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League News: NHL Talk - (News n' Scores n' Stuff) - 2020 Offseason Edition - Vol. 10

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Aside from the Philly weirdness it's also a strange fit given that his past tenures have been deemed too patient. Pittsburgh, barring a philosophy change, is not that sort of franchise.
 
Connolly cant be worse than Panik in terms of scoring, I think thats what most think.

Sprong doesnt do much too.

So Connolly would be 3RW and Panik will be gone. Doesnt look too bad.

Anyway its only a speculation.


PS: Kuzy-Connolly and Eller-Connolly look like pairs able to score unlike them + Panik.
 
I think Ron Hextall is a decent hire. I don’t get why they feel they need Brian Burke but I guess this is hockey and Brian Burke needs a job so that’s what happens
 
CapitalsCupReality said:
I always liked Burke....so entertaining. Not loving him to the Pens myself....
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I've always liked Burke too. I know he gets a bad rap from his years in Toronto, but that just confirmed that Toronto is a different sort of beast. And the handling of Phaneuf was questionable, but getting him was brilliant. Getting Phaneuf and Kessel should have made that team pretty good.
 
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CapitalsCupReality said:
I always liked Burke....so entertaining. Not loving him to the Pens myself....
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He's a decisive personality but I don't know that it changes much of anything. They need to overhaul that defense somehow, get younger/faster and figure out if Jarry is the answer. Oh, and the coach may be cooked.

Hextall is probably the better hire in terms of organizational improvement and building for the longer-term but they still only have one pick in the first four rounds of the next draft. It's decent I guess but we'll see how it plays out. I don't know that ownership will ever tolerate a rebuild on the fly so I'm not sure there will be a mandate to freely make any and all necessary changes. Maybe it'll help their trade deadline philosophy a little bit but, again, not many assets unless they're making hockey deals.
 
Langway said:
He's a decisive personality but I don't know that it changes much of anything. They need to overhaul that defense somehow, get younger/faster and figure out if Jarry is the answer. Oh, and the coach may be cooked.

Hextall is probably the better hire in terms of organizational improvement and building for the longer-term but they still only have one pick in the first four rounds of the next draft. It's decent I guess but we'll see how it plays out. I don't know that ownership will ever tolerate a rebuild on the fly so I'm not sure there will be a mandate to freely make any and all necessary changes. Maybe it'll help their trade deadline philosophy a little bit but, again, not many assets unless they're making hockey deals.
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Is Burke/Hextall an upgrade over Rutherford in your eyes??

I’d say yes (even if just a little) assuming Hextall is reeled in some and has learned some important management and interpersonal lessons....
 
CapitalsCupReality said:
Is Burke/Hextall an upgrade over Rutherford in your eyes??

I’d say yes (even if just a little) assuming Hextall is reeled in some and has learned some important management and interpersonal lessons....
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I don't know if it's clear, particularly if ownership is behind some of their more reckless moves. Rutherford has had some problems assembling a good defense lately so...maybe. Maybe not, though. Restructuring won't be easy and coaching and the core is probably at least partially the issue. They also don't really have a true 3C since Bonino left.

In the short-term I don't think much changes. The best result may be two or three years down the line if they manage to improve their scouting but even that may be ambitious and we don't know whether ownership will force their hand to continue to be aggressively win-now. There's also the potential to go too old school and negate some of their strengths. Maybe their pro scouting improves but, again, we'll see how quickly that can pay off and whether they can manage that mix well. I don't think it's a super easy situation there, as much as the top billing might indicate. Also not sure meat and potatoes is necessarily all that forward-facing.

Rutherford, for all of his negatives, was a winner. Burke last won with Anaheim 15 years ago and there's the open question of whether the game has passed him by. Hextall will do more of the heavy lifting but IMO these aren't intimidating hires. Better than internal or inexperienced hires but we'll see.
 
Langway said:
I don't know if it's clear, particularly if ownership is behind some of their more reckless moves. Rutherford has had some problems assembling a good defense lately so...maybe. Maybe not, though. Restructuring won't be easy and coaching and the core is probably at least partially the issue. They also don't really have a true 3C since Bonino left.

In the short-term I don't think much changes. The best result may be two or three years down the line if they manage to improve their scouting but even that may be ambitious and we don't know whether ownership will force their hand to continue to be aggressively win-now. There's also the potential to go too old school and negate some of their strengths. Maybe their pro scouting improves but, again, we'll see how quickly that can pay off and whether they can manage that mix well. I don't think it's a super easy situation there, as much as the top billing might indicate. Also not sure meat and potatoes is necessarily all that forward-facing.

Rutherford, for all of his negatives, was a winner. Burke last won with Anaheim 15 years ago and there's the open question of whether the game has passed him by. Hextall will do more of the heavy lifting but IMO these aren't intimidating hires. Better than internal or inexperienced hires but we'll see.
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not sure short term is the measuring stick anyway. Are these two going to make better decisions going forward than JR had been? I say yes....if only slightly better.
 
Can't wait for txpd's take that Pittsburgh hired Hextall and Burke just because they are still mad about Tom Wilson.
 
CapitalsCupReality said:
not sure short term is the measuring stick anyway. Are these two going to make better decisions going forward than JR had been? I say yes....if only slightly better.
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Maybe. Hard to say. What are Rutherford's recent mistakes? Jack Johnson tops the list but it's not terribly long. Hornqvist? The Kessel trade return? Trading for Gudbranson? Zucker hasn't lit it up but it was fine value. Same with the Kapanen trade. He's been aggressive but I don't think his performance had slipped that much. A middle of the lineup piece or two and the team buying in fully and they can be close when on. They're just in something of a funk compared to a few years ago and I'm not sure there's an obvious solution. A few established fresh set of eyes may help but we'll see.

Given their window/age the near-term remains of the utmost importance. Not being wedded to any of the secondary players may help open them up to more tweaks but the big dogs run the show. It's still up to them to carry them and do it consistently.
 
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Dunno, seems like some scapegoats in the making.

Internal cap for at least this year, very limited picks, barely any young talent and the roster is pretty laughable outside of Crosby, Malkin and Letang.
 
Id say Malkin and Letang are far from their best days form. Crosby is not spring chicken too. Look at Ovi, if there will be no competent surrounding cast for him he wont move the needle. For Pens having Malkin and Letang not doing much is a big problem.

Thats why this years version of Nick Backstrom is very important, and shows difference each game.

Back to Pens. I think Malkin is done mentally and physically. Checked out. And Ive read they are going to keep him until retirement. Thats a blow.

At least Ovi doesnt control the game and can just score some more years down the road. Big deal!
 
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Malkin never was stellar defensively or from effort standpoint. Just uber talented, like more than 8 & 87. Now he is already accumulated too many injuries, won 3 cups and there are no things he would like to do realistically. Just having some fun, collecting paycheck and waiting for retirement. No individual prizes for him either. Why would he play any good for his standards? He will regress and still occupy big chunk of their cap.

Just thinking out loud.
 
There is one more thing. A big russian drama in hockey. Malkin is our best center still... Unbelievably bad state of things.

You can argue Kuzy's better but the latter is banned from international tournaments..
 
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Raikkonen said:
There is one more thing. A big russian drama in hockey. Malkin is our best center still... Unbelievably bad state of things.

You can argue Kuzy's better but the latter is banned from international tournaments..
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I was trying to think of current great Russian centers... and I couldn't think of anyone else. I was actually shocked. World-class wingers up the butthole but no centers.
 
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