The All Purpose Pens Off Day Thread - Injuries, Practice, Lines, etc (Dumo Injured - 8 weeks)

[Scandale du Jour]

And hopefully Chucky time as well.

Sorry, but that won't happen.

Geno, yes! "Chucky"? He might not be on the team by Christmas.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Hmm...well that sounds closer to 8-12 weeks then it does 6. But I'm not a doctor, trainer or professional athlete. Still going to try to stay positive. But if Geno is forced to play with Simon and Rust, instead of Jake and Rust, staying positive is going to be difficult. As I mentioned yesterday, I'd go with this:

Jake - Geno - Rust
Kahun - McCann - Tanev/Lafferty
Chucky - Bjugstad - Simon
ZAR - Bleuger - Lafferty/Tanev

Run with these PP's for a bit

Gally, Geno, (Bjugstad/Jake/McCann)
Schultz, (Tanev/Rust)

(Jake/Bjugstad), (McCann/Bjugstad), (Tanev/Rust)
Marino, Petterson

Pretty rare for me to agree with a poster's forward lines top to bottom. Yeah those lines make sense. Bjug and Simon have proven chemistry.

While our PP1 personnel without Crosby, Letang and Hornqvist looks very weak, I still think it's a lot more about execution on breakouts and zone entries right now. It's been so sloppy and uninspired. Malkin can't be trusted to lug the mail. It should be Jake. He's more careful.

The PP1 unit should be this IMO:

LW Rust - Was between him and Bjug, since both righties. Bjug doesn't seem very engaged this year though. Lazy.
C Guentzel - great at deflections and fairly good net-front presence
RW Galchenyuk - Lefty shot, hard one-timer
LD Schultz/Riikola - Not sure what's better this year. Schultz has been so unfocused. Riikola has the hardest slapper on the team too.
RD Malkin - No reason to move him. Let him bomb away.

 

[Ryder71]

Lafferty gets to prove he belongs now.

Hopefully results in Bjugstad getting moved out for a more efficient center piece.

Ideally SURE, but why would any team offer anything of value for Bjugstad ATM? He's been very bland for quite some time.

 

[Gurglesons]

Ideally SURE, but why would any team offer anything of value for Bjugstad ATM? He's been very bland for quite some time.

Size and “being able to fix him”. Also, maybe a shake up move.

 

[Ryder71]

Size and “being able to fix him”. Also, maybe a shake up move.

I'm not all that confident another team will give us much in the way of return. And with Sid out it might not be the best time to move him anyhow. His value is low and we're kind of thin at center currently. Maybe he could put some games together, produce a bit and increase his value before Sid gets back. But as of now I don't see this as a viable option unless we're selling extremely low.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Lazy player. Should strip him of the captaincy.

 

[RSPens]

Pretty rare for me to agree with a poster's forward lines top to bottom. Yeah those lines make sense. Bjug and Simon have proven chemistry.

While our PP1 personnel without Crosby, Letang and Hornqvist looks very weak, I still think it's a lot more about execution on breakouts and zone entries right now. It's been so sloppy and uninspired. Malkin can't be trusted to lug the mail. It should be Jake. He's more careful.

The PP1 unit should be this IMO:

LW Rust - Was between him and Bjug, since both righties. Bjug doesn't seem very engaged this year though. Lazy.
C Guentzel - great at deflections and fairly good net-front presence
RW Galchenyuk - Lefty shot, hard one-timer
LD Schultz/Riikola - Not sure what's better this year. Schultz has been so unfocused. Riikola has the hardest slapper on the team too.
RD Malkin - No reason to move him. Let him bomb away.

What I really like about that 3rd line is that it forces Chucky to shoot. Simon doesn't have much of a shot, Bjugstad can shoot, but takes too long to get it off. What I like about Bjugstad playing with Simon is that they will have the puck a lot of the time. This minimizes any negative effect Chucky may have defensively. From what I have seen so far is that Chucky is used to being "the" guy on his line. Playing him with Sid or Geno just makes him second guess himself and he defaults to passing. If he is the primary offensive threat on the line, I think he would have a better chance at scoring. Not to mention that it puts him more often against the 3rd pairing D, thus giving him a better chance of breaking the slump. It's basically the same reasons why HBK worked as a line. Sure Bjugstad isn't as strong defensively as Bonino and Simon isn't as fast as Haglin, but I really think this is the best use of Simon and the best way to get Bjugstad and Chucky going.

