mikey's Thread of Penguin Randomness

[Morkle]

Like, even the "bottom six didn't produce" thing is just not really true...it's like we're running down the bingo card here haha...

Carter: most goals and points since 16-17. Was basically a 20/40 player.
McGinn: was on a 15/30 pace, which would have been his best
Blugers: Career highs across the board, despite missing 20.
Heinen: Career high in goals, nearly got to 20
Boyle: Even he was on a 15/30 type pace and he hardly played at all...

Obviously non-NHLer ERid was a disaster down the stretch, Kapanen had a woeful season...but we did fairly well for what we got...

Crosby missed 15 or whatever it was...Malkin missed half the year...we still finished 12th in 5v5 goals this year, four back of 8th...so, someone must have been picking up the rear...

It's not perfect, but it's rare to have a super imposing bottom six (period) with so many big tickets on the books...we got a lot of value out of some cheap scoops...

Sorry man. I’ll just stop talking then. Forgive me.

[mikey]

I mean, I'm not mad haha - I just don't think this is being framed the right way...I've seen a lot of twitter folks throwing these same tropes around, and I'm not sure what's goin on...these aren't the things that happened, unless I'm missing something...

[Rx6687]

Since we're going video game mode, let's trade Malkin, Letang, a 1st, and a 2nd to Edmonton for McDavid.

....for those of you who are *still* playing NHL 2004... Guilty as charged. They haven't made a better game since that one. Plus it's been upgraded online in recent years. And you can create Sid and add him to the Pens roster

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

there was one moment where Carter blew by Fox while both were chasing a puck in the Rags d-zone. no idea how long Fox’s shift was but I was impressed by that. I think Carter will be a very useful piece if we want to make a run. Dude is a gamer

[meow]

Honestly, this series hinged on our third string goalie playing like a third string goalie. I don’t want to point and laugh at one guy, but having to trot out Dominique was too much to overcome.

[King Colby]

I've been hearing this "bottom 6 production" trope a lot today and honestly this was probably one of our more productive bottom sixes in recent memory

[King Colby]

Zucker-carter-mcginn was a great line in the series, I actually would have liked to see that group stay together for G7 but they put Dalton high noon there

[The U]

Honestly, this series hinged on our third string goalie playing like a third string goalie. I don’t want to point and laugh at one guy, but having to trot out Dominique was too much to overcome.

We kind of had a similar excuse/reason last year. Jarry stunk but we deserved to win the series vs NYI. The year before we were embarrassed by MTL but it was weird bubble/Covid tournament that kind of felt like it didn’t even matter or count. Pens seemed like they didn’t want to be there.

At some point, just win a series. Get out of the first round. The 3 previous years were were favored to win and lost. This year we were underdogs but that kind of flips when you go up 3-1.

A lot of excuses/reasons for the failures. Some valid. Injuries, goaltending, etc. but score another goal or two, convert another PP, kill another PK.

We’ve had so much success I don’t really crave or demand deep playoff runs just yet. They’ve built up so much goodwill with me that I can’t ask for more (yet). But next postseason I think I’m ready to enter into the “what have you done for me lately” mindset. Steelers had a similar trajectory. Lots of positive vibes but the last few seasons it’s like, hey, are you ever gonna win a playoff game again?

[King Colby]

I didn't think we deserved to beat NYI... we played soft and refused to earn space on the ice

[faftorial]

Honestly, this series hinged on our third string goalie playing like a third string goalie. I don’t want to point and laugh at one guy, but having to trot out Dominique was too much to overcome.

Well said meow.

Sucks, now two years in a row goal tending has been the Pens' demise.

[The U]

we played soft and refused to earn space on the ice

Agree wholeheartedly with that but I feel like we still outplayed them and a better performance from Jarry and we win. Remember, there were games where he like, couldn’t catch. And the game where he gave the puck away when he came out to play it. But yeah, team in front of him plays a little better and comes up with some more plays and you can advance even with Jarry struggling.

[mikey]

The more I dig, the more it's looking like we had the most high danger and medium danger shots in a series and the best scoring chance differential in a series since such stats were tracked...very tedious to wade through, but it's hard to find instances that are that close...

[nocera]

Yeah so we dominated, Rangers had a few chances and we had a third string goalie in net.

[E-Ramone]

Two things.

Haven't they already been trying to trade Pettersson for like two years, or hasn't it been rumored?

