Post-Game Talk: Clawed one point in FLA

BobCole

Registered User
May 21, 2014
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Yeah man Malkin is old. Bunting is a good piece along side him but the other winger has been a revolving door of guys who simply aren't good enough. Malkin pushing 40 years old + 1 good winger (+ 1 plug) ain't gonna yield much more than this. It's like people on this board fail to understand just how effing old these guys are. Enjoy Geno while he's still playing is all I've gotta say.
 

Turin

Erik Karlsson is good
Feb 27, 2018
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Yeah man Malkin is old. Bunting is a good piece along side him but the other winger has been a revolving door of guys who simply aren't good enough. Malkin pushing 40 years old + 1 good winger (+ 1 plug) ain't gonna yield much more than this. It's like people on this board fail to understand just how effing old these guys are. Enjoy Geno while he's still playing is all I've gotta say.
I think we got surprised because Malkin was still like.. elite, elite in 2022. It's just weird to see a guy go from what looks like a 100 point C to a 60 point C in a few years but that's how it works. Bro is like, approaching Matt Cullen's age in 2016.
 
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BobCole

Registered User
May 21, 2014
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I think we got surprised because Malkin was still like.. elite, elite in 2022. It's just weird to see a guy go from what looks like a 100 point C to a 60 point C in a few years but that's how it works. Bro is like, approaching Matt Cullen's age in 2016.
Yeah, father time is getting him. It would do him wonders if they had another Bunting-like player to do some lifting on that line, but we don't have that player anywhere in the system and it seems highly unlikely that we'll acquire one. C'est la vie.
 
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Ryder71

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Nov 24, 2017
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Nah Bunting-Pettersson-Malkin.
With what assets or cap space?

Yeah man Malkin is old. Bunting is a good piece along side him but the other winger has been a revolving door of guys who simply aren't good enough. Malkin pushing 40 years old + 1 good winger (+ 1 plug) ain't gonna yield much more than this. It's like people on this board fail to understand just how effing old these guys are. Enjoy Geno while he's still playing is all I've gotta say.
Bunting can't keep carrying him, it's inhumane at this point.
 

Gurglesons

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Dec 18, 2009
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I think we got surprised because Malkin was still like.. elite, elite in 2022. It's just weird to see a guy go from what looks like a 100 point C to a 60 point C in a few years but that's how it works. Bro is like, approaching Matt Cullen's age in 2016.

Malkin being on pace for 65 pts is honestly incredible given the dog shit he’s playing with and the fact we are rolling a top PP of Gryz, Sid, Rust, Raks, Bunting for some reason.
 

Will Hunting

Immortal Adams
Dec 14, 2011
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Pretty much. Geno can't do what he used to be able to do, but he sure as shit doesn't have any help whatsoever. /shrug

It's no shock L2 is El Stinko Gigante.
Help or no help, I still thought that Bunting gave Malkin a pretty decent pass to set up that empty net scoring opportunity.

Malkin being on pace for 65 pts is honestly incredible given the dog shit he’s playing with and the fact we are rolling a top PP of Gryz, Sid, Rust, Raks, Bunting for some reason.
For a good reason. PP is better without Malkin.
 

Will Hunting

Immortal Adams
Dec 14, 2011
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Yeah man Malkin is old. Bunting is a good piece along side him but the other winger has been a revolving door of guys who simply aren't good enough. Malkin pushing 40 years old + 1 good winger (+ 1 plug) ain't gonna yield much more than this. It's like people on this board fail to understand just how effing old these guys are. Enjoy Geno while he's still playing is all I've gotta say.
That said, it´s still kinda sad that Bunting looks like the best player on that line, most nights.
 

Ryder71

Registered User
Nov 24, 2017
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Bunting 3 points more than Malkin since Nov. 1st with 3 mins less TOI per game. 6 more goals too.
Bunting gave him a layup tonight. But it's never Geno's fault on this board so...
Exactly! People just have agendas, that's all it is. Intellectual dishonesty runs rampant.

Bunting has been very good after an abysmal start. But they're Jake fanbois, so...
 

FreeBobbyFarnham

Registered User
Jun 16, 2015
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Montreal
Bunting 3 points more than Malkin since Nov. 1st with 3 mins less TOI per game. 6 more goals too.
Bunting gave him a layup tonight. But it's never Geno's fault on this board so...
Bunting has also been on the first PP unit lately, while Geno hasn’t.

Not saying Bunting hasn’t been good, but I’d be curious to see what his 5 on 5 numbers look like.

