Post-Game Talk: Game IV Pens vs Wings: The Karlsson show

[Richard]

Penguins need a quality 3rd line center --- bad. If they get one they will contend.

Jarry was average but most of those goals weren't his fault. Some really piss poor defense.

 

[Beau Knows]

It's frustrating to see the old guys on this team age so well, only to be held back by such terrible depth.

Washington has the opposite problem right now, their old guys are looking ancient and holding back the rest of the team.

 

[Richard]

And Sully plays #2 on the PK? Against the most skilled players.
Yikes !

Some of you have to look at the long term. The more Letang and Karlsson play the more they bang their bodies before the playoffs. This team, barring drastic injuries to the top 4 guys, is making the playoffs.

I wouldn't Karlsson or letang killing a ton of penalties in october anyway.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Who knew that Ruh would struggle with regular games/ice time? It's like last year didn't happen at all and no lessons were learned.

Again, for the billionth time, Ruh is a fine stopgap for a few games and can fill in for injured guys or to change the short term makeup of the defense. But he is not an NHL regular, full stop.

 

[deakka]

Some of you have to look at the long term. The more Letang and Karlsson play the more they bang their bodies before the playoffs. This team, barring drastic injuries to the top 4 guys, is making the playoffs.

I wouldn't Karlsson or letang killing a ton of penalties in october anyway.

Don't know how you cab be so sure we make the playoffs?
Not a single injury yet and we are 2-2. Small sample size. But if I had time bet today I'd lean towards us missing. Bottom 6 looks as bad as last season

 

[PaulD]

Some of you have to look at the long term. The more Letang and Karlsson play the more they bang their bodies before the playoffs. This team, barring drastic injuries to the top 4 guys, is making the playoffs.

I wouldn't Karlsson or letang killing a ton of penalties in october anyway.

and Ruhderless shouldn't get near the PK.....in any month.
Graves, Pederson, Joseph....rotate.
Ruhderless is an 8th D .
Pens are so shallow.
6 forwards
4 D
average to weak goaltending
coach who is way beyond his best before date.
Last night tells us just how bad the Caps are.
Yet the Pens will still battle for play offs ......those 6 forwards and 4 D deserve a ton of respect

 

[Richard]

Don't know how you cab be so sure we make the playoffs?
Not a single injury yet and we are 2-2. Small sample size. But if I had time bet today I'd lean towards us missing. Bottom 6 looks as bad as last season

The stars haven't even clicked. Once our powerplay gets fully going this team will easily make the playoffs. Jarry getting on his standard mid-season hot streak will also help.

We need a 3rd line center that can eat some minutes AND make a positive contribution to make a run.

 

[Josey Wales]

Well Until the 3rd Period Sid should have been on a Milk Carton & if the 1st 2 Periods were Sullivan's Fault I guess the 3rd Period was because of him then ?

 

[Ugene Magic]

Jarry friggin sucks dude. At least 2 (realistically 3) of the goals against were SOFF!

I'll be that guy.

#1. Ruh/POJ allow two Wings get by them and a back door tap in.
#2. Ruh bumps into Jarry keeps him out of position disruption.
#3 Pens lose the puck Detroit cycles puck out to the point for the shot, a left alone Copp in front of the net blocking/screening Jarry's view deflects it past Jarry as he moves off to the side.
#4. He makes the initial save, but the puck was loose and Perron tapped it home.

The final two are EN's.

I struggle to even blame him on the 4th goal (PPG) considering Ruh gets pushed out and everyone is facing out while Perron turns facing in on the shot, again makes the initial save and Perron is left to pounce on the rebound uncontested.

Ruh strikes again being a pushover and no reactive push back and ends up being a screen and pilon, then pulling a reactive too late Orpik shove.

I don't blame Jarry for a single goal other than he has to play in front of these incompetent players.

