Post-Game Talk: If only Sullivan could get goaltending.

[farscape1]

If it takes that long the KC is rumors will be back in full force. Pittsburgh likes a winner.

Pittsburgh Pirates have entered the Chat..

 

[SomeDude]

Pittsburgh Pirates have entered the Chat..

Yea, nobody cares about them. They still make money though because MLB is a cash cow. NHL….not so much.

 

[farscape1]

We can totally beat Boston.

Just like the Steelers would beat the Bengals... hahaha... just some bad luck.

Or the Steelers would beat the Pats with Brady in the playoffs.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

We’re not catching the Rangers for the third place so the best we can hope for is WC playoff spot and to play the Bruins or Canes.…why? What’s the point? We ain’t winning either series….Let’s go on a long losing streak and get some decent odds on Bedard…or at least a top five pick

There's a lot more than just Bedard in this draft. It's not 1st overall or nothing. Anybody in the top-10 is likely to be a better prospect (on paper) than anybody this team's picked since Staal. Draft's always a crapshoot, obviously, but a dude like Michkov falling into this team's lap at like 10th overall because of the Russian factor could be gigantic for the foreseeable future. Maybe some GMs make reach picks and a dude like Will Smith falls to the Pens.

All I know is more of the same, and continuing the same trajectory as recent years is dogshit. Lose, and lose a bunch. Missing the playoffs by a mile is better than a quick 1st round and done, and that's all this team's got anymore for a ton of reasons.

 

[Pem]

No goalie is saving the chances we are giving up.

4 of the goals tonight were literally goaltender on forward open looks.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Yea, nobody cares about them. They still make money though because MLB is a cash cow. NHL….not so much.

And it's baseball. People just go to the games to get drunk and hang out in the nice weather. That sport's traaaaaash.

 

[farscape1]

NHL's March 3 trade deadline should be interesting

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

Pay, just pay....

You have the most unique and odd style of gifs and memes

 

[Pens x]

NHL's March 3 trade deadline should be interesting

For the other 31 teams. Hextall needs more time.

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

NHL's March 3 trade deadline should be interesting

Doubt it

 

[SomeDude]

And it's baseball. People just go to the games to get drunk and hang out in the nice weather. That sport's traaaaaash.

You can get Buccos tickets for like $5 or free. Pens are almost there but not quite. 1st missed playoffs and it’ll be half $20 season rush tickets in the building every night again.

 

[Ugene Magic]

You have the most unique and odd style of gifs and memes

Thank you very much.... Good Sir.

 

[DearDiary]

The Sabres will pass the Pens in points tonight, putting them out of a playoff spot. The next hour is the last time the Pens will be in a playoff spot for at least a decade

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

NHL's March 3 trade deadline should be interesting

Teams looking to add significant pieces league-wide are right up against the cap and teams with cap space to take on salary dumps are asking for valuable assets in exchange.

The deadline's almost always shit, but this year feels like it'll be even worse. Can't wait to swap Blueger for some bottom pairing blueliner who sucks shit but is a bit physical, or something equally as boring.

 

[Pem]

Yea, nobody cares about them. They still make money though because MLB is a cash cow. NHL….not so much.

I like them but they haven't been good since 1979.

Yea, nobody cares about them. They still make money though because MLB is a cash cow. NHL….not so much.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Better yet, they all grow some balls and put on the goalie equipment and take some 90 to 100 mph slap shots to maybe learn what it means to make so many crucial mistakes in a game.


That team was stacked top to bottom, in spades. They could withstand the injuries. This teams depth is not out of the top 20 players even.

How do you figure? You notice how that depth was only something you talk about because they were given a chance?

Ask yourself why they were given a chance. Was it because Sully coached them in the AHL first? Kuhn, Archie, Wilson, Rust, etc were all his players from Wbs.

Gruden, Hallander, Puustinen, Nylander, etc we’re all barely given a chance if at all for some of them outside of a game or two. We have depth. But when a coach only wants to use Ruhwedel over Friedman or Dumoulin over Smith or give Heinen chance number 15 and not a single one to others after mistakes, the issue isn’t the roster.

This roster has been poorly utilized for a while. This is a team that is closer to being so harshly used that they’re in the Therrien era of being frustrated and need a coach that has a different approach.

But Hextall won't make 5 moves, let alone 5 amazing moves. They both suck absolute shit at the job they're currently employed to do. It's not any more deep than that. Sullivan should've been fired after the Habs series when he cranked off to JJ-Schultz and played that abysmal pairing for 20+ minutes a night, dooming any chance the team had. Hextall shouldn't have been the guy hired if the team was gonna insist on keeping up the bullshit masquerade that they were still all-in on trying to vie for Cups. JR pissed away a ton of assets in his final years, chasing the ghost of Bonino at 3C and just absolutely *having* to get his guys in Zucker and Kap, at all costs.

The stars can't overwhelm the opposition to the degree they used to when it masked a ton of flaws in the past. The coach is stale as f*** as has been the wrong guy for the job for years. Ownership probably forgot they even bought an NHL team. The FO is just kinda floating down the lazy river, trying not to draw any attention. Goaltending tandem is garbage. The depth is atrocious. The biggest moves we're likely to see from Hextall reshuffled a blueline to pretty much zero effect.

-edit- It is what it is. There's no use in even getting bent out of shape about it anymore, it's just needless aggravation for something that just doesn't f***ing matter.

-edit2- And "trying the kids"...? This team's best prospects are... Pickering, who is like 5 years away, and like, Puustinen? DOC? Barf.


You're probably right. Bank on 15 years just to be safe. Twelve would be a pleasant surprise, and 10 is peachy.

