Playoff Penguins

[Winger for Hire]

sid/geno still dont have enough help imo.

Perron, Honqvist, Bennett, Comeau/Downie/Kuntiz... can't get much more help without being the Eastern Conference All-Stars, and having nothing in the cupboard/depth.

 

[Will Hunting]

i still feel like this team is built more for the regular season than the playoffs.

the blueline is talented but most of the guys arent the sort that thrive in postseason style hockey. third and fourth line are ok but still subpar for a deep playoff run. sid/geno still dont have enough help imo. goaltending goes without saying.

clutching and grabbing are worse now than ever, so i can only imagine what the playoffs will look like. and the pens seem not at all equipped to take advantage of that.

Let´s say the Pens win a Stanley Cup somehow. Would you write something positive if that happens or will you just find a way to complain about the future?

I´m not saying that you´re completely wrong, but we have as good of a chance as anybody in the East, if this team is healthy. No team is perfect in this league.

Perron-Crosby-Hornqvist
Comeau-Malkin-Bennett
Kunitz-Sutter-Downie
Spaling-Goc-Arcobello

..is a very solid and pretty deep forward group.

As I have said, if we have a serious hole, it´s on D, though. It´s either Bortuzzo in the TOP4 or Scuderi-Bortuzzo as a pair.

I´m pretty confident in Fleury on the other hand. GUy looks matured and much different than in the previous years. He´ll be OK. Maybe not this dominant, but at least "OK".

 

[Til the End of Time]

Let´s say the Pens win a Stanley Cup somehow. Would you write something positive if that happens or will you just find a way to complain about the future?

I´m not saying that you´re completely wrong, but we have as good of a chance as anybody in the East, if this team is healthy. No team is perfect in this league.

Perron-Crosby-Hornqvist
Comeau-Malkin-Bennett
Kunitz-Sutter-Downie
Spaling-Goc-Arcobello

..is a very solid and pretty deep forward group.

As I have said, if we have a serious hole, it´s on D, though. It´s either Bortuzzo in the TOP4 or Scuderi-Bortuzzo as a pair.

I´m pretty confident in Fleury on the other hand. GUy looks matured and much different than in the previous years. He´ll be OK. Maybe not this dominant, but at least "OK".

yes i would be extremely positive and admit i was totally wrong.

 

[BlacknGold4life]

Perron, Honqvist, Bennett, Comeau/Downie/Kuntiz... can't get much more help without being the Eastern Conference All-Stars, and having nothing in the cupboard/depth.

I don't know too many teams with a stronger all around top 6 when healthy than the Penguins
For arguments sake: Sid, Geno, Perron, Hornquvist, Kunitz, Bennett or how comeau was playing this year..
At least 5 of those can or have the potential to create/ score on their own now. Bennett is showing what the hype has been about.

 

[Waffle Fries]

I don't know about you but I am not about to trust DP, Harrington, or Dumoulin in the playoffs. Especially when it looks like Harrington is playing well and still what a -8. We have 6 NHL experienced players and that is counting Bortz. I do think we should be getting those guys games before the playoffs but right at this minute I don't want to put a playoff run in their hands this season.

Having one young guy play bottom pairing minutes isn't "putting a playoff run in their hands."

I was all for trading Martin for forward help. The only thing Maatta's injury changes in my mind is that moving Martin is less likely.

Torey Krug had only played 2 NHL games before his first playoff stint with Boston, and he was a major contributor in that playoff run.

If it were up to me, I would call up Harrington and have him replace Bortuzzo. I don't give a **** what his +/- was. It's a terrible stat. I don't believe you will find someone who will make much of a difference over Harrington on the market at a reasonable price.

 

[Will Hunting]

yes i would be extremely positive and admit i was totally wrong.

OK, fair enough. I just feel like that Rutherford is at least trying now. He´s doing what he can and at least he´s giving us a chance. It´s extremely difficult to win a Cup and nothing is guaranteed, but even you have to admit that there´s at least a slight progress in this organization.

 

[cygnus47]

Having one young guy play bottom pairing minutes isn't "putting a playoff run in their hands."

I was all for trading Martin for forward help. The only thing Maatta's injury changes in my mind is that moving Martin is less likely.

Torey Krug had only played 2 NHL games before his first playoff stint with Boston, and he was a major contributor in that playoff run.

If it were up to me, I would call up Harrington and have him replace Bortuzzo. I don't give a **** what his +/- was. It's a terrible stat. I don't believe you will find someone who will make much of a difference over Harrington on the market at a reasonable price.

Its a shame they didn't use the time while Martin was out to properly experiment with Scuds. I'd be very tempted to recall whoever can play with Scuds the best so that Despres can move into the top 4. Dumoulin would probably do the best with a high puck moving load, certainly better than Bort. Dum-Bort would also work well, but realistically we're more likely to sit Bort than Scuds.

 

[IcedCapp]

Having one young guy play bottom pairing minutes isn't "putting a playoff run in their hands."

I was all for trading Martin for forward help. The only thing Maatta's injury changes in my mind is that moving Martin is less likely.

