mikey's Thread of Penguin Randomness

[Trip McNeely]

One Chris Tanev, please.

If we sign Tanev, I’d like to jettison Pettersson. Unless of course we can get rid of JJ

[mikey]

Yeah, I mean, what are we doing here...an oft-injured, defensive, shot blocking defenseman with limited puck skills who will be 31 before next season likely starts...I mean, where we going with this? If I don't have Pettersson and Jack and is Ruhwedel still here...? Ok, sure, fine, sign me up for no more than 2 or 3 years of Chris Tanev...

At $4 million per year, that's not what this team needs on the back end right now...someone has to pass the puck out of the zone...you can't have Dumo, Pettersson, Tanev, and Johnson on the same defense for me unless you're really gonna pack it in defensively (a la Montreal)...hell, even the Isles generate offense from Pulock, Toews, and when he plays, Aho...

And if that's what you're gonna do, you're gonna need a better center than McCann at 3...and the 15th pick for Kapanen was a waste of time because Kapanen's limited hockey sense...

If we go 4 or 5 years on upright Zbynek Michalek, I think we're looking at a real tough contract down the road...

[meow]

I said what I said.

One Chris Tanev

[mikey]

I mean, if Ottawa would do Anisimov for Jack with some retention on our part...or whatever to compensate for the extra two years, I'd do that...

But I'm gonna get outbid on Tanev anyhow because I'm not giving him the term and praying that he's the Andy Greene exception to this type of player...

[Gaucho]

We're already wasting $3.25 million a year on a 30+ year-old bottom-pairing defenseman so clearly the correct move forward is to waste $5 million a year on a 30+ year-old bottom-pairing defenseman for the next, oh, five seasons.

[MR25]

But you gotta get the brothers together.

We've been following GMJRs Carolina trajectory since 2017, but the only thing holding us above water is the existence of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

[DigitalGypsy66]

...who both will be a year older next season. This is fine.

[mikey]

The players don't get younger, generally...

[brwi]

We're already wasting $3.25 million a year on a 30+ year-old bottom-pairing defenseman so clearly the correct move forward is to waste $5 million a year on a 30+ year-old bottom-pairing defenseman for the next, oh, five seasons.

Exactly. A 5/6 30 yr old dman with the puck moving skills of Scuderi at the bargain price of 4-5mil/yr for a few years. Woo-Hoo! I also see hardly a chance it happens.

I know the Pens have seemingly tried to have one of the worst ROI on defensemen for a few years, but Schultz's 6M coming off the books helps despite Pettersson getting bumped to 4mil next season. If you're going to have a pretty mediocre at best blueline, at least have a middle of the pack or lower investment.

[mikey]

Hey brwi, what up...

[brwi]

All good here, Mikey. It's been a minute. Really have enjoyed the playoffs despite the early Pens exit. Some pretty good hockey in Toronto and EDM even under the bizarre circumstances and no fans. It's been way better than I expected and the uncertainty of even when the next season will start sure makes for a lot of interesting times indeed.

[mikey]

I 100% agree, good to see you still kickin'


Random thought, it's a copy-cat league (and you best believe I'm so excited to try out some of Jon Cooper's offensive zone concepts once again...this soft-zone kick-out guy in the mid-layer is very interesting to me)...the Lightning dress 11 F/7 D almost all the time...now, they have a better roster than us goin' away, sure...but let's kick the can down the road a little...I still think Crosby and Malkin and even Guentzel have "extra shift" capability left in them, and I think they'd like a chance to play more...and I think that 3rd line is just a real tough cookie to crack right now (it is not the true offseason yet, naturally)...

What if you get into a situation where you take some of the heat off of Letang, some of the wear and tear...

Last three seasons, PK TOI among our d-men (per game):
1. Letang 479 mins (2:20)
2. Dumo 442 mins (2:24)
3. JMFJ 333 mins (2:14)
4. Maatta 238 mins (1:41)
5. Pettersson 125 mins (0:59)
6. Cole 115 mins (2:27)
7. Marino 114 mins (2:02)
8. Roo-roo 100 mins (0:58)

So, that's a lot of wear, right? That's right up at the top of the team...

In San Jose:
1. Vlasic 612 mins (2:45)
2. Burns 461 mins (1:58)
3. Braun 397 mins (2:30)
4. Dillon 326 mins (1:28)
5. Karlsson 241 mins (2:13)

Burns is too dumb to know any better, but their offensive guys get a break...it's a shift, maybe a shift a half...but it's every game they get that for three years...

