Post-Game Talk: Plus/Minus: Pens vs Oilers - Who Cares That We Won? We Only Scored 3 Goals!

[eXile59]

Trade Engo and Nisky. Play Maatta, Despres, and Borts as a three man platoon. If everyone stays healthy in the top four (which won't happen), they still get a minimum of 50 or so games each. Nice way to get each guy good game action AND monitor Maatta to make sure he isn't overworked.

Or...

1.Collect below average defensmen
2.????
3.Profit

 

[turd]

Maatta it's not going to kill him to go back to juniors but both Bortz & Despres are at crucial times in their development & should be playing with the big club.

It might not kill Maatta to go back, but what exactly would he gain from it? Dominating children in the CHL isn't gonna do much for his development, either.

 

[Captain Hook]

Like most i hated seeing Engelland playing over Bort, but we really don't really know if it was DB decision to bench Bort, Engelland could be the odd man out if pens keep Maatta, and one of the rumors we heard is Engelland to Edmonton, Shero might be having DB showcasing Engelland to Edmonton or any other team that might be interested.

That's the only good excuse. DB is an idiot otherwise. No reason to be playing Engelland over Bortuzzo at this point. Especially against a fast young team like Edmonton. Bortuzzo has much better speed and that speed would have helped in this match-up, imo.

It's like last year with Mark Eaton playing over the younger D-Men. What benefit was there to giving those minutes to a guy that's now out of the league when you could have fed those minutes to a Bortuzzo or Despres and they'd be even further along in their development right now.

 

[KIRK]

We would have been better off not showcasing him

Beat me to it.

 

[wgknestrick]

Engo is being showcased for a trade...especially when Edmonton might be interested...cone on now people. Think for a minute.

Missed the game...I too had a flight to catch.

Engelland is blowcasing his way into "no trade" those last 2 games. He has been terrible. I don't know what happened to him. I don't remember him being pinned in his own zone like this when he was paired with Nisky. He just isn't a good fit with Maatttatttataata

 

[turd]

That's the only good excuse. DB is an idiot otherwise. No reason to be playing Engelland over Bortuzzo at this point.

At this point? You mean at this point as in October 15th when the season means ****-all and it's against a crappy Oilers team? This is the perfect time to give him some ice time instead of letting him rot in the press box.

Seriously, playing Engelland over Bortuzzo in a game in OCTOBER is about as big a non-issue as I can possibly imagine.

 

[KIRK]

Or...

1.Collect below average defensmen
2.????
3.Profit

Look, your whole 'play the young guys' thing is completely misguided. If they play now, then they're ready to step up to replace Orpik after this year and maybe Martin after next. And, what kind of family would the Pens be if that happened? Plus, you don't need those defensemen to play them one day. You need them to land yourself the Brenden Morrows of the world come deadline days.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Thought he looked really sharp in the first four and like **** since. Perhaps losing Bennett hurt, because Beau was the only forechecking help he had.

Well... the team only looked good for the first three, maybe he's being effected by the same thing as them? I assume it has something to do with Bylsma. Everyone seems to be suffering from the injury driven line juggling, except KCD.

I don't get why you would play Engelland against a fast offensive team.

I swear that you can pinpoint a time in this game where they either figured out the minimum effort required to win or that they should start trying to win.

 

[ComplianceBuyout]

Im legit pissed : i had a parlay going and this is the game that made me lose it since i took the over on the 5.5 goals scored for tonights game.. YOU OWE ME MONEY MARIO

 

[vodeni]

very much forgettable game, one thing I cannot get over is how bad our 3rd line is. also 2nd line shows no offensive presence whatsoever not able to get any time on the other side

They say that we play that left wing lock, I could not tell from what I saw, whatever it we s I really don't care for
MAF is not again not noticable which is good...

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Man, just think if Despres had the experience under his belt that he really should have at this point. There's just no way we make a move like this without having seen more of Despres.

No way. Eaton was essential to this team's "success" last year.

 

[eXile59]

This has been one of my major problems with Shero. How many D-men do you need? It's one thing to not recognize young talent but it's not hard to see we are paying a bottom pairing D-man 2.5 million a year while Chuck Kobasew plays in our top 6. There is no depth there.

I just don't get his fascination with collecting D-men.

 

[Sh00terMcGavin]

+We won. I think some people are forgetting this judging by the pessimism in this forum recently. I know it's against the Oilers and I know we all hate DB's coaching madness but I guarantee you 3/4 of the league would LOVE to have the problems we have. We can't fast forward to the playoffs so just enjoy the W's as they come; this is a fun hockey team.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

very much forgettable game, one thing I cannot get over is how bad our 3rd line is. also 2nd line shows no offensive presence whatsoever not able to get any time on the other side

They say that we play that left wing lock, I could not tell from what I saw, whatever it we s I really don't care for
MAF is not again not noticable which is good...

