Post-Game Talk: Red Wings - 14 Penguins - 64

[AquaticBirdman]

Or you could hold him to a more realistic standard?

I am. Hence why I called him "terrible".

Again, there was nothing "lateral" about this trade and i think it infuriates people so much because it's just continuing the same trend that we've seen from this team's management for so many years.

 

[turd]

You don't get it. Despres was supposedly traded because he's inconsistent and makes mistakes. Lovejoy was supposedly the target because he is an experienced guy who doesn't struggle with those things.

He should be judged for the role he was brought to play.

Ok, you'll never be satisfied and that's fine.

Point is, team is no worse now than it was when Despres was on it. Not really more to discuss about it.

 

[Darth Vitale]

Mike Johnston is a puppet until he proves otherwise.

Cynical View.

I'm sure he would like to rid this team of the Adams, Scuderi, Kunitz types but you go with what you have. I see Johnston (if he survives?) getting rid of all the veterans and pushing the organization in a youth movement direction.

Optimistic View.


My view is that he's probably in over his head / more suited to being an assistant in the NHL. I don't think Mike Johnston had much to do with Bortuzzo or Despres being traded. That's an upper management circle-jerk right there (the Despres move).

So if Horny is gone long-term, we're really in deep, deep ****...

Before with Hornqvist in the lineup, we sorta had a shot against some teams. Without him we'd have no shot against any team, maybe a first round win depending on matchups if we were lucky -- similar to the NYI series we were lucky to get out of.

I still find it hilarious how Rutherford classified Lovejoy as a "hitter" and Despres as a "fighter". Im not even mad about it anymore, it's just downright comical now.

Did he actually say that?? If so... wow. More reason to stop watching this team. I hope you're just HFBing that quote and he didn't actually say that. If he said that, he needs to check himself into the old folks home for being a senile idiot. Before he burns himself with the coffee pot or something.

I still fail to see what Lovejoy is actually "good" at. Am I missing something?

1) Endearing himself to teammates by taking pucks to the face.
2) Good media quotes / presence... really knows how to represent.
3) Bringing a jolly attitude to the locker room.

Other than that not a helluva lot. Another guy who if you put him into the right situation, he can be effective in the sense of you don't notice him much. But if you think he's going to be some kind of leader or game changer out there... I have a bridge and 1 Scuderi contract to sell you. Bargain of the century.

boy, the PR machine is trying hard to blame this one on Downie. Pathetic

Of course, what else? Can't be doing crazy stuff like questioning cahones, leadership, management.

The way the Pens get up for games, I'd be shocked if they won a playoff series this year, let alone even 1-2 games in the playoffs.

Same ****. Different year.

Yyyup.

Let the trade go....get over it.

Dude, this is the same forum where people still post pictures of the ex-coach. Despres was like 2 weeks ago. And it's already having a negative impact. People are going to talk about it for a while yet.

 

[MtlPenFan]

Even DK took a swipe at Kunitz/Rossi earlier. Made some vitamin joke which was pretty funny.

 

[AquaticBirdman]

You don't get it. Despres was supposedly traded because he's inconsistent and makes mistakes. Lovejoy was supposedly the target because he is an experienced guy who doesn't struggle with those things.

He should be judged for the role he was brought to play.

I'd really like to ask Ducks fans if Lovejoy was really everything the Pens brass have made him out to be when they first acquired him. I have a hard time grasping the idea that this guy went from barely even being a 7th d-man with us to suddenly being such a consistent and dependable guy with the Ducks.

 

[AquaticBirdman]

Ok, you'll never be satisfied and that's fine.

Point is, team is no worse now than it was when Despres was on it. Not really more to discuss about it.

Kinda looks a little worse, I dunno...

The idea that we got a little slower and softer on the blue line definitely merits at least a bit of concern.

 

[ColePens]

It was by far the worst effort I've seen by the pens. Worst effort. Really embarrassing since they hustled hard the game before. That's all. No accountability. Total meltdown. Embarrassing.

That's all.

 

[MtlPenFan]

They basically traded Despres for a Spaling/Winnik type d-man. We have every right to bring it up every time Lovejoy allows a pass from a teammate to go UNDER his blade, or every time he lines up sumo wrestler body types like Datsyuk and lands on his ass.

