GDT: 2024-2025 Training Camp

[Gurglesons]

Well Puusty,PoolParty, Glass, Bemstrom, Ludvig, Shea all are subject to waivers too, and many of them aren’t making the team

I don’t think they care about anyone there besides Glass.

 

[Andy99]

I don’t think they care about anyone there besides Glass.

I don’t think they care about Poulin either…he’s a nothingburger…

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

I don’t think they care about anyone there besides Glass.

I don't know, the Panthers might want to bring back Ludvig.

They might need him after...winning the Stanley Cup.

(If you read that in Norm MacDonald's voice, it comes off as the joke I was trying to make.)

 

[PensandCaps]

I don’t think they care about anyone there besides Glass.

Well I think we should care about Puustinen. 20 points in 52 games, getting little ice time. He's a good breakout candidate this season.

2.0 per 60 last year at 5v5. He produced better than I thought tbh. Everyone hyped his shot, but it's his playmaking that's carried him. He's too small to get in good shooting positions.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I don’t think they care about anyone there besides Glass.

Sullivan gets moist for his size. Even though he's really not a stand out in camp much at all really outside of fluff pieces about him and his "pedigree" or whatever. He was with Hayes for a few scrimmages and I noticed Glass just reminded me of Harkins, lost my appetite suddenly for some reason.

Puljujarvi hasn't had a good camp and will need to do a lot to change it.

Bemstrom should be practicing with the AHL squad lines.

Puustinen as much to everyones dismay has been playing well and could earn a spot that he should already have if not for dipshits.

Ludvig has been outplayed by so many at this point - Clurman, Aho, St Ivany all look better than he does. Grzelcyk and Letang already look on the same page so at least that's a very good sign there but I'm sure everyone saw that coming. Graves was even doing well in camp.

Personally seeing Jarry also show up in better shape and ready to fight for his spot makes me happy for the lad even though everyone here just wants to see him fail regardless of whatever bullshit they claim as otherwise.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Dey don care.

 

[Gurglesons]

Well I think we should care about Puustinen. 20 points in 52 games, getting little ice time. He's a good breakout candidate this season.

2.0 per 60 last year at 5v5. He produced better than I thought tbh. Everyone hyped his shot, but it's his playmaking that's carried him. He's too small to get in good shooting positions.

Small euro. He’s never gonna get a chance with Sully.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Well I think we should care about Puustinen. 20 points in 52 games, getting little ice time. He's a good breakout candidate this season.

2.0 per 60 last year at 5v5. He produced better than I thought tbh. Everyone hyped his shot, but it's his playmaking that's carried him. He's too small to get in good shooting positions.

He gets in good shooting positions but I think the issue is when you're in good shooting positions with Lars Eller and Reilly Smith, you aren't going to be seen regardless with those blind wankers.

If anything he isn't afraid to get into those areas. It's what I really like about the lad. He's small but he's not weak or scared to go into those areas at all and has done it routinely. I think he just needs to use his release more. But his production getting ignored for what he did in the situations he was put into as well as his metrics all point towards a player that succeeds with better opportunity and even then, still does in not so good opportunity.

We'll see some ideas vs Buffalo tomorrow. I'm curious to see the hype of Doc and Rutger tried since the blogs keep pushing that like they're paid sponsors.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Small euro. He’s never gonna get a chance with Sully.

And yet as much as the dipshit Sullivan didn't want to use him, he realized he needed to for 52 games last season even while stuffing him with Eller.

It's funny that Puustinen's goals came from the slot or in traffic. He's also not shy to battle along the boards and cause turnovers, there's a lot of hockey IQ there and his size hasn't stopped him from playing his game, the way the coach utilizes him has been the only thing to hinder his game.

I'll post it again for the ignorant.

He's not only behind the net along the boards he goes to the front of the net to get the goal after.


Battles to the front of the net, supports in the corner, slides out to get open in the slot and scores. "Oh but he's small..."


This one is just a nice one-time clapper. But again his movement.