The third line is pretty terrible to watch most games, Sutter being quiet on the ice because he's doing a solid job defensively is no excuse either. The 4th line is playing the way the 3rd line should. Maybe it's a matter of finding the right wingers for Sutter, D'Agostini could help form a decent duo with Sutter, but then who goes on that LW? Jeffrey? Kobasew? Etc.

I don't know if I can trick myself into thinking Shero got a player back that fits this team's system in Sutter, any longer. He's cheap, young, and could still rebound though. It's also not even 10 games in, he could go on a few hot streaks and we'd be laughing about the "remember the time Sutter sucked and we were like what is up with him?" posts.

 

[turd]

This has been one of my major problems with Shero. How many D-men do you need? It's one thing to not recognize young talent but it's not hard to see we are paying a bottom pairing D-man 2.5 million a year while Chuck Kobasew plays in our top 6. There is no depth there.

I just don't get his fascination with collecting D-men.

2 of the top 4 of the team's wingers are hurt. I doubt there are many, if any, teams in the NHL who have more than 4 top six wingers on their squad. When half of them are hurt, of course there will be third liners playing where they don't belong. What do you really expect?

 

[wgknestrick]

At this point? You mean at this point as in October 15th when the season means ****-all and it's against a crappy Oilers team? This is the perfect time to give him some ice time instead of letting him rot in the press box.

Seriously, playing Engelland over Bortuzzo in a game in OCTOBER is about as big a non-issue as I can possibly imagine.

I think you are missing the point. Engelland can rot in the press box until he is the best option. If you "waste" him, it isn't a big deal because he is who he is. He is not a talented, young D man that could be pretty good if he had more games under his belt. You don't "waste" these guys (Bortz) sitting in the press box.

Pens punished Bortz for playing very well IMO. What message does that send?

 

[Captain Hook]

At this point? You mean at this point as in October 15th when the season means ****-all and it's against a crappy Oilers team? This is the perfect time to give him some ice time instead of letting him rot in the press box.

Seriously, playing Engelland over Bortuzzo in a game in OCTOBER is about as big a non-issue as I can possibly imagine.

Bortuzzo is a young developing player that needs to play regularly, imo. Engelland is a fringe NHL'er that should only play when injuries force it. That should be what he's here to do. He shouldn't be playing over players that are better than him. The fact that Bortuzzo has been healthy scratched in consecutive games over one bad game against Florida is asinine.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

This has been one of my major problems with Shero. How many D-men do you need? It's one thing to not recognize young talent but it's not hard to see we are paying a bottom pairing D-man 2.5 million a year while Chuck Kobasew plays in our top 6. There is no depth there.

I just don't get his fascination with collecting D-men.

...Are you complaining about the play of Niskanen? At 2.5m, he's a bargain. Also a guy that can, in a pinch, play 20mins a night as a top 4 and not be all that bad.

But yes, let's hate.

 

[WayneSid9987]

We just need bodies back. Neal, Bennett and Letang and our 3rd line looks and plays much better imo.

Malkin will get his help once they come back as well.

 

[vodeni]

+We won. I think some people are forgetting this judging by the pessimism in this forum recently. I know it's against the Oilers and I know we all hate DB's coaching madness but I guarantee you 3/4 of the league would LOVE to have the problems we have. We can't fast forward to the playoffs so just enjoy the W's as they come; this is a fun hockey team.[/ement witQUOTE]
see this where we disagree, what was fun about this game, there was back and forth meaningless puck movement un between two blue lines, a bunch of below average players with terrible puck handling no hits, no forechecking no great shots on goal,
just curios what was fun about this game?
when our best line has adams and glass on respective wings that is not fun hockey

 

[turd]

I think you are missing the point. Engelland can rot in the press box until he is the best option. If you "waste" him, it isn't a big deal because he is who he is. He is not a talented, young D man that could be pretty good if he had more games under his belt. You don't "waste" these guys (Bortz) sitting in the press box.

Pens punished Bortz for playing very well IMO. What message does that send?

Sitting for a game in October isn't going to ruin Bortuzzo's development one iota. And really, I think what you see is really what you're gonna get with Bortuzzo. He's talented, and he is better than Engelland, but he certainly doesn't have the upside of a Maatta or someone similar. He'll probably always be a third pairing guy.

 

[wgknestrick]

How is Harry better than Conner to be called up for the 3rd line? Help me understand.

 

[Ugene Magic]

This has been one of my major problems with Shero. How many D-men do you need? It's one thing to not recognize young talent but it's not hard to see we are paying a bottom pairing D-man 2.5 million a year while Chuck Kobasew plays in our top 6. There is no depth there.

I just don't get his fascination with collecting D-men.

You're paying a guy 2.5 on the D because he can be elevated into the top 4 when they have injuries and do well. This is not an if with this team, injuries.

You all do remember paying Hal Gill 2.5 on the bottom pairing.

 

[turd]

when our best line has adams and glass on respective wings that is not fun hockey

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Oiler fan here.

Most of us would kill for a semblence of goaltending. Fleury played great.

And some of us would prefer a coach like Bylsma over what we've had for the past few years.

See you guys again soon.