In Boston:
1. Chara 672 mins (3:18)
2. Carlo 612 mins (2:53)
3. McAvoy 242 mins (1:19)
4. Miller 220 mins (2:03)
...
9. Krug 47 mins (0:14)

Krug, especially, but even McAvoy - who often played top pair opposite of Chara - gets a break here...

In Carolina:
1. Slavin 621 mins (2:41)
2. Pesce 534 mins (2:41)
3. TVR 245 mins (1:11)
4. Edmundson 191 mins (2:48)
5. Faulk 182 mins (1:09)
6. de Haan 147 mins (1:59)
7. Hamilton 130 mins (1:00)

Again, Carolina...Faulk and Hamilton are off the hook despite handedness...

Our horses are just not off the hook...so now you look, that shot from the back line in Justin Schultz is now gone, so no more pining for him on PP1...Marino we'll see, right? It's been good so far, but he doesn't even have Letang's shot...he's a player, but let's not put too much on him and end up Pitkanen-ing him...

Look at Tampa...they have a Hedman that they stick any old losers with and he just makes them look great...hell, Dallas is using Miro Heiskanen (granted, he's already a top 10 d-man in the league...maybe top 5...maybe top 2, I don't know...it's awfully close) to buoy Jamie Oleksiak, a 6/7...what's old is new, it's the old Doug Harvey - Al Langlois pairing...the 1 and 4/5 go together, the 2 and 3 go together...

But look at how Tampa hides their goons (and they have them), how they protect them at 11/7: Luke Schenn (-8 on a team that would have been +212 without him I think, less points than Vasilevskiy this year) is playing 9 mins at ES (Tampa has broken the record for most OT minutes played in a playoff I believe already, so even that number is doctored), he's playing regularly on the PK though...(healthy scratched in game 2)

Erik Cernak, another big dumb goofball, gets a lot of time with Hedman...but man, 3:05 on the PK per game...so that's a game script 20 that he gets, but it's a hard 20...

Shattenkirk, a mess defensively, and a total loser, but they try to insulate him and free him up to move the puck...

What if we got to a point where we could add another d-man - I think a puck mover, is that Riikola? I'm really not sure. Probably not, right? But we keep going back there and he has experience at forward in a pinch...is that Brandon Montour in Buffalo (he may not get qualified, I'd be all over that)...do we do a double switch and move out one of Pettersson or Johnson...and bring in Tanev and a puck mover...

Get Letang some more PP focus (heh) and then maybe leverage our roster of defensive guys to give us the freedom to roll the dice on a Shattenkirk-style mess of a defenseman, but one that can carry it across a line and outlet it...

I don't know, just thinking out loud here...you're probably down a third line forward, right? We just don't have a very promising 3rd line (or we have a hole up top), you can fill that with Crosby or Malkin or Guentzel here and again...Tanev can pick up an extra if we're protecting a lead...so maybe we roll the dice on something crazy, a Euro free agent, maybe it's POJ, maybe it's something like that...I don't know...sorry for rambling, this was purely stream of consciousness...

[dodint]

Get Letang some more PP focus (heh)

No.

[meow]

Kevin Weekes says Horny to FLA for Mike Matheson

[NTP66]

Kevin Weekes says Horny to FLA for Mike Matheson

That makes no **** sense. None.

[nocera]

[NTP66]

I think we can all agree that if this happens, he should be fired immediately. Hell, Mario should fire him now before it's confirmed...

[meow]

I mean. We’ve all seen Hornqvist play recently. It’s been...not good

[King Colby]

I dont actually mind that move. Matheson has the offensive ability they need and I can see him being decent on the 3rd pairing. He has some work to do defensively but he has tools.. Hornqvist made way too much for a bottom 6er and PP guy

[King Colby]

Oh boy... 4.875 I didn't realize...

[NTP66]

I mean. We’ve all seen Hornqvist play recently. It’s been...not good

So we're going to trade him for a below average defenseman signed at $4.875m until 2026? GTFO with that nonsense.

[nocera]

Yeah. This is a bad deal unless JJ is included.

[meow]

I mean. We’ve all seen Hornqvist play recently. It’s been...not good

So we're going to trade him for a below average defenseman signed at $4.875m until 2026? GTFO with that nonsense.

It creates more cap room. And Hornqvist is until 2023.

[King Colby]

I thought MM had more Power Play experience than he has. Was kinda hoping he could be a 3rd pairing guy who can play on the top unit

[willeyeam]