Hows Malkin?

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Well well well. How the turntables.

 

[Nathaniel Skywalker]

Pens are in a playoff do or die. Malkin telling the op hes still malkin

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

He’s still score

 

[K Fleur]

He definitely read this bitch ass thread

 

[Beau Knows]

Not a bad game from him today...

 

[biturbo19]

I mean, he's very old and still running at ~0.8PPG. That's not bad at all.

I think he's also been one of the guys hurt most by Erik Karlsson completely ruining that Penguins Powerplay. Hasn't picked up nearly as many points there this year. With a more normal Powerplay season...he'd probably be right on or around ~PPG on the year.

 

[BillyOcean]

I mean, he's very old and still running at ~0.8PPG. That's not bad at all.

I think he's also been one of the guys hurt most by Erik Karlsson completely ruining that Penguins Powerplay. Hasn't picked up nearly as many points there this year. With a more normal Powerplay season...he'd probably be right on or around ~PPG on the year.

Lol wut. Erik Karlsson isn't what's wrong with the penguins power play.

He's playing with a combination of Drew OConnor, whatever Rakell is this year, Rust, Puustinen, and Bunting all season. Bunting has really helped him since joining the team. They have been clicking, and Malkin has looked better. Lot of advanced statistics saying he still has the elite playmaker status. No one is finishing for him.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

They must have amnesia. They forgot Malkin's him.

 

[biturbo19]

Lol wut. Erik Karlsson isn't what's wrong with the penguins power play.

He's playing with a combination of Drew OConnor, whatever Rakell is this year, Rust, Puustinen, and Bunting all season. Bunting has really helped him since joining the team. They have been clicking, and Malkin has looked better. Lot of advanced statistics saying he still has the elite playmaker status. No one is finishing for him.

I mean, that's not helping either. But at the end of the day...16PPP this year vs 36PPP last year. That's the difference between Malkin being comfortable PPG or not.

And it's absolutely Karlsson's fault. Along with the coaching repeatedly trying to cram a square peg into a round hole to make Karlsson on the PP work. It worked just absolutely fine last year without him. What Letang offers there has always been underrated and unfairly hated on by Penguins fans. Karlsson was too many cooks in the kitchen. And wasting the season trying to figure that whole thing out has undeniably hurt Malkin's production on the year.

 

[shtorm2005]

He's score!

 

[Zirakzigil]

He's score!

Showing some great chemistry with Bunting.

 

[BillyOcean]

I mean, that's not helping either. But at the end of the day...16PPP this year vs 36PPP last year. That's the difference between Malkin being comfortable PPG or not.

And it's absolutely Karlsson's fault. Along with the coaching repeatedly trying to cram a square peg into a round hole to make Karlsson on the PP work. It worked just absolutely fine last year without him. What Letang offers there has always been underrated and unfairly hated on by Penguins fans. Karlsson was too many cooks in the kitchen. And wasting the season trying to figure that whole thing out has undeniably hurt Malkin's production on the year.

Lol. No. The structure is stale and awful. The team never defers to Karlsson on the power play, nor is he a major driver of it. The power play never flowed through Letang either. The penguins power play issues have more to do with lack of player movement, lack of net front presence, predictability, perimeter play (3 high in the zone), and lack of puck retrievers.

 

[sanscosm]

 

[biturbo19]

Lol. No. The structure is stale and awful. The team never defers to Karlsson on the power play, nor is he a major driver of it. The power play never flowed through Letang either. The penguins power play issues have more to do with lack of player movement, lack of net front presence, predictability, perimeter play (3 high in the zone), and lack of puck retrievers.

That's the point man. Letang was great at just letting Malkin and Croz run the Powerplay. A very underrated role in that success. Sure, the structure got "stale" but that's also kind of a crock of shit because they entirely shook up the structure for a large swath of the season by trying to figure out how to incorporate Karlsson. So it went "stale" while trying new things that simply did not work. Which isn't really "stale" so much as...just plain bad.

