Speculation: Penguins off day talk thread: Yes, Sully is still the coach

[Pancakes]

So not only is our organization’s management and coaching inept and incompetent our medical staff is too?

Don't you remember when our medical staff tried to fix Sid's concussion issues by putting him in the spinning chair?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

37 games 7 goals 9 assists with AHL Grand Rapids
Just got called up to NHL
1 NHL game with Red Wings with zeros across the board

Mike Sullivan's perfect bottom six player.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Don't you remember when our medical staff tried to fix Sid's concussion issues by putting him in the spinning chair?

They misdiagnosed his whiplash and concussion issues, it’s when I lost complete trust in this team’s medical staff to be honest. It made sense why so many Pens players that were hurt, never really looked healthy when being cleared and then continued to have injury issues when blokes that are Dr Nick types are in charge.

Mike Sullivan's perfect bottom six player.

Damn it, where’s my wolverine sully looking at a pic of ZAR image! Finally get another use out of it and I can’t find the damned thing.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Like Granlund?

Granlund was playing good defense while here, and he also used to be a good defensive player several years ago. He used to be a PK regular.
Plus they brought him with the express intention of replacing Blueger/Carter there as 3C.
Miller is different. He woulda been brought in for PP1 and to replace a L2 winger imo.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Granlund was playing good defense while here, and he also used to be a good defensive player several years ago. He used to be a PK regular.
Plus they brought him with the express intention of replacing Blueger/Carter there as 3C.
Miller is different. He woulda been brought in for PP1 and to replace a L2 winger imo.

There aren't many players that thrive in the usage Sullivan wants out of his 3C and 4C, it's why most fail in that role. I think for Granlund, the usage for him as 3C would have been fine if he wasn't given brutal DZ starts and assignments. Sullivan used him harsher than he does Eller. Granlund is the 2C in San Jose and has thrived in that role. What would/could have worked with Granlund is - Zucker, Granlund, Malkin.

Malkin is in the same boat as Joe Pavelski. They are on the wrong side of 30 and can't carry the defense assignments required of a C but their offense is still elite enough to utilize more with less responsibilities. It's funny, the solve for Geno is to be his own line's winger and to have a C that is smart enough at both ends and has strong playmaking abilities - You know, like a Mikael Granlund.

Granlund had maybe 3-4 games at C before they had the brilliant idea of making him a RW for Carter & Poehling.

 

[DrDangles]

It is absolutely hilarious that Ryan Poehling has out produced our entire bottom six and we let him walk for nothing to pay more money to Acciari and Eller.

This is an extremely common occurrence with struggling depth players on this team. If only there was a common denominator that could explain this phenomenon

 

[HandshakeLine]

This is an extremely common occurrence with struggling depth players on this team. If only there was a common denominator that could explain this phenomenon

Probably a lack of try-harditude and sticktuitivness, it shows up in the advanced stats sometimes, mostly as a byproduct of Mercury in retrograde aggravated by the tides and the phases of the moon.

The best solution is a scientifically proven one, IMO. And that is to find the philosophers stone and the universal solvent to transmute lead into gold, which we will then grind into a find powder and infuse into our players' food, giving them the sympathetic powers of the King of the Elements.

Trust me, I'm a philosophiae doctor.

Everyone needs to pick someone to blame and shoehorn that person into every thread. I have dibs on Chad Ruhwedel and his giant, bald ass head.

Please, his name is Sexy Skeletor and you will address him as such.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Just spent some time reading July 1st posts from the usual suspects about how Ryan Graves was a great signing, better than Dumoulin and how I had no clue what I was talking about when I said...

Graves is slow and defensively suspect.

He's going to be a Dumo level issue by December.

I stand by my assessment in July that this team thinks a deep run is a 3 game streak followed by a backbreaking OT loss. Hell, that's a bonafide triumph!

 

[Honour Over Glory]

It is absolutely hilarious that Ryan Poehling has out produced our entire bottom six and we let him walk for nothing to pay more money to Acciari and Eller.

You know he wouldn't produce like that under Sullivan, mate. You know this. So it doesn't matter who replaced him, he was never going to do as well under this coach.

Ryan was getting the same brutal usage Blueger, etc were getting in the bottom 6. His OZ starts were 20%, in Philly he's still playing a bottom 6 role but less noose around your neck restrictive that Sullivan gets off on, Sullivan's mentor has him at 48% OZ starts. Virtually every bottom 6 player we liked here that should have done better, are doing better under coaches that understand usage and deployment better than this coach. The irony being one of the coaches was a mentor to Mike Sullivan and is an ignorant ass hat in his own ways.

