mikey's Thread of Penguin Randomness

[nocera]

"Immediately" is a funny thing to include there.

[RonnieFranchise]

Bye

[mikey]

Happy Friday, boysssssssssssssssssssssssss!

[meow]

WellBye.gif

[NTP66]

Many months too late, but I'll take it.

[shafnutz05]

Happy Friday, boysssssssssssssssssssssssss!

Hallelujah Hollywood!

[JC2]

Party hard

[iamjs]

[Pavel Bure]

Live video from Dubas.

[crusherstasiak]

Today the Pittsburgh Penguins announced the firing of assistant head coach Todd Reirden. According to inside sources Reirden ran afoul of General Manager Kyle Dubas over the former's refusal to implement changes to the Penguins woeful power play which finished 31st in the league. According to different inside sources from the inside sources previously cited Reirden would not back down from his strongly held belief that the most effective NHL power play positions four skaters making lots of cutesy passes at the top of the circles and as close to the blue line as possible with a fifth skater down low but seldom in front of the net. Yet even more inside sources reported Reirden was "absolutely befuddled" by the slight improvement of the power play that coincided with the addition of Michael Bunting at the trade deadline. "Our behind the back cutesy drop-pass game improved quite a bit at the end of the season. Bunting being a legitimate net-front presence and the group's willingness to shoot more often than pass had nothing to do with it" Reirden supposedly insisted.

Reirden also came under heavy criticism for his handling of the Penguins defensive scheme; one where he and he alone didn't believe in holding star players accountable for grievous errors. Reirden had also been criticized for encouraging defensive stalwarts with large offensive upsides like Erik Karlsson to make risky pinches with a one goal leads and less than five minutes remaining in must-win games.

There is no word on Reirden's replacement but whoever it is can rest assured that Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson will be reluctant to abandon a system they so lovingly embraced.

[meow]

I know a chatgpt written article when I see it. someone feed a bot HFBoard posts to make it

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Many months too late, but I'll take it.

possibly a season-ruining decision to not have done it months ago

I know we dunked on that one random hot take from another site that these Penguins were the best team to not make the playoffs but I genuinely believe that this is easily this season was the most underachieving PP unit in franchise history in terms of the players we have on the roster. We definitely have had the lowest PP goals per game this season in franchise history and PP% stats aren't easily findable because it doesn't seem like they kept PP Opportunities until 1977 (though I remember mikey referencing a pre-1977 PP% before) but of the seasons since 1977 this is also our second lowest PP% of alltime (only behind 01-02)

I'm not sure if firing Reirden would've magically fixed our PP but was Reirden really so valuable that we were willing to "waste" another year of Sid's excellence to keep him employed rather than trying something else? why? what the hell did he add to the organization?

[mikey]

Yeah, you think the power play was our downfall...?

Who knows how his contract was structured...he was hired directly by a GM, he was an associate coach and not an assistant...who knows what's in his contract...the biggest shysters out there always have the biggest severance clauses haha

[King Colby]

Since we all are acutely aware of what rierden's job was at a very detailed level I'm sure we all have keen insight as to what the result would have been had he been let go mid season

[nocera]

[willeyeam]

I'm fairly confident letting him go would not have made the PP worse

[Gaucho]

Bunting will play in the WCs.

[stonewizard51]

I'm confused as to why he was brought in a 2nd time. He wasn't that good the first time around. Then again, he worked with Disco so there you go.

[MR25]

He didn't really learn much from his first stint as far as coaching the D, if I'm honest.

Going to be real refreshing to not watch guys constantly leave their feet and flail around trying to take away passing lanes.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Since we all are acutely aware of what rierden's job was at a very detailed level I'm sure we all have keen insight as to what the result would have been had he been let go mid season

My general philosophy in sports fandom is that ultimately I’m not a paid professional so my opinion about tactical/strategic/personnel decisions means next to nothing. I say “next to” because I almost certainly could’ve done a better job than Hextall

but also as a fan is was incredibly frustrating watching our PP be an embarrassment for 82 games and us not firing the guy who allegedly was in charge of it

[meow]

let him cook

[willeyeam]

Bunting will play in the WCs.

Tanev, oleksiak, McCann.. What's the point of this tournament?

[Pavel Bure]

Today I remembered that Brendan Morrow played for the Penguins.

[Ad@m]

Was this the same year, that the Penguins got Iginla and Crankshaft?

[mikey]

Yes, 2013.