Like the results are irrefutable. Malkin has lost a massive amount of powerplay productivity, from the second Karlsson arrived and was shoehorned into a role there. It doesn't work and it's hurt Malkin's production. Like you said...it's not as though Malkin has just lost his elite playmaking ability. It's just been wasted on a bunch of bad even strength linemates in a stale 5v5 system, and his powerplay productivity fell off a cliff...coinciding directly with the arrival of Karlsson.

 

[Bowski]

That's the point man. Letang was great at just letting Malkin and Croz run the Powerplay. A very underrated role in that success. Sure, the structure got "stale" but that's also kind of a crock of shit because they entirely shook up the structure for a large swath of the season by trying to figure out how to incorporate Karlsson. So it went "stale" while trying new things that simply did not work. Which isn't really "stale" so much as...just plain bad.

Like the results are irrefutable. Malkin has lost a massive amount of powerplay productivity, from the second Karlsson arrived and was shoehorned into a role there. It doesn't work and it's hurt Malkin's production. Like you said...it's not as though Malkin has just lost his elite playmaking ability. It's just been wasted on a bunch of bad even strength linemates in a stale 5v5 system, and his powerplay productivity fell off a cliff...coinciding directly with the arrival of Karlsson.

What nonsense.
Nice try Todd, blaming your failures on EK. You look just like the team's PP performs.

Maybe you can reset the PP back to last season's greatness where the team craps the bed against Nashville and NYI to finish off the campaign in loser fashion.

How about you buy a clue and book a one-way ticket away from this team?

 

[biturbo19]

What nonsense.
Nice try Todd, blaming your failures on EK. You look just like the team's PP performs.

Maybe you can reset the PP back to last season's greatness where the team craps the bed against Nashville and NYI to finish off the campaign in loser fashion.

How about you buy a clue and book a one-way ticket away from this team?

I mean...his failures are in trying to make Karlsson a thing in the first place. Still his failure too. But also...Karlsson. Because you can only play the ill-advised hand your dweeby GM deals you.

 

[66-30-33]

What nonsense.
Nice try Todd, blaming your failures on EK. You look just like the team's PP performs.

Maybe you can reset the PP back to last season's greatness where the team craps the bed against Nashville and NYI to finish off the campaign in loser fashion.

How about you buy a clue and book a one-way ticket away from this team?

The guy behind him has a far superior hair game over Toad Rearend.

 

[Wings4Life]

Thanks a lot for the unnecessary reverse jinx thread, OP!

Signed,

Wings fans

 

[orby]

He is old and has been beaten up by injuries throughout his career. Considering that, he's really not having a bad season. He's just no longer a game breaking player.

 

[Crosby2010]

It isn't a Crosby/Ovechkin/Malkin NHL anymore. Hey, there was a time when Gretzky, Messier and Coffey were still good players in the NHL but weren't the best anymore. It was a Jagr/Lindros/Kariya/Forsberg type of NHL. It happens to everyone. 7th in Hart voting in 2018 and 10th in 2020. That was 4 years ago, but I'd say he has aged pretty well. Could hit 70 points this year. That isn't vintage Malkin numbers over a full season, but he is 37 years old. It happens.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

All of Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Karlsson are old and can't just play in the flow state anymore.

but man do they have more heart than a lot of the young players in the NHL.

they are all warriors. hope they make the playoffs.

 

[BallardEra]

Does this guy even shoot anymore?

71 shots in 40 games is insane.

 

[Offtheboard412]

Does this guy even shoot anymore?

71 shots in 40 games is insane.

His shot has been gone for a while now honestly. He's been shooting muffins for 2-3 years now.

 

[BallardEra]

His shot has been gone for a while now honestly. He's been shooting muffins for 2-3 years now.

I remember him being a force with the one timer on the PP.

Do the Pens still use him in that role?

 

[Fordy]

I remember him being a force with the one timer on the PP.

Do the Pens still use him in that role?

not in over a decade, so not much gets past you