But we all know that Simon will be stuck to Geno, because...I really don't know why...

 

[Clare2904]

Lazy player. Should strip him of the captaincy.

Trade the lazy bum to Edmonton then he can be shown up every night by the best player in the league!

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Lazy player. Should strip him of the captaincy.

Now that he's injured it's prime for the taking, again. Someone get eyes on Orpik.

 

[ownal]

Only if Sid had that Drouin work ethic....

 

[Gurglesons]

I'm not all that confident another team will give us much in the way of return. And with Sid out it might not be the best time to move him anyhow. His value is low and we're kind of thin at center currently. Maybe he could put some games together, produce a bit and increase his value before Sid gets back. But as of now I don't see this as a viable option unless we're selling extremely low.

A 4th round pick is cool with me. Or a swap for a player like Frolik who is missing an extra year.

 

[K Fleur]

I would love to have Frolik instead of Bjugs.

 

[MrRuckus]

Playing him with Sid or Geno just makes him second guess himself and he defaults to passing.

Galchenyuk is shooting at a higher rate than his last 3 seasons and has more shots per game than Rust and Crosby.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I like these lines. Id swap Lafferty/Bjug but for whatever reason the team wont play him at center.

 

[RSPens]

Galchenyuk is shooting at a higher rate than his last 3 seasons and has more shots per game than Rust and Crosby.

Well the numbers are what they are. However do these numbers represent quality chances? Is he shooting from the outside? Is he driving the net? A player that doesn't have confidence is more likely to shoot from the outside, then to drive the net. It's a bit of a catch 22. When a player is snake bitten, you want them to put everything on net, because one lucky bounce is all it takes. However these are low percentage chances, and therefore not likely to go in, which just makes it more frustrating for the player. Regardless of what his shot totals are, he isn't scoring. A run with Simon and Bjugstad on the 3rd line isn't going to hurt the team, it's not going to hurt Chucky and could potentially break Chucky out of his slump and therefore help Bjugstad be more useful.

 

[Ryder71]

A 4th round pick is cool with me. Or a swap for a player like Frolik who is missing an extra year.

You could probably get a 4th rounder. If those are your expectations then yeah I could see that. But IMO that is selling low. Beyond that we still have a couple of question marks at center. I like Lafferty, but we can't be sure he can be a mainstay at center. I think the timing and the likelihood of getting very little back in the way of assets would cause me to pause a bit. I'd like to see how things play out between now and Christmas before making such a move.

 

[RSPens]

I like these lines. Id swap Lafferty/Bjug but for whatever reason the team wont play him at center.

I like this set-up but I would definitely have McCann's line as the 2nd line, with Simon and Lafferty switched, but it's not bad.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I like that setup because you have your 2 duds on the same line, so they'll only be dragging down 1 line instead of 2.

 

[Andy99]

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

They should send Ruhwedel down to get some games, he has sat in the press box all season

 

[Andy99]

well people who want to see if Galchenyuk can drive a line, will have an opportunity...I don’t see Bjug or Lafferty as being the playmakers to get him pucks in his wheelhouse...definitely agree that I’d rather see Simon on that line

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Lazy player. Should strip him of the captaincy.

Is that you, Brooks?

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

If we're going to go down that route, a guy like Bonino (LIKE, I said like, let's not start that debate again...) to play between Malkin and Chucky. Someone really good defensively, brings some jam, and can allow his wingers to do what they do in the offensive zone.

If Bjugtad was a little tougher to play against I'd say he could do it, and McCann just seems like more of a winger at this point. I wonder if that's where your trade is at, him for a more 2/3C kinda guy, someone with less offensive upside but physical and good in their own end.

(This is more of a thought exercise because I'm bored, I do not support and/or condone the use of Malkin on the wing right now. Although full disclosure: I fantasize about a X-Crosby-Malkin second line when they start to slow down so they can ride off into the sunset together.)

Center Connor Zary at the top of my wish list for Pens. He could allow that switch to eventually happen.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

They should send Ruhwedel down to get some games, he has sat in the press box all season

In place of who?
Can't say any of the current 6 Dmen have played themselves out of the lineup

Now if Gud's was still on the team, then yea I'd be down for that swap