tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87568720604258384852024-03-18T22:50:46.999-04:00MazmaniaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.comBlogger1335125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-41955710407415538592014-01-25T08:22:00.000-05:002014-01-25T10:47:13.217-05:00Letang to trade or not to trade, that is the question<br />
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Kris Letang at one time was my favorite Penguins player, with his combination of speed, physicality, and a booming shot that for sure one day he would harnass in such a manner as to be a lethal presence at the point for the Penguins for years to come. He was drafted in the 2005 entry draft in the third round, while playing in the QMJHL for the Val d 'Or Foreurs. The 6 foot 201 pound defenseman came up for awhile in the 2006-07 season before being sent back for more seasoning, then ultimately after starting 2007-08 with Val d' Or, he broke in for good with the Penguins and seemed primed to be a perennial challenger for the Norris Trophy. Letang flashed brilliance at both ends of the ice, and it seemed as if he was only the ability to play a full season away from winning a series of those elusive Norris trophies. But, somewhere along the way, Letang seemed to have regressed in the mental aspects of the game, at times looking bewildered, and far too often involved in turnovers that led to scoring chances for the other team, or poor decisions relative to pinching that had similar results. Suddenly, it was reasonable to argue that Letang had to produce points merely to make up for the points that resulted from his lapses in judgement. Still, here is this young defensemen who can skate like the wind, hit like a truck, and carry the puck from end to end to turn defense into offense, so the Penguins committed to a long term deal with the young defenseman that will increase his salary from 3.5 M to 7.25 M per season starting next year, along with a limited no trade clause. The expectations of a return to form, with a lot more production on the power play and a lot less poor puck management decisions came along with this new deal. The season has not panned out this way to this point for Letang, at least defensively. He is involved in still in way too many turnovers and poor decisions that wound up getting fished out of our net for the comfort of many. He also lost his position on the top power play unit to Paul Martin, who lacks the shot of Letang, but is better at calmly distributing the puck, and less prone to mistakes that lead to short handed goals against. When Martin went down, Matt Niskanen spent a lot of time as power play QB, and he flourished in the role, having by far his best season, racking up 30 points, along with 5 game winning goals and a plus 29. The combination of turnovers, poor decisions, consistently being injured, the depth on the blue line for the Pens, and the lack of depth up front has many Penguins fans, and even writers calling for the trade of Kris Letang to bolster the skill of the forward group, especially after Pascal Dupuis was lost for the season. The Super Genius Mark Madden thinks any yinzer like me who thinks that trading Kris Letang is a good idea does not know hockey. We are morons in fact. Well, Mark, actually that is not the case. And though I agree you can make the argument that moving a player with the unique skill set of Kris Letang, while under a long term contract is NOT the way to make the Penguins better, I can name a number of reasons why considering it does not make me or the others who suggest it morons in any way. I concede to all of your points about speed, dedication, physicality, puck carrying ability, and general ability to generate offense. Totally correct on all points! Offense with or without Letang does not seem to be the issue for Pittsburgh. Especially in the post season, grit and defense seem to be an issue for them. Mr. Madden, you fail to consider several real points that make the argument to trade him compelling as well. First, I do not suggest just dumping Kris Letang for a bag of pucks. If other GMs value his skill set as much as you say they do, and you use the Whitney for Kunitz, and Goligoski for Neal and Niskanen trades as barometers, moving Kris Letang would go a long way towards completely revitalizing the forward group into championship caliber and depth. The Penguins are in need of a winger to replace Dupuis on the top line, and also at least one more bottom six guy with size, an attitude and some ability to contribute the odd goal or two. Dejan Kovacevich references the perfect example of a similar trade that put the Penguins over the top in 1992 and netted a Stanley Cup Chanpionship. Craig Patrick moved a budding offensive powerhouse in Mark Recchi, who was coming off a 113 point season for Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson, and Ken Wregget as he felt the Pens had plenty of offense, but not enough toughness and grit. He also moved Paul Coffey to Los Angeles to bring in more toughness in Jeff Chycrun. Does this need for grit in return for moving an abundance of offense sound familiar?<br />
The end result of this move was the Penguins won their second Stanley Cup in a row. I would agree with Dejan, that it will take a player of the magnitude of Letang to bring in the level of talent up front that could put that group over the top adding the toughness and team balance necessary to bring home Lord Stanley's cup. Madden also says that the team that gets the best player wins the trade, and I think that 1992 move would refute that, as would the more recent Jordan Staal trade.<br />
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In my opinion, the teams with the most balance, grit, depth and work ethic win the Stanley Cup. The Penguins lack depth and grit up front, and they have an embarrassment of riches on the blue line, you know where Letang plays. In addition, the Penguins won most of the 18 games Letang was out this year, and their goals against was better with him out of the lineup, and oddly their goals for was slightly better as well. The team played a more steady conservative game, and it worked. More importantly, THAT STYLE IS THE STYLE NEEDED TO WIN PLAYOFF GAMES! From where I sit if you can round out your first line with a legitimate top six winger, and get a tough third liner for Letang, you have taken a big step towards having four good lines, while still boasting a blue line that would have Martin, Orpik, Scuderi, Maatta, Niskanen as the top five, while still having Despres, Bortuzzo, Engelland, as the top challengers for the sixth spot. Despite missing 18 games, Letang is fifth in the league in scoring for defensemen, and that coupled with the cost certainty of his contract, makes his trade value high for the right team. When he is injured, the Penguins do not seem to miss a bit, and that is without the addition of a couple of productive wingers his movement could bring. I am intrigued by the thought that the Pens could roll four very strong lines AND still have an extremely capable blue line focused on clearing the zone, and jumping up when it makes sense, but not when it does not.<br />
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The other consideration is the fact that Letang's new deal next year more than doubles in value and adds a limited no trade clause, which will limit half the options available to move Letang after this season. If you combine his salary raise with the raise coming to Malkin, most of the projected cap increase is gone, which will hurt your chances to retain other value free agents that are due some raises if you expect to keep them. The combination of raises to Malkin and Letang will take up about 4.55M of the projected 6M cap increase, which will undoubtedly cost the team some valuable components. Some notable players who will need raises to be retained are UFA's such as Jussi Jokinen, making 2.1M per year, but a portion of that is covered by the Carolina Hurricanes, which will not be the case in any deal going forward. Jokinen seems to be the third piece of an extremely productive line with Malkin and Neal, and I would think retaining him would be key. Matt Niskanen, making 2.3M per year is due a new deal, and coming off of the year he is having, his demand on the open market will be high. Niskanen leads the NHL with a whopping plus29, while scoring 7 goals, and adding 23 assists! Five of his seven goals are game winning goals as well. Brandon Sutter, whose play has contributed mightily to the Penguins boasting the number one PK unit in the league is RFA, and will also be due an increase on his 2.1M contract if the Penguins expect to retain his services. There are many other UFA and RFA Penguins coming up after this season, including Brooks Orpik, Simon Despres, Tanner Glass, Philip Samuelsson and Zach Sill. Shero created room and upgraded the team oddly when he was forced to trade popular and productive Jordan Staal for Brandon Sutter, Brian Dumoulin, and the 8th overall pick which became Pouliot, a young defenseman they feel will be a top two pairing guy and power play quarterback in the near future. His play in the recent WJC did not nothing but increase that expectation. Most would call Jordan Staal the best player at the time of the deal, BUT Sutter not only filled his role capably, the 4M difference in cap hit between he and Staal allowed the Penguins to add other complimentary parts to the team, not to mention the value that Dumoulin and Pouliot bring by adding such depth to the blue line that Shero has numerous options to utilize that depth to bolster the team. In short, the team is over stocked on the blue line, thin on the wings, and cap strapped, so the notion of dealing from depth and using a premium chip to bolster the area lacking depth of talent with premium returns, and getting some cap relief in the process is not a dumb notion. Remember, we are talking of getting the right deal, not just any deal.<br />
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Madden also uses the tremendous record of the Penguins as a reason that significant change would just be stupid! Really Mark??!! Hmmmm, it would seem that this movie looks familiar and if recent history holds, us yinzers are not going to like the ending. Recent history has the Pens using their firepower to cut through the regular season with impressive ease, only to falter in the post season, when the referees put the whistles away, and every inch of ice is fought for making scoring goals a much harder task. Style gives way to grit and determination, pretty gambling plays give way to intelligent safe plays and capitalizing on the mistakes made by the other team. This style of play has not been kind in the post season for Pittsburgh, so the notion of change despite the record is actually not at all foolhardy.<br />
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Listen, I get what Letang can do, remember he was my favorite player for a long time, but at what point do you expect a player who is taking up the cap space he will take next year to play an intelligent game, not erode his considerable offensive capabilities with consistent defensive lapses, and run the number one power play unit? Adding a 25 goal plus type on the first line with speed and grit, along with a large solid third liner both with term would surely have to be considered if that deal came along, wouldn't it? I again like balance since the Pens are pretty loaded with talent in the middle, and lacking depth of premium talent on the wings. <br />
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If you are not going to try to get a big game changing return for Letang, your trade chips would seem to be Despres, as many do covet his size and overall game, but I don't see a top six winger coming back for Despres. An odd piece of trade bait if the Penguins will not consider moving Letang is Matt Niskanen. Yes, the same Matt Niskanen who has been the Penguins rock this year. If the Penguins do not make significant moves with other high rent players such as Letang, they will not be able to compete to keep Niskanen next year, who will likely be getting offers in the 4M-5M per year range in free agency. His value right now is the highest it has ever been. It would make me sick to see him dealt, but if you will lose him for nothing after this year, and the right team offers the right player, or given Shero's history, players, well, it may make sense. There are many other moves that would involve Orpik or Martin as other high priced defensemen who could become luxuries the Pens cannot afford, but that would take a whole other post. My point is simply that simply believing that moving Letang would make you a stupid hockey fan as advanced by Mark Madden is actually the stupid idea. The notion of keeping Letang is not stupid either, but if you do, it will come at the cost of others and I just hope he winds up worth it, as this team has no issue scoring goals with or without him, but in the past couple of seasons he has contributed to key lapses in the ability to prevent them.<br />
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Either way, the notion makes for an interesting debate among NHL and Penguins fans, though I do not think the Penguins agree with the notion of moving Kris Letang, which opens up many other possibilities to monitor as we approach the Olympic break and the trade deadline.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-31802280806605419102014-01-01T20:21:00.001-05:002014-01-01T20:39:17.289-05:00Remember the GoodTonight I was commenting on a favorite local media member's congratulatory post to Brooks Orpik and Paul Martin for their recent selection to the US Olympic Team, seconding his congratulations, when another poster was pretty negative about both being on the team and calling it a homer decision. He was a Pens fan. I did not get sarcastic but noted that there was a large committee who made the choices, not just team Pittsburgh, and left it at that. At this point the typical internet idiot came out, not due to his disagreement with my position, but due to the fact he immediately went to name calling mode, and telling me that Ray Shero, Dan Bylsma, and David Poile all were horrible at their jobs and made big mistakes. I indulged the idiot for a few but moved on as you cannot reason with idiots, as entitled to his opinion as he is, his need to beat his chest and throw about names while denigrating people who make more important decisions before their first piss each day than he likely does all year made it a waste of time to engage him. His big point was that other than Whitney fetching Kunitz in a trade Shero had done nothing for the Pens and that Bylsma was a loser. I chose not to respond and clutter the timeline of a person I respect any more than I had in my brief encounter with said idiot, but in very short order I can list a few things that would seem to indicate that these men are pretty good at their jobs. First, let me say yes, I LIKE both men quite a bit, but I have also QUESTIONED at times ASPECTS of their jobs. For instance, if you look at Shero's draft history, it is littered with players who never did anything for the Penguins, and are either gone or pretty much pigeon holed as non NHL or non-impact NHL players. As for Disco, I, like many fans got quite frustrated with the past couple of post seasons, and the one right after the Cup. That frustration with recent post season results does not negate a very positive overall body of work. I mean, they have gone to the Eastern Conference Finals and lost, the Stanley Cup Finals and lost, and won the Stanley Cup in Bylsma's 5 completed seasons with the Pens. The Pens were mired in 11th place when Bylsma took over in February of 2009 and they won the Stanley Cup later that year. Four best of seven series folks, and they avenged their 2008 loss to an excellent Detroit team in so doing. Let's not forget that in 2010-11, Bylsma won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best coach for guiding the Penguins to 106 points despite losing Crosby and Malkin among others for the second half of the year. In his three full seasons post Cup the Penguins have finished with 101, 106, and 108 points, while finishing atop the Eastern Conference in last season's strike shortened season with 72 points. This year the Penguins again have been demolished by injury and yet remain near the top of the entire league, recently winning 14 of 18 games, despite losing their top 5 defensemen, Malkin, Bennett, Glass, Dupuis and others. So, despite being concerned about recent post season play, stubbornness related to matching lines or adapting to the other team, and an infatuation with Deryk Engelland that drive me nuts, you can hardly call the Bylsma tenure a failure. He also contributes mightily to a general feel along, with GM Ray Shero that makes the Penguins a place that highly valued players take less than market value to stay long term and be part of an organization that treats them right. That is an underrated contribution to the long term success of the organization.<br />
