Post-mortem on the season

[ncm7772]

How many players are we sending to the crossroads?....lol....Letang, Maatta, Phil (rumors have him traded this offseason), Brassard (good as gone says Larry Brooks), and of course Sheary, Hags, Hunwick and maybe Rust....we’ll field 7 forwards and 4 D....unless of course, as is our right, every GM will be sending us their best players in return...

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...

Haha, yep! Amazing how this group of bums won two Cups in a row and 9 consecutive playoff series! Everything sucks! Trade everyone!

 

[cygnus47]

Yep, PDO win last year.

PDO through two series. Ottawa almost PDO'd us and Nashville had nothing left. We scored 5 goals on 12 (!) shots in game 1 (I'd forgotten that one), they only managed 1 goal on 38 shots in game 2, after that shots were even throughout the series. Games 5 and 6 were clinics though, they didn't even tilt the ice with us leading or in an elimination game.

 

[LOGiK]

Haha, yep! Amazing how this group of bums won two Cups in a row and 9 consecutive playoff series! Everything sucks! Trade everyone!

My favorite quote of all time regarding hockey. You forgot to add in there, 'Everyone's a GM. Everyone's a coach.'

 

[Ogrezilla]

For me personally, that's it in a nutshell. You expect your big money defenseman to be on the ice from time to time when the opposition scores. You don't expect him to be at the center of several of the opposition's scoring chances/goals against on a nightly basis. Like pixies said in another thread, it just boils down to some people not thinking he's worth the risk--the bad outweighs the good. That's what it comes down to for me. I'd rather a safer option that didn't put up as many points and didn't have the (rarely seen lately) dynamic, game-changing ability as long as it meant not being responsible for so many game altering gaffes.

I really expect that if we replace Letang with someone new, that player will inexplicably be responsible for more game altering gaffes than they were before being put in that role. Or if we do go with a safe option, we will be infuriated with how often we are pinned in our zone. I just don't expect our defense to be improved if we move Letang. I agree that there are possible scenarios that could be better, I just don't think they are likely to happen even if we want to go that route.

Here's hoping for either a good return if we move him, or a bit of a bounce back if we keep him. There are valid arguments for either option I think. I just think trading him is the more likely of the two to backfire just because I think it will take multiple moves to get us back to where we already are even with this version of Letang. But if it would work out just right, it could be really effective to rework this D.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

PDO through two series. Ottawa almost PDO'd us and Nashville had nothing left. We scored 5 goals on 12 (!) shots in game 1 (I'd forgotten that one), they only managed 1 goal on 38 shots in game 2, after that shots were even throughout the series. Games 5 and 6 were clinics though, they didn't even tilt the ice with us leading or in an elimination game.

It's also important to remember that PDO =/= luck, and not all teams' PDO will approach 100 over time.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I really expect that if we replace Letang with someone new, that player will inexplicably be responsible for more game altering gaffes than they were before being put in that role. Or if we do go with a safe option, we will be infuriated with how often we are pinned in our zone. I just don't expect our defense to be improved if we move Letang. I agree that there are possible scenarios that could be better, I just don't think they are likely to happen even if we want to go that route.

Here's hoping for either a good return if we move him, or a bit of a bounce back if we keep him. There are valid arguments for either option I think. I just think trading him is the more likely of the two to backfire just because I think it will take multiple moves to get us back to where we already are even with this version of Letang. But if it would work out just right, it could be really effective to rework this D.

They need better depth/better depth D-men. Simple as that.

Depth lost and resting most of their hopes on one guy to get it done in place of that depth they had just the season before is biting them.

2015/16

Letang
Dumoulin
Daley
Maatta
Scultz
Cole
Lovejoy
Pouliot

2016/17

Letang
Dumoulin
Maatta
Daley
Schultz
Cole
Hainsey
Ruhweedel
Streit

2017/18

Letang
Dumoulin
Maatta
Schultz
Oleksiak
Ruhweedel
Hunwick

The Pens depth took a huge hit. They need better, and it didn't help they didn't even have a 8th D-man on record. Heck.... Hunwick didn't even see any action at all. 6 man D-corps.

 

[cygnus47]

They need better depth/better depth D-men. Simple as that.

Depth lost and resting most of their hopes on one guy to get it done in place of that depth they had just the season before is biting them.

