mikey's Thread of Penguin Randomness

[mikey]

I'm not going to answer this directly. I'm not sure if I ever have, but it does come up every six hours or so on average. A lot of folks don't give Glen Sather a lot of credit..."he had it so easy to coach that team of stars..." - stars are much tougher to coach and manage. How good is Sullivan at getting through to these types of guys...? I can't be too sure. He's got Crosby livin' right as a two-way center...hasn't been quite as fortunate with 71 or 81 consistently...

He's not going to get benched though. So strike that one, especially with Malkin out and the RHS Letang...that's two puck carriers...

[Factorial]

Should he be benched?

[shmenguin]

I'm not going to answer this directly. I'm not sure if I ever have, but it does come up every six hours or so on average. A lot of folks don't give Glen Sather a lot of credit..."he had it so easy to coach that team of stars..." - stars are much tougher to coach and manage. How good is Sullivan at getting through to these types of guys...? I can't be too sure. He's got Crosby livin' right as a two-way center...hasn't been quite as fortunate with 71 or 81 consistently...

He's not going to get benched though. So strike that one, especially with Malkin out and the RHS Letang...that's two puck carriers...

If I put on my manager pants for a sec, I say...

RE: PP Failure

"Phil. I see you're playing your guts out, but we both know it's not clicking right now. We're going to have you run PP2. Go out there and have fun. There's no pressure. The unit is yours. Take some chances. Get comfortable. See what happens. You'll be back up to the first unit. There's no question."

RE: Even Strength Failure

"It's just not working with you and Geno right now. He's fighting injury all year. The rhythm is off. We need to change things up, so we're putting you with Jugs. Yes, I call him Jugs. It'll be a great fit with you being able to carry the puck and play off of a more conservative centerman."

...or somesuch. it's complicated by malkin's injury, but f*** it. get him 3rd line minutes starting a month ago. GMJR has to be thinking about his options over the summer already with kessel. and if he is, then we're going to tank this season to protect the ego of a guy who may be on his way out? there is no shrewdness with management on this team. in '16 they looked at the landscape and were fine throwing guys like horny on line 4 for stretches to create the best fit. what they're doing now is such feckless nonsense.

[Jim]

him making 1 slick pass per week on the power play is worth 2-3 unforced turnovers per shift? of course not.

But that's okay because he is hurt now and won't be playing for a couple weeks. Oh, I thought we were discussing Malkin. My bad. I thought that with Malkin's 7 game goalless streak going on... but let's keep harping on Kessel.

[Dickie Dunn]

I'm not going to answer this directly. I'm not sure if I ever have, but it does come up every six hours or so on average. A lot of folks don't give Glen Sather a lot of credit..."he had it so easy to coach that team of stars..." - stars are much tougher to coach and manage. How good is Sullivan at getting through to these types of guys...? I can't be too sure. He's got Crosby livin' right as a two-way center...hasn't been quite as fortunate with 71 or 81 consistently...

He's not going to get benched though. So strike that one, especially with Malkin out and the RHS Letang...that's two puck carriers...

If I put on my manager pants for a sec, I say...

RE: PP Failure

"Phil. I see you're playing your guts out, but we both know it's not clicking right now. We're going to have you run PP2. Go out there and have fun. There's no pressure. The unit is yours. Take some chances. Get comfortable. See what happens. You'll be back up to the first unit. There's no question."

RE: Even Strength Failure

"It's just not working with you and Geno right now. He's fighting injury all year. The rhythm is off. We need to change things up, so we're putting you with Jugs. Yes, I call him Jugs. It'll be a great fit with you being able to carry the puck and play off of a more conservative centerman."

...or somesuch. it's complicated by malkin's injury, but f*** it. get him 3rd line minutes starting a month ago. GMJR has to be thinking about his options over the summer already with kessel. and if he is, then we're going to tank this season to protect the ego of a guy who may be on his way out? there is no shrewdness with management on this team. in '16 they looked at the landscape and were fine throwing guys like horny on line 4 for stretches to create the best fit. what they're doing now is such feckless nonsense.

Phil is complicated. I think Geno sees demotions as a challenge and a prove you wrong situation whereas Phil seems more likely to just say **** it and put forth even less effort. A couple weeks ago I head an interview with Bourque (on DVE I believe) and he said Sullivan needs to take a direct **** up (most likely a PP giveaway) as an opportunity to staple his ass to the bench for the rest of the game to prove a point. Don't know how well that would work either.