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Let's get back to Ray Shero, who according to this clown has done nothing but the Whitney trade other than play with Craig Patrick's players. First, when you look at the value of Kunitz to the Penguins (an off the radar winger at the time), and compare that to what happened to Ryan Whitney's career this is no small feat! However, it is hardly the only valuable thing Shero has done. First, he has created an atmosphere that makes the Pens a destination that players want to go to, and he has done that in many ways I will not detail as many others have done that before me. But let's start with some early moves that helped mold this team like trading Noah Welch to Florida to get Gary Roberts. whose toughness and leadership helped this young team go on its magical and unexpected tear to the 08 Finals. He also sent Carcillo and a pick to Phoenix to bring in Georges Laraque, who also added toughness and grit his first couple of seasons here that changed the swagger level of the young stars on the ice. In the off season of 07-08 he signed Petr Sykora, another prominent player on the teams that went to the Finals, and he brought in Hal Gill at the deadline who played a prominent role in the Cup run. To me the Hossa deal helped win the cup in 2009. And yes, I know Hossa was not on the Pens in 2009, but sending Erik Christensen, Colby Armstrong, Angelo Esposito and a pick to Atlanta for Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis told this team they were ready to win and win now. That run to the 08 Finals does not occur without that deal, and the 2009 championship does not occur without that 2008 run that ended in a home loss in Game 6 of the Finals. Oh yeah, and Dupuis has been arguably the best value in the NHL dollar for dollar over that time frame. The players our fans were distraught over losing have done nothing of note since the trade. Ray Shero, his guts, and savvy played a major role in turning the Pens into a perennial Cup contender.<br />
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Does anybody think that getting James Neal and Matt Niskanen for Alex Goligoski is anything short of robbery? Niskanen has been at worst a solid fifth defenseman, and at best during the recent injury spate, the leader and anchor of a blue line that contributed to a lengthy win streak putting the Pens near the top of the league while playing with mostly AHL players. When you see the money being thrown around does anybody think Shero sucks for getting Neal for five years at 5M per year? The acquisition of Neal also gave Malkin a bonafide sniper to play with and when paired they are amazing to watch! Does anyone think that deal Neal signed sucks? Didn't think so!<br />
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What about the Jordan Staal deal. Remember he was Shero's first pick ever and a big part of the Penguins success and Stanley Cup win. The emotional ties there could have led to a disastrous attempt at retaining him. As Staal was about to enter his final year before going UFA he turned down a 60M offer from the Pens which SHOULD have killed any leverage the Pens had in dealing him since it was pretty obvious he could be had for nothing at the end of the year. Yet Shero gets Brandon Sutter, Brian Dumoulin and the 8th overall pick in return for a lame duck pending UFA? Sutter is a key component of the current team, Dumoulin showed he is ready for NHL play and will either allow the Pens to deal a more expensive blue liner to make room for him or get value back in a trade for him. Pouliot is getting high marks as a guy who could be NHL ready next year and a potential top power play quarterback. Oh, yeah we saved 4M in cap space for a year as well. I would say that move was also borderline robbery on the part of Shero given the situation at hand.<br />
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Shero sucks?? OK pal.<br />
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Can you criticize some of his drafts? Yes, especially the early ones which did not net much in return for the Penguins. However, in this recent run of injuries the blue line was stocked with Shero picks like Despres, round one 2009, Bortuzzo round 3, 2007, Maatta, round one 2012, Samuellson round 2, 2009, and before injury Beau Bennett the first round pick in 2010 was a top nine forward. The system is stocked with young defensemen and Shero has shown in getting Kunitz, Neal and Niskanen in return for Whitney and Goligoski what he can do with young defensemen in the trade market. The Penguins have won 2 Division Championships, had a conference finals loss, a Stanley Cup Finals loss, and a Stanley Cup Championship under Shero's tenure. They are again among the favorites to win the Cup this year. Their organizational depth was there for all to see for the past two months, meaning they are set up well for the long run also. There are very few organizations in pro sports who would not trade places with the Penguins if they could. yes, I can pick some items that both do to debate and question, but in the end the results have spoken for themselves and on top of that they are both classy men and assets to the organization in ways outside of the hockey specific items noted above. Yeah, these two are idiots. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-44648703378661975262013-06-08T16:20:00.002-04:002013-06-08T16:40:02.855-04:00Not a time to want Shero's jobWell Pens fans, here we are again, left licking our wounds after another ugly exit from Lord Stanley's annual tournament, albeit this time it was in the Eastern Conference Finals, not the Quarter-Finals. Despite winning two series rather handily, the nature of this exit given the health and depth of this team seems to be sitting about as poorly with Pens Nation as last year's meltdown against the Flyers. Getting swept, and scoring all of two goals in four games plus nearly two periods of OT is not going to win you much love when your team was again considered a favorite if not THE favorite to win the Stanley Cup. An 0 for 15 power play did not help in any way either, so here we sit, again. The fan base is VERY agitated, and there are many different calls for action to deal with a fourth exit from the playoffs without the hardware since 2009. The most noted proposal from many Pittsburgh fans is the "Bylsma must go," faction. You know, the guy who took the Pens from an ugly 10th place in February of 2009, then rattled off an 18-3-4 record to put the Pens in the fourth seed, before avenging the loss in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals to Detroit, bringing Pittsburgh their third Stanley Cup! The same Dan Bylsma who took a team that lost its best players mid year, and despite being ruled out of contention, guided that team to the third best record in the NHL, and had a 3-1 lead on a dynamic Tampa team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals, before losing to Boston, the eventual Cup Champions. That run was held in such esteem, that Bylsma was awared the Jack Adams award, given to the NHL's coach of the year. This is the same guy who reached 200 regular season wins the fastest of anybody in the NHL, and was named in a poll of NHL players as the coach they would most like to play for. He has a record of 201-93-25 as the coach of the Pens, and after his Stanley Cup ring, the Penguins have been in the top four of the LEAGUE in terms of points each year.<br />
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So why would you think of something as insane as getting rid of THIS guy?<br />
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In the post season, Bylsma's Penguins have badly underperformed, losing to Montreal in the Conference Semis in 2010, laying an egg on home ice in the decisive seventh game. They then lost to Tampa, after holding a 3-1 lead in the series, getting shut out on home ice in Game 7 in the Conference Quarter-Finals in the 2010-11 series. Last season, after having the second best record in the East, the Penguins imploded in the first round against the Flyers. They took multi goal leads in the first two games on home ice, gave up the lead in both games, losing them both. They got creamed in Game 3, and looked totally lost, before succumbing in six games. Shero took the off season and trade deadline to address every percieved weakness from back up goaltending, to some size and nasty in front of our net, to some grit and leadership on the forward lines, bringing in Vokoun, Morrow, Murray, Iginla, and Jokinen to an already stacked team. Morrow and Iginla were both captains of their former teams, and hungry tough veterans who could still put the puck in the net.<br />
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Well, after handling two teams who were not the caliber of the Pens in the first two rounds, it seemed as if Disco had the monkey off of his back. He had reached the Conference Finals, and short of a disaster, most felt that he had secured his job at a minimum, and at a maximum, had his second Cup in reach. Well, said disaster occurred, as noted, with Pittsburgh getting swept by Boston, and many people questioning the decisions or lack thereof by the head coach. Let me say that Pittsburgh could pretty easily have won 3 of those 4 games, with the very ugly game two on home ice being the notable exception. It was notable in that it was one of, if not the worst playoff performance I have witnessed personally. There is a faction who correctly note that the players, especially the stars who make millions are the ones who play, not the coach. But, while true there were a number of questionable decisions by Bylsma that do make him appear rigid, too much in tune with the grinders v the best skilled players, and unable to put a game plan together to react to a team who was preventing the Pens from "getting to their game" as he says so often.<br />
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First, and this was apparent throughout the playoffs, but Pittsburgh's talent differential masked it in the first two rounds, was the stubborn use of stretch passes and stick handling to gain the offensive zone resulting in turnovers, and odd man breaks the other way. It is pretty accepted knowledge in the NHL, that the time and space for fancy plays that exists in the regular season always disappears in the playoffs (unless you are playing Pittsburgh), yet the Penguins under Bylsma again seemed to ignore that fact while getting burned time and again with blue line or neutral zone turnovers.<br />
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Second, and related to this issue is the lack of traffic around the net that most teams use when facing a hot goaltender v picking corners of the net or making that last perfect pass that never gets there. Maybe Bylsma told the players to get to the net? Well if he did, they did not care enough to listen. The front of the net on both ends of the ice seems like a no fly zone for Pittsburgh. That cannot be in the NHL playoffs.<br />
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Third, the misuse of Jarome Iginla as a left wing on the second line or demoting the future Hall of Famer to the third line for a game so that Crosby could keep his line intact. If you drop Kunitz to the Malkin line, you reunite last year's best line in hockey in Malkin, Neal and Kunitz, while giving Crosby and Dupuis a Hall of Fame 1,000 point plus tough right winger. If the Crosby line were doing anything or the Malkin line were doing anything, maybe you can excuse this. But nobody but Kunitz from those lines, registered a point in the series, so why would you not at least at this late juncture put Iginla where he is comfortable? <br />
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Not taking advantage of home ice to get favorable line matchups was another highly criticized no-move by Bylsma. <br />
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Fifth, the short handed goal issue partially created by having Malkin on the point on the power play v Paul Martin, who is the best puck distribution guy, a key element on any power play, and a defenseman, which may have cut down on the odd man breaks against on our power plays. The three short handed goals against leads all playoff teams.<br />
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The decison to put a power play unit and most especially (in this playoffs) high risk players like Letang and Malkin on the ice with 30 plus seconds to go in Game 3 against Ottawa, as opposed to defensive minded players to protect a 1-0 lead was highly questionable. Every possible mistake was made and instead of a 3-0 stranglehold on a series, the Pens almost let Ottawa make a series of it.<br />
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Sixth, leaving a guy like Simon Despres on the bench while players like Engelland, eventually Eaton, and often time Niskanen were liabilities. Despres is a big puck moving defenseman who can be physical yet he sat since mid way through series one. He was a good partner to Letang during the year, who frankly looked either great or HORRIBLE the whole playoffs.<br />
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Similarly, Beau Bennett seemed to prove that the playoff stage was not too big for him, and his size and skill would have landed him ice time on any other team but ours I would think. Bennett did get some time late in the Bruins series, but his use or lack thereof seems to underscore the other Bylma crticism that he favors plumbers like himself too much v pure talent. Would Brandon Saad be a part of the Penguins playoff run if drafted by Pittsburgh, or would he have been toiling down in WBS?<br />
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The young Penguins, beginning to make a splash in 2006-07 and through the 2008-09 championship team seemed to laugh off adversity and stick it in your ass when you thought you had your foot on their throats. That swagger and mental toughness helped launch my already insane love for this team to scary heights! However, it seems that for the past two or three years, any hint of post season adversity sends this team into a bewildered, lack of confidence mode that is frustrating to watch.<br />
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Finally, there is the eye test. I doubt anybody would argue that Boston has more talent than Pittsburgh. However, Julien's team seemed to execute a game plan that all 20 players lived shift in and shift out. Clog the neutral zone, play defense first, protecting your net, create offense off of the transition game created by sloppy Pittsburgh puck management, win the puck battles, funnel shots to the point and crash the net. They played like a team, executed a game plan that was simple but effective, yet Pittsburgh never changed their approach. As alarming as that was, it alarmed me more to hear commentary from Pittsburgh players and the coach that they ran into a hot goaltender and there was nothing they would do differently other than get pucks in the net? If you truly believe that, then you are in denial, and there would be very little reason to believe that anything will change in the post season next year. <br />
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Does that mean I am sure they should fire Bylsma? First, you have to know who you would want to replace him, and how or why he would have better results. Is the philosophy described above that of the coach, or is it the same from somebody higher up in the organization? Would you find it scary to see Disco behind the bench of the Rangers? Would adding an opposite type personality in place of a key assistant add some balance to the Bylsma system? I listed a number of issues I see and saw again in this post season, but do I want them to fire Bylma? I don't want them to, no, BUT I am not sure how they think they will progress past the types of issues noted above to complete another quest for the Cup unless they do. It is a decision I would not have to make given the kind of guy that Disco Dan is, as well as his many positive contributions to this organization. But I am not sure there is a choice if you want post season success. That makes me sad to say, and I hope that there is a solution that will work other than this one, but I cannot think of one.<br />
