yeah, i would send down everyone that they can and then quickly start trying to move players all the way to the trade deadline to open up spots for the younger players
But sure, we totally had competition in camp for young guys to make the lineup. f*** off Mike.
Spoiler alert: they won’t…unless Sullivan gets fired by December lol
Boy, it is a good thing Puljujarvi registered a hat-trick. Otherwise, his 26-year-old ass would be heading to the AHL too for more seasoning!
Here's the thing though, there's more to evaluating a player and where you want them in the lineup than nickel and diming advanced stats. When you look at DOC in the latter half of the year, the kid was a flat-out forechecking monster whose speed on the forecheck was very, VERY noticeable. He really started using his larger frame, too. When you look at what a guy like Sid wants and needs on his line, it's not hard to see why Sullivan might give the spot to DOC vs Puustinen. While Puustinen CLEARLY has a very nice skill set, I do think there are aspects of his game that are more perimeter-based and passive.Drew O'Connor in 2022-23 - 46 games, 5 goals and 11 assists, but sure he got another shot the next year.
Valtteri Puustinen has 5 goals and 15 assists in 52 games, has a far better Points per 60 than Drew did in 22-23, is somehow not worthy of a longer look like he should get.
To be that big of a f***ing idiot as a coach is hilarious and the fact that none of these mediaeven call him on it just makes it worse for me, because it shows none of these Pens writers have any sort of back bone, they love to wax poetic about analytics and charts and all that shit, but only when it's players they like.
And no, I am not hating on Drew, I am literally saying Puustinen deserves the same opportunities as Drew. Drew's P/60 jumped from 1.57 to 1.63 while getting a lot of top 6 time, Puustinen's P/60 was 2.03, that's top 6 level. That's producing like Zucker did in his last season with the Penguins, as in when Puustinen was played, he took advantage of the minutes he got and produced in them at a far better rate.
"At the AHL level..." - Eat a pile of shit, Sullivan.
I thought the top 6 was pretty well set with the only question being Beau vs DOC. But if we want a competitive camp where the performance is rewarded, it's hard not to argue it's not happening with Puljujarvi on the 3rd line when just a couple days ago we thought he was 100% WBS bound.
Oh how I wish Pittsburgh had its own Larry Brooks. It would be Brooks vs Tortorella 2.0. Always funny seeing Sullivan start complaining over the lightest bit of criticism over the years. Dude would melt if he faced actual criticism from the fans/media