 

[PensFanSince1989]

You don't get it, then. It's not about whether or not we liked Despres. It's about this team continuing the tradition of incompetence when it comes to drafting/developing players. We aren't pissed that we lost Despres the person. We're pissed that we traded a 23 year old, 6'4", 215lb defenseman who could skate extremely well and loved to play a physical/gritty game. We traded that player for a 31 year old, run of the mill, do nothing spectacular Ben Lovejoy.

Again, for the thousandth time, it's not that we reacquired Lovejoy or that we moved Despres. It's about the value relating to the two assets involved in the trade. We went out of our way to dump a young player with very real value for someone with next to none, who is not going to be a Penguin in a couple of years.

No, I get it. And we talked about it in the trade thread. It doesn't need to be rehashed in every single game thread and post game thread.

And this forums obsession with Despres extends way before the trade. Before the trade, post game threads oddly got focused on Despres' Ice Time, his utilization, whether or not he was given the correct partner, etc. The forum has had an unhealthy obsession with him. Yes, there are things to criticize about the trade and they have been made. Get over it and move on.

 

[Waffle Fries]

It was by far the worst effort I've seen by the pens. Worst effort. Really embarrassing since they hustled hard the game before. That's all. No accountability. Total meltdown. Embarrassing.

That's all.

I actually disagree about the effort, at least from the top line and the third line. You don't outshoot your opponent 43-25 if you're not putting in effort.

The problem in my eyes was really poor defensive play and even worse discipline.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

I don't know why they made the trade, and frankly don't care. We have some good, young prospects here and in WBS that will make an impact in the future, and I doubt we desperately miss Despres in a few years. But as for the here and now, it was a lateral move, and those happen all the time. It's just that the everyone here had some sort of love affair with Despres and now Lovejoy will not be able to do anything right.

Even the biggest Despres hater would have to admit that it's pretty poor asset management.

Which seems to be a hallmark of this organization for the past 5 years or so...

 

[BHD]

Seriously? There's probably been over a thousand posts about it. Not exaggerating. I don't mind it coming up. I mean it happened and almost no ones a fan, but here I come to discuss the game and I see despres' name three times on one friggin page.

I feel your frustration. A person would think they dealt Paul Coffey by the sounds of the posts.

Yeah he is mentioned a lot. However half the time it's a snarky comment by people who liked the trade

More, like 3:1 from people who are upset about this organization's general inability - or plain refusal - to develop young talent. Overall, I don't like the trade, but I don't hate it. Either way, I'm not going to obsess about a guy who wasn't anything special.


Anyways...

- Outside of Hornqvist, the whole top six was garbage.
- Cole was solid.
- Lovejoy was alright.
- Chris Kunitz flubbing every scoring chance that comes his way.
- Sutter was awful.
- Can't pin the blame on Fleury for some of the goals. Nobody thought of covering Zidlicky at all.
- Letang. I wouldn't be surprised to see him take a can of silly-spray to their face before the end of the season. I'm not sure whether his behaviour warrants these calls or they have him on watch, but I've never seen a star player singled out by the refs more than Letang is.
- No idea what to make of MJ at this point. Systems won't make a **** of difference if the team folds like a cheap tent under pressure.
- Meter Smithazec is an 'OK' goalie.

 

[turd]

They basically traded Despres for a Spaling/Winnik type d-man. We have every right to bring it up every time Lovejoy allows a pass from a teammate to go UNDER his blade, or every time he lines up sumo wrestler body types like Datsyuk and lands on his ass.

If Lovejoy was Spaling/Winnik, then Despres was Sutter.

 

[Asuna]

Did he actually say that?? If so... wow. More reason to stop watching this team. I hope you're just HFBing that quote and he didn't actually say that. If he said that, he needs to check himself into the old folks home for being a senile idiot. Before he burns himself with the coffee pot or something.

Nope. He actually said that.

 

[Waffle Fries]

- Outside of Hornqvist, the whole top six was garbage.

Really? Sid had a very good game. He creating a ton of chances. Perron was also far from garbage.

If Lovejoy was Spaling/Winnik, then Despres was Sutter.

Sutter is probably the worst possible player you could use as an analogy for Despres.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

If Lovejoy was Spaling/Winnik, then Despres was Sutter.

About the worst analogy I've ever seen.

 

[Corvidae]

My view is that he's probably in over his head / more suited to being an assistant in the NHL.

