GDT: 2024-2025 Training Camp

[Jag68Sid87]

We should have seen that coming though, the fact that Sullivan was adamant on using Beauvillier with Sid essentially from the get go. In Camp during the mini teams and scrimmages, practices, he's been basically with Sid. That's where he sees Beauvillier playing, so when Rust comes back, I am betting Rutger is going back down so Doc takes his spot on the 3rd line and Beauvillier is back to the LW with Sid & Rust.

Lol...some of you are delusional with the playoff hopes with this twat of a coach.

In keeping with team tradition of elite RW talent, Sullivan has anointed Anthony (the great) Beauvillier as the No. 1 RW.

Pronovost
Kehoe
Recchi
Mullen
Jagr
Tocchet
Kovalev
Hossa
Kessel
Beauvillier

the tradition continues...

Dubas being non committal about signing MP is a good sign imo.

It sounds like Dubas is basically challenging this roster to sink or swim on its own. If it's out of the playoffs or looking like it will be by the deadline then he'll be pulling the plug again.

That's reassuring to hear given that I was rather certain they'd try to lock up MP long term since unlike Jake it sounds like he actually wants to stay here. But they really shouldn't indulge him on that unless they're in a playoff spot at the TDL and quite frankly even if they're in a playoff spot by then they should still strongly consider trading him unless they're firmly in that spot by like 6+ points. And that probably won't happen.

I disagree. What is the downside to re-signing a guy like Pettersson? Did you see how well he played with Brunicke? We are not talking about a $10 million AAV here. Probably not a 7-8 year term, either.

Marcus Pettersson can play on a contender or a non-contender. He is just a solid NHL defenseman. You always need those. He can complement a Karlsson or mentor a Brunicke.

Unless you prefer signing the likes of Grz and Aho year over year?

We only have Owen Pickering on that side. Graves is a problem. Shea is AHL fodder. Grz sucks and Aho is already in the AHL.

Also, not sure Dubas is calling the shots here so it does not really matter.

 

[MrBurghundy]

This is sure to go over well...

Won't change tactics? Won't play the kids? Penguins coach Mike Sullivan pushes back at critics' 'narratives'

During his time as a defenseman with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Matheson had a way with words. Especially when it came to those who had a way with words. Like his coach at that time, Mike Sullivan. “The first thing I noticed about him is just the way he speaks,”

triblive.com

 

[Malkinstheman]

This is sure to go over well...

Won't change tactics? Won't play the kids? Penguins coach Mike Sullivan pushes back at critics' 'narratives'

During his time as a defenseman with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Matheson had a way with words. Especially when it came to those who had a way with words. Like his coach at that time, Mike Sullivan. “The first thing I noticed about him is just the way he speaks,”

triblive.com

There are coaches (who) are coaching in the NFL for 20 years in one spot. We’ve got one in Pittsburgh. It’s only in hockey that we think, ‘Hey, we’ve got to turn and burn the coach because his message is stale.’ I don’t know where the narrative came from. I don’t subscribe to that notion. As a matter of fact, I think just the opposite.”

Oh I don't know Mike, maybe it comes from the two times the Pens fired their coach in the Sid era. One of those new hires being you

This entire article is just Sullivan complaining about narratives against him and him denying them

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Don't worry. Sullivan's just going to create his own ZAR using McGroarty.

Genuinely nervous about this.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

This is sure to go over well...

Won't change tactics? Won't play the kids? Penguins coach Mike Sullivan pushes back at critics' 'narratives'

During his time as a defenseman with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Matheson had a way with words. Especially when it came to those who had a way with words. Like his coach at that time, Mike Sullivan. “The first thing I noticed about him is just the way he speaks,”

triblive.com

This sorta thing is exactly why I think Sully might just jump ship when his deal's up. He's not gonna want to stick around and field questions about why he's trying to hammer PKing and risk aversion into a premium prospect's game as opposed to trying to grow his strengths and get the most out of his ceiling.

I just don't think the guy's ego is gonna let him coach a bottom feeder and deal with the increased scrutiny when it comes to development of this team's next crop of top-3 caliber picks.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Always hard to stomach giving a goalie big $ for me because they don’t play every night, but in theory if you’re getting a yearly Vezina contender I would do it.

 

[eXile3]

This is sure to go over well...

Won't change tactics? Won't play the kids? Penguins coach Mike Sullivan pushes back at critics' 'narratives'

During his time as a defenseman with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Mike Matheson had a way with words. Especially when it came to those who had a way with words. Like his coach at that time, Mike Sullivan. “The first thing I noticed about him is just the way he speaks,”

triblive.com

I hate it when someone says “I don’t want to make excuses.” Then proceeds to make excuses.

It’s great we have a coach and a GM who are really good at talking but have no substance to them. They’re basically sales reps.

 

[SEALBound]

Tristan "Best option available, what more do you guys want" Jarry

Jarry was the beneficiary of an extraordinarily bleak goalie market that year. If he had one extra year, making him a UFA this year, there is no way he would get what he gets.

Oh I don't know Mike, maybe it comes from the two times the Pens fired their coach in the Sid era. One of those new hires being you

This entire article is just Sullivan complaining about narratives against him and him denying them

I do think the "he won't play young players" is a false narrative because there are so many examples of him playing young players. Just because a proven vet gets the call over an unproven prospect in a game doesn't mean there's 's some aversion to youth. He would help his case with the occasional scratch of a guy like Carter or Harkins in favor of a Puustinen or Poulin though.

