Injury Report: Community Injury Thread

[vikingGoalie]

the baffling part with this team is that we always play better when at least one star player is injured. The tenacity, structure and just over all effort goes up a lot. We played our best hockey of last season when Crosby was out. We are doing it now with Malkin out.

I don't get it. Are players just standing around more waiting for the stars to do the work? Or are the stars refusing to play the way Sullivan is coaching when they are all present?

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Keep Geno on LTIR until the playoffs and load up at the TDL

I don’t know—we’re going to lose one of Zucker/Blue/McCann to Seattle. If we get any good forward with term then we only get to choose to protect one out of the three above not two.

 

[tom_servo]

the baffling part with this team is that we always play better when at least one star player is injured. The tenacity, structure and just over all effort goes up a lot. We played our best hockey of last season when Crosby was out. We are doing it now with Malkin out.

I don't get it. Are players just standing around more waiting for the stars to do the work? Or are the stars refusing to play the way Sullivan is coaching when they are all present?

Refusing to play is very strong. I would say they get a longer leash to do their thing for better or worse. The hungrier guys are more willing to follow team strategy to a T.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I don’t know—we’re going to lose one of Zucker/Blue/McCann to Seattle. If we get any good forward with term then we only get to choose to protect one out of the three above not two.

That's not a given, to be honest. You can't protect both Jarry and CDS, for example. In the end, we're going to lose somebody, it's best not to make moves just based on that.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

That's not a given, to be honest. You can't protect both Jarry and CDS, for example. In the end, we're going to lose somebody, it's best not to make moves just based on that.

Yeah as I think about it you and @DrDangles are right. We are going to lose someone. If we get a new good forward, we aren’t going to lose two players, so don’t let that influence your decisions.

 

[Peat]

I think we can overdo the best hockey with injuries stuff sometimes. This team historically plays its best hockey in the lead up to the playoffs - that's starting now. The current injury crisis is savage but the injuries started early this season and we didn't respond then.

Last season it was glaring, but I think that was a lot to do with it being a very prolonged period of injuries to stars leading to a lot of guys playing playoff intensity for too long, and then not quite right Sid comes back and isn't quite right but everyone follows his example anyway.

I mean, there's definitely something to the idea this team is best playing with a degree of simplicity and desperation and the best spark to that is injuring an important guy... but I don't think it's the whole story.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

the baffling part with this team is that we always play better when at least one star player is injured. The tenacity, structure and just over all effort goes up a lot. We played our best hockey of last season when Crosby was out. We are doing it now with Malkin out.

I don't get it. Are players just standing around more waiting for the stars to do the work? Or are the stars refusing to play the way Sullivan is coaching when they are all present?

I think there is just more focus and urgency when players are out injured. They know there's less margin for error.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

I don’t know—we’re going to lose one of Zucker/Blue/McCann to Seattle. If we get any good forward with term then we only get to choose to protect one out of the three above not two.

What's the difference? You going to lose one good player anyways. So if you can't protect them all it doesn't matter if you add more forwards to the mix. So as of now you would have to leave either Blueger or McCann unprotected. If that is a hard choice then it is no big deal if you add another top 6 and have them both exposed. You still only lose one of them.

I usually hate trading for rentals but of course adding a Hall doesn't effect expansion protection. I still rather add someone good with term and expose both Blueger and McCann. If I was the GM I would do another Kapanen type trade and use Poulin and our 2nd as bait. Another top 6 makes us one of the top contenders if we aren't already.

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Top 6-Malkin-Kapanen
Zucker-McCann-Rodriguez
ZAR-Blueger-Tanev

That group would be as deep as any team. The Blueger line is already one of the best 3rd lines in the game and adding another strong 3rd line instead of icing Lafferty-Jankowski-Sceviour makes this team much stronger.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

the baffling part with this team is that we always play better when at least one star player is injured. The tenacity, structure and just over all effort goes up a lot. We played our best hockey of last season when Crosby was out. We are doing it now with Malkin out.

I don't get it. Are players just standing around more waiting for the stars to do the work? Or are the stars refusing to play the way Sullivan is coaching when they are all present?

It's almost like there's a deferral thing going on when everyone is healthy. If Sid and Geno are both playing, both guys go 80% and assume the other guy will do some heavy lifting, and the rest of the team goes 80% because they think Sid and Geno will carry them. But when one of them is out, the other realizes he's gotta go 100% to carry the load, and the rest of the team realizes they can't just rely on two stars to carry them.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

It's almost like there's a deferral thing going on when everyone is healthy. If Sid and Geno are both playing, both guys go 80% and assume the other guy will do some heavy lifting, and the rest of the team goes 80% because they think Sid and Geno will carry them. But when one of them is out, the other realizes he's gotta go 100% to carry the load, and the rest of the team realizes they can't just rely on two stars to carry them.

I don't think that is the case this year. The team has been fighting a clawing all season even with Crosby and Malkin both playing. When we had 5 of our top 6 defensman out we still found ways to win and had a ton of comeback victories. This team as a ton of heart that I haven't seen since the 2016 and 2017 teams. If healthy they are going to be a very tough out. The way they play against the Islanders and Caps shows me they finally learned how to beat the system that knocked them out of the playoffs the past 3 seasons.