Not a lot of teams are making moves. Far too many with cap issues in the teams that are in a playoff spot or fighting for one.

I mean if we saw like 10-15 trades by now and Hextall did nothing fine. But honestly can you name 5 impactful deals so far in the NHL? How about two?

Yeah.

Wings literally waived Vrana and no team took him, could the Yotes have? Sure. But they know they are the middle man in the TDL and will reap in picks when teams dump them their trash with retention.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

You can get Buccos tickets for like $5 or free. Pens are almost there but not quite. 1st missed playoffs and it’ll be half $20 season rush tickets in the building every night again.

Maybe. I dunno if this team's got that much life in 'em anymore. Everything feels so, like, sanitized and investor bro. Probably a couple years of awful hockey away from something like the student rush again. Though, the team hasn't been selling out games for a while now, so who knows?

This hockey team sure is fun when we're talking about getting drunk at baseball games and how long they'll have to suck as bad as they do in order for tickets to drop below like $75 a seat. The future is... Bleak.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I’d say maybe this loss would be enough to force some changes but this organization from ownership to management to coaches to players is too arrogant for that.

The only "change" will be giving less ice time to a youngster while keeping everything else the same.

It's laughable at this point. This team can't even beat shit teams.

 

[Flying Dego]

Pretty easy gig to be this team's GM...

#1 Fire the coach
#2 sell some bums like Dumo that contenders will pay for.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

How do you figure? You notice how that depth was only something you talk about because they were given a chance?

Ask yourself why they were given a chance. Was it because Sully coached them in the AHL first? Kuhn, Archie, Wilson, Rust, etc were all his players from Wbs.

Gruden, Hallander, Puustinen, Nylander, etc we’re all barely given a chance if at all for some of them outside of a game or two. We have depth. But when a coach only wants to use Ruhwedel over Friedman or Dumoulin over Smith or give Heinen chance number 15 and not a single one to others after mistakes, the issue isn’t the roster.

This roster has been poorly utilized for a while. This is a team that is closer to being so harshly used that they’re in the Therrien era of being frustrated and need a coach that has a different approach.


Not a lot of teams are making moves. Far too many with cap issues in the teams that are in a playoff spot or fighting for one.

I mean if we saw like 10-15 trades by now and Hextall did nothing fine. But honestly can you name 5 impactful deals so far in the NHL? How about two?

Yeah.

I don't disagree entirely. The whole cap situation around the league and how constipated it all is is just another reason I have zero hope this team does anything to turn the tide of a tragically boring season. Hextall navigates the deadline fine, at least since arriving. It's his off-seasons that are sketchy as f*** with extensions and trades.

I just think overall, what you (in general) see is what you're gonna be getting for the next several years, with a steady decline and ever more boring product on the ice. Ah well, got to see three Cups out of the core and we all knew this was gonna happen when nothing's really changed in the years since it took JR stomping off to stop him from wasting assets on lukewarm players, and the coach watching his team putter out year after year for going on half a decade now.

 

[Pem]

The Sabres will pass the Pens in points tonight, putting them out of a playoff spot. The next hour is the last time the Pens will be in a playoff spot for at least a decade

Not quite

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Trust me I think Hextall is being far too patient as well. It’s annoying. He needed to dump Dumoulin, Ruhwedel, and Heinen and forced Sullivan to use options they have. But now he just seems resigned or something. When the ownership pushes for a coach extension, must feel weird knowing you have zero power and they were already questioning you in the summer barely into the job and fixing JR’s mistakes.

I don't disagree entirely. The whole cap situation around the league and how constipated it all is is just another reason I have zero hope this team does anything to turn the tide of a tragically boring season. Hextall navigates the deadline fine, at least since arriving. It's his off-seasons that are sketchy as f*** with extensions and trades.

I think this off season the mandate was keep Crosby happy and the core together. They can play the whole we didn’t know who would come back bs all they want, we know better.

I think the Matheson deal, the Marino one, and the Rakell one were Hextall, the Rust, Letang, and Malkin was all keep Sid Happy.

 

[Pem]

You can get Buccos tickets for like $5 or free. Pens are almost there but not quite. 1st missed playoffs and it’ll be half $20 season rush tickets in the building every night again.

I can get buccas in my kitchen for free.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

It's a good thing San Jose was on the second game of a back to back otherwise the game would have been lopsided.

God, this season is just laughable at this point, from the moronic coaching down to the underperforming scrubs littered throughout the lineup (including that tiny guy who is apparently a goalie).

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Trust me I think Hextall is being far too patient as well. It’s annoying. He needed to dump Dumoulin, Ruhwedel, and Heinen and forced Sullivan to use options they have. But now he just seems resigned or something. When the ownership pushes for a coach extension, must feel weird knowing you have zero power and they were already questioning you in the summer barely into the job and fixing JR’s mistakes.


I think this off season the mandate was keep Crosby happy and the core together. They can play the whole we didn’t know who would come back bs all they want, we know better.

Yep. Agree. Sentiment is gonna win out and result in some real boring FO work and on-ice product for the next however many years until Sid finally hangs 'em up. I highly doubt he follows through on his bullshit about wanting to play another three years after his current deal is up with how this team's been trending, and will continue to trend. Doubt Geno plays his 4th season of this contract, and I'd be surprised if Letang plays in his 5th, let alone 6th.

As for the blueline reshuffle, it's the same shit, different turd imo. I was pleasantly surprised Rakell stuck around as I thought Rust re-signing killed that off. Not stoked Rust made it through last deadline without being dealt, let alone re-signed, but it is what it is. Big shrug