Post-Game Talk: Cole's RETURN OF PLUS/MINUS: Pens/Boltzzz

[Pancakes]

Meh. He was fine. Made a few crafty plays. Pked.

Playing a tough team with one practice. I'll cut him some slack.

 

[Turin]

I expect this to be the norm.

where would we be with a decent PP

Granlund really needs a look there. Guentzel or Rakell can be replaced. Guentzel is better, smarter etc but Rakell is harder on the puck rn and is RH - I don't know who should come off.

 

[ChaosAgent]

His hands are fine, and he does create a lot of scoring chances with very little room. I disagree with you, he doesn't have a elite hands, but he gets the job done. He's killing it right now!

Who says Zucker has bad hands?

Even when I was anti-Zucker it was easy to see he was a superb skater with fantastic hands. It was whether he could read the play offensively and stay on the ice.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

It needs anyone who can do entries.

Finishing is a problem I guess, but we have Jake and 2 500 goal scorers out there. The problem is that they are scared to shoot at volume because if the puck leaves the zone they won't get it back in.

I was making a joke.

And apparently failing in spectacular fashion.

 

[Flying Dego]

His hands are fine, and he does create a lot of scoring chances with very little room. I disagree with you, he doesn't have a elite hands, but he gets the job done. He's killing it right now!

Zucker's best quality for me is his tenacity creating chances...I don't know offhand but I feel like he has the most unassisted goals on this team.

Just a warrior. Of the Hornqvist mold and someone we need come playoff time to be healthy.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

They have the cap space to keep Zucker if they want to. If they don't keep him, it will just be them deciding to not keep him.

The only guy you need to move on from to make that work is McGinn. You can go cheap on your 4th line with O'Connor and Poehling being 2/3 of your 4th line and be sitting decently comfortably with the cap.

off to CapFriendly to make Zuck, ERod, Freddy Gaudreau and Jars fit under the cap.

 

[Gurglesons]

Uh, who?

Hallander is sick and Poulin is on a leave of absence.

Ando. Ansons. Swoyer. Whoever.

Not the 30 year old AHLer.

 

[Lustaf]

Zucker doesn’t strike me as the type to chase money, but we’ll see how the off-season plays out. He was devastated to leave Minnesota, but I get the impression he likes Pittsburgh a lot.

Could be the kind of guy to stay for cheap knowing there could be a post playing career job lined up for him

Something as simple as sitting to the side and spraying water on his teammates in the pregame on ice interview every game

The Penguins seemed to always light up Lundqvist and do well against Vasi but put some fringe NHL guy you've never heard of in net and they turn into prime Hasek.

The Pens are an enigma.

Students of game tape, can't do that for nobody's

 

[Ryder71]

Zucker's best quality for me is his tenacity creating chances...I don't know offhand but I feel like he has the most unassisted goals on this team.

Just a warrior. Of the Hornqvist mold and someone we need come playoff time to be healthy.

He's a catalyst for a lot of good things that happened with this team, no argument there. Just hope he can stay healthy.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah I thought Granlund had a solid game overall. His playmaking and deking talents are obvious and I don't see any of the skating concerns others have said about him. But with that being said, you clearly see the defensive concerns, lack of goal scoring and lack of physicality with him. I think he can be an extremely useful player if he's used properly.

I would say that being used on L3 isn't being used properly, but they had a great game today so I'll give it some time. But they really need to not have him as a main PKer. He needs to be a puck distributor on either powerplay unit and also PK occasionally. I don't think it makes any sense for him to be PKing a ton only for Heinen to be on the powerplay unit.

 

[dogthateats]

Though Jannault was a non-factor. Barely noticeable. Not that it really is indicative of anything

 

[ChaosAgent]

Zucker's best quality for me is his tenacity creating chances...I don't know offhand but I feel like he has the most unassisted goals on this team.

Just a warrior. Of the Hornqvist mold and someone we need come playoff time to be healthy.

He has tenacity but he also just has superb quick skating ability.