 

[Fogel]

Zucker/Tanev off, Jarry on, Malkin LTIR, Blueger/Jarry full practice

PLAYER	TYPE OF INJURY	DURATION	STATUS	UPDATED
Mark Friedman	UBI 3/4	day to day	Skated optional skate 3/29	3/29/21
Evgeni Malkin	LBI 3/16	week to week	Placed on LTIR retro 3/16	3/30/21
Teddy Blueger	UBI 3/16	day to day	Full practice 4/2	4/2/21
Kasperi Kapanen	LBI 3/24	week to week	"Proceeding with rehab off ice"	3/29/21
Tristan Jarry	UBI 3/29	day to day	Missed 4/1 game, practiced in full 4/2	4/2/21

[TBODY]


[/TBODY]

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Interesting— Bluegar full practice. I hope that Gaudreau isn’t just keeping his seat warm between ZAR and Turbo. Bluegar back, Jank better be the odd the man out.

 

[wheelz87]

Interesting— Bluegar full practice. I hope that Gaudreau isn’t just keeping his seat warm between ZAR and Turbo. Bluegar back, Jank better be the odd the man out.

It’s definitely encouraging that Gaudreau has basically been getting double the amount of ice time as Jank. I have to actually see it happen.. but I’ll be surprised if Jank is playing tomorrow assuming Blue returns. (I guess you could move somebody to wing and scratch AA/Laff.. but hopefully common sense prevails here)

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

It’s definitely encouraging that Gaudreau has basically been getting double the amount of ice time as Jank. I have to actually see it happen.. but I’ll be surprised if Jank is playing tomorrow assuming Blue returns. (I guess you could move somebody to wing and scratch AA/Laff.. but hopefully common sense prevails here)

Does anyone know the lines at practice today? Who did Blueger practice with today for his linemates?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Interesting— Bluegar full practice. I hope that Gaudreau isn’t just keeping his seat warm between ZAR and Turbo. Bluegar back, Jank better be the odd the man out.

That would piss me off so much. It's pretty clear which of the two (hint: Gaudreau) has actually been playing well.

 

[Tender Rip]

That would piss me off so much. It's pretty clear which of the two (hint: Gaudreau) has actually been playing well.

Sully played Gaudreau +18 and +17 minutes respectively in the last two. Can’t think it would be Gaudreau.
More worried it could be Angello if anything.

Would be real nice to see Laff Gaudreau Angello, actually.

Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d get to write!

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Sully played Gaudreau +18 and +17 minutes respectively in the last two. Can’t think it would be Gaudreau.
More worried it could be Angello if anything.

Would be real nice to see Laff Gaudreau Angello, actually.

Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d get to write!

Yeah, Gaudreau probably stole Angello's job, not Jankowski's even though it should be the latter.

 

[Tender Rip]

Yeah, Gaudreau probably stole Angello's job, not Jankowski's even though it should be the latter.

I’m just hoping Sully does right on it. After all, if Janks isn’t playing C, I doubt even Sully digs the void he creates around him.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I’m just hoping Sully does right on it. After all, if Janks isn’t playing C, I doubt even Sully digs the void he creates around him.

I don't even know why he's in even at center. It's not like he's even a faceoff ace that you dress to win key draws. Dude's currently at 44.7% in the dot.

 

[Tender Rip]

Well, he is good positionally.
For as bland and uninspiring as he is, he has been a minus player once in his past 19 games. He has taken two penalties all season. Sure he gets outshot a ton, but it’s usually from areas that don’t hurt much.

I mean, he obviously does not win you hockey games, but all coaches have a special affinity for guys who don’t lose them for you either. He doesn’t turn over pucks in dangerous areas and he steals quite a few in the neutral zone.

I would even appreciate having Jankowski on the team as an extra if he just had a little bit of a pulse to go with his positional play. This is a 6.4, 212 pounds guy who does not score, does not hit and rarely shows any intensity. He’s very hard to like or appreciate as a fan.

 

[wej20]

Well, he is good positionally.
For as bland and uninspiring as he is, he has been a minus player once in his past 19 games. He has taken two penalties all season. Sure he gets outshot a ton, but it’s usually from areas that don’t hurt much.

I mean, he obviously does not win you hockey games, but all coaches have a special affinity for guys who don’t lose them for you either. He doesn’t turn over pucks in dangerous areas and he steals quite a few in the neutral zone.

I would even appreciate having Jankowski on the team as an extra if he just had a little bit of a pulse to go with his positional play. This is a 6.4, 212 pounds guy who does not score, does not hit and rarely shows any intensity. He’s very hard to like or appreciate as a fan.

I'm never not surprised to find out that Jankowski is 6'4 200+.

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

You thought everyone was getting healthy? Get outta here! This is the f’ing Penguins! We don’t do healthy.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Bummer about Tanev. Good news is that he won't be shy about playing exactly the same way when he gets back.

 

[Al Smith]

You thought everyone was getting healthy? Get outta here! This is the f’ing Penguins! We don’t do healthy.

As the playoffs approach, are the pens only a 87 injury away from being back in 2011?

 

[metalan2]

What's the difference? You going to lose one good player anyways. So if you can't protect them all it doesn't matter if you add more forwards to the mix. So as of now you would have to leave either Blueger or McCann unprotected. If that is a hard choice then it is no big deal if you add another top 6 and have them both exposed. You still only lose one of them.

I usually hate trading for rentals but of course adding a Hall doesn't effect expansion protection. I still rather add someone good with term and expose both Blueger and McCann. If I was the GM I would do another Kapanen type trade and use Poulin and our 2nd as bait. Another top 6 makes us one of the top contenders if we aren't already.

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Top 6-Malkin-Kapanen
Zucker-McCann-Rodriguez
ZAR-Blueger-Tanev

That group would be as deep as any team. The Blueger line is already one of the best 3rd lines in the game and adding another strong 3rd line instead of icing Lafferty-Jankowski-Sceviour makes this team much stronger.

Zucker - Blue-Mccann

Zar- Gaudreau-Tanev