Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Rooneys.........A FARCE
I love hearing about the Lamarr Woodley contract issue, particularly in the context of recent events surrounding the Steelers.......you know that great football team owned by the "classy" Rooney family.....they dont tolerate "bad" guys on their team, and they value the character of all of their players right? Yeah, that is why one of the best and classiest players on their team, Lamarr Woodley has not had any dialog with regard to his 550K salary, with the CBA used as the excuse..........funny that other teams have found a way to compensate players they value through signing bonuses, roster bonuses, and easily hit performance incentives. The fact that they have not even had any dialog with a guy like Woodley who by all accounts is as all world off the field as he is on it continues to show the Rooney reputation as simply that......a reputation that somehow us yinzers like to perpetuate.................this guy is EXACTLY what you want to represent your organization, and is a 265 lb game breaker on the outside with young legs and the off the field demeanor you SAY you value...............Yeah right! With guys like Reed, Rapistburger, and Harrison with their legal woes and Wines Hard with his crybaby act every year, it is tough to figure why you would not embrace a player like Woodley....and by the way, TO would add an element to this team offensively that would make it much tougher to defend, but I forgot you steer away from those types of guys.....wonder how much fun the Ravens will have with Flacco looking for TO, Bolden and Stallworth running through our secondary?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Free Agency Period Looming
There has been much fanfare tied to this offseason with regard to the Pens......at first, it appeared that Gonchars refusal to come down from a 3 year 5M per year plus contract meant he was as good as gone......yet, here we are one day before free agency and the Pens are still negotiating with Gonch. I understand that the Pens have offered and thus far remained firm on 2 years at 9.5M total. And Gonchar has not said yes, but he has not said no either. In addition, the Pens moved a third rounder to Philadelphia for the rights to Dan Hamhuis, a very good defensive defenseman, with a little bit of offensive talent. He would look nice in a Pens uniform. The problem is that he has not even decided if he will negotiate with the Pens prior to testing free agency. He will look for 4M per year or slightly more, and if he and Gonch both sign, there is little left in the way of cap space to bring in a quality winger to upgrade our top 6 scoring. By the way, Scuderi (whom we could not afford), signed for 3.4M per year, and likely would have taken a bit less to remain a Penguin......just saying!
I recognize what Gonchar does when he is healthy for the power play, I truly do. But, he has not been healthy much the past two seasons, his defensive zone play has lapsed at times, and looked old and soft in this years post season. At 36, I am not sure if he is worth what his cap hit will do to the rest of the team. For the limits signing Gonch would put on the rest of the team, you better get 65 games from Gonch at least, and a power play clicking at 20%. In my opinion, put the 4M to 4.25M per year into Hamhuis for 5 years, and go HARD after Zbynek Michalek a 27 year old defenseman from Phoenix who is 6'2" and 210 pounds. He plays a good stay at home game, but can bring some offense to the table as well. He is a Scuds with a little more O. His cap hit last year was 1.25M, so even if you double it, you are saving big dollars that could put towards a winger like Ray Whitney, or create space for a trade to bring in a solid winger. I also like the thought of looking at Henrik Tallinder a 6'3" 214 lb stay at home defenseman who can skate and be physical at times. Or even Paul Mara a 6'4" 212 lb stay at home defenseman. I like the balance the team could have IF it can upgrade its defensive and physical capabilities a bit on the blue line by adding Hamhuis and Michalek, or Hamhuis and Tallinder, or Michalek and Tallinder PLUS a top 6 winger for the top two lines. The power play needs to change, and Gonchar s departure MAY force the coaching staff and Geno/Sid to make the corrections that everyone sees as necessary. Letang, Goligoski, Hamhuis, Orpik, Michalek are a very solid top 5 in terms of defense.......you can add in an inexpensive veteran and Lovejoy or Engelland to make this a good defensive corps. An additional winger who can score is still a priority despite the Pens finishing in the top 5 in scoring last year. Kunitz is injury prone, and Guerin is still unsigned AND a year older. If the Pens can also drop Godard in favor of Aron Assham, it would give them enough toughness, but upgrade what the bottom sox forwards can contribute as well. I like 4 solid lines with toughness and upgraded scoring, along with a balanced blue line, with more size and stay at home flair, but good skating capabilities. If this allows for them to retain Eaton as well, all the better. Lets create balance on this team, hope that Geno and Fleury regain form, we get a more solid defensive unit who can clear the net during the playoffs, and a power play that delivers commensurate with the talent it puts on the ice. Signing Gonchar as much as he could help for a year puts too many eggs in the basket of an aging, oft injured of late, soft defenseman.
