Penquins Hockey Question For The Hockey Guru's

[BuffetParrothead]

While we wait for the PITT Panthers to Win Out, win the ACC Coastal Division, beat Clemson, and who knows what after that we have a PENS hockey question.

We watch the PENS on Center Ice ( since we out of towners) most every game every season.

They don't seem to be clicking so far this season but it's early.

Mrs Buffett and I went back and looked at the coaching staff changes.

Things look pretty much the same going back to 2015/16 with the exception of Rick Tocchet leaving and Gonchar being added the last two seasons.
In our opinion in both seasons the PENS performance hasn't measured up to their player potential.
Of course Fleury left a big loss.

Could the coaching change Tocchet out Gonchar in be a factor?

The spelling of the coaches names are probably wrong but this isn't a spelling bee.

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT Panthers & CSU Rams!

 

[McKee Place]

They clicked great on the road trip to Canada. Hit the skids once they got back home.

It's much of the same old, they are indifferent defensively and goaltending is inconsistent. These early games also seem to mean little (to fans, players, coaches) so effort is all over the place. As far as the great road trip, they seemed highly motivated to put on great shows and got tremendous effort from Crosby in particular.

Tune in this spring to get the real story...

 

[pittdan77]

but it's early.

There is literally a thread on this board every November wondering what's wrong.

 

[wbrpanther]

While we wait for the PITT Panthers to Win Out, win the ACC Coastal Division, beat Clemson, and who knows what after that we have a PENS hockey question.

We watch the PENS on Center Ice ( since we out of towners) most every game every season.

They don't seem to be clicking so far this season but it's early.

Mrs Buffett and I went back and looked at the coaching staff changes.

Things look pretty much the same going back to 2015/16 with the exception of Rick Tocchet leaving and Gonchar being added the last two seasons.
In our opinion in both seasons the PENS performance hasn't measured up to their player potential.
Of course Fleury left a big loss.

Could the coaching change Tocchet out Gonchar in be a factor?

The spelling of the coaches names are probably wrong but this isn't a spelling bee.

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT Panthers & CSU Rams!

Gonchar was already here. I don't really get into the Pens deeply till after football season. The basic plan for the Pens is the same every year. Keep your head above water till after the Super Bowl then get serious.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Older. Less hungry. Slower. Other teams have caught up with them. Lack of adding talent since they have been trading away picks are catching up with them. Horrible blue line play. Poor goaltending. Bad play by bottom 6. Disinterested play by top 6 at times.

It is not even Thanksgiving. I think this year's team is going to have make a big move, get some new blood in here though at some point. It has grown a little stale, but it is 10 days in late October-Early November. At this point last year, the Caps were experiencing the same, in fact benched Holtby. They raised the cup at the end of the year.

No need for a kneejerk reaction like the Blackhawks just did who have suffered some of the same issues the Pens have had.

 

[pittbb80]

Older. Less hungry. Slower. Other teams have caught up with them. Lack of adding talent since they have been trading away picks are catching up with them. Horrible blue line play. Poor goaltending. Bad play by bottom 6. Disinterested play by top 6 at times.

It is not even Thanksgiving. I think this year's team is going to have make a big move, get some new blood in here though at some point. It has grown a little stale, but it is 10 days in late October-Early November. At this point last year, the Caps were experiencing the same, in fact benched Holtby. They raised the cup at the end of the year.

No need for a kneejerk reaction like the Blackhawks just did who have suffered some of the same issues the Pens have had.

Way too early to worry. When will the fan base learn. Who thought Pitt would be playing for a birth in the ACC Title game Saturday when they lost to UNC (I sure as heck didnt)? Who thought the Steelers would come around after the horrid start? And those are short seasons...........The NHL is a grind of 80 some games........there will be bad stretches. They have shown brilliant stretches and poor stretches to this pooint......the sample size is way too small......Lets see how things are panning out in January and then reassess.

In generally though I think they need some young energy. Sprong does not appear to be the answer. Perhaps some of the younger guys will be called up to provide that spark.

 

[Pittx9]

No need for a kneejerk reaction like the Blackhawks just did who have suffered some of the same issues the Pens have had.

Of course there’s no need for that. The Pens and Hawks both struggling right now, but the Hawks also finished last in their division last year and missed the playoffs.

 

[Jakey_John]

Like others who have weighed in, it is still very early. Good hockey in October and November is enjoyable but not mandatory. Every year this group of Penguins go through the motions early and turn it on for the right time.

To your specific question, I think a lot of it has to do with Shultz. On any other team he’s a #1 defenseman. Here he’s 1b. That’s trickling through the lineup now. The Johnsons, Ruwedels, Maatas and Oleksiaks of the world are going to have a hard time filling that void.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

There are no Younger guys to call up. Our prospect pool is dead last in the NHL.. only help will come from a trade..

Yeah that is a problem. And it was going to happen at some point. And one of Sullivan's problems is he has "his guys" and a guy like Sprong is another who died on the vine, he should be playing top 6 minutes but now he has no confidence that he has become worthless and without trade value.

Oh and the Jack Johnson signing looks like an unmitigated disaster.

 

[Jpripper88]

There are no Younger guys to call up. Our prospect pool is dead last in the NHL.. only help will come from a trade..

I know you are nothing, but a troll, but that is definitely not true.

Very unlikely we can make any significant trades with how bad we hamstrung ourselves with Jack Johnson.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

It's really bad.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

Older. Less hungry. Slower. Other teams have caught up with them. Lack of adding talent since they have been trading away picks are catching up with them. Horrible blue line play. Poor goaltending. Bad play by bottom 6. Disinterested play by top 6 at times.

It is not even Thanksgiving. I think this year's team is going to have make a big move, get some new blood in here though at some point. It has grown a little stale, but it is 10 days in late October-Early November. At this point last year, the Caps were experiencing the same, in fact benched Holtby. They raised the cup at the end of the year.

No need for a kneejerk reaction like the Blackhawks just did who have suffered some of the same issues the Pens have had.

It's early and they have time to get in championship shape?

Maybe a step slow at this time.

 

[McKee Place]

It's early and they have time to get in championship shape?

Maybe a step slow at this time.

Sign that guy and wedge him between the pipes! At least for home games, since Murray is oddly awful(er) at home. Of course it doesn't help him that the Penguins still seem baffled by how pucks are coming off the updated boards at their own arena, while the visitors that have about 45 min experience warming up at PPG seem immediately capable of making nifty backdoor plays off the caroms. And yeah that's right, I used the word nifty.