 

[steelcityassault]

Ruhwedel should've been waived or traded to Vancouver

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Goaltending is the least of this team's concerns right now. They have both played well. Ruhwedel is not an NHL defenseman. There is a reason only one NHL coach thinks he is. But we already knew this. They are carrying 8 defensemen. For some reason, both extras are left defensemen. We need a right defenseman. So that Ruhwedel can be put out to pasture. The other five defensemen are more than fine. But you are only as strong as your weakest link.

Up front, it is quite sad. The top six is excellent. As good as anybody else in the league. The bottom six? Nobody is worse. Nobody. And it is not helped by the fact that we have better options playing in the AHL, and it is also not helped by the fact that we are not maximizing each player on the roster. Acciari is a far better winger than center, imo. He should be playing wing on the third line. Poulin should be up with the team to center the 3-4 line. Puustinen had a strong camp. He was rewarded with a ticket back to the AHL. Meanwhile, they pluck a guy off waivers in Harkins and immediately place him on the third line on his off-wing. AND, Harkins is getting power play time! Unreal.

Matt Nieto is not needed on this roster. Yeah yeah, speed, PK ability. So what. He brings nothing else and we need production from unexpected sources. Eller is fine for what he is, but he is certainly not going to produce on the third line as it is currently constructed. Carter is what he is at this point. He does not have to play every game. That said, he is our best goal-scoring threat in the bottom six right now. Sad but true.

This roster right now is 13 players. Six forwards, five D and two goaltenders. We don't have to replace all of the remaining seven players dressed. But some tweaks are obviously needed. I don't expect the grand master Sullivan to make in-game changes to the lines. That is not happening. But what about the next day at practice? Can we see some change?

Let's not hold our collective breath.

 

[Trade]

The Penguins can't clear the crease to save their lives, their goalie gets outplayed by a nobody and they miss a lot of chances. I think I have watched that movie before.

When Marcus Pettersson is your hardest-nosed defensemen, your defense is probably soft as shit.

This is not a shot at Petts

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

The bottom 6 is this teams biggest problem right now, we needed to get faster and more aggressive on the forecheck. Just way to easy to play against right now

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'll be that guy.

#1. Ruh/POJ allow two Wings get by them and a back door tap in.
#2. Ruh bumps into Jarry keeps him out of position disruption.
#3 Pens lose the puck Detroit cycles puck out to the point for the shot, a left alone Copp in front of the net blocking/screening Jarry's view deflects it past Jarry as he moves off to the side.
#4. He makes the initial save, but the puck was loose and Perron tapped it home.

The final two are EN's.

I struggle to even blame him on the 4th goal (PPG) considering Ruh gets pushed out and everyone is facing out while Perron turns facing in on the shot, again makes the initial save and Perron is left to pounce on the rebound uncontested.

Ruh strikes again being a pushover and no reactive push back and ends up being a screen and pilon, then pulling a reactive too late Orpik shove.

I don't blame Jarry for a single goal other than he has to play in front of these incompetent players.

Facts

The bottom 6 is this teams biggest problem right now, we needed to get faster and more aggressive on the forecheck. Just way to easy to play against right now

For the 5th f***ing year saying this - the bottom 6 has utilization issues more than the player personnel. A few don't belong in that bottom 2 lines but the way they're deployed is how Sullivan has been doing it for half a f***ing decade no matter who we had and what talent they had.

There
Is
No
Player
Movement
Fix
When
It's
The
f***ing
Coach
That's
The
Problem


Now say it with me...

 

[Ugene Magic]

 

[pistolpete11]

POJ is still young. I expect him to make some mistakes and have some bad games from time to time.

Ruh, this is who he is. At 33, he's only going to get worse and he's at best a 7D to begin with. The Wings have a solid squad, but if they are able to push him around like this, I shudder to think what a real playoff team would do let alone in a playoff series. On top of that, he's not at all a good fit for POJ. IMO, you either need a better PMD so that pairing becomes another offensive/transition type of pairing or a bigger, tougher, stronger crease clearer type. Ruh's nothing. I know nothing about Shea or Ludvig, but they've at least got some size so maybe they don't get pushed around quite as easily.