2015/16

Letang
Dumoulin
Daley
Maatta
Scultz
Cole
Lovejoy
Pouliot

2017/18

Letang
Dumoulin
Maatta
Schultz
Oleksiak
Ruhweedel
Hunwick

The Pens depth took a huge hit. They need better, and it didn't help they didn't even have a 8th D-man on record. Heck.... Hunwick didn't even see any action at all. 6 man D-corps.

I wouldn't call it a HUGE hit, but yeah we're short one borderline top 4 guy that fits our system.

 

[Riptide]

I wouldn't call it a HUGE hit, but yeah we're short one borderline top 4 guy that fits our system.

The hope was that Hunwick could be that guy. Didn't work out that way. My fear is that Rutherford is willing to wait and see how that plays out...

 

[cygnus47]

The hope was that Hunwick could be that guy. Didn't work out that way. My fear is that Rutherford is willing to wait and see how that plays out...

Yeah definitely. Who else will be out there in July other than de Haan and Green?

 

[vikingGoalie]

so will someone take Hunwick off our hands for a bag of pucks? He did look decent the previous year for the Leafs, was that a mirage or is he just a bad fit here or? Just kinda one of those head scratchers how he went from quite servicable to awful in one year.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Haha, yep! Amazing how this group of bums won two Cups in a row and 9 consecutive playoff series! Everything sucks! Trade everyone!

Crazy how some fans think and are just never happy!

 

[ncm7772]

The hope was that Hunwick could be that guy. Didn't work out that way. My fear is that Rutherford is willing to wait and see how that plays out...

That would certainly be unfortunate, but I have faith in GMJR. I honestly think he's going to try to rid the team of Hunwick's contract.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

That would certainly be unfortunate, but I have faith in GMJR. I honestly think he's going to try to rid the team of Hunwick's contract.

The question, of course, is if any sucker out there will actually take it.

 

[Gurglesons]

The question, of course, is if any sucker out there will actually take it.

This is a joke obviously.

But that contract is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

so will someone take Hunwick off our hands for a bag of pucks? He did look decent the previous year for the Leafs, was that a mirage or is he just a bad fit here or? Just kinda one of those head scratchers how he went from quite servicable to awful in one year.

Hunwick started off well for us. Then he got injured and he never seemed to reclaim that performance

As someone else repeatedly said, I too like the individual players on this team but it seems the mix and chemistry is just off. Its weird

 

[Peat]

Hunwick started off well for us. Then he got injured and he never seemed to reclaim that performance

As someone else repeatedly said, I too like the individual players on this team but it seems the mix and chemistry is just off. Its weird

I think a lot of that's fatigue (mental and physical) and a system that puts a lot of emphasis on correct execution.

I'm not saying that's all of it mind but I'm expecting things to look better after a decent summer off.

 

[vikingGoalie]

I would also people to just keep in mind. We literally had to GIVE the caps 2 games for them to win that series. Did the caps execute better in game 6? Yes, but we should never been in that position to lose the series in game 6, and we still where a save or lucky bounce away from winning it.

We rail about defensive breakdowns, and certainly I get it, some of them are pretty bad. BUT we caused more defensive breakdowns then we gave up. End of the day, isn't that what the game plan/coaching strategy is? To generate more dangerous chances then what you give up? It's on the GM to have players on the roster that execute on that.

See first paragraph. We where a whisker away from going to the finals if we didn't give some games away, we don't need to blow the whole dang thing up. Murray *WILL* be better next season, the kid is just that, a kid. Brassard will hopefully be 100% for next playoff run, and if Crosby/Malkin can not get hurt just those events will cause us to be a lot more dangerous. Add in Kessel not being hobbled with injuries. All we really need is for Letang to have a proper summer of training and hopefully be a bit better because of it, and perhaps trade someone like Maatta away for a better top 4 defensemen. We also could have a Sprong with a breakout year as well. I really think the only thing that will derail us are injuries. Which is what did us in this year really.

 

[Gurglesons]

No, you don't expect him to stop it every time.

It's just that I think a lot of people aren't happy with a $7.5M defenseman getting caught on as many critical scoring plays as he did in the WSH series.

This exact same 2 on 1 happened against the Tampa and their defenseman, I believe it was Stralman did the same exact thing Letang did.