I feel like ownership/Milhouse wanted Tocchet to be the coach but felt he needed an older chaperon, for some reason. I also think they wanted one of their current 3 assistant GMs to take over but... felt he needed an older chaperon, for some reason.

I think Johnston's a solid dude and a decent coach, but I agree fully that he's in over his head. The players he has to work with sure a **** don't make it any easier. The off season antics did nothing but dance around the major issues and, as I have been saying since 2012, it's time to blow it all up.

 

[Crosbyfan]

In the main board gdt fans of other teams were ripping Downie for the 2nd misconduct while ignoring the fact that he was being speared in the nuts and basically did nothing to retaliate. What a bunch of sheep.

Also a Bruins fan with a Marchand avatar was talking about how dirty he is. If he wasn't being ironic then he is an idiot.

Surprising...really

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

No, I get it. And we talked about it in the trade thread. It doesn't need to be rehashed in every single game thread and post game thread.

And this forums obsession with Despres extends way before the trade. Before the trade, post game threads oddly got focused on Despres' Ice Time, his utilization, whether or not he was given the correct partner, etc. The forum has had an unhealthy obsession with him. Yes, there are things to criticize about the trade and they have been made. Get over it and move on.

The only person with an unhealthy obsession regarding Despres is IC.

Most of the stuff you see is hyperbole. That doesn't take away from the fact that the Pens fell flat on their faces with that trade. It's made even more embarrassingly bad because Murray said JR went to him, and initiated the deal by offering Despres outright. It's not like JR was hesitant to let Despres go, especially for a no-value, no impact player like Lovejoy. He is the one who went out and dumped Despres (the asset) for basically nothing.

To "get over it" is one thing. I don't think anyone's seriously up in arms over the move anymore, but it was a ridiculously bad move by a team with an apparent need for making said moves over the past decade. Just more of the same old ******** from this franchise. That's why people are so angry, it has very little to do with who Despres is.

 

[IcedCapp]

if Lovejoy is Spaling/Winnik, then Despres is a bigger, more-physical, perhaps more-skilled Bennett.

 

[IcedCapp]

The only person with an unhealthy obsession regarding Despres is IC.

Most of the stuff you see is hyperbole. That doesn't take away from the fact that the Pens fell flat on their faces with that trade. It's made even more embarrassingly bad because Murray said JR went to him, and initiated the deal by offering Despres outright. It's not like JR was hesitant to let Despres go, especially for a no-value, no impact player like Lovejoy. He is the one who went out and dumped Despres (the asset) for basically nothing.

To "get over it" is one thing. I don't think anyone's seriously up in arms over the move anymore, but it was a ridiculously bad move by a team with an apparent need for making said moves over the past decade. Just more of the same old ******** from this franchise. That's why people are so angry, it has very little to do with who Despres is.

I'm not even the one leading the charge. I've been pretty muted. I just watch the Ducks a lot more than I did before.

I mean, everything people say about me is true: I'm his biggest fan and I'm mildly obsessed over all of this, but, for ****'s sake: I'm right. **** the Penguins. I might be drunk, so disregard.

 

[ColePens]

They basically traded Despres for a Spaling/Winnik type d-man. We have every right to bring it up every time Lovejoy allows a pass from a teammate to go UNDER his blade, or every time he lines up sumo wrestler body types like Datsyuk and lands on his ass.

Amen. If consistency was an issue, then why is it ok for Lovejoy to be MORE inconsistent. It's ****ing baffling. And the trade should be **** on even more.

I actually disagree about the effort, at least from the top line and the third line. You don't outshoot your opponent 43-25 if you're not putting in effort.

The problem in my eyes was really poor defensive play and even worse discipline.

The effort in the first led all the way to 4-0 and basically ended the game. Stats look better because Detroit didn't have to try.

As for the two problems you see.....absolutely. Absolutely.

 

[billybudd]

I don't understand any of these comparisons, to be honest.

 

[BHD]

I think Johnston's a solid dude and a decent coach, but I agree fully that he's in over his head. The players he has to work with sure a **** don't make it any easier. The off season antics did nothing but dance around the major issues and, as I have been saying since 2012, it's time to blow it all up.

That's what I'm beginning to think.

 

[turd]

About the worst analogy I've ever seen.

A young guy with talent that has trouble living up to expectations? That's a bad analogy?