Having said all that, $5 POJ is taken out of the lineup before Ruh. Might not be next game, but if there is ever a non-injury related shakeup, you know what Sullivan is gonna do.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Having said all that, $5 POJ is taken out of the lineup before Ruh. Might not be next game, but if there is ever a non-injury related shakeup, you know what Sullivan is gonna do.

Sully hates POJ. I mean he played Kuk over him.

 

[Victor Z]

Theory (actually, fact): Any team on which either POJ or Chad Ruhwedel are fixtures in the lineup is not a playoff-caliber team no matter how much talent they otherwise possess.

Corollary: Any coach who believes that either POJ or Ruhwedel must be fixtures in the lineup deserves to be fired for that alone, although any coach who is that obtuse undoubtedly has numerous other reasons to be terminated.

In order to get Sully off the hook and absolve him of any responsibility for a lineup change, they'll decide that Ruh is now slightly "injured" and will be temporarily replaced by Ludvig -- on his incorrect side. When POJ and the mis-utilized Ludvig prove to be a crapfest for a game or two, coach can say "We tried" and go back to Plan A after Ruh makes a miraculous recovery.

Ruh is not even a "perfect #7" as some like to claim. He's a perfect disaster, at least when paired with another incompetent. There's nothing he can do here that Taylor Fedun couldn't do at a lower cost.

POJ's days of being gifted a spot in the lineup need to end. Trade him for *anything* if somebody out there still thinks he has value. And do it soon because nobody, not even Vancouver (!) probably wants him at this point.

The 3rd pair in St. Louis needs to be Ludvig-Shea, in that order, but the probability of Sully benching 2 of his useless pets and replacing them with 2 unproven players is somewhere around minus-infinity.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

God Damn it Dubas basically built the Toronto Maple Leafs again. Core 4 and shitty depth and everything.

If he gets us the equivalent of ROR, Acciari, and McCabe at the deadline, we'll be sitting pretty.

 

[Gold Diamond]

This team can come back, which is nice. But that bottom pairing needs to be fired into the sun.

The bottom 6 is playing scared to get scored on, as such they don't contribute ANYTHING offensively. This is a problem because teams will load up on the top 6 and blunt them somewhat as the season progresses.

 

[vodeni]

It’s because he’s one of those nothing happens on the ice guys Sullivan dearly loves that people on here say “look, he plays young players”.



Could say the same about Carter Verhaegae.

I think the more apt point is what does this team have to lose if they try Zohorna or another player in lieu of Carter or Harkins.

Not even a big Z guy.

The point we tried to made all last year: "How much worse can it be? At least you may stumble upon something, or at the end you can say: well I tried. But no! Its got to work exactly I figured it out in the preseason."

 

[vodeni]

In my scenario, I've only put the WBS guys in the positions they're in to hopefully be buoyed by Crosby/Malkin. What I'm more interested in is getting something like Rust - Eller - Rakell out there against weaker opposition to hopefully generate secondary scoring. Obviously, if the WBS guys can't find at least temporary chemistry on lines one and two, this is, at best, a lateral move that should be abandoned. It may be an optimistic idea, but I don't think it's all that insane to want to try to change something that virtually everyone agrees isn't working.

for example: Rakell is contributing very little to that L2 right now. Maybe you try plug in someone else there say DOC and drop Rakell as a skill guy to the third, immediately becomes more balanced...maybe works maybe does not but why not give it a shot...thats what I don't get it, or I do since he would not change it even when were losing last two/three games at the end of the last season

 

[Coastal Kev]

A n normal coach would just start swapping guys out, sending guys down, calling guys up until he got at least a single line combo in the bottom 6 to score more than a goal every 5 games.

The bottom 6 will show up within a week and win them a game and Sully will be peak arrogant in his presser................................and bet that gives the bottom 6 at least another 4 weeks with no change.

I've seen this story way too many times over the last 5+ seasons.

 

[The Old Master]

Penguins need a quality 3rd line center --- bad. If they get one they will contend.

if they don't try doc at center, how do you know what we have or don't have?

 

[Ugene Magic]