Like you know the NFL 3-cone drill? If they did that on ice, I think Zucker is easily the best on the team - ahead of Crosby and Letang even.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I can't read or listen to them. It's nauseating. I'd rather read incredibly off the wall takes here bc in between all the insanity...there's some really valid good information lol

I like Danny Shirey. Got some potential.
Haase is excellent with the farm system, cap and finer rules of the league.
Marshall is good because he's a home grown talent (this board)

I don't think Rossi's analysis of the actual games is that horrific honestly. At least not what I've heard from him lately on podcasts.
He seems to understand what's happening and what's leading to wins and losses.
He just lets his emotions get in the way of objectivity too often. I'd put his analysis far above Yohe's for example.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Why would you put a guy who has feasted on the man advantage his entire career, and is known for being less than defensively, into the game almost entirely in short handed situations?

 

[Big Poppa Pump]

I didn't have them getting 1 point tonight, let alone 2.

Pretty impressive to put 5 behind Vasi.

4 points already on this 3 game road trip..... playing with house money Saturday against the cats.

Go get 2 more.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Good for Zuck and Petry. Man, the Bolts must hate us.

Why would you put a guy who has feasted on the man advantage his entire career, and is known for being less than defensively, into the game almost entirely in short handed situations?

In order to prove a point to your GM.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

View attachment 661722

Someone needs to combine this with the Nicolas Cage “You Don’t Say?!” Meme somehow.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

They'll move heaven and earth to keep Zucker around this summer, and I think he'd be willing to take a pay cut in order to make it happen. I just don't know if it's necessarily the right choice, but it's gonna happen anyway.

It's a shame his first couple seasons here were so marred by injury.

 

[Pancakes]

Yeah I thought Granlund had a solid game overall. His playmaking and deking talents are obvious and I don't see any of the skating concerns others have said about him. But with that being said, you clearly see the defensive concerns, lack of goal scoring and lack of physicality with him. I think he can be an extremely useful player if he's used properly.

I would say that being used on L3 isn't being used properly, but they had a great game today so I'll give it some time. But they really need to not have him as a main PKer. He needs to be a puck distributor on either powerplay unit and also PK occasionally. I don't think it makes any sense for him to be PKing a ton only for Heinen to be on the powerplay unit.

Yeah the defensive concerns were clear tonight imo. Too much puck watching at times.

I hope that was just a case of not being used to the system yet but these same things were highlighted with his play in Nashville.

I thought he was solid along the walls. Wasn't concerned with that. But when the other team is flowing offensively he looks lost sometimes.

 

[Gurglesons]

Why would you put a guy who has feasted on the man advantage his entire career, and is known for being less than defensively, into the game almost entirely in short handed situations?

Granlund isn’t known for being less than defensively.

He’s a typical Finn. Two way guy who refuses to shoot.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

…. Cash in Jakey for assets.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Ando. Ansons. Swoyer. Whoever.

Not the 30 year old AHLer.

If you want to play a D at forward, just dress Ruhwedel.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

Why would you put a guy who has feasted on the man advantage his entire career, and is known for being less than defensively, into the game almost entirely in short handed situations?

Sullivan - “Hey Ron, watch this… And go f*** yourself!”

 

[Gurglesons]

If you want to play a D at forward, just dress Ruhwedel.

He’s been playing forward for WBS and been okay. Either way I just want them to bring someone up that has upside. DOC gets time and he gets comfortable. They should have Hallander up here immediately when he’s healthy.

 

[enviSAGE]

I wonder if McGinn's dad was originally invited to be in the road trip. Like "sorry Mr. McGinn, but your son is a dissapoint."

+++ Penguins fans in Tampa
++ PK- that is a LETHAL PP on Tampa. Granlund made a weak ass play on Stamkos goal. But otherwise PK+Jarry was good.
+Jarry- second coming of MAF I swear with amazing saves one minute and weak five holes allowed the next. But the saves were more impressive tonight and he deserves a plus.

-Time for Rakell to be off PP1. Wish the spot could be filled by Chychrun, oh well. Maybe Granlund can help but I have more faith in Ty Smith being the answer if we can fit him, maybe 7D.