Torey Krug had only played 2 NHL games before his first playoff stint with Boston, and he was a major contributor in that playoff run.

If it were up to me, I would call up Harrington and have him replace Bortuzzo. I don't give a **** what his +/- was. It's a terrible stat. I don't believe you will find someone who will make much of a difference over Harrington on the market at a reasonable price.

At this point, the #6 spot needs to be an open competition between Bort, Harry, and Dumo. Whoever plays the best over the next 40 games gets the nod. If it's Bort, so be it.

I don't pay attention to shift changes and TOI on other teams, but one thing I've noticed with the Pens (since I obsess over those two things vis-a-vis Despres) is that, when they have a player who is struggling, they are good at running 1.5 shift shifts for the player before and after him, while still maintaining his partner's ice time. If the Pens have to run 5D at 18+ minutes and one at 10-12, it wouldn't be the worst situation in playoff history.

Not like Letang, Ehrhoff, and Martin haven't proven they can handle 25+ minutes. And I think Despres is proving he can handle 18+ when needed.

Other option is to run 7D. Wouldn't be opposed to that, either.

 

[Waffle Fries]

Its a shame they didn't use the time while Martin was out to properly experiment with Scuds. I'd be very tempted to recall whoever can play with Scuds the best so that Despres can move into the top 4. Dumoulin would probably do the best with a high puck moving load, certainly better than Bort. Dum-Bort would also work well, but realistically we're more likely to sit Bort than Scuds.

I just posted in the other thread, but last night based on minutes Scuderi-Despres was the second pair. I can't see MJ breaking that pair up, so I wouldn't be surprised if he just kept feeding them both top-4 minutes and relegating Martin to big PK minutes and babysitting whichever of Bort, Harrington, Dumo or Pouliot is in the lineup.

I could potentially see him rolling:

Ehrhoff-Letang
Scuderi-Despres
Harrington-Martin

At this point, the #6 spot needs to be an open competition between Bort, Harry, and Dumo. Whoever plays the best over the next 40 games gets the nod. If it's Bort, so be it.

I don't pay attention to shift changes and TOI on other teams, but one thing I've noticed with the Pens (since I obsess over those two things vis-a-vis Despres) is that, when they have a player who is struggling, they are good at running 1.5 shift shifts for the player before and after him, while still maintaining his partner's ice time. If the Pens have to run 5D at 18+ minutes and one at 10-12, it wouldn't be the worst situation in playoff history.

Not like Letang, Ehrhoff, and Martin haven't proven they can handle 25+ minutes. And I think Despres is proving he can handle 18+ when needed.

Other option is to run 7D. Wouldn't be opposed to that, either.

Agree all around

 

[penguins2946*]

I wouldn't want to see Harrington in the top-4. If Harry can play the right side (I don't see why he couldn't), just run with:

Martin-Letang
Despres-Ehrhoff
Scuderi-Harrington
Bortuzzo

I'm thinking that will be our best bet in the playoffs for this year, assuming we don't make any more trades for D.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

We have a good team but to have a great one we still need another move: another bonafide top 6 winger brought in, and someone like Scuds(preferably) or Spaling shipped out.

 

[IcedCapp]

We have a good team but to have a great one we still need another move: another bonafide top 6 winger brought in, and someone like Scuds(preferably) or Spaling shipped out.

I don't think the Pens need a bonafide top-6 winger (if they do, it has to be a surefire upgrade over Comeau, but bringing the same things) and I don't think they can afford to move Scuderi now. If Maatta was healthy? I would drive him to Alaska myself, if needed. But now, seeing Bortuzzo play? I mean, it's not struggling, his game has fallen off a cliff. If you move Martin or Scuderi, you're looking to fill two of your top-6 spots (Martin/Scuderi + Bortuzzo) with youngsters. Having one of them play minutes, not an issue. Having two of them play 15+ minutes a night in the playoffs, when I don't think any of them wowed (it would have to be Dumo and Harry, imo), is probably too much of an ask.

 

[Will Hunting]

We have a good team but to have a great one we still need another move: another bonafide top 6 winger brought in, and someone like Scuds(preferably) or Spaling shipped out.

If you mean this as a cap space clearing, then OK. But I hope that this is not meant as a bashing of Spaling. Spaling is on pace for 35 pts, +16 for us. He´s not flashy, but he´s helping the team. Very good PKer as well. We need a depth like that. When healthy, we will have him on the 4th line which is pretty good. Spaling has been fine. He´s also doing a decent job on Geno´s line right now.

 

[cygnus47]

What I think we need for the playoffs is a presence who gets everyone on the team going and brings the attitude on the ice. Like how Brenden Morrow looked in his first couple games here, or Gary Roberts in 08 or Talbot in 09. I don't think we need any pieces in terms of scoring and preventing goals, we just need someone who can keep everyone on the right emotional level for the playoffs. Someone that can go out and have a superhuman shift when we need one and yell at our bench and get everyone amped up. Someone to bring the team together.