Pre-Game Talk: Where do we stand: 2014-2015 PRE season Talk Thread

[BlacknGold4life]

My college roommate is an Islanders Fan. He is insistent that the islanders are so much better than the penguins. I do not see it. He doesn't think we could even skate with them.


Lets discuss where we stand against other Metro Division and Eastern conference rivals/Foes based on the team on paper and other speculation.

Our division is clearly the best in the league but I think we have an extremely good and deep roster that is capable of playing well with (knock on wood) an injury here and there. We are going into year 2 with HCMJ and he knows the team better and the team knows his system better. It should be a good year and I like that we are not being talked about as Stanley cup favorites:::::


METRO DIVISION

Teams that got better::: (in order that I think)
+Penguins (got jesus mode)
+ Capitals (oshie, williams)
+ Columbus (healthy and better)
= Islanders (only got greiss)
= Rangers (stayed about the same.... got younger prospects make or break)
- Hurricanes (got better but still bad)
- Devils (got better though??? maybe)


+ got better this off season
= stayed the same
- still bad


Who can compete with

Perron- Sid- Kessel
Kunitz- Geno- Hornqvist
Plotnikov- Bonino- Dupuis
Cullen- Sundquist- Beau Bennett/ Bobby Farnham:::::: depending if game calls for grit or skill

Injured: Fehr
Also: Wilson, Rust or Dea are the extra player or call up





Continue as Pre-Season Talk Thread

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[billybudd]

Far as the Islanders, it's anybody's guess how good they'll be. Rangers probably got worse. Columbus a lot better. Pittsburgh, on paper, is a lot better. Washington, no clue.

Metro's a crapshoot. Saying any team's way better than any other team is a sucker's bet. Strong division.

 

[Sidney BrOSSby*]

they should have a competitive camp. The pens cleaned house this off season.. The Shero era is buried. Rutherford buried it. Am I making that point? This summers' been a succulent beefy taco with juicy drippings out the side. I'm holding out a 10/10 for Phil.

Still weary.

 

[Iffyiffiffer]

they should have a competitive camp. The pens cleaned house this off season.. The Shero era is buried. Rutherford buried it. Am I making that point?

The Shero era can't be buried with the zombies Scuderi and Kunitz still lumbering about, skating just as fast.

 

[Beauner]

The Islanders don't scare me at all. They are a decent team filled with good but not great players. Their biggest asset is depth but after Tavares, they don't have anyone I'm remotely intimidated by. As long as you have average depth and a well rounded defense, you can beat the Islanders.

 

[66-30-33]

Pens definatly improved the most in the division on paper. JR's done a good job minus the Despres trade Guerin forced on him and the Winnik trade. Going to be interesting seeing Saad play for the Jackets though, but damn glad we got Kessel at 6.8M then trade that for Saad. Kessel is a much better offensive player. Devils improved, they got Palms from Anaheim. Should be a good player for them going forward, wish we had him especially for that cheap.

 

[66-30-33]

The Islanders don't scare me at all. They are a decent team filled with good but not great players. Their biggest asset is depth but after Tavares, they don't have anyone I'm remotely intimidated by. As long as you have average depth and a well rounded defense, you can beat the Islanders.

Isles will make our D look bad still. They are a fast team, but they always seem like a giant question mark.

 

[member 51464]

But can our coach coach now?

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

It's the 2015-2016 season.

The Shero era can't be buried with the zombies Scuderi and Kunitz still lumbering about, skating just as fast.

I'm in the "expects Kunitz to bounce back" camp. He is in no way an albatross like Scuderi.

 

[Sam Spade]

Physical teams are the only ones that should scare the Pens as those seem to be the teams they have the most trouble with. Although in todays NHL do they even exist? Maybe the Jackets and the Capitals?

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think the Pens will finish 2nd in the Metro this year, behind the Capitals. I don't think very highly of the Islanders. Their offensive depth is very good, but I'm not very high on their D group (no true #1 hurts them and I expect Leddy to regress this year) and Halak is a mediocre starter. I think their D group is better than ours (and not even by that much), but that's about it. The Pens top-6, bottom-6 and goalies are all better than the Islanders.

 

[Shockmaster]

I might be in the minority on this, but I find the Capitals top 4 defensemen to be very overrated. Carlson is really good, but I think Alzner and Niskanen are just empty jerseys. As for Orpik, he's at the age where his play could fall off a cliff very quickly.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Still can't believe we got Kessel. I imagine alot of the other Metro teams feel the same.

Then we went out and traded Sutter and got Bonino and Fehr for what we would've had to pay him.
What a great day that was.

We "should" stand in the 1 to 3 spot in the division.
Will be pretty disappointing if we don't.

 

[cygnus47]

Forwards wise, we're definitely set. Defense were at least one top 4 short. If Pouliot, Cole and Dumo step up, we might have just enough, but we have no margin for error injury wise. We'll have growing pains with such a fresh roster, and I worry about how we'll adjust when teams get on top of our breakout with so little experience.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Anyone have a link to the preseason schedule?

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Anyone have a link to the preseason schedule?

The Penguins NHL mainpage...