This has been an issue for awhile, but the insistence to not play the younger guys throughout the year has been bugging me for the past 3.

POJ certainly could have played games down the stretch, same for O'Conner and Zahorna. Those guys weren't used nearly enough.

Zohorna can't catch passes at this level. He needs work, he's a late comer, he needs to work on his skills hard over the summer if he wants to be an NHLer.

Same with POJ...44 pts in his last 84 in the AHL is good, so hopefully he's improving. But he wasn't ready this year...Friedman was a way more effective player than anything POJ could provide. Our D was healthy for most of the year, so there was no need to do anything with him...

DOC was pretty much in a perfect spot for his development...up and down, use what you learn in the NHL, apply it to the AHL. He had a really good year down there and was generally useful when he played (played a quarter of the year and played in the playoffs, he wasn't really blocked or anything) and now you can be confident he'll be a regular next year...

Re: The fairly standard complaint from fans of not playing young players...first, it's particularly not true with Sullivan. Second, Zohorna is older than Kapanen. He's just not very good, that's his problem. Who in the AHL is being blocked? What specific players would add what to the lineup?

No matter how many times fans try to jam the square in the circle slot, for a team that hasn't picked in the top 20 for ten years (once since 2006, and that's because we swapped Staal out)...somehow, was still able to play young players to a startling degree...what's the one that was left for dead? You can make a claim that it was Sprong I guess...he's played on 40 teams in the last three weeks, so we weren't alone there either...but sure, Sprong, wasn't used that much. Everyone else that was worthy has gotten a look, as someone who tracks our prospects' development - it's tough to watch things down below. You're not missing much.

Marino, Maatta 20 minute players...famously Sid and the Kids - two rookies playing top line in the Final. We turned away from a Smythe worthy performance from veteran Fleury to hand the reigns over to rookie Murray. Simon v1.0 was used a lot. ZAR was a call-up that ended up running raw here.

I can't imagine what more he could have done in terms of playing young players...and I've heard him speaking on development, he gets it. I know Ty Hennes, he's a really good skill dev guy...the organization gets it, it just has no young players to play...the ones that they had were probably over-thrust into the lineup out of necessity and it happened to work out because of Sully's coach and Crosby's godliness...

Heck of a post, Mikey. Puts things into perspective a bit more, and makes me feel a lot better about how great this team has been for a really long time now.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

I will not stand for the Domingue slander

[Gaucho]

It isn't slander, it's just what it is. He's not an NHL goalie.

[Pavel Bure]

Out on Geno.

Sid gets injured, team needs to step up, Malkin cross checks guy in the face and takes a penalty. In the past his good could outweigh that bad by a long shot. Not anymore. We thank you for everything you’ve done and wish you the best in your future endeavors.

[robbiestoupe]

Honestly, this series hinged on our third string goalie playing like a third string goalie. I don’t want to point and laugh at one guy, but having to trot out Dominique was too much to overcome.

Well said meow.

Sucks, now two years in a row goal tending has been the Pens' demise.

You could even say DeSmith's health has cost us two years in a row. It may not have mattered last year, as perhaps Sully sticks with Jarry regardless. Would have definitely saved us this year.

[shoeshine boy]

Sucks, now two years in a row goal tending has been the Pens' demise.

yeah but the difference is, in 2021 we expected Jarry to play like an NHL starter and instead we got AHL scrub level goaltending.
in 2022 we HOPED/PRAYED Louie could rise to the level of NHL #1. IMO, he did what he could but in the end, played like what he is, Black Ace goalie.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Out on Geno.

Sid gets injured, team needs to step up, Malkin cross checks guy in the face and takes a penalty. In the past his good could outweigh that bad by a long shot. Not anymore. We thank you for everything you’ve done and wish you the best in your future endeavors.

He set up the tying goal.

[King Colby]

And was a force in Game 6

[King Colby]

Geno combined regular season and playoffs:

48GP 23G 25A 48PTS

Coming off a significant injury/surgery

Hes still a 1C (playing 2C) and easily a candidate for 80-100 points next year if he plays a full season. Easily.

[willeyeam]

yes. and he wasn't exactly flanked with superstar wingers this year either

[nocera]

He hasn’t played a full season since 2009. He did play 78 in 17 though. Mostly in the 60s or 50s since 2009

[willeyeam]