Another one-timer


Causes a turnover, goes to the board to force another turnover and then sets up a play. "Hurrr he could never last vs a physical Flyers team!"


This one was a solid one as well, causes a turnover that Smith capitalizes on and then the patience to pass it to Geno for a goal he usually sets up others for.


Also loved the battle along the boards and then a heads up pass to Bunting vs the Caps last season. Even the Pens analysts during the game couldn't help but talk him up during that game.

This team needs more of this. Not more size queen grinders.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Meanwhile Cody Glass needed to be with Niederreiter, Duchene, or Forsberg in usage that had him in the top 6 to hit a massive ground breaking 35pts for his breakthrough year.

Again if Cody is a C, they're doing it right. As a rw? They're not doing their due diligence on the player.

Ironically I think Puustinen is literally the exact winger Cody Glass needs and O'Connor with the two would make for a fantastic third line.

O'Connor, Glass, Puustinen

That's what I'd go with. What helped Glass was playing with a smart playmaking winger like Tomasino etc. Puustinen and Glass as a tandem on the third line would be the ideal situation for both players to succeed under a dipshit coach.

Edit: If by some weird reason Pono is sent down. I'd go with:

Bunting, Crosby, Rust
Hayes, Malkin, Rakell
O'Connor, Glass, Puustinen
Beauvillier, Eller, Lizotte

 

[AuroraBorealis]

And yet as much as the dipshit Sullivan didn't want to use him, he realized he needed to for 52 games last season even while stuffing him with Eller.

It's funny that Puustinen's goals came from the slot or in traffic. He's also not shy to battle along the boards and cause turnovers, there's a lot of hockey IQ there and his size hasn't stopped him from playing his game, the way the coach utilizes him has been the only thing to hinder his game.

I'll post it again for the ignorant.

He's not only behind the net along the boards he goes to the front of the net to get the goal after.


Battles to the front of the net, supports in the corner, slides out to get open in the slot and scores. "Oh but he's small..."


This one is just a nice one-time clapper. But again his movement.


Another one-timer


Causes a turnover, goes to the board to force another turnover and then sets up a play. "Hurrr he could never last vs a physical Flyers team!"


This one was a solid one as well, causes a turnover that Smith capitalizes on and then the patience to pass it to Geno for a goal he usually sets up others for.


Also loved the battle along the boards and then a heads up pass to Bunting vs the Caps last season. Even the Pens analysts during the game couldn't help but talk him up during that game.

This team needs more of this. Not more size queen grinders.

That Eller > Smith > Puustinen goal was possibly the Pens' goal of the year.
Backhand dish under pressure between two Wings, one-touch centering pass on the tape while skating backwards, bardown laser top-corner.

That's a pretty refreshing to see after watching this team's league basement shooting/execution the last 3 years.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

That Eller > Smith > Puustinen goal was possibly the Pens' goal of the year.
Backhand dish under pressure between two Wings, one-touch centering pass on the tape while skating backwards, bardown laser top-corner.

That's a pretty refreshing to see after watching this team's league basement shooting/execution the last 3 years.

There's a place for Glass and Puustinen on this team where they both can succeed and it's not by moving Glass to RW which is doing him a disservice. He's a natural center and he shows his hockey IQ more in that position with his forechecking smarts. As a winger? He's not good enough offensively to move to that and be as much of a difference maker.

Puustinen being his rw does them both good. I hope we see some of that in the preseason. Glass at C is the smart okay. They need to learn from how they f***ed around with McCann by pulling him from C to force him into top 6 winger roles when he was looking good as a 3c finally.

They would never commit with McCann, Seattle did as a winger. On the Pens he was either C or Wing and when he got comfortable in one position, they'd move him to a different one and he'd look off. I don't want that for Glass regardless of what others feel I think about him. I said before, he should be Center. Which is why I think he shouldn't be in competition with Puustinen as the right winger.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

There's a place for Glass and Puustinen on this team where they both can succeed and it's not by moving Glass to RW which is doing him a disservice. He's a natural center and he shows his hockey IQ more in that position with his forechecking smarts. As a winger? He's not good enough offensively to move to that and be as much of a difference maker.