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I will handle other RS off season decisions in separate posts.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-54624741720061423352013-05-28T19:53:00.001-04:002013-05-28T22:28:05.866-04:00Loving Flower does not mean Losing your Mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am kind of known as the local Pens freak at my gym, at my office, on my street, and well just about everywhere. As such, I cannot tell you how many people ask me daily when the Pens should put Flower back in over Vokoun. Their facial expressions are priceless when I say, "Either next year, after TWO bad games by Vokoun, or never." It makes my day. I know, I am kind of an asshole, but nonetheless, it makes my day. I get a lot of heated replies ranging from he is a great goalie, to a great guy, to the Pens would not be here without him, to maybe he is just struggling with adjusting to being a new dad. Is he a great goalie? Well he has been to the Finals twice and won the Stanley Cup in 2009, so I would say he is at least an excellent goalie. Is he a great guy? I got the chance to bowl with him one night for Make a Wish, and I can confirm from that night and all other accounts Fleury is a GREAT guy. Would the Pens be here without him? Well, he sure has been a BIG part of the Penguins's recent successes, and when you look at other teams who have great personnel, but not won a Cup or been to the Finals in recent memory, I would say that it is true that the Pens as a franchise would not be here without the contributions of Marc Andre Fleury. Is he possibly struggling adjusting to being a new father? He would not be human if he were not. The thing is people.....THAT NONE OF THAT IS RELEVANT TO THE CURRENT SITUATION. We are not in kindygarten guys and dolls. We are not part of the pussification of America when speaking of big time sports in America. (Thanks Matt Walker) . We are not in Little League letting you bat until you hit. Jordan Staal scored a SHG in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals that likely turned the tide from another 6 game loss at the hands of the Wings, to a glorious third Stanley Cup for the good guys. When he turned down a great offer from King Ray, he found himself in Carolina, while the Pens got Brandon Sutter, cap relief and two top notch blueliners in return. All of that is being stated so I can get to my main points. The first is most of the people caterwauling over Flower sitting while Vokoun has gone 6-1 would be the first to use the phrase, "In Shero we trust." Well, put your money where your mouth is people. Remember early June last year, after the hated Flyers destroyed the Penguins, and Fleury posted his third straight sub .900 save percentage post season? That same Ray Shero went out and pryed an undervalued Vokoun away from the Caps for a seventh round draft pick to do two things for the Pens. First, to give Fleury some rest during the regular season, as many believed that his post season meltdowns had a lot to do with being over played during the regular season. Well, Vokoun played in 20 of the team's 48 games, while Fleury played in 33 of those games. Vokoun was 13-4-0-3 with a 2.45 GAA and .919 save percentage, while Fleury was 23-8-0-1 with a 2.39 GAA and .916 save percentage. So, Vokoun accomplished goal number one of allowing Fleury to stay fresh for the post season. Then, after pitching a shutout in game one of the Islanders series, Fleury was pulled in favor of Vokoun for Game 5. Fleury went 2-2, posting a .834 save percentage and a very bloated 4.63 GAA while looking bewildered at times. Since then Vokoun has gone 6-1, the Penguins have rather easily handled the Islanders and Senators, while Vokoun is 3rd in GAA at 1.85 and 2nd in save percentage at .941. What's more is he was 29 seconds and a series of boneheaded plays by his mates away from being 7-0 before losing to Ottawa in double overtime 2-1 in Game 3 of that series. It is safe to say that thus far, Vokoun has more than delivered on the second part of the reason for his presence, in a BIG way. So, tell me again what Vokoun has done to deserve a benching in favor of Fleury? Oh yeah, the pedigree of Fleury some say....well ladies, Vokoun has appeared in 700 regular season NHL games posting a .917 save percentage and a 2.55 GAA, while Fleury has appeared in 467 regular season NHL games posting a .910 save percentage and a 2.66 GAA. These numbers are very comparable to Vokoun's but Vokoun's are BETTER. Well, look at his post season pedigree compared to Vokoun's. Fleury has played in far more post season games, 79 to be exact, and he has a .904 save percentage and a 2.72 GAA. Conversely, Vokoun has only played in 18 post season games, but he does have a .930 save percentage and 2.22 GAA. Yes, Fleury has more playoff experience, yes he has two trips to the Finals and a Stanley Cup, Vokoun, until now never got a sniff at either, with his prior post season experience in net being with Nashville, perennial one and done playoff fodder. But, Fleury's last four post seasons netted him .891, .899, .834, and .891. His GAA's during that stretch? 2.78, 2.52, 4.63, and 3.40! Hence the presence of Vokoun in the first place, whose 2M salary, combined with Fleury's 5M salary has the Pens at 7M invested in the net. That will tell you how important two dummies like Ray Shero and Mario Lemieux thought it was to have a safety net behind Fleury.<br />
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Folks, again, I really do like the Flower, and his athleticism and ability to make unreal saves is well........ unreal. That said, as the statistics above would suggest, he also has an ability to let in too many goals that he should stop, especially in the post season. Vokoun, on the other hand, is not as athletic, but for the most part, stays in position and makes the saves he should make. And on the rare occasion where he has looked a little shaky in this post season, he has shook it off to stand tall when the team needed him to. They are to classy to say it, so we will never know for sure, but the eye test suggests that this team is calmer and plays a more steady game with Vokoun's veteran presence in the net. So, despite all of the postives about Fleury as a player and as a human, I do not see why the Penguins would give the job back to Fleury when a veteran goaltender with slightly better numbers lifetime, has been a calming influence. One who should be 7-0 in this year's post season, and is among the top players in net statistically while Fleury is usually middle of the pack. And by the way, it is a BUSINESS!!! I made the case that despite my deep admiration for Fleury, that this job belongs to Vokoun right now, but let me part with another shot. This decision is bigger than Vokoun v Fleury folks. There are twenty eight players who dressed for the Penguins this year who want their name on Lord Stanley's Cup. There is a coaching and scouting staff with many hours of their time and skin in the game. Hell, Disco's job was likely in jeopardy if there was another first round exit, as well as those of his staff. There are stitches, bruises, broken bones, jaws, lost teeth, hours of practice,travel, and film watching devoted to the singular pursuit of the Stanley Cup. Crosby rushed back with a decimated jaw bone to win the Cup. Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow waived no trade clauses for a chance to win the Cup, and Iginla pretty much strong armed his way here to pursue that lifelong dream. So, whomever people like Shero, Bylsma, and 66 think gives the Penguins the best chance of accomplishing that goal should be in net, despite how nice they might be, or their past accomplishments. And, lest I forget, we fans have skin in the game too. Do yinz realize how fortunate yinz are to see the second golden age of Penguins hockey? Do you realize that this ownership group spends to the Cap every year, in order to give us the best possible product? Did you know that each home playoff game generates seven figures of direct revenues to the Penguins organization? That deep playoff runs add more dollars in souvenir sales? If you saw the commerce being done in countless bars you would see how much tax revenues and income for bar owners, staff, and arena workers is generated based on this team making a deep playoff run v golfing after round one. Do you think that more home games would mean it is more likely that these owners can keep spending to the cap so that we continue to enjoy excellent hockey, as well as provide income to thousands of local Pittsburghers? Yeah, I love Fleury too, but I did not lose my mind. Play the guy most suited to keep this run alive, and you can love them both. They are BOTH OUR guys! Go Pens!</div>
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PS: I forgot to touch on the "where does that leave him for next year" mantra. Well, let's deal with that next year. The cap is falling, the sky is not.....The body of work that will determine who the Penguins want to keep and who they can keep is still incomplete until this playoff run is over. The demands of the free agents are as yet unknown, the availability via trade of other players is unknown. He may yet wind up in the nets and get that monkey off his back, or he may not, but there are too many other variables to worry about next year, when you are 8 wins away from winning the toughest trophy in all of sports. We are in the equivalent of the Final Four except the one that takes huge balls to be in! As the Ole 29'er would say......Buckle Up Baby Are You Kidding Me!!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-80640969262800588382013-05-25T17:10:00.001-04:002013-05-25T17:27:05.569-04:00Halfway to HeavenOk my fellow yinzers, our beloved flightless birds have now won two playoff series, and await what is likely to be the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Confernce Finals unless the Rags can pull off a miracle. Here is to hoping they at least extend the series a game or two. I don't know about you, but the Penguins early exits in recent post seasons has me out of practice for this marathon. Is it me, or does it feel like they were in two tough back and forth battes? In reality, they are 8-2, and were never in any real danger of elimination. Maybe recent history played a part in that feeling, or the fact that Marc Andre Fleury was chased seven games ago, but man, I am not sure I could live through a six or seven game series, or one where we fell behind, though in 2009, I very much believed in the Penguins in both the Caps and Red Wings series' even when they fell behind two games to none. I hope to get that swagger back for this playoff run, my life may depend on it! Instead of blowing up my Facebook page with all of the ramblings in my head, I figured I would take our halfway point in the March to the Cup to put most of my thoughts in one place. First and foremost, Ray Shero, you are the best GM in all of sports. All of the late season acquisitions have performed pretty much as expected in this post season. I know, some are a bit disappointed in Morrow, but he has done okay, and has been coming on late in this series. He will be very valuable in the Bruins series in my opinion. Murray has been the shot blocking monster he is supposed to be, Iginla has more than a point per game, and Juicy has added depth and versatility to a lineup that is tough to crack, but he has delivered when called upon. Now to give a recap of the statistical performance of the Penguins that I find interesting. First, if you look at playoff points leaders, after David Krejci of Boston who has 17 points to lead the league, the Penguins fill out the remaining positions of the top 5 with Malkin, Letang, Crosby, and Iginla in that order having 16, 16, 15, and 12 points. The Pens boast 4 of the top 5 scorers in the post season. Crosby and Dupuis are tied for the league lead in goals with 7, and James Neal is coming on like a freight train right behind with 6 goals, giving Pittsburgh 3 of the top 5 goal scorers in the playoffs. Neal in fact has 5 goals and 2 assists in his past TWO games after a rather sluggish start to his post season. As far as netminding, despite not starting the first 3 games, Tomas Vokoun is second in wins in the NHL after a three way tie for first between Lundqvist, Rask, and Quick. If not for a mind numbing display of stupidity by the Malkin, Kunitz, Letang, and frankly Byslma in the waning seconds of game 4, Vokoun would be tied for first in wins despite playing 3 less games than the leaders. He also boasts a 1.85 goals against and a .941 save percentage putting him in the top 3 in both categories amongst playoff goaltenders. I would say Shero's move there is paying the proper dividends no? Kris Letang leads the NHL in assists in the playoffs with 13, while Geno is right behind him with 12 assists. Letang also leads the NHL in plus/minus at a plus 7. That is truly amazing given the number of goals he has been on the ice for, and speaks volumes about his ability to just take over games when he is on. For example, he looked pitiful in the first period plus of game four, directly contributing to both Ottawa goals scored early. Then he took over the game, getting 4 assists, followed by a goal and 2 assists last night. So in the last five periods of play, Letang has added 7 points, while also playing sound defense. <br />
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Daniel Alfredsson took a lot of heat for referring to the thought that his Sens would have a tough time recovering for their 3-1 deficit in the series due to the depth and skill of the Penguins. Well, the Penguins have five players who have MORE than a point per game in these playoffs including Malkin, Letang, Crosby, Iginla, and Neal. Also Dupuis, Kunitz, and Martin are flirting with a point per game. Umm, that would be what they call scoring balance! As for team statistics, the Penguins still have the most goals per game of the remaining playoff teams at 4.27 goals per game, and the worst goals against per game at 2.54. I am hopeful that the Pens can work a bit on the goals against, but when you score more than 4 and allow less than 3, it is still a pretty good goal differential. Special teams have been a positive for Pittsburgh, with the power play tops in the league, clicking at 28.3% and the Penalty Kill second only to Chicago at 89.7%. That is a combination of special teams stats that could net you the Cup. One caution about the stunning special teams play is that the Penguins have also given up 3 short handed goals, the most in the league for the playoffs. That is an area that needs to be locked down going forward. <br />
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Another note to consider going forward is that Pittsburgh is 8-1 in their past nine games against both Boston and New York, so they have been a bit of match up nightmare for both clubs. What does that all mean? Probably nothing, as each series is a different animal, and the playoffs are FAR different than regular season games. That said, it seems as if the Penguins are taking advantage of the depth they can bring to a series to eventually wear an opponent down. Vokoun is making the saves he needs to make, and even after a softie or two in the middle of this series, he always made the saves he needed to make. What's more is the fact the Penguins also have guys like Brandon Sutter, Brendan Morrow, and Tyler Kennedy who may not always show up on the score sheet, but tend to do so with BIG goals when they do. The Pens will most likely face Boston in the Conference Finals next week, and the Bruins sure do look like a handful right now. I was wavering on the Penguins chances against Boston, but I need to remember how a seven game SERIES can unfold with a cumulative effect of a team who can roll out the kind of depth of scoring and toughness that Pittsburgh can. I am warming to the idea of Pittsburgh returning to the Stanley Cup Finals after a tough 6 game series with Boston. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-64458973124886358412013-05-05T23:22:00.001-04:002013-05-05T23:22:23.913-04:00Pens take a very shaky 2-1 series leadOkay three games in, and it is already a roller coaster ride for us Pens fans. After a 5-0 blowout win in the opener, the Penguins blew a 3-1 lead to the Isles at home in Game 2 to lose 4-3 and also give the Islanders some real confidence that they could win this series. Scary to me, was the fact that it was looking like a movie I had seen before in Game 2, between giving up the lead, taking penalties, making poor puck management decisions, really bad defensive zone structure, and Fleury giving up a couple of questionable goals, despite being stellar early in the game. Instead of a commanding lead in the series going to Long Island, the Pens had let the Islanders off the mat, and now they really believed they could win this series. Then in game 3, the Pens fell behind 2-0 early in period one, then came roaring back to go into the second period ahead 3-2. When Douglas Murray scored late in the second period to put the Penguins up 4-2 going into the third, it really seemed like the Pens had grabbed control of the game, and hopefully the series. But no, flashbacks again to last year's debacle, and the Pens get outshot 13-3 in the third, give up a shorthanded goal, and another two goal lead to send the game into OT. Thankfully, Brian Strait took a penalty in OT, and Chris Kunitz scored his second goal of the game off of a beautiful feed from Sidney Crosby to win this game, despite the sloppy play. Crosby's assist was his third of the game, giving him 2 goals and 3 assists in just two playoff appearances this season. The Penguins dodged a bullet and now have a 2-1 lead in the series, though it feels a bit shaky to me. The Penguins got through today's game by going 3 for 5 on the power play, while getting badly outplayed 5 on 5. They also gave up their second two goal lead in as many games, though this time they overcame that problem to win the game. The Islanders now really believe they can win this series, and despite being a much less talented team, they are giving the Penguins all they want. In fact, outside of game one, they have looked like the more composed team for the most part. That said, Pittsburgh, with a win on Tuesday can take a stranglehold on the series. Some things I think I think:<br />
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Despite the fact that Tomas Vokoun was brought in to be an option should Fleury struggle, and Fleury has had a couple of games where he has let in some questionable goals, he also has a .923 save percentage overall, and has made some huge saves while being let out to dry by his defense. The issue is that this has been his issue in recent post season play. Great play getting nullified by morale sapping bad goals at key moments. That said, I think Fleury should start the next game and his play in that game would dictate if it is Vokoun time.<br />
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Evgeni Malkin leads the NHL in playoff points with one goal and five assists, while Jarome Iginla has a goal and four assists. The damage has mostly been done on the power play, while the five on five play of the Malkin-Iginla-Bennett line has been pretty quiet. If it were me, I would put Kunitz with Malkin and Iginla with Crosby to try to get better 5 on 5 production, but I sure would not mess with the power play.<br />
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Pascal Dupuis leads the NHL in playoff goals with three, and Paul Martin has three assists from the blueline for the Penguins.<br />
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I was feeling pretty good about my smarts when Deryk Engelland looked out of place in game two and Simon Despres was in his place. Then Despres was beaten badly in the first period, leading directly to the first two Islanders goals, and I remembered that I am not that smart.<br />
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The Penguins have 12 goals in three games, and nine players scored those goals.<br />