[mikey]

Responses:

"I don't want to be *the* guy on a power play unit...that's not my strength. I know I'm not playing great right now, you can see that, I know it. The last thing I need is to be the center of attention on the ice from an offensive perspective. I need some lay-ups like Sid gave me the other day. Unless this second unit has Schultzy and Jake on it, I don't know that I'm going to get enough space."

"I'm willing to do whatever makes sense...I know that Geno is down...I will say that I've acclimated to playing with a LHS center. But I have a history with Bozak in Toronto, so I'm sure I can figure it out...but like I said, I think I'd really benefit from playing with Sid right now to get my confidence back."

[shmenguin]

Responses:

"I don't want to be *the* guy on a power play unit...that's not my strength. I know I'm not playing great right now, you can see that, I know it. The last thing I need is to be the center of attention on the ice from an offensive perspective. I need some lay-ups like Sid gave me the other day. Unless this second unit has Schultzy and Jake on it, I don't know that I'm going to get enough space."

"I'm willing to do whatever makes sense...I know that Geno is down...I will say that I've acclimated to playing with a LHS center. But I have a history with Bozak in Toronto, so I'm sure I can figure it out...but like I said, I think I'd really benefit from playing with Sid right now to get my confidence back."

"I understand. But this is the situation. Things aren't going well, and the team is more important than any individual. We need to think of a solution that works best for everyone. We're going to try this for a while and see what happens. You'll be back, Phil. We need you. But we gotta change things up when they aren't working".

In other words...deal with it. And have fun with those layups wherever you play next year. This is serious at this point.

[shmenguin]

also...he was running PP1 for half the year, in this layman's opinion

[shmenguin]

him making 1 slick pass per week on the power play is worth 2-3 unforced turnovers per shift? of course not.

But that's okay because he is hurt now and won't be playing for a couple weeks. Oh, I thought we were discussing Malkin. My bad. I thought that with Malkin's 7 game goalless streak going on... but let's keep harping on Kessel.

Malkin is an institutional part of this franchise and one of the top players of this century. He is Ovechkin fat and kind of lousy this year. But...so? What do you want to do about it, exactly?

[willeyeam]

Take some chances. Get comfortable. See what happens. You'll be back up to the first unit. There's no question."

He does this on the first PP already

[shmenguin]

Take some chances. Get comfortable. See what happens. You'll be back up to the first unit. There's no question."

He does this on the first PP already

yes. and he submarines it. i'd rather PP2 be sabotaged than PP1. and the pressure is lower, which might help his anxiety levels

[Jim]

him making 1 slick pass per week on the power play is worth 2-3 unforced turnovers per shift? of course not.

But that's okay because he is hurt now and won't be playing for a couple weeks. Oh, I thought we were discussing Malkin. My bad. I thought that with Malkin's 7 game goalless streak going on... but let's keep harping on Kessel.

Malkin is an institutional part of this franchise and one of the top players of this century. He is Ovechkin fat and kind of lousy this year. But...so? What do you want to do about it, exactly?

Whine about Kessel is apparently the answer.

Make a list of faults, thing that bug you about Kessel. "Kessel.. yadda yadda yadda" Make a list for yourself. Then replace "Kessel" with "Malkin" in that list. Amazingly they will all still hold. Unless his game streak bugs you, which is silly, but so is the rest of the anti-Kessel stuff. You can even have additional stuff in Malkin's list like how he just stops skating when something doesn't go right for him and bonehead penalties. But lets just keep roasting Kessel... he's the root of the problems after all.

[shmenguin]

Malkin is an institutional part of this franchise and one of the top players of this century. He is Ovechkin fat and kind of lousy this year. But...so? What do you want to do about it, exactly?

[bhflyhigh]

I feel that although Malkin is playing badly by Malkin standards, Phil is somehow still a level or two lower in terms of what gets accomplished on the ice.

[Morkle]

Kessel should have been moved last summer, after the stuff about not agreeing with the coach coming out again.

My gripe is that if he's out week to week, why was Malkin allowed to finish the game where he obviously had his ribs broken?

[Jim]

Kessel should have been moved last summer, after the stuff about not agreeing with the coach was made up again.

Fixed it.

[IMFC]

"Tougher to coach"? So what, Tyrone Lue is the best coach in the NBA? Nonsense.

Certain personalities are tougher to coach depending on the coach's personality.

Sullivan is the perfect coach for Sid, Jake, Horny, etc., not for Malkin, Letang and Kessel.

