2019-20 Penguins and NHL Offseason

[Uncle Ben]

Heck of a lot of fun watching the Pens in the last week. Really getting a kick out of the storylines.

Lafferty- Pa. boy and doesn't look out of place as a line 2-3 center.

Jarry- 1-0 and DeSmith taking a beating with depleted WBS

Crosby- Team on his back, playing 22 minutes. He really is unbelievable

Injuries- Malkin, Rust,Chucky, Bjugs and McCann. I hope their watching the system work.

Call Ups- I wanted to say youth but these guys aren't all exactly youngsters. Lafferty,Blandisi, A.Johnson , love the energy and pace.

Marino- For a 2021 6th rounder. He needs to get stronger but what a find.

Riikola- Played left wing (badly) against the AV's. Might have been better if he had a little ice time before this.

Trade bait- Damn when all of this team gets healthy. There are a ton of options. The Cap has to get fixed. The Dman, forward ratio needs addressed.

Tanev- They call him Turbo for a reason

All this fun and we haven't played 10 games yet !

 

[bmoritz]

Am I the only one that would seriously consider trading Malkin? I don't want to lose Rust, when he gets back I think he'll fit right in.

 

[thesteelcity]

Am I the only one that would seriously consider trading Malkin? I don't want to lose Rust, when he gets back I think he'll fit right in.

I wouldn't mind if they got decent return for him. Sure up the rest of the team's needs. This is Sid's team, always was and will be.

 

[Vader]

Am I the only one that would seriously consider trading Malkin? I don't want to lose Rust, when he gets back I think he'll fit right in.

What do you trade him for? Any team that wants him is trying to win now. So are we. I have no issues trading Letang because I'm not worried about playing against him. Malkin is different. I can't trade away that kind of talent when the window is still open.

 

[thesteelcity]

What do you trade him for? Any team that wants him is trying to win now. So are we. I have no issues trading Letang because I'm not worried about playing against him. Malkin is different. I can't trade away that kind of talent when the window is still open.

a determined and pissed off Geno could be hard to beat, if we had to play him. He is still a quality #2 center. They don't grow on trees.

 

[Sarge]

Read that the Habs are kicking the tires on Jusse Rikkola. Not sure how much the Pens indulged or what they would want in return.

 

[Uncle Ben]

Am I the only one that would seriously consider trading Malkin? I don't want to lose Rust, when he gets back I think he'll fit right in.

I would love to see Rust on a line with Tanev. Just the thought puts a smile on my face.

As for Malkin, I was all for it before the season. Now, with yet another injury I'm not so sure. Value wise, often injured, high cap hit and aged equals a low return. I'd still listen.

 

[thesteelcity]

another solid performance. Five in a row! Bring on Vegas!

 

[Steelr4evr]

Well we know Letang can score. We need his defensive game to turn back the clock.

 

[MTC]

That Letang goal was sick. He had a ton of body control on that. He is athletic.
He’s dynamic, admit it.

His mental gaffes are there as always, but you get those big play moments out of him.

 

[Sarge]

That Letang goal was sick. He had a ton of body control on that. He is athletic.
He’s dynamic, admit it.

His mental gaffes are there as always, but you get those big play moments out of him.

He has a lot more gaffes than big play moments these days. A lot. Admit it.

 

[Steelr4evr]

That Letang goal was sick. He had a ton of body control on that. He is athletic.
He’s dynamic, admit it.

His mental gaffes are there as always, but you get those big play moments out of him.

For a defensive guy being a defensive liability is the last thing you should ever be. You need that in the playoffs.

 

[MTC]

He has a lot more gaffes than big play moments these days. A lot. Admit it.

Letang hasn’t been the same since his stroke. At this point he is what he is

 

[Vader]

That Letang goal was sick. He had a ton of body control on that. He is athletic.
He’s dynamic, admit it.

His mental gaffes are there as always, but you get those big play moments out of him.

The issue is that in the playoffs you have to be defensively sound. He lost the Washington series year before last almost all by himself. I lost count of how many TOs he had in that series. The last one was in OT in game 6. Just gave the puck away and the cap comes in on our goalie on a break away. You just can't have that from a defensive player. This team has the offense especially when Malkin comes back. It needs a good shot from the point, someone to move the puck, and someone just not to lose the game. The past few years he hasn't been able to do that.

 

[Djfan]

The issue is that in the playoffs you have to be defensively sound. He lost the Washington series year before last almost all by himself. I lost count of how many TOs he had in that series. The last one was in OT in game 6. Just gave the puck away and the cap comes in on our goalie on a break away. You just can't have that from a defensive player. This team has the offense especially when Malkin comes back. It needs a good shot from the point, someone to move the puck, and someone just not to lose the game. The past few years he hasn't been able to do that.

Last year Malkin was the king of turn overs.