Puustinen being his rw does them both good. I hope we see some of that in the preseason. Glass at C is the smart okay. They need to learn from how they f***ed around with McCann by pulling him from C to force him into top 6 winger roles when he was looking good as a 3c finally.

They would never commit with McCann, Seattle did as a winger. On the Pens he was either C or Wing and when he got comfortable in one position, they'd move him to a different one and he'd look off. I don't want that for Glass regardless of what others feel I think about him. I said before, he should be Center. Which is why I think he shouldn't be in competition with Puustinen as the right winger.

Hard for me to picture Glass locking down a C spot here without injuries to 1 or 2 of them. What will help him is his contract though. He won't be claimed on waivers or demoted to Wilkes.
They won't accept the 1.3M? bury cost in his case. Plus Dubas is gonna push for him to get a chance I'd imagine.
If he was a PK'er he'd get privileged status here and maybe play C, but he's not.
So I think it'll either be wing or press box nachos for him.

Puustinen's another story. He may get claimed on waivers (they'd be foolish to not test him out) and if he clears he can be demoted without penalty.
He doesn't PK either. He has no protection here with this coach.
He has to outplay top-six wings - possibly significantly - to stay in this lineup. Or he gets lucky with injuries.
His situation looks grim, through no fault of his own. Sucks.

 

[Giskard]

Well I think we should care about Puustinen. 20 points in 52 games, getting little ice time. He's a good breakout candidate this season.

2.0 per 60 last year at 5v5. He produced better than I thought tbh. Everyone hyped his shot, but it's his playmaking that's carried him. He's too small to get in good shooting positions.

I really want to see Puustinen in the top-6, I don't think his game is suited for a bottom-6 role. Losing him on waiver would be a Sullivan masterpiece.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Hard for me to picture Glass locking down a C spot here without injuries to 1 or 2 of them. What will help him is his contract though. He won't be claimed on waivers or demoted to Wilkes.
They won't accept the 1.3M? bury cost in his case. Plus Dubas is gonna push for him to get a chance I'd imagine.
If he was a PK'er he'd get privileged status here and maybe play C, but he's not.
So I think it'll either be wing or press box nachos for him.

Puustinen's another story. He may get claimed on waivers (they'd be foolish to not test him out) and if he clears he can be demoted without penalty.
He doesn't PK either. He has no protection here with this coach.
He has to outplay top-six wings - possibly significantly - to stay in this lineup. Or he gets lucky with injuries.
His situation looks grim, through no fault of his own. Sucks.

Just going through the roster.

The players that don't PK (threshold for me is at least 1m average per game):

• Crosby, Malkin, Rakell, Bunting, Glass, Puustinen, Bemstrom, Puljujarvi

The players that do:

• Rust, Eller, Acciari, O'Connor, Nieto*, and Lizotte (averaged 1:42/G in LA), Hayes**

Carter averaged about 1:27 per game last season, so they need to replace that as well as Nieto since I don't think he will really be on the roster and will start in the AHL via a conditioning assignment and just get waived there I'd wager.

**Hayes from 2016-2019 averaged around 1:53 SHTOI/G, he was heavily used in that regard by Vigneault and Quinn carried it forward. So Hayes can also eat up some of those PK minutes, which I suspect Sullivan will try to use him just like he did Jeff Carter in that sense.

This lets Sullivan maybe just rotate between Lizotte and Acciari since there's 4 players that can PK not including them, to have an extra body that can chip in there.

Because if you go with the line-up I hoped for (wish for with this roster):

Bunting, Crosby, Rust
Hayes, Malkin, Rakell
O'Connor, Glass, Puustinen
Beauvillier, Eller, Lizotte
Acciari

You still have Rust, DOC, Eller, Hayes, and Lizotte that can PK.

Also, if he makes it - Ponomarev can PK as well and has done a good job of it in the AHL, so he is very capable of it.