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There are too many parts of the Pens game that look just like the Flyers series last year to make me a little uneasy, but I still think that the depth of the Pens will ultimately will make it tough on NYI to win this thing.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-79590283625333310842013-05-02T21:26:00.001-04:002013-05-02T21:26:19.443-04:00Pens win Stanley Cup!Ok, so I may be a little sarcastic here.....I LOVED the game played by the Penguins last night in their 5-0 drubbing of the Islanders in Game One of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Penguins chased Evgeni Nabokov, they got physical with John Tavares, their achilles heel, the PK delivered going 4-4, and the power play went 2-4, including a beauty by rookie Beau Bennett. The world turned upside down, as the Penguins even got a goal from Tanner Glass! But, yinzers I spoke with everywhere today were convinced that the showing last night likely meant a sweep of the Isles, and a run right to the 4th Cup. I am more with the Penguins players who correctly enjoyed the moment, then immediately began to put their focus on Game Two Friday night. 10-0 or 2-1, it is only one game of the four necessary to win the series. Lest you think I am just a hockey Scrooge, in two of the past three first round exits, our flightless Birds handled Montreal 6-3 in game one, chasing Jaroslav Halak in the 2010 first round series, which they ultimately lost in 7 games. In 2011, the Pens shut out the Lightning 3-0 in Game One, then lost the series, which they led at one point 3-1, in seven games. I suspect that those experiences, plus the additions of Morrow and Iginla will keep the Pens focused on the task at hand, and I do expect that they will prevail, but calm down folks. If the Isles storm back and take Game Two, we have a best of five series with both teams even. Friday night is a big night for Pittsburgh to make a statement about their overall depth and talent being too much for New York. A New York rebound win, and people, you may have a dog fight to contend with. After presenting my cautionary tale, let me get back to things that I liked about Pittsburgh last night:<br />
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Marc Andre Fleury came out and played a very strong game, hopefully setting up the frame of mind he will need to put recent post season failure behind him;<br />
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Pascal Dupuis continues to show the hockey world what kind of player he is, putting home two goals, including the dirty second goal of the game which seemed to deflate the Isles a bit;<br />
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Iginla and Jokkinen both continued their hot streaks adding 2 assists each to the scoresheet, while Iggy played a physical game all night long, physical, tough, straight line hockey;<br />
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Kris Letang was simply in beast mode, nuff said;<br />
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Mark Eaton played a very steady defensive game, and blocked 8 shots;<br />
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Crankshaft showed the element missing from the past three playoff disasters by his physicality in front of the net, sending Islanders flying like bowling pins;<br />
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Beau Bennett, the "scared" rookie took a Martin to Malkin tip on the boards and roared in on Nabokov and tucked a power play goal in a small space over his shoulder and played tough and smart all night long;<br />
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As noted, the Pens won the special team battle with a 4-4 PK effort and a 2-4 PP effort to control the game from the drop of the puck;<br />
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Brenden Morrow, though not on the score sheet, played the kind of relentless physical hockey that over the course of the series will take its toll;<br />
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Matt Cooke is already under the skin of the NYI, and drawing the early penalty from Brian Strait, put the Pens on the PP which led to the Bennett goal.<br />
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Evgeni Malkin to me had a mixed night. He had two assists, and those cannot be discounted, but he also played some pretty uninspired hockey at times, mixed with rushes where he tried to beat four Islanders and turned the puck over. You may think I am too hard on Geno, but he earns what Sid earns, wears an A, and after admitting to the fact that he did not deliver in the regular season, turned in an up and down night in my opinion. Other than the psychological damage it may do to strip it, I can think of several more deserving Penguins in terms of the A. A step in the right direction, but still not what Geno is capable of. The other downer are more injuries to both James Neal and Juicy. With Orpik still day to day and Crosby still out, I would prefer not to keep testing the depth of the team this early in the post season. I LOVED the game played by Pittsburgh, and love the fact that they quickly deflected the love they were thrown for the win, and turned the attention immediately to Game Two. Love the focus and physicality, but unlike many others here, I would prefer to take this run game by game. LETS GO PENS!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-32106186768756165222013-04-28T22:37:00.000-04:002013-04-28T23:03:47.393-04:00Penguins v Isles Round One Baby!As I sat and watched the Senators score an empty net goal against Boston, allowing them to leapfrog the Islanders, we finally know our round one opponent, the New York Islanders. Eerily, they were the opponent who derailed the last Penguins "can't miss" Stanley Cup Championship team in the 1992-93 season in round two as David Volek burned Tom Barrasso in OT of Game 7 to crush our dreams of a threepeat.<br />
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I am not saying that to scare you, but just to bring the "easy pickings" crowd back to reality. I will say that one major difference off the top for this version of the Penguins, is that they are coming off of three disappointing outings out of the past three post seasons as opposed to back to back Stanley Cups, which should make this team a lot hungrier and less prone to assuming all they have to do is to show up to win the Cup. Add to that, the Penguins added two former captains in Brendan Morrow and Jerome Iginla who are playing great hockey, and both see this as likely their best chance to live a childhood dream and hoist the Stanley Cup. Both players are tough, gritty leaders who carried their respective teams in Dallas and Calgary. When added to the nucleus already in place in Pittsburgh, along with the physical Douglas Murray, and versatile, faceoff demon, Jussi Jokinen, the Penguins sure do look like a team that SHOULD come out of the Eastern Conference. This does not mean that they will, but I will give my summary of the upcoming series below. First, the Penguins sit atop the Eastern Conference with a record of 36-12, second only to Chicago for the President's trophy and tied for the most wins in the NHL. They face the Islanders who are 24-17-7 and eighth in the East. The Penguins lead the league in goals per game at 3.38 goals more than half a goal per game more than the Islanders at 2.81 goals per game. The Penguins are 12th in goals against at 2.48 goals against per game, and that is also better than the 2.83 goals per game allowed by the Islanders. Special teams are always key in the playoffs, and if you had to look at an area that could come back to haunt our flightless birds, it is in the penalty kill area, where the Penguins 79.6% PK is 25th in a league of 30 teams, and only Washington has a worse PK of all of the Eastern Conference playoff teams! The good news is that the Islanders are not much better, with a PK of 80%, good for 21st in the league. The Penguins power play is clicking at 24.7% for the season, good for second in the NHL, while the Islanders are clicking at 20.4%, good for 11th in the league. This gives the edge on special teams to the Penguins based on a superior power play, and a very similar penalty kill. One area to watch is that the Penguins have given up three short handed goals, while the Islanders have not surrendered any. In the five matchups against the Islanders in the regular season, after losing the first game in January, the Penguins won the next four games by a combined score of 16-5. Goaltending is critical in the playoffs as well and the Islanders netminder is Evgeni Nabokov who posted a 23-11-7 record, with a 2.50 GAA and .910 save percentage. Nabby played in 41 of the 48 games the Islanders played, while Fleury and Vokoun split the season with Fleury going 23-8, with a 2.39 GAA and .916 save percentage, while Vokoun was 13-4 with 2.45 GAA and .918 save percentage. The edge in goaltending goes to Pittsburgh slightly based on an ability to use either goaltender in a tough series, both of whom have slightly better numbers than Nabokov, but Nabokov is more than good enough to steal some games here. The difference for Pittsburgh to win should be the superior firepower and depth of scoring. The Islanders have three players with more than 30 points including John Tavares, Brad Boyes, and Matt Moulson, with Tavares leading the way with 47 points. Michael Grabner is always dangerous, particularly against the Pens, while Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo add some nice grit and secondary scoring. Mark Streit and Lubomir Visnovsky anchor the blue line, while former Penguin Brian Strait plays a depth role for the Islanders as well. The Penguins meanwhile have six players with thirty or more points, with Crosby and Kunitz both netting more than 50 points, while Letang, Neal and Malkin would have also had 40 plus had they played a full season. Crosby was running away with the scoring race prior to a broken jaw, while Kunitz added 52 points, Dupuis 38 points, Letang 38 points, James Neal 36 points, and Geno with 33. Brandon Sutter added 11 goals and 8 assists in his third line role, with many of his goals of the clutch game winning variety. On top of this core of the Penguins, at the deadline, they added four players that have been huge for them, with three of them, Jokinen, Morrow and Iginla scoring at nearly a point per game pace, and Murray adding a crease clearing monster that the Penguins had lacked for years. Jerome Iginla played in 13 games for Pittsburgh, scoring 5 goals and 6 assists, with 4 of his goals coming on the power play. In addition to the goals, Iginla adds a toughness and leadership to this team that will come in handy for the Penguins. Then, Brenden Morrow in 15 games added 6 goals and 8 assists, while hitting everything that moves. His grit in the corners will be like body punches taking a toll in a 15 round fight during the playoffs. Then, Jussi Jokinen, who will come in handy taking last game faceoffs to protect a lead, or to win an offensive zone possession while trailing late also added 7 goals and 4 assists in his ten games played. If the Penguins play their game, this is where the difference will come in for Pittsburgh. <br />
The Islanders also have very little playoff experience, and may tighten up under the pressure cooker of their first post season trip in years. For the Penguins, they look to redeem themselves for three subpar post season runs since their 2009 Stanley Cup. Their depth of scoring, toughness and leadership should allow Pittsburgh to handle this series rather handily IF they avoid penalty troubles that will put their wobbly PK on the ice too often. The Penguins are rounding back to good health and the depth options for Pittsburgh should make them a tough assignment for the Islanders to survive, but please remember a Turgeon less Islanders team in 1992-93 was told the same thing. I will take the Penguins in five. Go Pens!!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-77681623718650038262013-04-23T00:26:00.001-04:002013-04-23T00:26:55.029-04:00If the hardware comes home it will be covered with Ray's prints<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It would take all night in my opinion to list all of the intelligent moves made by Ray Shero that have put the Penguins in the position they have been in since 2007-08, as one of the elite teams in the NHL. There were many deals that Shero has made for the Penguins that defy logic, but I will briefly mention the Hossa deal for three reasons. Though many thought the price was high for rental, Hossa put the Penguins over the top in the run to the Finals in 2008, and for my money they don't win the 2009 Cup without learning the lessons of the 2008 Cup run. Second, though Hossa did become a rental by signing with Detroit, the players given up to acquire him have not amounted to much since the trade was made. Last, but not least, the "throw in" player Pascal Dupuis is such an integral part of the Penguins success, and at a very cap friendly price, it is hard to believe he was an afterthought at the time of the deal. Then selling high on Whitney to get Kunitz and Tangradi, then adding Neal and Niskanen for Goligoski are two more high return deals that make the Penguins who they are today. I will not go too deep into these three trades, as they are well chronicled from past posts. Let's look at what Ray has done since the bitter disappointment of an early exit to Philadelphia in last year's playoffs. A series where the grit of the Penguins came into question, as did their defensive play and the post season play of their elite goaltender. Fast forward to June 4th when Shero makes a BIG move to improve the Penguins chances in this year's post season by trading a 7th round pick to the Capitals for the rights to Tomas Vokoun, giving the Penguins an elite 1-2 punch in the net that not only will allow Fleury to come into the post season a little less fatigued, but give Pittsburgh options should Fleury struggle in the cage this season. The importance of goaltending in the playoffs cannot be overstated, therefore the importance of this move cannot be overstated either. Then, when Jordan Staal declined to sign a 10 year, 60 million dollar contract offer, Shero gets Brandon Sutter, as good a third line center as there is in the league, highly touted defensive prospect Brian Dumoulin and the 8th overall pick which netted Pittsburgh Derrick Pouliot, an elite puck moving defensive prospect. You know, the kind of guy who will either be a big part of your blue line, or, if you are King Ray, a guy you turn into a top six forward, and a solid role player down the line. And do not forget the cap space he opened up with the move (2M this year and 4M next year). Then Shero moves Zybnek Michalek back to Phoenix in return for a 2012 3rd pick, big defensive prospect Harrison Ruopp, and some traffic cone of a goaltender who will never see the NHL. That move seemed like a bad move in terms of the return, but we soon learned why. King Ray was opening up cap space to make a hard run at Zach Parise and Gary Suter as free agency opened. While Shero pursued these two elite players, the Penguins lost Steve Sullivan a big part of the Penguins' power play success to free agency, and popular tough guy Arron Asham as well. When the Penguins came up empty on both stars while losing two quality role players, the fan base screamed for him to do something big. He did nothing of the sort, instead signing depth defenseman Dylan Reese and grinder Tanner Glass to the Penguins. Glass was brought in to fill the role of Asham and many griped about it. In reality Glass is younger, blocks more shots, and hits more than AA, so all in, not a bad move, but not exactly one that will take you to the heights of the league. People squaked, moaned, bitched and screamed. Somewhere Ray was smiling, as he knew the Penguins had a quality team, a lot of young assets to trade, and thanks to his ability to resist over spending to make a splash, CAP SPACE!! The season starts and despite a good record, the Penguins too often looked like that same team from last season who could run and gun with the best of them, but who looked too much like last year's team, who despite being a top regular season team, succumbed in the first round for the third straight year. Their defensive zone play was lacking and Shero goes out in February and signs ex-Penguin Mark Eaton to a one year deal. Most people thought that this was a curious signing, and likely a waste of the paper it was written on. Well, the Penguins have gone 22-2 since then, and are near the top of the league in defensive statistics in that time frame. A solid signing, but the Penguins still seemed a little light on crease clearing ability, grit, veteran leadership and net front prescence. Not to worry, King Ray steps up and gets highly coveted Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow and a 2013 third round pick in return for highly touted defensive prospect Joe Morrow and a 2013 fifth round pick. Many locals screamed about losing Joe Morrow, for "an old player" who wasn't scoring much any more. On losing our Morrow, well, the Penguins have Despres and Bortuzzo, both of whom will be fixtures next year, then Harrington, Dumoulin, Maata, Pouliot, Samuellson and others in WBS who are all highly touted prospects. They added a veteran leader who is chasing his first cup, who will hit everything that moves and wear down an opponent over a seven game series. He was the poor man's Iginla, whom the Penguins were not going to be able to sign. Morrow in 12 games as a Penguin has 11 points, 5G and 6A, while compiling 30 hits and a plus 4. And he made PK Subban soil himself along the way. Then Shero sends two second round picks to San Jose to acquire huge defenseman Douglas Murray to add size and nasty to the blue line. Murray has been a beast, blocking 27 shots, adding 28 hits, a fight and three points in 11 games. When he hits you, you know it. These two players add a toughness the Penguins have not had in quite some time. Then came the night I went to bed thinking of how much I hated to see Iginla join the Bruins as reported. Then I woke up to hear that Shero stole Iginla from the Bruins for two mid level prospects Ben Hanowski and Ken Agostino! So now the Penguins add the grit, leadership and skill of an 1,100 point captain and certain Hall of Famer while giving up little in tangible value. Iginla is the type of leader who can put a team on his shoulders and carry them through a playoff series. Iggy has 8 points (4G and 4A) in 10 games despitea slow start here. Then, in an under the radar move Shero adds Jussi Jokinen, former 30 goal scorer and faceoff artist for a conditional draft pick. Jokinen has 8 points (4G and 4A), while winning 52.4% of his faceoffs and playing to a plus 4! <br />