The team isn't 80% deep in talent like the damn Oilers, and, because of playing time, like the Bulls (Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, all head cases), so Sather/Phront-runner-Jackass can't just stand around managing egos all day while an assistant gives them some grade school geometry structure.

It starts and ends with Crosby and you hope the free wheelers go on a good run at the right time and you get lucky and don't pay for their mistakes. Sullivan stays until he loses the room and we hope we're healthy enough to not have throw Trotmans and Blandisis out there in the playoffs.

LGP!

[shmenguin]

kessel being a freewheeler isn't the issue. it's ...

1) his dumb stick that he forgot how to use starting in January that's causing him to botch about 134% of his passes.
2) his passes are dumb. they aren't risky, high-risk high-reward passes. they're just dumb. they serve no purpose and there is no significant benefit even if they somehow connect. sure...1-in-X has some sort of value. his thought process is something i can't even guess, but imagine it's something like, "i'm gonna make up for all the garbage by doing something great rather than just make the safe play". and spoiler - it ends up not great.

[FistOfCaufield]

I feel that although Malkin is playing badly by Malkin standards, Phil is somehow still a level or two lower in terms of what gets accomplished on the ice.

Go look up Malkin's stats from last year....

it'll make you throw up.

[Morkle]

Kessel should have been moved last summer, after the stuff about not agreeing with the coach was made up again.

Fixed it.

so Sullivan travelling to Kessel to discuss the game with him 1v1 was made up? Or Sullivan calling out Kessel about him not being injured after the loss to the Capitals?

I very much think there's an occasional rift there, then looking at his 5v5 numbers, and lol.

[Jim]

Kessel should have been moved last summer, after the stuff about not agreeing with the coach was made up again.

Fixed it.

so Sullivan travelling to Kessel to discuss the game with him 1v1 was made up? Or Sullivan calling out Kessel about him not being injured after the loss to the Capitals?

I very much think there's an occasional rift there, then looking at his 5v5 numbers, and lol.

Occasional issues happen between everyone, that doesn't mean that there is a "rift". Or are you saying that Crosby and Malkin and Murray and (insert name other than Kessel here) never have any issues with the coach and the coach never has any issues with them? Or are you saying that any time there are occasional issues there is than a "rift" which the obvious only solution for is trading the player?

I am not saying that Sullivan didn't go to talk to his #3 forward over the summer. Frankly, I would hope that things like that happen much more often than fans know. But, I do believe that a lot of things said in click-bait articles and blogs is either completely fabricated or at least GROSSLY exaggerated simply to get said clicks.

Sullivan didn't call out Kessel with the no injury statement, he called out Rutherford.

[shmenguin]

Technically he called out himself for not taking him off PP1 as the season was slipping away.

[Morkle]

Technically he called out himself for not taking him out of the games at the end of the season when it was obvious he needed rest from being injured, but didn't want to because the iron man streak is so important and PP1 as the season was slipping away.

[Morkle]

Kessel should have been moved last summer, after the stuff about not agreeing with the coach was made up again.

Fixed it.

so Sullivan travelling to Kessel to discuss the game with him 1v1 was made up? Or Sullivan calling out Kessel about him not being injured after the loss to the Capitals?

I very much think there's an occasional rift there, then looking at his 5v5 numbers, and lol.

Occasional issues happen between everyone, that doesn't mean that there is a "rift". Or are you saying that Crosby and Malkin and Murray and (insert name other than Kessel here) never have any issues with the coach and the coach never has any issues with them? Or are you saying that any time there are occasional issues there is than a "rift" which the obvious only solution for is trading the player?

I am not saying that Sullivan didn't go to talk to his #3 forward over the summer. Frankly, I would hope that things like that happen much more often than fans know. But, I do believe that a lot of things said in click-bait articles and blogs is either completely fabricated or at least GROSSLY exaggerated simply to get said clicks.

Sullivan didn't call out Kessel with the no injury statement, he called out Rutherford.

I'm just not buying this, because for the most part, this reads exactly like Sullivan said it did, after the media reported on the rift again. He also didn't call out Rutherford by that summation, because he said they were saying the same things "but differently." Even though that makes no sense.

I think Kessel's type has an expiration date, him and Malkin together this year have been horrendous at times. Malkin being the generational talent, you deal with.

So my only question is if we hear of "rift #3" this year, at what point does it become a fire? I do think that Kessel hates being relegated to third line, but when half of your points come at PP time, and you're a -19, he's pretty much been a specialist this year.

[Gaucho]

According to GMJR, Geno will miss "a week or two".