Here's a direct link to it with more information, though. http://penguins.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm?season=20152016&gameType=1

 

[Darth Vitale]

...
Lets discuss where we stand against other Metro Division and Eastern conference rivals/Foes based on the team on paper and other speculation.

Our division is clearly the best in the league...

Nope. The Central will be nasty this year (and for the next 2-3 probably)

Chicago and St. Louis are already loaded from top to bottom and with few weaknesses. Dallas and Nashville can now also be counted among the teams in that division with sufficient depth at the important positions to give anyone problems in a 7 game series. Minnesota is solid, Winnipeg is solid, Colorado will struggle a bit but still has plenty of talent to build on. IMO that division, not ours, is the deepest / toughest. There really isn't another division in hockey that's close and there probably won't be for a while unless a bunch of trades are made to dilute the depth in that division.

It should be a good year and I like that we are not being talked about as Stanley cup favorites

Your gold and black glasses, take them off. We're definitely in the picture if we stay healthy but with a very young defense that is pretty much a stange mix of untested pairings right now, you need to keep your expectations in check this year. We may both score a lot and get scored on a lot.

METRO DIVISION

Teams that got better
+Penguins (got jesus mode)
+ Capitals (oshie, williams)
+ Columbus (healthy and better)
= Islanders (only got greiss)
= Rangers (stayed about the same.... got younger prospects make or break)
- Hurricanes (got better but still bad)
- Devils (got better though??? maybe)

The Islanders are a deep and talented team. They don't have many marquee names but that doesn't mean they're not skilled, fast, etc. They are getting better every year just by virtue of their young, skilled players getting stronger, more confident, etc. See also: Strome, Lee, etc. The Islanders are a GOOD team. People need to wake up if they think they're not going to be making some noise. I think they definitely will, starting this year and especially the next 2-4 years. Goalie situation is a little sketchy long-term but that's about it.

In short, I think you're over-selling the Penguins and under-selling some other very good teams. There's going to be a lot of parity in both conferences this year. In the east Tampa, Washington, NYR, NYI, Columbus, maybe even Detroit could all give us a run. Boston will be sorting things out with all their roster changes but I expect within 12+ months they'll be right back in the thick of it after making some adjustments.

And the Central is a monster. LA and Anaheim shouldn't be forgotten even though their division has weaked a bit overall the last couple years.

The Islanders don't scare me at all. They are a decent team filled with good but not great players.

See above. I think we can handle them if our defense matures quickly but if not, we're going to see some fireworks this year against that team. Some nice 6-5 type games. I don't think with our D anyone can say we're clearly better than the Islanders. We clearly have the bigger group of elite talents but they clearly have better depth and a better D.

 

[go comets]

Still can't believe we got Kessel. I imagine alot of the other Metro teams feel the same.

Then we went out and traded Sutter and got Bonino and Fehr for what we would've had to pay him.
What a great day that was.

We "should" stand in the 1 to 3 spot in the division.
Will be pretty disappointing if we don't.

Ummm.... Not many people wanted kessel. He won nothing in Boston or Toronto.... And you now expect him to lead a team to the cup?? Weird...

 

[MrBurghundy]

Ummm.... Not many people wanted kessel. He won nothing in Boston or Toronto.... And you now expect him to lead a team to the cup?? Weird...

 

[Sam Spade]

I might be in the minority on this, but I find the Capitals top 4 defensemen to be very overrated. Carlson is really good, but I think Alzner and Niskanen are just empty jerseys. As for Orpik, he's at the age where his play could fall off a cliff very quickly.

Agree about Orpik, but Alzner and Niskanen are as steady as they come on D. The very definition of "number 2" NHL dmen. And if Orlov has progressed at all (combined with finally getting rid of Green), their defense will be better this season.

Ummm.... Not many people wanted kessel. He won nothing in Boston or Toronto.... And you now expect him to lead a team to the cup?? Weird...

I agree with this, he wasn't too sought after, but he really did land in the perfect place, both for him and the Pens. He is going to have a great season in Pittsburgh.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

This should go well.

 

[Deutschland Dangler]

Your gold and black glasses, take them off. We're definitely in the picture if we stay healthy but with a very young defense that is pretty much a stange mix of untested pairings right now, you need to keep your expectations in check this year. We may both score a lot and get scored on a lot.

Huh? He didn't say that we are Cup favorites (I think), he said he likes that we're not regarded as such. Which I agree with, we can basically lean back and watch the fireworks (I expect a lot of goals for and against) and see how everything progresses. Nobody really expects to win it all.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

The Penguins NHL mainpage...

Here's a direct link to it with more information, though. http://penguins.nhl.com/club/schedule.htm?season=20152016&gameType=1

Ya I saw that, but I swear I saw a link with all of the networks listed.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Ya I saw that, but I swear I saw a link with all of the networks listed.

Hmmm, idk then. I think that schedule has it for two games, no?

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Hmmm, idk then. I think that schedule has it for two games, no?

Ya someone posted a link the other day that had all of the televised games and I can't find it. I'll throw it up if I find it, because I'm a kind soul like that.