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Injuries to Crosby, Malkin, Neal, Letang, and Martin have meant that we have not seen what this team can do when all the pieces are together, but this group has the team on a 7 game streak right now without the star power mentioned above. You can see the added dimension of physicality, leadership, and big goal capability as all four of these guys have taken turns carrying this team right now. The depth is scary and should come in handy during the war of attrition that is the Stanley Cup playoffs. Vokoun is now 10-1 in his last 11 games as well. The projected lines if all are healthy would be Crosby centering Iginla and Dupuis, Malkin centering Kunitz and Neal, Sutter centering Morrow and Cooke, and Jokinen will be a fixture on line four with one of several possible linemates. The defensive unit would have Orpik, Letang, Martin, Murray, Niskanen, Eaton, along with Depres and Engo to pick from. Wow. As we learned in 1992-93, being the best team on paper does not mean you will win the Cup, but if they do not, it will not be due to the efforts and skills of Ray Shero in identifying and addressing the holes in a quality team to prepare them for a run at the Stanley Cup! In Shero we trust!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-75374885432602879702013-03-30T21:47:00.001-04:002013-03-30T22:03:35.648-04:00What a difference 19 days makesBack on March 11th I wrote a post called Ramblings where I talked about the Penguins' needs related to defense and penalty kill v the much requested "winger for Sid." Well on the 30th of March, despite adding two hard core, if a little long in the tooth, wingers to the team and a defenseman who adds some great PK skills and a much needed net front nastiness, the numbers have changed dramatically. Mind you, I don't think it is so much the trades, though both Morrow and Iginla will add to the defensive abilities in the forward group, much of the improvement occurred pre-trades. I assume that if the team stays healthy, the defensive numbers are likely to only improve. The Penguins riding 3 straight shutouts and a 11 game run where they are giving up less than one goal per game have dramatically improved their statistics in key team areas. On March 11th, the Penguins were 21st in the league in goals against at 2.92 goals per game against, and as of tonight they are now 4th in the league in that category at 2.33 goals per game allowed. By the way they are still first in the league in goals for at 3.36 goals for per game, down a bit from the 3.65 goals per game as noted on March 11th. The Penguins now own a whole month of March without a loss, an NHL record, and their 15 game unbeaten streak they are currently on is secondly only to the 17 game streak the 1992-93 Penguins were on. Of the past 11 games there have only been two where Pittsburgh has given up more than one goal, and those were both 2 goal games. Utterly stunning transformation in defensive responsibility. The penalty kill has improved from 22nd to 16th going from 78.8% to 81%, but looking much more like a key to victory v a reason for losing. The two extended 5 on 3's recently killed may have been two of the most impressive periods of Penguins hockey I have seen in quite some time. Though the power play has cooled from 27 plus percent to just over 23%, it is still third in the NHL, and can be quite lethal. The recent additions should only improve the team and its options in that area also. Fleury was 24th in GAA at 2.71 GPG and 29th in save percentage at .902. He is now 12th in GAA at 2.24 GPG and he is now tied for 14th with a .918 save percentage. Add to that Tomas Vokoun is now 7th in the NHL with a save percentage at .922 and 16th with a 2.33 GAA after pitching 7 straight periods of shutout hockey. In short, there is a lot of hockey left to be played and the Penguins are getting hit hard by the injury bug as I feared with Paul Martin out 6 weeks or so with a hand injury, Letang out 10 days with a foot injury, and the status of Sidney Crosby's jaw and head uncertain after taking a puck to the face from Brooks Orpik today. But you also see a tremendous amount of resolve and battle level at all times from this deeply balanced team, and if they can stay off of the injury list, they sure do have the swagger of a championship caliber team. I am going to try to just enjoy the ride and hope that the additions of two NHL captains who fill offensive, defensive and grit issues in the top 9, and a big physical defenseman will put this highly skilled, but recently underperforming post season team over the top. LETS GO PENS!!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-64821461753243700222013-03-29T22:11:00.000-04:002013-03-30T17:33:17.647-04:00Welcome to Pittsburgh JaromeAs I write this Jarome Iginla is somewhere overhead en route to Pittsburgh after spending sixteen seasons in Calgary. He was the captain of the Flames since the 2003-04 season, the first black captain ever named in the NHL. As of this writing Iginla has 9 goals and 13 assists, nice numbers for sure, but not the kind to cause all of this fuss right? I write that because many of my friends who are not die hard fans are asking me why is the city on fire as if they just got a King to join their organ I zation as the Canadian people like to say. Well Jarome may not be a king exactly, but he is hockey royalty, and he may not be a young lion anymore, but he sure is the type of player that will make this team that much tougher to play against in the postseason due to his leaderhip, toughness and skill. To put this into proper perspective let me recite some of the details of Iginla, a man who has played his entire career in the western conference and therefore not that well known to the more casual of fans here in the east. Jarome Iginla is a 35 year old right wing who is six foot one inch tall and about 214 pounds. He is a right handed shooter, something that will be a help to the Penguins' power play. In the NHL, you are generally considered an offensive weapon if you score 20 goals, a sniper if you get 30, and once you hit 40 and above you walk on some rather rarified ground, especially if you can also hit hard, and fight when necessary. Well, Jarome Iginla had 20 plus goals in ALL but ONE of his 15 seasons in the NHL, he had two years where he had more than 40 goals and 2 more where he actually had 50 goals or more! If that were not impressive enough, last season Iginla became only the 7th player in the history of the NHL to score 30 or more goals in 11 straight seasons. Think about that....only 7 have been consistently strong enough to accomplish that feat EVER. Iginla has played in 1188 regular season games prior to this season despite his tough as nails style of play and in those games he has scored 516 goals, added 557 assists for a total of 1073 points and 809 penalty minutes. In the playoffs he has added 28 goals and 21 assists in 54 games played, or nearly a point per game in the post season. Iginla has also won Gold for Team Canada twice in the Olympics, and he connected with our captain to win the Gold against Team USA in the 2010 Olympics.<br />
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Add Gold in the 2004 World Cup, Gold in the 1996 World Junior Championships and Gold again in the 1997 Worlds. Iginla has also won the Rocket Richard as top goal scorer in the NHL twice and the Art Ross trophy for most points once. The Penguins now boast three former Art Ross Trophy winers in their lineup, the first time an NHL team can claim that since the 1945 Wings. In addition to the winning and the scoring, Iginla is well known for his ferocious physcial style and his willingness to drop the gloves when necessary. The 35 year old Iginla is not likely to be the top scoring winger on this team at his age, but he will for sure add tenacity, toughness, hitting and clutch scoring for a team who could use these attributes in the post season. His style of play will create more room for his linemates as well, and they will take pause before taking liberties with either Malkin or Crosby, whomever Iginla flanks. If the on ice resume is not enough, he is one of the most well regarded leaders off the ice in the lockerroom, and even more so as a key member of the community based on his charitable contributions and general demeanor. In short, Iginla is a warrior you would go to battle with anytime, and he is a man you would be proud to know. Another quality person added to the Penguins organization, and a man who for many reasons I would love to see skating around with that silver chalice over his head in late June. Welcome to Pittsburgh Jarome Iginla, we are proud to call you a member of our hockey family.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-24099744198994463862013-03-27T10:23:00.000-04:002013-03-27T21:17:35.108-04:00Don't plan that parade yetYo my yinzer brethren, please do not take this post as overly negative. Just take it as realistic. Some of you who may read this post may not be old enough to clearly recall that magical 1992-93 season? You know that one where the Pens had the record breaking win streak of 17 games, won the President's trophy, and had a lineup that included Lemieux, Tocchet, Stevens, Jagr, Mullen, Murphy, Samuelsson, Barasso, et al? I was as guilty as anyone of planning the parade, and thinking how great it would feel to win 3 Stanley Cups in a row, hell I was thinking 5! Then came a man named Richard Pilon, and worse yet David Volek, and I can recall sitting n stunned silence on Short Street in Munhall contemplating what might have been for 15 minutes before I could even MOVE. That does not mean that we should not enjoy EVERY magical moment of this streak and whatever remaining glory there is in our regular season. In fact, it means you should relish these moments as we are very lucky to have them. Also the fact that our management team seems to be ALL IN, addressing the weaknesses that led to early playoff exits should excite you and on paper, I do not currently see a team in the East our beloved Pens SHOULD NOT handle in a seven game series. But several words of caution are to follow:<br />
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First, until the ink dries on all possible trades at the deadline, we do not know what we are really competing against this spring. There are several teams who with the right tweaks could give Pittsburgh fits;<br />
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Second, the line up is championship caliber if healthy. Recent years have not been overly kind in that area, and currently Malkin, Letang and maybe even Fleury are on the shelf. This cannot happen come playoff time or the big bad Pens do not look as big and bad;<br />
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Third, as that 1992-93 team can tell you, and even last year's team can tell you, the pundits saying you are the best team in the conference or the league does not matter. You will have to face four quality teams and win 4 best of 7 series for the honor of hoisting that Cup. The playoffs will test your talent, your depth and your desire in ways that are very hard to even describe! Every opponent will fight you for every inch in every game to take that chance at winning away. That is why the honor of doing so is to me the greatest glory in all of sports. <br />
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So, I am not saying this team cannot win that chalice, nor am I saying that this does not have me full of hope, even more than most. I am just saying do not ASS-U-ME as you know what they say! However, if the gods are kind on the injury front, maybe just maybe, we can live these moments again! Go Pens!!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-78299243053516225572013-03-25T14:07:00.001-04:002013-03-25T19:34:28.587-04:00Shero strikes againRay Shero is definitely sending a message to the league that he is looking to bring the hardware back to Pittsburgh. Not that towering defenseman Douglas Murray is the kind of guy who will turn a team around, but Pittsburgh does not need turned around. What it was lacking was a big, extremely physical and nasty blue liner to fill a need as the fourth or fifth defenseman. Murray, a 6'3" 245 lb blue liner who hits (56), and also blocks shots with 64 shots blocked this season (top20) fills that bill nicely for Pittsburgh. Murray also plays significant minutes on the number 4 ranked PK in the NHL, so he should help the Penguins there as well. The Penguins felt like they needed more grit on the blue line, and though they preferred another top four player, they felt that prices for those guys were too high so they filled in a very specific need instead, for a second round pick this year, and I believe the pick next year is a second rounder that is conditional upon Murray re-signing with the Penguins. The third round pick acquired in the Morrow deal may have impacted the willingness to make this move since Pittsburgh has two third round picks in the coming draft. This move also gives the Pens a left handed shot on the blue line which would have made an impact last night, as well as a veteran player who will definitely leave a physical mark on you. In the playoffs, adding another shot blocker and significant depth at a key position is an added bonus. Dan Boyle, a teammate of Murray's in San Jose said today that if the Eastern Conference forwards do not know who Douglas Murray is, they will. The Penguins to me still have chips in Tyler Kennedy, Dustin Jeffrey, and either Deryk Engelland or Robert Bortuzzo, along with prospects and picks to further improve their team for a long playoff run should the right price and player come along. I like this move as well. Shero is all in baby.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-53196704523674500742013-03-25T12:37:00.001-04:002013-03-25T12:52:09.928-04:00Morrow for MorrowSorry, had a busy couple of days and work is crazy so had to scratch most of this out late last night and thanks to Adam Lambert, he posted a video I needed to complete the post on FB today! So as I sit on another conference call, I can now do my analyis of the Morrow for Morrow for trade the Penguins made yesterday. <br />
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At first, as the news broke, I was not sure what I thought of the move, as I am a big fan of the POTENTIAL I have seen in Joe Morrow. At one point, I had visions of he and Simon Despres anchoring a large and mobile defense corps well into my old age. Two camps ago it appeared that Joe Morrow could have made the big club as a teenager, and I had visions of grandeur associated with a blue line that had Letang, Morrow and Despres as the anchors along with Harrington, Strait and Bortuzzo. Well folks upon further review, I think it is a great move for the Penguins as I read some of the pros and cons, and make my own opinion. Those who are against the move cite a few major reasons;<br />
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The big time top four POTENTIAL of Joe Morrow;<br />
The relatively lackluster season of Brenden Morrow thus far;<br />
The rental nature and advancing age of Brenden Morrow;<br />
