OT: Around the NHL: JR is about to wake up from his nap and make trades and such

[Buddy Bizarre]

Have you been to both the CBJ and PIT arenas? I found the CBJ one to have more character and liked it more overall.

I've been to both multiple times and I agree with this statement.

 

[End of Line]

Have you been to both the CBJ and PIT arenas? I found the CBJ one to have more character and liked it more overall.

Nationwide Arena is a much nicer arena. Concourses are much more spacious. Last game I went to at PPG I felt like I was getting crushed.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Nothing beats the Civic Arena though.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I mean he spent a lot of time next to Sid which helped with that 16. If anything, we were being Sullied by DOC constantly being gifted Top-6 minutes.

Really though, from a player standpoint, just being on the roster counts as being Sullied atm (unless you're a 4th liner).

No, Drew O'Connor looked his best when he was with Lars Eller, and any RW that wasn't Harkins. Also Puustinen and Eller were fantastic with even Smith, there was a scenario there to utilize and try moving forward, but he refused to bother, he even made it seem like Rakell was back with Geno and all camp and pre-season that was the case, then it wasn't and Geno hasn't been the same since. The opportunity was there, you had 2 wingers that looked good with Eller, they had brief shifts together and looked good, but then in camp he decided to pick favourites and then ignore everything the moment any struggles popped up, he went from having the opportunity to have 4 solid lines to just force feeding 1 line and then whining about the rest.

Eller with Doc or Puustinen was, in a year of a lot of shitty things, was one of the few bright spots last season as it was finally building up a 3rd line that could do well but instead Sullivan tanked Eller, Doc, and Puustinen entirely and all 3 aren't even on the big club - 2 were dealt and the other will never see the light of day from WBS again. He instead force fed Acciari, Glass, and other players that completely derailed the bottom 6, then he kept over playing Nieto and Acciari and then miscasting players that have skill into grinder roles - again, things he's always done but more egregious this season because it really f***ed with those players and they weren't able to play out of it anymore.

Geno started with Bunting and Rakell and while Bunting struggled offensively, his other attributes still helped that line, he then went from that to Bunting and Glass, which was truly awful, allowing 5 goals and scoring 1 and that was one of his lines he played with a lot and has seen a revolving door since. Drew fell off hard and never looked comfortable, he played confused and this was a player that looked like he understood what was needed out of him all last season. That's on the coach. He looks more focused on the Canucks, sure they're a shit show but for different reasons (Miller-Pettersson debacle that has left that team fractured heavily).

Pittsburgh Penguins Team Report

Drew will be fine in Vancouver, his game translates well for what Tocchet wants out of him, he's exactly the kind of winger he likes in the bottom 6 and has used him accordingly. The games I've seen (all of them to see Doc and MP) - he's looked perfectly fine. Pettersson has looked fantastic, whereas he was also about as lost as Doc was and went from being one of the better defensemen on the Pens to also being insanely inconsistent, but again he leaves and looks like a very strong top 4 defender again, shouldn't surprise anyone when you leave the clutches of Sullivan's brilliant coaching strategy and adjustments.

Team USA did amazingly with it!

• Except for a player that got an infection because of how his injury was handled and the NHL club is pissed off about it - Coincidentally, his literal Son In Law was the victim.
• Healthy scratching the best USA forward for Kreider
• Top D-men looking like trash except for the 1 elite Defensive D-man that has always been solid.
• Game planned like shit, came out hard vs the Canadians and blew his load and left his entire team limping and went 0-2 after it, which shows his long term game planning is absolute shit and somehow, the media is blaming the players and Sullivan escapes - like always.

He literally had an all-star US roster for the most part and still failed.