The tactics part is valid and ultimately his own doing. Last year, we start with Jake-Sid-Raks and Smith-Malkin-Rust. We're winning games and everything is going great. Then after one meh period, he switches Raks and Rust. We proceed to lose 8 straight while both lines look anemic. Switch back, and we win the next game. It's not that he switched them. It's that he was so stubborn after making the switch that he willing to rack up 8 loses before the next change was made. That screams ego and stubbornness. Two things that are ultimately the death of cup hopes. Just ask Bylsma.

It seems like after the B2B cups, which I give him a TON of credit for, he shifted from this "I will coach and adjust against teams" to "we are so good, they have to coach and adjust against us!" mentality. And as the roster dwindled and stars for older, this philosophy became more impactful.

As I've said in the past, I think Dubas built the team that Sullivan wanted last year. Now that it fell flat on its face, I think Dubas will be much more active in forcing through his vision for the team. If nothing else, the counter to Sullivan's system being challenged, is a positive.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

lol that article basically just copped to Sullivan and Dubas being experts at blowing a buncha nice-sounding hot air. Cool. Very reassuring.

EDIT: Also lol to the assertion that "We've made all KINDS of changes you buncha know-nothing dummies... they're just top secret and I'm not going into any detail! It might LOOK the same to YOU because you're dumb but I assure you we are very smart and things are very different and special, now."

ALSO also... so much of what is being discussed in this article involves past accomplishments. "Well when I first got here I played young guys!" Well back in 2017..." etc etc. That was a long time ago. Nobody cares anymore and it's been forever since you guys have done anything except disappoint.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

They're just too subtle for guys like us who aren't Students of the Game™.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Some fairly condescending stuff from Sullivan TBH. But who is surprised, really?

 

[MrBurghundy]

This sorta thing is exactly why I think Sully might just jump ship when his deal's up. He's not gonna want to stick around and field questions about why he's trying to hammer PKing and risk aversion into a premium prospect's game as opposed to trying to grow his strengths and get the most out of his ceiling.

I just don't think the guy's ego is gonna let him coach a bottom feeder and deal with the increased scrutiny when it comes to development of this team's next crop of top-3 caliber picks.

From your fingertips to God's ears.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Always hard to stomach giving a goalie big $ for me because they don’t play every night, but in theory if you’re getting a yearly Vezina contender I would do it.

They don't play every night, but when they do, they play the whole night (minus pulls). It ends up adding up to more minutes than any D-man or Forward over the course of the year, if they play 50+ games. Granted, there's a lot of idle minutes but no position influences results more. We saw what bad goaltending did in New Jersey.

This Shesterkin situation is all about capitalizing on their Cup window.
If you as a GM feel that you won't win a Cup with more budget goaltending, roll the dice and sign him.
If you feel there's an alternative way to use the money to win, do that.

If they just win one Cup during his contract, it will have been worth it.

 

[pistolpete11]

Oh I don't know Mike, maybe it comes from the two times the Pens fired their coach in the Sid era. One of those new hires being you

This entire article is just Sullivan complaining about narratives against him and him denying them

So the coach doesn't think the coach should be fired? Wonder why?

That thing should get torn to shreds for any number of reasons, but the one that really grinds my gears is how often he points to 2016 and 2017 as his defense. I don't play young players? But I played Sheary in 2016 and Guentzel in 2017!
I don't make adjustments? But 2017 was completely different than 2016!

Like, yeah, bro. Everybody thought you did a great job in 2016-2017. We're complaining about the last 6 years where you haven't won a playoff round and missed altogether the last 2 years.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

Sully:

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Sorry sorry... I know I said I was going to try to stop whinging about Mike Sullivan every friggin' waking hour on here but smarmy, overwrought, condescending propaganda such as that makes me a little salty.

 

[WickedWrister]

"I put Jake Guentzel with Sid when nobody knew who Jake Guentzel was"

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I barely care but hard to remember the last time one of those “here’s why you’re all wrong” type of PR articles aged well.

 

[eXile3]

“I play young players! Just look seven years ago!”

How many other NHL coaches haven’t won a playoff round in 5 years and are still employed by that team? I don’t care about the NFL.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

HSL's "Sullivan can never be wrong, he can only be wronged." Lives on forever and always.

 

[chethejet]

Dubas is above the Sullivan mundane BS. He along with Spezza and Wilson know what they want and know what the expectations are. Long season so see what happens with Sullivan and company. But he has a bigger more grit roster and Dubas wants that to be the focal point.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I barely care but hard to remember the last time one of those “here’s why you’re all wrong” type of PR articles aged well.

Appeals to authority always work out great.

We should listen to our betters, after all. In this case mostly a buncha former athletes who took lots of blows to the head for 20+ years of their lives.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

I hate it when someone says “I don’t want to make excuses.” Then proceeds to make excuses.

It’s great we have a coach and a GM who are really good at talking but have no substance to them. They’re basically sales reps.

I mean they have the playbook from the Steelers. Why hold anyone accountable when we can all keep our jobs?

 

[Pancakes]

I do agree with Rusts point about how there's so much turnover year to year that a coaches message doesn't really get a chance to become stale in the way fans and media perceive it.

But imo a tenured coach becomes stale in a different way and that is that when a team plays a certain way for a long time there becomes a book on how to beat that team. Everyone knows how to stop our umbrella pp for example.

A new coach can take the league by storm because teams aren't always prepared for what that team is doing. The way the Pens played in 2016 wasn't radically new but it was so different from how they had played under previous coaches that it took the league time to adjust.

 

[Tom Hanks]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843728955515555985