GDT: @ Pittsburgh

[Big Daddy Cane]

I like what I'm seeing from Skinner - Rask - Lindholm offensively. Defensively... not so much.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Woods has been noticeable, physically. He hit Letang hard this period and he got Gonchar pretty good in the 2nd. Woods just got into a fight wrestling match with Biggs.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Good, aggressive PKing by Faulk, Hanifin, Gerbe and Slavin, amongst others.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

If Lack isn't the starter after this...

He's got the leg up at the moment, but as BBA said, the lineups couldn't get much more stacked in favor of the Pens in this game. Add in a shaky defense and a rusty goaltender and you've got this kind of game.

Good thing it's only one game and a preseason one at that.

 

[bleedgreen]

Our young stud D is years away from being that, and tonight was men against boys. Our A team would lose tonight so you can't really fault anyone player. Ward didn't get the same support Lack did, and Lack didn't see nearly this kind of offensive power.

It's the pre season. Lack could be a stud the whole time, get yanked in the first game and lose the job to Ward for a month. Or vice versa. Can't look into any of these games too far.

 

[TheOllieC]

Hanifin was pretty good tonight. Better than I expected. First pro game and played 23 mins on a top pair against a ridiculous offensive squad. Solid from a possession standpoint +3 es corsi. Only a -1, 1A, 2 shots, 2 blocks, 2 takeaways.

And I hope/don't think he'll be asked to play the top pairing mins right off the bat in the regular season. I'm pretty confident he'll be able to handle some lower minutes paired with Wiz.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Our young stud D is years away from being that, and tonight was men against boys. Our A team would lose tonight so you can't really fault anyone player. Ward didn't get the same support Lack did, and Lack didn't see nearly this kind of offensive power.

It's the pre season. Lack could be a stud the whole time, get yanked in the first game and lose the job to Ward for a month. Or vice versa. Can't look into any of these games too far.

Aren't those 2 comments a bit contradictory? I was only able to watch about 1/3rd of the game due to choppy streams, but I wouldn't use a rookie's first ever game, with unfamiliar line-mates, after only a couple days of camp, against some of the top players in the NHL who have played together for years (excluding Kessel) as any sort of barometer of how far Hanifin is away from being a stud.

I'm not saying it won't take a few years, as I expect it will, just that I wouldn't use this 1 pre-season game as any sort of barometer. I think we'll have a feel when we see how he is playing after about 20-25% of the season is done.

 

[NotOpie]

Bigger issue to me is who gets culled from the roster...I'm guessing we'll see Sutter, Karlsson, MacIntyre, Lowe, Brown, Sandlack, and Hensick in this next set of cuts. Might be time to send McKeown back to juniors too, but they may give him another game.

 

[bleedgreen]

I meant the group that we think is leading our future as a whole, it any one of them in particular. Hanifin is 18, he's a great skater with a quick stick but reading the plays will take time. Fleury and Slavin both look very raw, but hopeful. These guys are all at the beginning, it's gonna take some time.

 

[NotOpie]

I meant the group that we think is leading our future as a whole, it any one of them in particular. Hanifin is 18, he's a great skater with a quick stick but reading the plays will take time. Fleury and Slavin both look very raw, but hopeful. These guys are all at the beginning, it's gonna take some time.

The two youngsters, outside of Hanifin, who appear to "get it" to me are Phil Di Giuseppe and Brett Pesce. To a bit lesser extent I'd include Fleury in that group too. They actually seem to be thinking the game well, not repeatedly making the same mistakes (cough, Ryan Murphy, cough), and continue to put into practice what the coaches are trying to teach. To me, I think somebody told PDG, "Hey, you're a good skater with a good stick, focus on using those attributes simply". For Pesce, I think they said something like, "Trust your offensive instincts. Pushing the puck up the ice, pushing the play is an effective defensive tactic too".

Those are the things I'm seeing from those guys which is why I think they both become NHLers sooner rather than later....as I said, maybe not this year, maybe not even next year, but they're going to make the show and will be solid in whatever roles their skills have allowed them to evolve to.

 

[GhostofS16*]

Just chiming in: Brendan Woods looks like he is challenging for a roster spot. If he continues to play his game throughout the pre-season, the Canes may have to make a tough decision come next week.

In regards to other players we've seen already this pre-season:
* Pesce is almost a lock I think. Bill Peters seems to bring him up in every interview, no?
* Tolchinsky: I really don't think he is in the mix to win a NHL job. He still looks like a junior player out there, making the same mistakes he made in the OHL. He'll have to simplify his game in the AHL. Mark Morris is a good coach to help him with that. I wouldn't rule out Tolchinsky making his NHL debut this season, though.

Either way they swing it, the Checkers look like they are going to have a better team this season.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Just to put that game in perspective last night. For those that said (or thought) that it looked like men against boys, well, it was.

Pens had 5 of forwards that will likely be in their top 6 to start the season, where-as the Canes had probably 2 (maybe 3) and not their top line. Pens had 4 guys that will likely be in their top 6 on D (including their top pairing), but all six D that played last night had ~20 games+ of NHL experience. Canes had 3 guys that will likely be in their top 6 on D, did not have their full top pairing and only really 2 guys (Faulk/Wiz) with any NHL experience.

Here are the age / experience numbers from last night's rosters (skaters):

Canes:
- Avg age: 23
- Avg # NHL games/player: 104; Total NHL Games: 1878
- Guys with > 82 games NHL experience: 5 (Wiz with the most at 575)

Pens:
- Avg age: 27
- Avg # NHL games/player: 386; Total NHL Games: 6944
- Guys with > 82 games NHL experience: 11 (and 7 of those 11 all had more games than Wiz)

I'm not suggesting that the Pens aren't a better team than the Canes with all the players in the line-ups, that would be silly. The Pens will likely be one of, if not the, top team in the league and the Canes will be in the bottom half (maybe bottom 5), but last night's game was a mismatch from the start given the rosters and other than how individuals looked, not much should be read into it.