of offense from the third or fourth lines.

McCann performed really well as the Penguins 2C when Crosby or Malkin was out. He seems to be exactly what you want, with the added benefit of not committing to him being the 3C.

 

[molon labe]

That's one thing I do miss from the Bylsma days. Putting Crosby and Malkin out there together near the end of periods or after icings or if they really needed to generate some offense, etc. I don't know if the statistics backed it up, but it seemed like a good idea.

It's tough to use the data on their time together objectively -they get so little, so sporadically that you'd really be doing a disservice to judge one way or another.

Regular season we get the once every 3-4 games where the power play unit hops over the boards with 2-3 minutes left...often accompanied with an empty net. Would be great to see them randomly thrown out there to completely toss off the opposing team and wear down their top defensive pair with maybe 4 minutes left in a period or directly after the opposing power play when their top line/D are already a little gassed.

 

[ziggyjoe212]

McCann has Brandon Sutter syndrome. Not good enough offensively to be 2c, not good enough in other areas to be a 3c. He's just not a good fit for the Pens.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

It's tough to use the data on their time together objectively -they get so little, so sporadically that you'd really be doing a disservice to judge one way or another.

Regular season we get the once every 3-4 games where the power play unit hops over the boards with 2-3 minutes left...often accompanied with an empty net. Would be great to see them randomly thrown out there to completely toss off the opposing team and wear down their top defensive pair with maybe 4 minutes left in a period or directly after the opposing power play when their top line/D are already a little gassed.

I didn't like much if anything of what Bylsma did but one thing he had right was his idea of occasionally not just throwing Geno/Sid out there but also double shifting one on the bottom line when they were hot. Usually Malkin when he had that gallop. Try to get him out there with a favorable matchup he could clown. This worked to great effect for that brief period they had Satan on L4. Not him... the other Satan.

EDIT: Think maybe this even started with Therrien.

 

[molon labe]

McCann performed really well as the Penguins 2C when Crosby or Malkin was out. He seems to be exactly what you want, with the added benefit of not committing to him being the 3C.

I know, and agree - but that was also (mostly) during the 'meaningless' regular season. He didn't generate anything once games tightened up. I think we need another guy with some creativity or whom can generate his own offense regardless of the opposing team.

All season long we got sprinkles of offense from otherwise inept forwards (Simon, McCann, ZAR, etc) - but the most consistency we had was from Rust, Geno, Guentzel, and Sid. Those four can't be spaced on to 3 lines successfully.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I just think the only thing McCann has going for him is his shot, and I think he's got way more opportunity to use that shot as a wing as opposed to center, with all the responsibility that comes with that position. If we want to hang on to McCann and hope he finds another level a la Rust, it needs to be as a winger, imo. Even then, you're paying for potential that may never come as a team that has a concrete, two-year deadline to fix things and make another run before it's all over.

 

[ColePens]

At work - someone please get a new thread going