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Well, those are all points that are well taken, and in a vacuum all are totally true issues that can be chalked up in the con column. But there are way too many arguments to the pro side of the equation. First, and this ties back to my Sutter and two stud blue line prospects for Staal post, is the fact that Ray Shero has stockpiled blue chip defensive prospects for this very reason. To improve the team's chances of winning the Stanley Cup NOW, and in the future. According to Josh Yohe, the Penguins scouts have been said that both Olli Maata and Pouliot project to better pros than Morrow, and that does not even cover the emergence of Despres on the Penguins, Bortuzzo as the seventh defenseman on the Penguins this season, or the high regard for Brian Dumoulin and Scott Harrington among others in the system. In other words, despite the POTENTIAL of Morrow, the Penguins blue line depth for now or the future is FAR from depleted by this move. The world is full of blue chip prospects who never actually reach their POTENTIAL, ie Noah Welch, Angelo Esposito, Eric Tangradi, et al. So to me, the Penguins decided to take advantage of a team who is poised atop the Conference, but possibly lacking some grit, leadership and size in the top 9 and they took a shot at winning NOW, without mortgaging the future at all. But, did they get an aging rental who is past his prime? Possibly they did. But is that not what they got when they added Gary Roberts and Bill Guerin at past deadlines? Did both of those players not add to the team in a way that led to a Finals trip and a Stanley Cup? Has Noah Welch even played enough ever to be noticed as an NHL player much less win the Norris? There you go! And what did the Penguins get in Morrow? They got a 6'0" and 210 lb LW, who has been the captain of the Stars since 2006-07. They got a gritty player who goes hard to the net, and has 243 goals and 528 points in his regular season career to go with about 1200 PIMs who probably recognizes this stop as one that may represent his last best chance to hoist the Stanley Cup, no small matter for a fierce Canadian kid who won Gold representing his country in the 2010 Olympics, despite the availablity of younger kids. He was selected for the grit and leadership he possessed, and he helped to deliver. Is he on the downside of his carreer? Sure he is, but he does not have to drive the numbers in Pittsburgh to lead them to the promised land. He will clearly either add some drive and grit to the second line along with Neal and Malkin, creating even more space for those two guys, along with getting them the puck in battles along the boards, a la Chris Kunitz or he will match up with Sutter and Cooke, leaving Bennett to keep gaining his chemistry on the second line to give the Penguins a truly nasty to play against tough ass third line who can wear you out and score the occasional big goal. Or more than occasional GWG when you add the big goal potential of Morrow, who scored 3 of the Stars' game winning OT goals in their drive to the Finals, to clutch goal scoring of Brandon Sutter. Folks, the Penguins are a much tougher match up problem for any opponent today than they were yesterday, and they gave up NOTHING from the roster today. They took a man with POTENTIAL, albeit big time potential to take a shot at winning NOW. And they took that man from a deep pool of others with POTENTIAL. They also moved up two rounds in a deep 2103 draft with swapping of draft picks that occurred as well. If Morrow is a rental and the Penguins make a deep run into the post season at least, still a good deal. If he adds the depth, grit and character to win the Cup then it is a GREAT deal. This move does not in any way guarantee the Penguins a deep playoff run, much less the Cup, but the teams who do win the Cup tend to be deep, balanced, gritty and defensively responsible. The Penguins are more of all four of this things after this trade folks. All in, nicely done!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-75928796205053209852013-03-16T20:01:00.000-04:002013-03-16T20:01:40.414-04:00More rants from the semi-intelligent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was a good day at the barn today. The Penguins put a good win in the record books by beating Division rival New York, 3-0 putting 14 points between them and the Rags in the standings. Fleury also recorded his 23rd shutout, surpassing Tom BarASSHOLE as the Penguins leader in that category! Congrats to Mr. Fleury! He also moved to the top of the NHL in victories with 15, despite some modest personal stats, the kid seems to just win baby. It was also great to see Beau Bennett net his second goal of the season and contribute some offense as he gets more and more comfortable in a top six role for Pittsburgh. More important to me is the fact that the Penguins seem to have tightened up their defensive zone play over the past four games, and their penalty kill for now has gone from algatross to momentum builder, killing 9 of their past ten opportunities. My boy Pascal Dupuis scored his 14th goal of the season, 13 of them at even strength, tying him with none other than Steven Stamkos for that honor! Great for Duper! Tyler Kennedy had a very good game and with LOTS of scouts in the building from other teams, particularly Columbus. I would love to see Derek Dorsett on the Penguins to add some grit and nastiness on the bottom line. Also, loved Sidney Crosby sticking up for Pascal Dupuis after Ryan McDonagh shoved Dupuis face first into the boards in a classic boarding call that the NHL supposedly wants to stop, but in typical garage league fashion, one of the turds on skates looked right at the play and let it go. The Orpik/Martin pairing has looked solid and more like a shutdown pairing the past couple of games, and Eaton played a solid game paired up with Kris Letang. Again, to me, Simon Despres did NOTHING to indicate that he should ever sit the pine again for Pittsburgh as a healthy scratch. Matt Niskanen is not afraid to fire the biscuit from the point either! The Penguins looked amazing in period one, pretty awful in period two where Fleury held the line, and in what has become the norm of late, they displayed a killer instinct in period three to put a division rival away. In fact, Pittsburgh has beaten the Rags now in seven straight games. It was good to see contributions from Dustin Jeffrey and Tyler Kennedy, though it may be more for the addition of trade value for one or both. I don't think DJ is a bad player, but he does not seem to have quite enough skill to play a top six role nor enough grit to be much on the bottom six. He is however a good utility guy who can contribute a bit anywhere in a pinch in my opinion. I think that Kennedy has been a much better player of late, but still believe that for 2M from a pending UFA who is smallish and inconsistent, if somebody takes the bait, goodbye Mr. Kennedy, thanks fort the memories! I was a big fan of the Tanner Glass signing based on him being a top 10 hitter in the NHL last season as well as a solid shot blocker. I am not so sure now that I like that deal for Pittsburgh, and to me, anybody on the line 4 is fair game to be replaced if the right opportunity would present itself. In a perfect world, I love the thought of Chris Stewart becoming a Penguin in a hockey trade, a solid veteran defenseman who can clear the net, even if a rental and some swapping of assets from our bottom six, draft picks, and prospects to add some veteran leadership and grit on the bottom six. I do not want to see Despres moved at all, and I would only move Dumoulin or Morrow in a deal that brought back a Chris Stewart type asset. I know that they would still needs to add to either of them to get a Stewart, but I think Stewart would change the whole dynamic of our top six in terms of added toughness and net front presence. If Wayne Simmonds is available as is rumored, that is another player who would add a ton up front for Pittsburgh, but I am not sure if those two organizations would dance. Let's see, an interesting couple of weeks are pending.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-34299787018042089962013-03-13T23:40:00.001-04:002013-03-14T00:04:48.349-04:00Sutter....he is kind of goodSome of this post will be redundant if you are one of the few crazy enough to read my posts on a regular basis. I posted right after the Sutter/Staal trade was announced that I thought given the circumstances in which Staal had rejected a ten year/60 million dollar offer from the Penguins, and was one season away from being a UFA, the fact that Shero got a player the caliber of Sutter in return for Staal amazed me. If you add to that the fact that he ALSO got former 2nd round pick Brian Dumoulin, a highly touted 6'4" defenseman, and the 8th overall pick which turned out to be Derrick Poulliot in addition to Sutter for soon to be UFA Staal, the deal seemed to be an unreal return given the circumstances. Staal is a player who will remain a favorite of mine, a player who filled my head with so many memories, not the least of which was the shorthanded goal he scored in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2009, that to me, not only tied the game at 2-2, but likely turned the tide of the series in favor of the Penguins, and ultimately led to the third Stanley Cup in Penguins history!<br />
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I will never forget that moment, as the goal was scored right in front of my family, and the building erupted! I wish Staalsy could have remained a Penguin, but if he had to go, I am pretty happy with the return when you analyze it in full. Sutter carries a 2M less cap hit this season, and 4M less cap hit than Staal next season, which will allow the Penguins to carry some other talent on top of Sutter to replace Staalsy. To put this in perspective, Sutter and Kunitz combined will be just under the Staal cap hit for next season. I think it is safe to say that if thought of in those terms, the deal looks pretty damn good for Pittsburgh. If you factor in the value that Dumoulin and Pouliot will add either by growing into their top two pairing projections or by getting a return as part of another trade for Pittsburgh either directly or indirectly, the return value is pretty amazing. Staal definitely wanted the chance to be a top 2 line center, and given the fact he was kind of close to his brother Eric, getting this package for Staal is even more impressive.<br />
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In short the value of Sutter, the additional cap space, and the long term value of the Dumoulin and Pouliot portion of the trade, this will be a very adequate replacement of a player even the caliber of Jordan Staal. The impatient fan base here was a little tough on Sutter when he was slow to start from an offensive standpoint, forgetting that he not only had to deal with a completely different system, different linemantes/teammates, but he did that without the normal benefit of a training camp and exhibition games. The condensed schedule also cut down on practice time between games, so Sutter had a lot of extra issues that would hinder anybody making such a change in job status. And oh yeah, the penalty kill woes were also blamed on Sutter by some. Well folks, the PK after nearly two years of top performance starting to suck on this level in March of last year, and remained a thorn in the side of the Pens and a key reason for their playoff woes while Staal was still the key player on the unit. It did not slide due to Sutter taking Staal's place. It is also important to note that although it is a small sample size, Sutter currently has goals against of 1.7 GA per 60 minutes, while Staal currently has a 3.7 GA per 60 minutes and had a 2.8 GA per 60 minutes last year. Sutter has 8 goals to Staal's 6 despite minimal power play time, and being saddled most nights with Tyler Kennedy on his wing. That is like taking a butter knife to a gunfight! Sutter also has a +6 rating for the year compared to Staal's -3. Staal does have 12 assists to Sutter's 5, but he also gets far more power play time, and plays with far better wingers. As far as clutch goals, Sutter is 9th in the league with 3 game winning goals, and should have had a goal v Philadelphia that would have stolen at least a point in the last minute if Vokoun had been able to find his ass with either hand that night. The fact that Voracek killed the improbable comeback 33 seconds later had no bearing on the fact that Sutter had shown us a glimpse of the near future by scoring a clutch goal for the Penguins! Some of those goals are to follow here:<br />
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GWG 2.5.13 v Islanders<br />
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Game tying goal 2.20.13 v Flyers<br />
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Gamre tying and game winning goals v Boston<br />
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Jordan Staal will be a favorite player of mine forever, but I am sure Brandon Sutter will rank right up there over time, providing plenty of his own memories. Bank on it!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-31564568996974862862013-03-11T22:43:00.000-04:002013-03-11T22:48:07.718-04:00A Fools RamblingsIf you chose to read this post despite its title, well then perhaps there is more than one fool out here, welcome aboard my friend! I am just going to free form some thoughts I have had while sitting here tonight trying to get the thoughts of a long work day out of my head.<br />
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The Penguins have so many leaders in all of the offensive categories it is amazing to me. In points Crosby is first with 45pts, Kunitz is 3rd with 36pts, Neal is 11th with 28pts, and Letang is 17th with 26 points, along with being the top scoring NHL defenseman. This gives the Pens four players out of the top 20 and the top blueliner to boot in scoring in the league. And we need MORE scoring? In the goal category, Stamkos is first with 19 goals, but the Penguins have Kunitz and Neal both at second with 17 goals, Crosby 13th with 12 goals and Dupuis tied for 18th with 11 goals, meaning the whole top line for Pittsburgh is in the top 20 in the league in goals! Please note that last year's scoring champ Evgeni Malkin does not even factor in here, and one would think he will get hot before all is said and done, which would give Pittsburgh some unreal firepower! Kunitz leasds the league in plus/minus at +21, while Crosby is 8th at <complete id="goog_1854495995">+16. In power play goals, Neal and Kunitz are tied for the league lead with 8 PPG apiece, while four Penguins are in the top TEN in assists with Crosby first at 33A, Letang third at 23A, Kunitz and Malkin are 6th with 19A apiece. While Fleury is tied for second in wins with 12 victories, he is 24th in GAA at 2.71 and 29th in save percentage at .902. Finally, some team statistics that tell a tale include the fact that Pittsburgh is first in the league in Goals for at 3.65 goals per game, but 21st in goals against allowing 2.92 goals per game. The power play is a white hot 27.9%, good for third in the league, while the penalty kill remains pathetic at 78.8% kill rate good for 22nd in the league. What does all of this mean? I don't know for sure, but it feels a lot like last year, and as fun as that regular season ride was, the playoff ride was not fun at all. Some individual thoughts from analyzing the above, and watching every game at least once?</complete><br />
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<complete>Sidney Crosby is back to being the best player in the game...period. Before his concussion he was tearing up the league at a record pace, and now with a "full" season of health he is scoring 1.73 points per game, which is the highest points per game average since Mario Lemieux had 1.76 points per game in 2000-2001! He is making the little plays in all three zones as well, and seems to be one step ahead most nights. I just wish sometimes he would SHOOT the F'ing puck instead of making a tough pass, but tough to grouse about his game eh?</complete><br />
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<complete>Chris Kunitz, just a monster. We all know about his ability to forecheck, win battles in the corners, create space for either Crosby or Malkin, get in front of the net, and clean up garbage goals, but NOW he is an absolute sniper to boot. Just an unreal display by one of my favorite Penguins! For those who groused about signing for 3.5M plus, well you could not have been more wrong about the KOON!</complete><br />
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<complete>Pascal Dupuis is another guy who is just amazing to me. Every day on the local hockey boards, people grouse about that winger for Sid. Every god damn day. Well guess what? He has two wingers who fit him just fine. Sometimes the whole is just better than the sum of the parts, and a unit just meshes. Folks, this is one of them times yinz. Let it go! On a cap strapped team that has big money tied up in Malkin, Crosby, Fleury, Neal, and soon to be Letang, you cannot have tons of highly paid wingers, so getting what you get from Duper for 1.5M per season IS ONE OF THE BEST VALUES IN THE NHL. Also, save for some time off for 87's concussion, this line has been the best line in the NHL up to Crosby's concussion, and all year this year. We don't need a winger for Sid folks, at least not one we can afford.</complete><br />
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<complete>Nealer? I have not been a fan of his sudden inability at times to control his emotions, but hey, he truly is the power forward us yinzers love to watch play. He gets to open ice, and his release, simply put is just awesome to watch. Pure sniper baby.</complete><br />
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<complete>Malkin to me has been a disappointment thus far this season. He has been hit by the injury bug lately, and he seemed to be closer to the 2011-12 Geno the past two games prior to another injury hitting him. That said, if he comes back anywhere near the Geno of last season, the Penguins top two lines are looking very solid! Geno needs to get back on the top flight Geno pace if the Pens are thinking it may take 10M per season to sign him.</complete><br />
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<complete>Beau Bennett? You can really see some of the things that make you KNOW he is a legitimate top six winger, who will put up some big numbers at some point in the NHL. He is grittier than I expected, and you can see how well he sees the ice, and works well with other top flight talent. That said, I am not sure that THIS year I would put that much pressure and hope on him. I would consider the right trade for a top six winger if the price were right, but I expect to see 19 on that second line all of next season and for the rest of this season or at least until we see what the deadline brings.</complete><br />
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<complete>Brandon Sutter started a little more slowly than some would like but remember two things before you call him a disappointment as some have. First, he played in a completely different style and system in Carolina than he plays in here. Second, he did not have any training camp or exhibition games to learn the new system. Third, for those who are rumbling about his offensive output he has more goals than 71, and yes he played a few more games, but his job is not to score goals at the rate of a Malkin. He is still in my mind, an integral player and long term piece on this team. His linemates to me are one of the places Pittsburgh HAS to improve to be a factor in the playoffs. Kennedy is too small to wear teams down with physical play, and he mostly contrbutes very little if anything on a nightly basis. Matt Cooke has been okay, but again, not the pest he used to be. Pittsburgh has to get more physical play and some offense from the third line to be a force in the post season. Look for Pittsburgh to try to address this need at the deadline. The same goes for the fourth line in my opinion. I don't see an untouchable on that line, and would love to see Pittsburgh get bigger and tougher by swapping a player or two on the bottom six. Other than Sutter, I don't see an untouchable in the bottom six, and I see Kennedy as someone who has to GO.</complete><br />