Ovechkin one-timer puts Caps up 5-2 in third period

Weeeeeiiiirrrrrrrddddddddd.

 

[StaalForOne]

They need better depth/better depth D-men. Simple as that.

Depth lost and resting most of their hopes on one guy to get it done in place of that depth they had just the season before is biting them.

2015/16

Letang
Dumoulin
Daley
Maatta
Scultz
Cole
Lovejoy
Pouliot

2016/17

Letang
Dumoulin
Maatta
Daley
Schultz
Cole
Hainsey
Ruhweedel
Streit

2017/18

Letang
Dumoulin
Maatta
Schultz
Oleksiak
Ruhweedel
Hunwick

The Pens depth took a huge hit. They need better, and it didn't help they didn't even have a 8th D-man on record. Heck.... Hunwick didn't even see any action at all. 6 man D-corps.

Although I agree that the D depth needs to be upgraded, I think its also worth remembering that each of the past 3 seasons the D Depth was harped on as reasons the Pens couldn't win. Every year, every series. It was always their biggest question mark.

The biggest tradeoff on D was losing Daley, and replacing him with Hunwick. He was hurt for the Sharks series so it probably goes much further beyond just that, but for the sake of comparisons thats a big downgrade. Daley also played very well last year in helping overcome Letang's loss (As did Schultz). I can see the style comparisons between Daley and Hunwick, but Hunwick was awful this year. Maybe Hunwick has a bounce back year next season, but if there are better options out there I will not be sad if they move on to someone else.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

This exact same 2 on 1 happened against the Tampa and their defenseman, I believe it was Stralman did the same exact thing Letang did.

Ovechkin one-timer puts Caps up 5-2 in third period

Weeeeeiiiirrrrrrrddddddddd.

And the TV announcers questioned Stralman's choice to go down early instead of standing up longer to take away the pass.

It's not like that was an example of how a defenseman played it perfectly, yet it still resulted in a goal. You could blame Stralman for playing that poorly, too.

 

[Gurglesons]

And the TV announcers questioned Stralman's choice to go down early instead of standing up longer to take away the pass.

It's not like that was an example of how a defenseman played it perfectly, yet it still resulted in a goal. You could blame Stralman for playing that poorly, too.

The TV an announcers on the clip I linked don’t even mention Stralman’s name?

They gave due credit to Ovechkin and Kuzy. Just like the Letang play.

The D has no chance in these circumstances. The fact that your still arguing it is downright embarrassing in terms of the Letang bias lol.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

The TV an announcers on the clip I linked don’t even mention Stralman’s name?

They gave due credit to Ovechkin and Kuzy. Just like the Letang play.

The D has no chance in these circumstances. The fact that your still arguing it is downright embarrassing in terms of the Letang bias lol.

The fact you think everything that's critical of a play he made is a condemnation of Letang as a whole is what's embarrassing. Literally anytime someone questions Letang, you go into fanboy rage mode to defend him.

I was just pointing out that that clip was criticized by the announcer (Gary Galley) doing the CBC broadcast that Stralman maybe went down too early in that instance, hence he didn't exactly play it perfectly like he should have.

 

[Gurglesons]

The fact you think everything that's critical of a play he made is a condemnation of Letang as a whole is what's embarrassing. Literally anytime someone questions Letang, you go into fanboy rage mode to defend him.

I was just pointing out that that clip was criticized by the announcer (Gary Galley) doing the CBC broadcast that Stralman maybe went down too early in that instance, hence he didn't exactly play it perfectly like he should have.

People are blaming Letang for that goal and not Maatta.

That is straight up WRONG.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

People are blaming Letang for that goal and not Maatta.

That is straight up WRONG.

The vast majority of people I've seen comment on that play blame Maatta, first and foremost, for the idiotic giveaway and Letang as a secondary factor for not playing the 2 on 1 as well as he should. Other than maybe 1% of posters, people are NOT excusing Maatta for his egregious error on that play.

 

[Gurglesons]

The vast majority of people I've seen comment on that play blame Maatta, first and foremost, for the idiotic giveaway and Letang as a secondary factor for not playing the 2 on 1 as well as he should. Other than maybe 1% of posters, people are NOT excusing Maatta for his egregious error on that play.

There are literally three posters on the last few pages of this thread blaming Letang.