I recognize what Gonchar does when he is healthy for the power play, I truly do. But, he has not been healthy much the past two seasons, his defensive zone play has lapsed at times, and looked old and soft in this years post season. At 36, I am not sure if he is worth what his cap hit will do to the rest of the team. For the limits signing Gonch would put on the rest of the team, you better get 65 games from Gonch at least, and a power play clicking at 20%. In my opinion, put the 4M to 4.25M per year into Hamhuis for 5 years, and go HARD after Zbynek Michalek a 27 year old defenseman from Phoenix who is 6'2" and 210 pounds. He plays a good stay at home game, but can bring some offense to the table as well. He is a Scuds with a little more O. His cap hit last year was 1.25M, so even if you double it, you are saving big dollars that could put towards a winger like Ray Whitney, or create space for a trade to bring in a solid winger. I also like the thought of looking at Henrik Tallinder a 6'3" 214 lb stay at home defenseman who can skate and be physical at times. Or even Paul Mara a 6'4" 212 lb stay at home defenseman. I like the balance the team could have IF it can upgrade its defensive and physical capabilities a bit on the blue line by adding Hamhuis and Michalek, or Hamhuis and Tallinder, or Michalek and Tallinder PLUS a top 6 winger for the top two lines. The power play needs to change, and Gonchar s departure MAY force the coaching staff and Geno/Sid to make the corrections that everyone sees as necessary. Letang, Goligoski, Hamhuis, Orpik, Michalek are a very solid top 5 in terms of defense.......you can add in an inexpensive veteran and Lovejoy or Engelland to make this a good defensive corps. An additional winger who can score is still a priority despite the Pens finishing in the top 5 in scoring last year. Kunitz is injury prone, and Guerin is still unsigned AND a year older. If the Pens can also drop Godard in favor of Aron Assham, it would give them enough toughness, but upgrade what the bottom sox forwards can contribute as well. I like 4 solid lines with toughness and upgraded scoring, along with a balanced blue line, with more size and stay at home flair, but good skating capabilities. If this allows for them to retain Eaton as well, all the better. Lets create balance on this team, hope that Geno and Fleury regain form, we get a more solid defensive unit who can clear the net during the playoffs, and a power play that delivers commensurate with the talent it puts on the ice. Signing Gonchar as much as he could help for a year puts too many eggs in the basket of an aging, oft injured of late, soft defenseman.
Monday, June 21, 2010
NHL Draft Day and UFA rumblings
I dont know about you, but I love the NHL draft, not because of the picks.....unless you pick in the top 5, you are unlikely to see anybody picked on June 25th playing for your team this season, BUT draft day is often big for trades that shape the upcoming season, ie the Pronger deal last season for Philly.........you have already seen some interesting moves with Montreal sending show stopping goalie Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis for prospects (and thank you for that Habs!), Jason Arnotts return to the Devils and the Flyers moving Ryan Parent for the rights to Dan Hamhuis.....if the Flyers sign Hamhuis they may have the best D corps in the NHL, or at least the East, but also will be tight against the cap with not much room to address goaltending.....they are probably looking to move Gags, Fartsmell or Briere as a result.....as for the Pens......I love the thought of trading Godard for anything you can get, and signing Arron Asham, a UFA from Philly.....this does not address the scoring winger issue, but Gods makes 750K, Ashham made 640K......but if you had Rupp and Asham on the Pens, you really dont need Godard......even Philly no longer uses Riley Cote, and Asham scored 10 goals and 14 assists last season, and played decent minutes in the playoffs for a team that went to the Finals......I would think a 4th line that could crash and bang with Rupp centering Adams and Asham would improve the teams overall balance, and not sacrifice enough toughness to protect its assets.....for games that require more punch bring up Wade Brookbank 6 times per year....I also read that Ray Whitney lists the Pens as one of his top hopeful teams to finish his career with......Whitney made 3.5M for Carolina last season, but if the Pens could get him for 2 years at 2.75M, he would make sense...even at 3M he might....he is 3 years younger than Guerin, and though I love Guerin, he made 2M last year, and I am not sure how much LESS he would play for......you paid Fedostinko 1.8M, and he will not be back......you paid Poni girl your prorated portion of 2.1M......you had 5M tied up in wingers who either will not be back anyway due to no contributions(Poni and Feds), and one who is about 40......put a chunk of that into Whitney, and put you have upgraded your top 6 forwards quite a bit.......go after ZBYNEK Michalek D man for Phoenix, a very Scuds like stay at home guy........likely affordable at 1.5 M or so..........OR they can go the trade route which opens so many possibilities......they can look at Chicago who is already over the cap next year......they will HAVE to move good players for picks and prospects as a result.......the ultimate pickup for the Pens would be Patrick Sharp, but most indications are that he is untouchable.....but Kris Versteeg or Dustin Bfuglyien would be nice pickups for the Pens up front, or even Andrew Ladd.....
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