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<complete>On defense, for different reasons, I see Letang and Despres as untouchables, with Martin in the next level while all others could be moved for the right returns in a series of deals. Orpik WAS the bruiser who anchored a once solid blue line, but now he seems slow and at times disinterested in getting dirty or even tying up sticks in the crease. Given the miles on him, and depending on what they can bring in, he is movable to me in the right scenario. Niskanen has been very serviceable for the price, but the Pens have a lot of smaller puck moving defensemen, and Nisky could be moved for the right return in my opinion as part of an effort to get bigger and tougher on the blue line. Bortuzzo, who is young and makes some mistakes could still make Engelland a movable part based on his ability to play physical, but with a bigger upside, projected as a possible top four player. Despres, makes some mistakes, but you can see his ability to be physical, make smart plays to get the puck out of the zone, and join the rush at the appropriate times. Eaton seems to be a Disco man, and in that vein provides some nice veteran depth for Pittsburgh. Martin has had a good rebound season, and has been solid on a strong power play unit, and more physical than in the past. I would love to see Pittsburgh get an NHL now player who is big and can clear the net for a playoff run, even if it costs one of the many not quite ready for prime time blue line prospects in the system. </complete><br />
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<complete></complete><br />
<complete></complete><br />
<complete>Vokoun was brought in and paid 2M to allow Pittsburgh to be ready in case Fleury struggled down the stretch or in the post season. I would give him several more starts in the next two weeks or so to determine if that 2M is getting you that luxury, or if he might be movable in favor of a less costly back up. Injuries to other goalies would set either a decent market or no market at all for an aging goaltender with marginal stats though. </complete><br />
<complete></complete><br />
<complete>There are so many variable to potential trades that could happen, especially actual hockey trades like the Kunitz/Tangradi for Whitney deal, and the Goligoski for Neal/Niskanen deal that I will not even speculate on possibilities there. Some top rentals that make sense in way or another for Pittsburgh given my general desire for Pittsburgh to add size and grit include David Clarkson who, to me is exactly what Pittsburgh needs in their lineup, Jarome Inginla, Ryan Clowe, Nate Thompson, and Clark MacArthur up front. Mark Streit, Ian White, Lubomir Visnosky, and Sergei Gonchar lead the list of potential defense rentals.</complete><br />
<complete></complete><br />
<complete></complete><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-27457481705660619522013-03-03T11:58:00.001-05:002013-03-03T12:13:34.671-05:00Pens win thriller but I'm not thrilledI have not had the time to post this season as usual, but I thought that given an exciting win last night in overtime against Montreal 7-6, and the fact that we are two games shy of midseason, and the trade deadline is a month away it might be a good time to check in again. Hey, getting two points last night was big for Pittsburgh, and I like the way that they hung in and kept coming back on the road, but on a road trip that was 1-2 with 18 goals against, forgive me if I am not planning on being in the Consol in June this season. Hey, yes, the Pens have the third most points in the Eastern conference, so it is tough to be too hard on them, BUT, and that is BUT larger than Kim Kardashian's, they do not seem to have learned their lessons from their early departure from last season's playoffs! This next part will also tie in to the percieved trade deadline needs for Pittsburgh, which seem to always center around a top six winger for either Malkin or Crosby.......Hello folks, scoring is not the issue AGAIN for Pittsburgh, stopping other people from scoring, killing penalties and not taking penalties is the ISSUE just like last season. Like last season the glass half full people want to point to the standings to say it is okay, but folks this team is not built for a long playoff run without a MAJOR attitude adjustment and or a couple of trades. Some evidence to support my thoughts are as follows:<br />
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Pittsburgh is tied for 2nd in the NHL IN goals for at 3.46 per game only slightly behind 1st place Tampa at 3.48 GF per game, but they are 19th in the NHL in goals against per game at 2.91 GA per game. They are also third in the NHL on the power play converting at 27.8%,but just 18th on the PK at 80.7%! Upper echelon in goals per game and power play goals, bottom half of league in goals against and the penalty kill! If you look at individual rankings in the NHL, the Penguins boast the NHL's leading scorer in Sidney Crosby who has 34 points, with 10 goals and 24 assists, two points ahead of Tampa's Steven Stamkos. They also have the NHL's top scoring defenseman in Kris Letang, with 19 points and its fourth leading scoring defenseman in Paul Martin with 15 points. Add to that, they have James Neal tied for 2nd in the NHL in goal scoring with 13 goals and Chris Kunitz tied for 9th with 11 goals, while leading scorer Sidney Crosby is lurking right behind the leaders with 10 goals. Conversely, Marc Andre Fleury despite playing very well in my opinion is 16th in the NHL in GAA and 18th in save percentage, while Vokoun is buried in the depths of the rankings. Vokoun has played sub par, but Fleury has not. It is tough to have great numbers when opposing forwards are standing in your blue paint looking for rebounds, and getting two or three cracks at pucks in and near the crease!<br />
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To me, the numbers do not lie! The Penguins existing personnel HAS to take playing a defensive system FAR more seriously than they have, from the star forwards to the depth defensemen, and though I would love the chance to add a legitimate top six winger, I would rather add some two way players who play a sound game and take care of their own end and a veteran defenseman who does not like to see opposing forwards standing in his crease without making them pay a steep price. With the shortened season there are too many potential ways to look at who may be available, and I sure won't turn away a guy who has skills, but they better also play with some edge, play in all three zones, and have some size to wear down the opposition. Getting goals does not seem to be the issue, stopping the opponent from getting them clearly is.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-61926542027249977242013-02-07T22:26:00.000-05:002013-02-08T07:09:53.516-05:00Pens win fifth in a row<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Penguins extended their winning streak to five games in a row, and Crosby extended his scoring streak to 6 games as the Pens explode in the second period to beat the Capitals handily for the second time this week 5-2. The win is significant for Pittsburgh as the Caps came into tonight's game 9-0-1 in their last ten regular season games in Pittsburgh. Wow. After falling behind 1-0 on an early goal by Mike Ribeiro, who has a goal in both games against Pittsburgh this season, the Penguins exploded for five goals in the second period to take a 5-1 lead into the third period. Ovechkin got his third of the season to make it 5-2, nearly halfway through the period, but the Pens shut the door after that behind stellar netminding by Fleury. The goal scorers tonight were Malkin (3), PPG, Dupuis (4), Neal (7), PPG, Cooke (2), and Crosby (5) PPG. Local kid Dylan Reese made his Penguins debut tonight for Pittsburgh and played a typically solid game for the kid. He replaced Kris Letang who has the dreaded unspecified lower body injury. On a side note, I worked for Dylan's father Barry as a teenager, and he was as advertised, a very nice guy! The Penguins top players tonight were Crosby and Malkin who each had one goal and two assists, while James Neal had a goal and an assist, and Chris Kunitz kept his hot hand adding two assists as well. Bortuzzo and Despres also had solid games again, along with Reese which is extremely promising for the young defense. Bortuzzo was physical with Ovechkin all night and was very solid in his own end again. Orpik and Martin each played great games again as well, with Martin logging over 28 minutes of ice time to lead the Penguins. The power play had 3 goals tonight despite the absence of Kris Letang.<br />
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The Penguins top five scorers at this point in the season are as follows:<br />
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Crosby with 5 goals, 12 assists, 17 points and +7<br />
Malkin with 3 goals, 12 assists, 15 points and even<br />
Kunitz with 6 goals, 8 assists, 14 points and +7<br />
Neal with 7 goals, 2 assists, 9 points, and -2<br />
Kris Letang with 3 goals, 6 assists, 9 points and +4<br />
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Also of note, Brooks Orpik was second in the NHL in blocked shots, while Crosby has slid into a second place tie in points with he and Stamkos having 17 points behind Vanek with 21. Malkin and Crosby are tied for second in the league in assists with 12 each behind Martin St. Louis with 13 assists. The Penguins are showing the kind of firepower that has to be scary to some, particularly given the way the defense has thus far been a pleasant surprise. It is a long season full of ups and downs so it is early to get too excited, but it has been a fun stretch to watch!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-14211211602515112812013-02-05T22:23:00.001-05:002013-02-05T22:54:55.707-05:00Pens make it four in a row beating the IslesNot too much positive to say about anything related to the Islanders or their fans. They actually cheered the puck to the face Crosby took, though it should not have been surprising given the way they still LOVE the classless acts that took place on their ice two winters ago. Add to the fact that these idiots have beaten the Pens in their past three meetings, and this win was SWEET. I am not going to do the goal calls, but I would rather do more in relation to game observations. First, I was utterly unimpressed with Malkin again, his lack of focus is getting more than mildly annoying. He is a turnover machine and leads the team in penalties, miles ahead of all but Despres. The penalty kill was so impressive tonight it was amazing to watch. They killed seven penalties without giving up a goal, and at times they made it look EASY. They won the battles to the loose pucks, they collapsed to the net and they blocked shots. Orpik and Martin were particularly impressive in these situations, as was the entire unit. James Neal continued his power play mastery netting his sixth goal of the season to open the scoring for the Pens, and Crosby notched his 10th assist of the season and has quietly moved into a third place tie in scoring in the NHL. Tanner Glass stepped up to defend the captain and avenge the Lovejoy play of last week, by challenging Colin McDonald, who deftly allowed Martin to take some solid shots in the face from Glass. I really like the addition of Glass to this team, as he adds true grit and sandpaper to the team outside of the fighting so many people think of. He is a smart, versatile player. Simon Despres had a game in which he took two more bad penalties, but he also showed why he is so highly regarded. On one shift in the second period, he made a bone rattling check at one end of the ice and joined the rush late to drill a lazer past Nabokov to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Robert Bortuzzo had yet another solid game on the blue line, and I continue to love the physicality he brings to the team as well. Brandon Sutter was a beast all over the ice and netted his second goal as a Penguin to give them what seemed like an insurmountable 3-0 lead. The Pens had a close call in the third giving up 2 goals in 35 seconds to get back to within a goal with lots of time left in the game. Fleury had some rebound control issues on those plays, and the defense was caught looking around for a bit. They stood tall after that, and Dupuis netted his third goal to seal the deal. Fleury had a great game in the net tonight, and Paul Martin had another great game for the Pens in his comeback campaign. The Flyers helped the Pens out in the conference standings by knocking off the Lightning, and as of tonight the Pens sit atop the Eastern Conference. Thursday the Captards are in town. A big heartfelt FOAD to all of Long Island!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-45550687818304383662013-02-03T20:12:00.000-05:002013-02-03T20:43:59.201-05:00Pens are streaking!Relax ladies, it was meant in terms of a 3 game winning streak, not naked Penguins running around the streets! That said, it was a satisfying win for the Penguins as it was their third in a row, it came against a hated rival that is obnoxious from the top to their bottom feeding fans,( despite never winning anything of substantial value) on their home ice. All while Edzo was slobbering all over Ovechkin's privates despite Ovie not doing much of anything but running around like an asshole trying to line up his daddy for a big hit. The victory was a respite in what has become recent REGULAR season dominance by the Caps. The victory gives the Penguins 12 points and solidifies their spot atop the Atlantic Division, and pulls them into a second place tie with Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference.<br />
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Paul Martin openeed the scoring for Pittsburgh at 3:37 of the first period, netting his second of the season, assisted by Crosby (7). 1-0 Pens. Mike, "Vespa Boy" Green tied it 1-1 at 5:05 before a hat trick of firsts for Pittsburgh. Matt Cooke scored his first goal of the year assisted by Deryk Engelland and Robert Bortuzzo, first assists for each of them to reclaim a 2-1 lead for the Pens. The period ended that way with Pittsburgh leading 2-1.<br />
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The Craps tied it 2-2 when Carlson scored at 4:03 of the second. The Pens answered quickly when Kris Letang showed great patience before beating Holtby for his third goal of the season from Suter (2) and Cooke (1), making it 3-2 Pittsburgh! Then Chris Kunitz began his rampage at 7:33 netting a goal, his third of the season from Crosby (8) and Malkin (9) to make it 4-2 Pittsburgh. Then Koon struck again on the power play at 13:59, his 4th of the year from Malkin (10) and Neal (1) to give Pittsburgh a 3 goal lead at 5-2! The second period ended that way.<br />
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Early Mike Ribeiro gave the Caps life making it 5-3 at the 3:33 mark of the period, and the Caps took advantage of being the fresher team for a bit, but Kunitz ended the scoring with his 5th goal at 19:52, another power play market and a hat trick, assisted by Crosby (9) and Letang (5) to close the scoring at 6-3 Pittsburgh!<br />
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Some notes from the game:<br />
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Though Vokoun may not have had his best game as a Penguin, he was victimized by one fluke goal, and despite giving up three goals, he made some big saves in the third after Ribeiro's goal closed the gap to two goals, and had 24 saves. His record is now 3-1-0 with a .927% save percentage and 2.08 GAA;<br />
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Big game today, and a big couple of games for Chris Kunitz. He had a hat trick today, and is now tied with James Neal for the team lead in goals. Koon has 4 goals, 2 assists and a plus 5 rating in his past two games;<br />
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Sidney Crosby is on fire, collecting 3 assists today to bring his point total to 13 points on the season, leading the Penguins, and getting him closer and closer to the league leaders. Equally important, he has been his willingness to go to all of the dirty areas, and play strong in all three zones;<br />
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How abour Robert Bortuzzo, who has one goal and one assist in his past two games and a plus 5 rating. Add to that his ability to take the body, and you will take that from a rookie third pairing defenseman;<br />
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Pascal Dupuis has been on fire offensively the past several games, and today he blocked three shots on the penalty kill today after getting 1 goal and 3 assists in the prior three games;<br />
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Geno quietly got 2 assists and is only one point behind Crosby for the team lead with 12 points;<br />
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Kris Letang had 2 points with a beautiful goal and an assist, though he did over commit on the play that led to Mike Green's goal. On the season Letang also has 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points making him third among NHL defensemen in point scoring;<br />
