The 2017 cup style should not be the goal to emulate. We got outshot and out chanced. We had players playing through tough injuries Dumoulin (hands), Hornqvist (broken fingers), Schultz (cracked ribs) and Hagelin (broken fibula).
Our stars had to do the scoring and the rest just had to hang on. Murray and Fleury had save percentages of .937 and .924 respectively.
It was a huge effort from everyone involved and much respect to that cup win through all the adversity but we’ve had 2 sweepings and 2 goals in 8 games from forwards outside the top 6 ATOI. We still have 5 of those forwards from the Montreal series.
I never said it was something to be emulated. Someone posted that all the Pens Cups followed the 3 scoring line model. I was just pointing out that 2017 was not. I never said it was something to emulate.
Bottom line is this team is better to start the year than any Pens team in a while. This season Zucker and Kapanen start the year in the top 6 over Simon and Galchenyk who started in the top 6 to start last year which is a huge improvement. Also Marino, Matheson, and Ceci start the year over JJ, Schultz, and Gudbranson who started in the top 6 defense last year for the first game which is another big improvement. Jankowski is also an improvement over what Bjugstad gave us last year which is nothing. I think this team has the makings of a very good team. To do that with having to cut the real money payroll to under $75 million makes it more impressive.
Also don't discount improvements from within such as Poulin, O'Connor, POJ, Lee, Maniscalco, and others that might force their way into the lineup. Last year nobody thought Marino would have any shot before camp opened but he played his way into the lineup. I could see one or more of those players doing the same. It is not a long shot to see Poulin or O'Connor beat out someone like Rodriguez or Lafferty. I think the defense is set for now but when an injury or two happens I could see one of those defenseman getting a shot and making the most of it to force the team to play them.
Players like Rust, Sheary, Khunhackle, Wilson, and others came out of nowhere to help the 2016 Pens win the Cup. The team that started that year couldn't win. I think this team has more pieces to win than that team started with.