Meow's Morning Meeting - 4-17-15 vs. NYR - GAME 1

[Staggy]

although it's all moot, since last time i checked, crosby is still sabotaging the power play by continuing to park his stubborn ass on the right boards. getting an extra 6 minutes with an extra man isn't going to do a whole lot.

I thought he was playing the Neal role of hovering in the middle of the box last night with Malkin on the right wall? Since they were only out for a minute, though, I guess it's hard to tell if that was by design or just happened during the play organically.

[shmenguin]

I liked what the line of Comeau - Lapierre - Spaling added. Say what you want about Lapierre not scoring but he has been a more effective Craig Adams and I am fine with that for him being a 4th liner. I hope he is brought back.

in a couple weeks when this is all over, we're going to want a rebuild, but we'll look at the roster and see a bunch of guys who are fine in their role. we have a team full of adequate players and we're a fringe playoff team. so as for those 3 guys, while perfectly acceptable, are still part of a larger problem.

[llipgh2]

although it's all moot, since last time i checked, crosby is still sabotaging the power play by continuing to park his stubborn ass on the right boards. getting an extra 6 minutes with an extra man isn't going to do a whole lot.

I thought he was playing the Neal role of hovering in the middle of the box last night with Malkin on the right wall? Since they were only out for a minute, though, I guess it's hard to tell if that was by design or just happened during the play organically.

You are correct, at least according to Mackey from the Trib.

[thehockeyguru]

I liked what the line of Comeau - Lapierre - Spaling added. Say what you want about Lapierre not scoring but he has been a more effective Craig Adams and I am fine with that for him being a 4th liner. I hope he is brought back.

in a couple weeks when this is all over, we're going to want a rebuild, but we'll look at the roster and see a bunch of guys who are fine in their role. we have a team full of adequate players and we're a fringe playoff team. so as for those 3 guys, while perfectly acceptable, are still part of a larger problem.

To me the larger problem is we have guys in Comeau - Lapierre - Spaling who are in their correct roles as 3/4 th liners and they are outplaying our top two lines.

This team will need to look at rebuilding the Top 6 in the coming weeks after the playoffs are over.

[Trip McNeely]

Its going to be hard for goals to come by on the PP as long as we only have Paul Martin at the point. No threat of an outside shot. PLease come back Ehrhoff

[meecrofilm]

And you've got 7 mil + tied up to Kunitz and Scuderi, money that could go towards players who could actually be positive factors on the ice.

[count2infinity]

And you've got 7 mil + tied up to Kunitz and Scuderi, money that could go towards players who could actually be positive factors on the ice.

Sure, it's easy to say "Let's just get rid of them! Problem solved!" People often forget that there needs to be a buyer if we're going to sell them. I'm not sure there are many people chomping at the bit for those contracts.

[meow]

And you've got 7 mil + tied up to Kunitz and Scuderi, money that could go towards players who could actually be positive factors on the ice.

Sure, it's easy to say "Let's just get rid of them! Problem solved!" People often forget that there needs to be a buyer if we're going to sell them. I'm not sure there are many people chomping at the bit for those contracts.

I think the buyout for Scuderi is 917K against the cap over the next 4 seasons.

[shmenguin]

I liked what the line of Comeau - Lapierre - Spaling added. Say what you want about Lapierre not scoring but he has been a more effective Craig Adams and I am fine with that for him being a 4th liner. I hope he is brought back.

in a couple weeks when this is all over, we're going to want a rebuild, but we'll look at the roster and see a bunch of guys who are fine in their role. we have a team full of adequate players and we're a fringe playoff team. so as for those 3 guys, while perfectly acceptable, are still part of a larger problem.

To me the larger problem is we have guys in Comeau - Lapierre - Spaling who are in their correct roles as 3/4 th liners and they are outplaying our top two lines.

This team will need to look at rebuilding the Top 6 in the coming weeks after the playoffs are over.

besides malkin and hornqvist, we have zero players on this team who come out with firecrackers up their butts.