I would also be fine seeing this roster on opening night:

Beauvillier/O'Connor, Crosby, Rust
Bunting, Malkin, Rakell
O'Connor/Beauvillier, Hayes, Puustinen
Lizotte, Eller, Glass
Acciari

Or "it'd be cool to see" line-up (all would still have 5 that can PK, except this one which would have 6):

Bunting, Crosby, Rust
Ponomarev, Malkin, Rakell
O'Connor, Hayes, Puustinen
Beauvillier, Eller, Lizotte
Glass

Acciari waived

I really want to see Puustinen in the top-6, I don't think his game is suited for a bottom-6 role. Losing him on waiver would be a Sullivan masterpiece.

I don't see it happening unless Rust or Rakell are injured unfortunately, at least with Rust we know Puustinen might get 20 or so games as an option with Malkin during Rust's usual injury of about that many games and Rakell is bumped up to Sid. That's the best we can do since Sullivan refuses to use the 3rd line like it was used in 2015-2017 and then entirely abandoned from 2018 - now.

It's why I think just by default - A line of O'Connor, Glass, Puustinen could produce well, even if Glass doesn't make it and is a 13th forward rotated in with Eller, a line of DOC-Hayes-Puustinen would be a hell of a line to watch as they'd find ways to produce just because of the type of players they are and could find a way around the Sullivan stupidity.

I just wish the times we did see Puustinen in the top 6, it wasn't with Smith for some of those games with Malkin, because when it was DOC or Bunting, they produced and looked very good. Especially the way Puustinen was reading Geno, it made his life so much easier.

 

[deakka]

Hard for me to picture Glass locking down a C spot here without injuries to 1 or 2 of them. What will help him is his contract though. He won't be claimed on waivers or demoted to Wilkes.
They won't accept the 1.3M? bury cost in his case. Plus Dubas is gonna push for him to get a chance I'd imagine.
If he was a PK'er he'd get privileged status here and maybe play C, but he's not.
So I think it'll either be wing or press box nachos for him.

Puustinen's another story. He may get claimed on waivers (they'd be foolish to not test him out) and if he clears he can be demoted without penalty.
He doesn't PK either. He has no protection here with this coach.
He has to outplay top-six wings - possibly significantly - to stay in this lineup. Or he gets lucky with injuries.
His situation looks grim, through no fault of his own. Sucks.

Why is it out of the question that he gets demoted to WBS? If we have a player that can do e better job for 1.1m it's a wash cap wise. And only thing we (FSG) lose is some "real money".
Ofc it would be harder cap wise to replace glass with a 2.5m player since that would be 2.5 for the player + the amount we can't bury of Glass contract.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Why is it out of the question that he gets demoted to WBS? If we have a player that can do e better job for 1.1m it's a wash cap wise. And only thing we (FSG) lose is some "real money".
Ofc it would be harder cap wise to replace glass with a 2.5m player since that would be 2.5 for the player + the amount we can't bury of Glass contract.

I just don't think they'll do that is all. But you're right, it wouldn't take much to outperform Glass if he's as bad as last year.

 

[deakka]

I just don't think they'll do that is all. But you're right, it wouldn't take much to outperform Glass if he's as bad as last year.

I'm probably more optimistic than most regarding Glass tho. I think he will make the team, and be somewhat serviceable. Wouldn't surprise me if he plays more than one season here.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I'm probably more optimistic than most regarding Glass tho. I think he will make the team, and be somewhat serviceable. Wouldn't surprise me if he plays more than one season here.

He's coming in hot, mentally speaking. I'll give him that. Hopefully Sullivan doesn't crush his spirit with 9 mins a night and 75% D-zone starts.

 

[Andy99]

Our young guys are gonna be playing Buffalo’s NHL roster tonight…good test…bet the top line is DOC-Pono-McG against Thompson and Tuch…let’s see it…I only wish I could watch…prior engagement…I hope people who are watching either post a detailed GDT or some good comments about who stood out…much appreciated