Bunting is a point per game player the last 7 weeks. Lets not drag him down because father time has caught up to Geno.
I mean yeah like I said he’s 38 and a big chunk of Bunting’s production has come on the PP.
 

canadianguy77

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Say what you want to say but at this point Geno looks like he’s basically checked out most games. You have to do something to get him going.
 

AuroraBorealis

Back-to-back hater
Oct 16, 2018
20,649
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Bunting has also been on the first PP unit lately, while Geno hasn’t.

Not saying Bunting hasn’t been good, but I’d be curious to see what his 5 on 5 numbers look like.
Malkin 124 mins on the PP this year. Bunting 79mins. A lot of that is due to Bunting being on PP2 and Geno PP1.
Bunting 7g-3a, Malkin 2g-8a.

Since November:
Bunting 1.71 5v5 P/P60...which is maybe barely passable 2nd line level.
Malkin 1.47. That's a rate I'd expect out of Blueger back in the day with 70% D-zone starts and bleh wingers.

Crosby's at 2.79, for comparison. Rust 3.14. Rakell 2.11.

We got a great October out of Malkin but since then it's been grim.
Team-worst minus-16 too.

So it depends where people stand I guess:
A) What October? I don't remember that. Age is the answer to everything.
B) Body fell apart in 2 weeks.
C) Cucked with linemates. Not his fault.
D) Actually deserves blame for his play. Possibly something mental going on.
 

Duffy13

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Feb 16, 2013
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Acciari got more ice time because he's a righty and Tomasino got knocked out early as third line RW.


Geno needs to go back to Russia!

Go Geno go!

Last 5 games he's gotten ~16/15/13/14/17 minutes of icetime.

It's a gross misusage of a player incapable of doing anything more than getting hit by a puck. He's not a borderline 2nd line winger 3rd line center, and does not warrant the ice time that one normally receives. Especially when better players like Glass, Doc, Tomasino, Beau, Puljujarvi, Lizotte receive much less playing time.
 

Icarium

Registered User
Feb 16, 2010
4,089
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Malkin playing like 2/3 of the OT was rather funny... assuming you don't give much of a damn if the Pens win or not. Had a good play early on, for some reason didn't change when he had the chance, hung on for dear life for a while after that and surprisingly came on for the end of the OT too. I know we don't have much center depth nowadays but still, we were begging to lose even earlier than we did.

I really didn't expect the team to become a bunch of power play merchants but hey, I guess changing your coach can actually work. Hear that, Dubas? How about trying it with the head coach?

Also, we have allowed only one shortie? That's even more incredible than all the PP goals we have been scoring of late.

A) What October? I don't remember that. Age is the answer to everything.
B) Body fell apart in 2 weeks.
C) Cucked with linemates. Not his fault.
D) Actually deserves blame for his play. Possibly something mental going on.
The fact that he was so good in October - after months of rest tells me it's not "mental". But feel free to believe he can make his body work better by simply trying harder, this worked out so well for the twilight years of Jeff Carter, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, etc.

Also, Bunting has mere 4 goals aside from his PP tallies, it's not like he has been lighting it up while Malkin can't score for shit. Nobody can score regularly at even strength except for the top line and that's not exactly surprising seeing the players we have on these lines. Sure, Sully's love affair with Nieto and Acciari doesn't help but it's not like whoever replaces them is going to light the lamp often.
 

Andy99

Registered User
Jun 26, 2017
53,541
35,215
lol…how about trying a certain Finnish RWer?…we have two, one in Wilkes who’s pretty good

“• Speaking of Malkin, if the Penguins could make a wish list, they could use another top-six winger.

It’s understandable Sullivan would be hesitant to break up the Crosby, Rust and Rakell trio. It’s been a dominant line.

Bunting is playing better and is a good third wheel with Malkin. The Penguins, however, don’t have anyone else to play on Malkin’s wing. Cody Glass played there Friday and, though he’s been a good defensive player for the Penguins and his advanced numbers are very good, he’s likely not a potent enough offensive player to stay on that line. Philip Tomasino, who left in the third period with a knee injury, had a wonderful first week on Malkin’s line but has since been demoted.

Who else is there? It’s a problem.”

 

vodeni

Registered User
Oct 27, 2010
31,152
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Pittsburgh
Not really, but okay.
Any good coach would cherish having that kind of danger on that right wall option, best passer and lethal slapper, try playing with Letang and Karl who for the life of theirs can not pass on their backhand, ignoring your best weapon, so now with all these 20 seconds he gets he parks himself at the net, or when finally gets the puck makes beautiful passes like last night.
While I am at it for mister statistician even our best player and best line is heavily in minus, the entire team sucks your defense is in shambles and your goalies suck so surprise surprise
 

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