-sid is pouty sid against NHL-caliber defenses
-perron is a loser. his time in edmonton did some real damage
-sutter is plodding and methodical
-kunitz is human waste
-comeau has one arm
-spaling hasn't dressed in about 50 games
-winnik is pretty solid, but he's not exactly an energy guy
-bennett...ha
-downie waits until the whistle to get his hands dirty
-lapierre is too measured. not what we need. for his ice time, he needs to give close to 100% every shift

not to mention most of those guys have cement skates. we have a real lack of energy up and down this lineup. sutter has flashes of looking like he gives 2 s***s, but like sid, it goes away when he has to play against a real team.

to do anything meaningful in this series, these paid professionals need to act like they care, and like playoff hockey isn't a chore to them.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Scuderi's fine if he stays in a bottom 2 role. He's very valuable in a top tier PK, he just gets exposed if he plays big minutes at even strength

[large garlic]

Scuderi's fine if he stays in a bottom 2 role. He's very valuable in a top tier PK, he just gets exposed if he plays big minutes at even strength

I agree. I just don't know if the Pens can afford to pay that much for a bottom-pairing, PK specialist given their other deficiencies. But yeah, he's had some almost heroic PK shifts this season.

[meecrofilm]

And you've got 7 mil + tied up to Kunitz and Scuderi, money that could go towards players who could actually be positive factors on the ice.

Sure, it's easy to say "Let's just get rid of them! Problem solved!" People often forget that there needs to be a buyer if we're going to sell them. I'm not sure there are many people chomping at the bit for those contracts.

They might still be able to move Kunitz. The time to be proactive was earlier in the season though. Not sure if their loyalty was blinding them or what, but hopefully that window hasn't completely shut yet. The thing I'm worried about is that those two probably carry a negative value now, and the Pens would have to add just to free up that space.

[Gaucho]

Kunitz was good earlier in the season, there was little reason to consider moving him.

[Silentom]

I think if they played every game like periods 2 and 3 last night, they win the series. That and Erhoff and Pouliot are needed desperately to skate the puck out of danger. I like this going forward-

19 - 87- 72
23 - 71 - 39
26- 16- 14
17 - 40 -13

[shmenguin]

i think there's someone out there who would take kunitz. does he have a NTC/LMC? if not, his trade should be the 2nd offseason priority, behind finding his replacement. i would accept a bag of pucks.

[shmenguin]

I think if they played every game like periods 2 and 3 last night, they win the series

we lose 2-1 or 1-0 in every game if we play that way. we had good possession but generated nothing. they had the better chances over that time. far better.

[Silentom]

I think if they played every game like periods 2 and 3 last night, they win the series

we lose 2-1 or 1-0 in every game if we play that way. we had good possession but generated nothing. they had the better chances over that time. far better.

You left out the part where I said we desperately need Pouliot and Erhoff.

[meecrofilm]

Kunitz was good earlier in the season, there was little reason to consider moving him.

It's called foresight, something people who get paid a great amount of money to run a hockey team should have. I don't think there were many here (or anywhere else) who didn't think his new contract would be crap during the final two years. Plus, you can't tell me there wouldn't have been any takers at the deadline, one way or the other.

[columbia]

Last night did nothing to dispel shmenguin's narrative on Crosby in the playoffs; largely because he's correct.

[Craig]

With pouliot in this series, the average margin of defeat grows to 2 goals.

[meecrofilm]

Dumoulin wasn't exactly a stalwart defensively, and minus one decent play around the net didn't add anything offensively either.

[Corvidae]

Yeah, Geno had some real gallop once the Kunitz anchor was removed from his line. Coincidentally, that was about when Sid started to not be much of a factor after playing well the first two periods.

Kunitz needs to be benched completely. He's a corpse. It's basically Weekend At Bernie's ever time he steps on the ice.

[meow]

Yeah, Geno had some real gallop once the Kunitz anchor was removed from his line. Coincidentally, that was about when Sid started to not be much of a factor after playing well the first two periods.

Kunitz needs to be benched completely. He's a corpse. It's basically Weekend At Bernie's ever time he steps on the ice.

[Corvidae]

If I had photoshop skills I would but his face in the middle with Geno on the left and Sid on the right. Any takers?

[shmenguin]

Last night did nothing to dispel shmenguin's narrative on Crosby in the playoffs; largely because he's correct.

i'm the owner? wonderful. the last big discussion about this went over so well.