Was the wrong defense man given up in the kessel trade?

[Algernon]

Obviously this is a **** thread but im bored

Is scott harrington any good?

From what i understood he was suppose to be what dumolin is now.

After watching Pouilot play.... he's basically despres but maybe even worse

I was thinking that rutherford did a pretty amazing job this year but if we could go back and change somethings... that might be one of them but then again i havent watched a second of Harrington's play

[mikey]

I don't get the Despres/Pouliot comparison, they do not play a similar game for me.

Harrington is a smart, positionally sound player. Not overly high on puck skills, but a capable mover. Not overly physical. Not a high end skater. Like a much lesser version of Niklas Hjalmarsson I suppose.

He was hurt this year. He'll need waivers to go down next year and he's probably on the bubble. A good camp keeps him in the NHL...a good camp from Percy or Corrado or Zaitsev or whoever will probably knock him to the AHL...

[FistOfCaufield]

As I went down the rabbit hole of reading a bit about the Penguins defense situation. I was looking for information regarding at what point Pouliot would have to start clearing waivers. I mean he's 22 so I'm not sure this is the best time for the thread (if it's possible to even have a good guess at the answer)... but I came across this solid gold nugget.

Sergei Gonchar - who Rob Rossi noted today on TribLive Radio, is more than likely to make the Penguins opening day roster.

Who in their right mind pays this clown to write about hockey?

[Factorial]

Are we giving up on Pouliot yet?

[Avyran]

In his first batch of games (before last year's playoffs), Dumoulin looked overwhelmed as well.

[Silentom]

The real question is, could Harrington have kept up with the current team speed game?

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

I don't get the Despres/Pouliot comparison, they do not play a similar game for me.

Yeah I don't get that either


They're pretty close to polar opposites. Despres plays heavy, little skill, Pouliot is skill dependant, no physicality

[meow]

I'll die a happy man if Despres is never mentioned here again

[Silentom]

Despres

@meow

[columbia]

Despres seems stoopid.

[meow]

Despres

@meow

I liked you more when you were silent, Tom

[Silentom]

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Despres

@meow

I liked you more when you were silent, Om

[FistOfCaufield]

I have it on good authority Simon Despres couldn't read or write.... okay that may have been Andy Delmore.

[Dickie Dunn]

Pouliot is still waiver exempt to start next season, which is good because right now he's as trustworthy in his own end as a liquored up Ric Jackman.

[Algernon]

Pouliot is still waiver exempt to start next season, which is good because right now he's as trustworthy in his own end as a liquored up Ric Jackman.

Literally lol'd

[Tico Rick]

Despres

@meow

I liked you more when you were silent, Om

Now I'm confused. I always read it as Silent Tom, but maybe it is Silent Om.

But is an om still an om if it is silent? Sounds like a zen koan.

Anyway, silentom is 4-1 in playoff GDTs, so he can talk all he wants to.

[shmenguin]

I'll say this about pouliot...bonino is the best part of the Staal trade.

[Dickie Dunn]

Eh maybe for now. Pouliot is still only 22, though questionable conditioning and hockey intelligence is no way to go through a hockey career. Dumoulin is pretty damn good and should be here for a lot longer than Bonino.

[mikey]

I'm of the mindset that we did not acquire Derrick Pouliot in the trade...we acquired the 8th overall pick, which at the time, we did not have autonomous control over who that would be...that's just a draft pick we acquired...we turned that draft pick into whatever...in the same vein that the Sabres didn't trade rental Rhett Warrener for Ryan Miller...

Not that I don't understand the point...it's just not one that I subscribe to...

[Dickie Dunn]

I think that's a fair way to evaluate a trade, though you might be the only person to break it down like that.

[mikey]

It transfers the value of a trade to a different avenue, perhaps, of the organization. If your scouts, let's say in a hypothetical, control your draft picks and director of amateur scouting makes your picks (not uncommon)...why is the GM held accountable for a trade in which he brought in a top 10 pick straight away (tough to do without giving up something very close by), a big young d-man and a third line center for a player that was going to walk in 12 months just because your scouts decided they like Jack Campbell over Cam Fowler...or whatever...?

Ok, sure, at like 1st or 2nd overall where it's clear what the draft order is...if you acquire the 1st overall pick, ok, yeah, you acquired Connor McDavid...but if you acquire the 17th pick on June 4th, that's what you got, the 17th pick...you didn't get whatever that player becomes one day...that doesn't really make sense to me...

[willeyeam]

I don't think Letang was all that good in the defensive end in his first year. Not that Pouliot is going to be Letang, but it's silly to totally right him off at this point too.

[large garlic]

I'm not writing Pouliot off as a bust or anything quite yet, but I'm beginning to think that the realistic projection for him at the NHL level is a PP specialist who needs to play sheltered, 3rd-pairing minutes at even-strength.

[columbia]

I'm not writing Pouliot off as a bust or anything quite yet, but I'm beginning to think that the realistic projection for him at the NHL level is a PP specialist who needs to play sheltered, 3rd-pairing minutes at even-strength.

My hope is that he can develop into that and then the Pens trade him to a team, which values that kind of role. Montreal comes to mind.