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Paul Martin continued his strong season adding a goal to open the game and shutdown defense all day, making smart plays to clear the zone and start the rush for Pittsburgh;<br />
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For those who still question the additon of Tanner Glass, he leads all Penguins with 26 hits on the season;<br />
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All in all, a very good win for the Penguins, their third victory in a row, coming on game 2 of their second back to back of the season. I like the contributions coming from the youngs guys and the fire starting to come from that top line in particular. The third line is also starting to come around, with Cooke and Sutter finding some offense, and Sutter is the only Penguins player to be a plus player in every game of this season. I love the lunch pail work being done by Vitale, Glass, and Adams. Nice little stretch here for the Pens, keep it coming boys!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-51023024428754330592013-02-02T22:20:00.000-05:002013-02-02T22:20:20.603-05:00Finally!Since the last time I posted......yeah it was days ago because I have normalized my love affair with hockey, the Penguins have played one horrendous game, a 4-1 loss Tuesday night on home ice, a game which they failed to even show up, and two impressive wins. Thursday night in New York, the Penguins continued their recent superiority over the Rags with an impressive 3-0 road shutout, and today they hammered the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in a day of firsts for the Pens. Thursday's game featured a stellar effort between the pipes by Tomas Vokoun, a two point night (goal and an assist) for Geno, and the first goal of the season by Simon Despres, on a nifty semi-breakaway set up Pascal Dupuis. Despres took the pass like a sniper then turned Lunqvist inside out to give the Pens the back breaker. More important to me is the fact that he looked pretty comfortable paired up with Kris Letang, giving the Pens their own French Connection. In addition, despite a couple of shaky moments Robert Bortuzzo played a pretty solid game in his season debut, paired with Deryk Engelland he gives the Penguins a big, rugged third pairing that can take the body on a regular basis. It was good to see the Penguins rebound against a red hot Rangers team to take a valuable two points on the road. They followed that up with a game of firsts as noted above. The 5-1 victory featured Brandon Sutter's first goal as a Penguin, a nice dirty goal scored from the blue paint. It also featured Robert Bortuzzo's first NHL goal, a nice blast from the point that beat Brodeur. The victory was also the first one on home ice this season for your flightless birds! The victory leaves the Penguins temporarily atop the Atlantic Division with ten points and third in the Eastern Conference. Some items of note for me today include the following:<br />
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The Penguins defense was solid for the second straight game and all three pairings have been comfortable as a unit. Orpik/Martin, Letang/Despres, and Engelland/Bortuzzo have been very effective in the last two divisonal scrapes. That is a good sign, as Matt Niskanen is out for a few weeks, and it is time to see what these young guns can do at the NHL level. If all are healthy the Penguins will have a good problem when Nisky gets healthy;<br />
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Crosby, despite one sloppy play that led to a Devils goal, seemed to have found his game in a big way today. Crosby was everywhere, adding a goal and two assists;<br />
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Sutter played a great two way game today, and hopefully getting his first goal will lead to more offensive production for him;<br />
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The Penguins generally played a very sound game defensively, outshooting New Jersey 30-16, and taking the body all night long;<br />
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Chris Kunitz despite being ill looked like the Kunitz we all grown to love, playing a rugged game, and also notching a goal and two assists;<br />
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James Neal notched his 5th goal, a power play goal Thursday night, and though he was not on the score sheet today, he was a physical presence all over the ice;<br />
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Duper picked up 3 points, all assists in the past two games;<br />
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Boychuk showed more grit than expected, and flashed some impressive speed. It will be interesting to see if that can translate into goals at the NHL level;<br />
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A big matinee tilt against the hated Capitals tomorrow!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-1896724539494356152013-01-28T22:14:00.000-05:002013-01-28T22:14:42.547-05:00Things I think I think<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well we are five games into the season and true to form, after the first two games, many Pens fans were changing late June vacation plans so they would be around to watch the Pens hoist Lord Stanley's Cup for the fourth time in their history. After ugly losses to Toronto and Winnipeg, those same fans were calling for Bylsma's head, planning on killing Eric Tangradi, taking down their Letang posters, and selling their remaining seats. After a shootout win against Ottawa in which many of the bad puck management mistakes, ugly turnovers, and Geno pouting like a petulant child when he did not get the puck passed to him, well Pens nation is just confused as hell! Are we ecstatic that the Pens pulled out a much needed road win to stop the bleeding, and Fleury looking like a franchise goalie, or are we pissed that the power play looked as vital as an 80 year old man in bed room, and our superstars continued to pass instead of shoot? What is a yinzer to do? The Pens are 3-2, in second place in the Atlantic Division, so they are probably pretty much where you thought they would be if they had not teased us by running over two powerful division rivals in the first two games. Some things I think I think from watching these games:<br />
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The Pens have a wealth of offensive talent BUT they do not seem to have learned their lessons that led to a very early exit from the post season last year. Too many turnovers, too many behind the back passes, and too many passed up shots to make that cute little pass are killing them AGAIN;<br />
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Sid and Geno despite having 6 and 5 points respectively are two of my biggest disappointments. 87, you are the captain and leader of this team. You are one of the two best players in the world, but it is time to lead by example. When you are guilty of thinking offense first, even with the lead, when you make careless behind the back passes instead of getting the puck deep, and when you pass up great shots in favor of highlight reel extra passes (often ending in turnovers), you as the LEADER set the wrong example. Geno, after a monster year, and a head start by playing in the KHL while others stayed home, you should be the dominant player on the ice in the early going. And at times you are, your point total is not too shabby. Again, though, you are a turnover machine, you are taking dumb penalties at bad times, you look rattled, and at times pissed when you don't have the puck, and you are also passing up shots to make stupid passes. The two of you turn what should be a killer power play into a Chinese clusterfuck at times. Nobody can complain about your point totals, but your leadership has not been there guys. The game is played in three zones, not one, and it is played not only with skill, but intelligence and poise too. This team is built to go as far as you two take them, but it needs your maturity and leadership as much as it needs your skill. Stand and deliver men, we know that you can! <br />
Kris Letang, another guy who has points but to me has been a disappointment to some degree thus far. Tanger has had Norris Trophy like stretches in each of the past two seasons, and his breathtaking speed and physicality makes him a beauty at times to watch. His loss for stretches last season underscored his value to the team, which is right up there with 71 and 87. Like the two of those guys, Tanger needs to play a simple game, be more consistent and be a leader on the back end. Kris, you are no longer the wild eyed young buck whose potential is limitless. You are now a veteran seeking to be paid right behind the two best players in the game, so guess what? With that comes great responsibility, and your responsibility is to harness that immense talent for the whole season, make simple smart plays, hit when the hit is there, get the puck out of the zone, and use your skills in all three zones EVERY night on EVERY shift. You three players along with the goaltending will largely determine whether the Penguins finish another disappointing season, which will be the fourth in a row or rekindle the magic of the 2008 and 2009 runs.<br />
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Some other thoughts include the fact that to me, James Neal for the most part has been what you want. A sniper who puts the puck on the net when possible and in the net quite often. He was the first star in each of the first two games, and has nearly a goal per game. He has mostly played solid in all three zones, and has delivered his share of hits to go with the goals. He has had some off periods this season, but by and large he has been what you need from him pretty consistently.<br />
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I told you how much you would love Sutter, and after a really good game one and two, he has not been exactly what I had hoped....but he will be. I have complete faith in that, and when he is, if the other two centers play to their potential, that is one lethal group of center ice men. Be patient, he like James Neal is the real deal.<br />
Paul Martin has been one of the best Penguins this season, thus far, and I expected a bounce back year from 7, and he is giving it! Matt Niskanen has been solid as well, and I hope he is not out for long. Brooks Orpik looks like the nasty old player he used to be, and I think Tanner Glass will add a dimension the team was missing last season. The goaltenders have been hung out to dry a lot, but all in all, I still feel like we are looking at a top tandem, though if I am Bylsma, I give Fleury more rope and allow him to be the number one goalie except for back to back nights, or if he falters Let him find his groove Disco! <br />
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All in, as this team gets its legs and gels, I still think they have more than enough talent to go the distance. What remains to be seen is if they can learn the lessons of last spring, and remember to play smart, not fancy, and protect a lead rather than try to pile on with one. The ability to lead by example shown by 87, 71, and 58 will largely dictate how this season ends. It is early, but it is time men to be more than world class players, be world class leaders and do it by example not words.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14899833405988886798noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8756872060425838485.post-12080379571091047462013-01-26T21:35:00.001-05:002013-01-26T21:35:16.354-05:00
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who is Tanner Glass</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On July 1, 2012 the Penguins signed 6’1 210 pound left
winger Tanner Glass, an unrestricted free agent left winger from the Winnipeg
Jets to a two year contract worth 1.1 million dollars per year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first I have to admit I was not happy
about this move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am an avowed Arron
Asham fan, and I really thought the Penguins were making a mistake letting
another rugged player with leadership qualities leave the fold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially a guy who could contribute the odd
goal and in a tough Atlantic Division, stand up for his teammates when
necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, Asham had built
himself a reputation as a tough customer, and during the 2011 playoff loss to
Tampa Bay, Asham was one of the better offensive producers in that series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So what did this guy have that Asham did not,
and why did we sign him as opposed to offering Asham, who wanted to stay, a
contract?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, let me give me finish
the some of the history of Tanner Glass as a professional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was drafted in the ninth round of the 2003
NHL Entry draft, 265<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> overall by the Florida Panthers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He played four years at Dartmouth College
from 2003-2007, ending his college career as captain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He went on to play for the Rochester
Americans in the AHL, making alternate captain in his second season, and
earning limited time in the NHL with Florida.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 2009, he joined the Vancouver Canucks, and earned a spot on their
fourth line, playing 73 games in the 2010-2011 season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He chipped in 3 goals and 7 assists during
the regular season when Vancouver won the President’s Trophy and appeared in 24
post season games for the Canucks before they were eliminated in the Finals by
the Boston Bruins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glass left the
Canucks to join the Winnipeg Jets for the 2011-12 season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He posted career highs in all categories
playing in 78 games, scoring 5 goals, 11 assists and 16 points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay, so he is a decent mucker with some
leadership skills as evidenced by his captaincy at Dartmouth and his role as
assistant captain during his second season in the AHL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why does he help the team more than Asham?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Actually there are many ways, starting with his age, and
durability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glass at 29 years old is a
younger player, and he has appeared in 73 and 78 games respectively the past
two seasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is also a much faster
skater, and as they say, “speed kills!” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Glass has earned a reputation as a relentless
fore-checker and has the speed to raise a lot more havoc on the fourth
line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition, Glass plays a very
physical gritty game outside of the fisticuffs, ending last season with 246
hits, placing him 10<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> overall in the NHL!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would have had the second most hits on the
Penguins with that number last season behind only Orpik’s 259 hits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He added 51 blocked shots, placing him second
among Jets forwards in that category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally, Glass logged the fourth most short-handed minutes on the team
among forwards and 13:25 overall TOI per game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Glass had 7 fighting majors and 73 penalty minutes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as well and does not shy away from sticking
up for his teammates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In comparison
Asham had 8 fighting majors and 76 penalty minutes, hardly a huge difference in
terms of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>physicality in that manner,
though Asham appeared in 14 fewer games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, where Glass had 246 hits last season, Asham had 95 hits, giving
Glass roughly 2.5 times more hits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Asham
had 8 blocked shots in comparison to the 51 noted for Glass, giving Glass more
than 6 times the blocked shots and Glass had 86 shots on goal in comparison to
the 49 shots registered by Asham.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So if
you want to assess the addition of Glass to replace a gritty player in Asham,
it appears<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that Shero again made a nice
off the radar move to improve the team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Statistically speaking, he lost very little in the way of “protection”
by going to Glass, and improved a great deal in speed, fore-check, penalty kill
options , and shots on goal. If you define grit and the need to be “hard to play
against” outside of fighting, to include hits and shot blocking, you just
made a significant upgrade!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short,
Glass will provide more versatility with his speed, fore-check and penalty kill
abilities, while adding a lot more consistent physicality on a game in game out
basis, he will block shots and as you saw in his bout with Asham on Sunday, you
have not lost anything in the willingness to go to war when necessary. Welcome
Tanner Glass!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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