GDT: 3/2/23 - 7:00PM EDT - Pittsburgh vs Tampa Bay

[NatoGhost]

I might be reactionary, but I'm tired to see Killorn play like he does.

Also I'm sorry but Cirelli is scaring me with his extension kicking in next season. Good at retrieving puck on the Ozone, but his offensive contribution ends there. Are his defensive abilities enough to justify him crippling our second line? I'm starting to doubt it.

If Killorn re-signs, it better be 2m or less per year. JBB prob gives him 3.5.

I doubted the wisdom of the Cirelli contract immediately after seeing the numbers.

 

[FinnLightning26]

They look like they've never played together. We'll probably lose both games on the weekend and have two wins in the last ten.

Raddysh can probably forget about getting any considerable time on this team after that fourth Pens goal. Peewee level defense like from the whole blueline.

 

[OffBy1]

Also I'm sorry but Cirelli is scaring me with his extension kicking in next season. Good at retrieving puck on the Ozone, but his offensive contribution ends there. Are his defensive abilities enough to justify him crippling our second line? I'm starting to doubt it.

I had a problem with Serge's contract because it seemed like a gamble at the time, but I at least thought there was a chance he could live up to it. We'd seen flashes of him playing great offensively his rookie season.

Cirelli on the other hand has consistently killed every scoring line he's been on, regular season and playoffs. Giving him 6.25 per for 8 years was JB's biggest head scratcher - though the Jeannot trade almost makes you forget about it.

 

[OffBy1]

The defense is simply awful, now giving up right around 3 ga. It was a risk to move McD when he did, and losing both him and Rutta has really affected the defense negatively.

Kudos for mentioning the loss of Rutta, I think that's often forgotten. On top of that, Hedman has also taken a step back, so it's been a threefold hit to the blueline.

Perbix has been as good as you could hope for, Cole has been solid, and Serge has improved, but it's still a net loss.

 

[Sky04]

Its not like Rutta even makes a lot..... he makes 2.75M and we used almost twice as much as that on Namestnikov and Myers. I'm not sure we let reliable players like him go for cheap, it's not like this was Palat who was overly expensive.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

Its not like Rutta even makes a lot..... he makes 2.75M and we used almost twice as much as that on Namestnikov and Myers. I'm not sure we let reliable players like him go for cheap, it's not like this was Palat who was overly expensive.

Rutta got benched for the first, what? Two rounds of the playoffs? I still don’t know why, he had a decent finals and even scored an important goal. But for whatever reason it was clear tampa management was done with him.

 

[Sky04]

Rutta got benched for the first, what? Two rounds of the playoffs? I still don’t know why, he had a decent finals and even scored an important goal. But for whatever reason it was clear tampa management was done with him.

He was injured not scratched, the second he was healthy they took out Bogosian. He was great on the 2nd run though and last year was probably his best year ever.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

He was injured not scratched, the second he was healthy they took out Bogosian. He was great on the 2nd run though and last year was probably his best year ever.

That’s weird, he played game one and got a cut in his face, can’t imagine that is enough to keep him out of the playoffs. Unless it was a concussion. Anyway; they never announced his injury

 

[Sky04]

That’s weird, he played game one and got a cut in his face, can’t imagine that is enough to keep him out of the playoffs. Unless it was a concussion. Anyway; they never announced his injury

Before Monday, Rutta had last played on Aug. 5 against the Bruins in the round-robin portion of the postseason for seeding, but an injury forced him out of the lineup after that.

He was actually good to go a little earlier but the team was doing great with Schenn and Bogo until the finals so his return was postponed a bit, probably until Bogo had his worst game against Dallas.