 

[Buster]

Anyone have a good reddit link to watch the games? I found one, but they wanted credit card info...of course, they swore they weren’t going to charge.

 

[Steelr4evr]

Well that ended ******.

 

[MTC]

Well that ended ******.

The youngins are slowly being phased out again.
Sucks to see McCann bitten by the injury bug.

Jack Johnson has no place on this team if the Pens want to continue with a speed game.
No Dumoulin hurt this team tonight in the D side of things. Not a bad stretch for an injured team

 

[Uncle Ben]

I'll take the unpopular opinion on Letang. Does he make mistakes, plenty. When you are a puck moving D-man that averages almost 26 minutes, things are going to happen. The important part for me is does he add more than he takes away from winning ? I'm not the biggest fan of advanced stats but it is somewhat more reliable than the TV eye test. Most years Letang has been in the Norris conversation for good reason. If you look at D-man rankings through the first 9 games he fares very well.

Corsica Hockey has him ranked 1 for the start of this season. Corsi ranking include WAR as well as almost all other advanced measures.

https://www.corsicahockey.com/nhl/players/nhl-player-ratings-rankings

Natural Stat trick has him at 4th. The site measures only scoring for the most part.

https://www.naturalstattrick.com/pl...ne&fd=&td=&tgp=410&lines=single&draftteam=ALL

I think Letang does what he is asked to do well. He will win you games and he will cost you some. I think the good FAR out weighs the bad.

 

[Vader]

Win some lose some works in the regular season. You lose some win some in post season you won't be around long. He plays worse the more you need him. His jumping up in the play has cost the pens two years in a row. I'm not good with a player that is 50/50 to win or lose a game. Some players can make mistakes that won't kill your chances to win. A defense-man doesn't have that luxury. He makes a few mistakes in the game and you could have 5 pucks in the back of your net. Just like he did in the caps game a couple of years ago. He makes a mistake and the season is over.

 

[Steelr4evr]

Win some lose some works in the regular season. You lose some win some in post season you won't be around long. He plays worse the more you need him. His jumping up in the play has cost the pens two years in a row. I'm not good with a player that is 50/50 to win or lose a game. Some players can make mistakes that won't kill your chances to win. A defense-man doesn't have that luxury. He makes a few mistakes in the game and you could have 5 pucks in the back of your net. Just like he did in the caps game a couple of years ago. He makes a mistake and the season is over.

Bingo!

 

[Uncle Ben]

I knew I would take some heat for that post. I've wanted to trade him a few times but when you look at the overall performance. I want him on the team.

Interesting that Letang is a career +7 in the playoffs. Has contributed 80 playoff points.

Also has a Game winning OT goal. Has also been a Top 10 Norris candidate for 6 of the last 8 seasons in which he played the majority of the year.

 

[Vader]

I knew I would take some heat for that post. I've wanted to trade him a few times but when you look at the overall performance. I want him on the team.

Interesting that Letang is a career +7 in the playoffs. Has contributed 80 playoff points.

Also has a Game winning OT goal. Has also been a Top 10 Norris candidate for 6 of the last 8 seasons in which he played the majority of the year.

He has a game winning OT goal but he also has a game losing TO that lead to the caps OT goal that won the series for them. Again he isn't a horrible player but at times he makes horrible plays.

 

[JMM]

It wasn't just Letang that lost that series. If they had played better as a team, it would not have come down to that turnover. Jsut my .02

I think that series showed us how either the elite teams at the time had built their teams to take advantage of the Pens weaknesses or the Pens had simply lost a step from their previous 2 seasons. I was at the Cap Center to watch game 2 and the Caps were all over the Pens and wiped the ice with them as a team. It wasn't just Letang who was making turnovers. I really wonder if they were paying more attention to being run over than puck handling.

 

[Vader]

It wasn't just Letang that lost that series. If they had played better as a team, it would not have come down to that turnover. Jsut my .02

I think that series showed us how either the elite teams at the time had built their teams to take advantage of the Pens weaknesses or the Pens had simply lost a step from their previous 2 seasons. I was at the Cap Center to watch game 2 and the Caps were all over the Pens and wiped the ice with them as a team. It wasn't just Letang who was making turnovers. I really wonder if they were paying more attention to being run over than puck handling.

No one is blaming just Letang. But he was part of the problem and still makes horrible mistakes. The game against the avs both their goals came because of Letang. He's a defensive player not a forward or center. He thinks he's an offensive player and he leaves his teammates out to dry at times because he jumps into the play without seeing if he has cover. You need defense to play defense. IF he is going to play offense then you have to be responsible when you do it. My big issue is after the cap series he said he wasn't changing anything and that he was going to continue to do what he does. I hate that attitude. When you just got hammered by a team and you don't reflect on what you did wrong then something is wrong with you as a player.