The best part is that Torts is using Poehling closer to how he's been used his entire career, the Pens season is an aberration of his usage, he was utilized in a role Sullivan put him in vs the type of player he was. Sullivan has this mindset of hard defensive usage for anyone in the bottom 6 and it doesn't matter if they're players that fit or don't fit that role, he will put them there because he feels he needs them to do that vs understanding the kind of players they are first. To be that ignorant is just incredible.

Just spent some time reading July 1st posts from the usual suspects about how Ryan Graves was a great signing, better than Dumoulin and how I had no clue what I was talking about when I said...

Graves is slow and defensively suspect.

He's going to be a Dumo level issue by December.

Ryan Graves was solid in Colorado and in NJ recently before he signed with the Penguins. You think it's maybe the way he's being used that's the issue more so than the fact that he suddenly sucks?

How does a player that for the vast majority of his NHL career outside of the Pens, was a solid defenseman. Then he comes to the Pens and is struggling heavily.....I feel like hating on Graves under a coaching staff like this is pointless and also pretty unfair of the player. He's not the only one making the mistakes he does.

Marcus Pettersson hasn't looked like his usual reliable self either, there are times he just looks lost out there and that's not the Pettersson we've come to like the last couple of seasons, I wasn't a fan of his when he got to the Pens but the last couple of seasons? Hard to ignore he's been pretty consistent.

I think Jarry and Ned make the defense look better than they have been for most of this season. Absolutely nothing looks good on this team for the way the forwards are used and the defense. You lot can blame Vellucci and Reirden and it'd be justified, but they get their orders from the Head Coach. No coach is just doing what he wants without the HC's blessing.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Regardless of where you lay the exact blame, it's obvious that the roster as is simply isn't working. I don't understand why there isn't any urgency to fix it (if they think we can compete), especially things that are fixable internally.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Trochek is a dirty pos and he has an annoying face so I'm glad he's on the Rags and not here.

I mean, he's exactly what this team needs as a 2C so Geno can move to wing, but yeah it's a shame he chose the Rangers over playing for Sully, which shows he has some intelligence actually.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Regardless of where you lay the exact blame, it's obvious that the roster as is simply isn't working. I don't understand why there isn't any urgency to fix it (if they think we can compete), especially things that are fixable internally.

Don't worry man. Mike Sullivan has a recent 6 year history of figuring things out. Trust the process!

 

[pistolpete11]

Poehling did his job last year, just another player that MS didn't know how to use

I'd argue he was better for the Pens last year than he has been with the Flyers this year.

Last year
53 games 7G 7A 14P -2 80%(!) D-zone starts

This year
49games 7G 10A 17P -8 51.6% D-zone starts



But I was the crazy one for being upset that they just didn't qualify him.

 

[Fordy]

no roster has worked for years. guys come in and fall off and then rebound the moment they leave. normally a team would do something to change that but we have the best coach in the league

 

[cookthebooks]

have to admit i was wrong and thought if things went this way we would see at least some major changes by now. feels now like they are willing to write off an entire year before getting serious about choosing a direction.

 

[pistolpete11]

have to admit i was wrong and thought if things went this way we would see at least some major changes by now. feels now like they are willing to write off an entire year before getting serious about choosing a direction.

Trading Guentzel would be a major change, no?

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

I'd argue he was better for the Pens last year than he has been with the Flyers this year.

Last year
53 games 7G 7A 14P -2 80%(!) D-zone starts

This year
49games 7G 10A 17P -8 51.6% D-zone starts



But I was the crazy one for being upset that they just didn't qualify him.

I thought the concern was he had a potentially longer term injury that the Pens thought would flare up?
But I was definitely on the Poehl train and thought he filled a good need here, namely getting some speed in this lineup.

Poehling at wing on the 3rd line or at 4C with this group would be interesting.

 

[HandshakeLine]

have to admit i was wrong and thought if things went this way we would see at least some major changes by now. feels now like they are willing to write off an entire year before getting serious about choosing a direction.

lol they are gonna write off the last few seasons of Crosby as a Pen before they choose a direction.

 

[pistolpete11]

I thought the concern was he had a potentially longer term injury that the Pens thought would flare up?
But I was definitely on the Poehl train and thought he filled a good need here, namely getting some speed in this lineup.

Poehling at wing on the 3rd line or at 4C with this group would be interesting.

From those reports, it was a respiratory issue that they didn't diagnose properly until the end of the season. I guess it's possible it could back, but seems like it's behind him and/or they know how to treat it now that they know what it is.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

From those reports, it was a respiratory issue that they didn't diagnose properly until the end of the season. I guess it's possible it could back, but seems like it's behind him and/or they know how to treat it now that they know what it is.

Sweet- yet another gold star for the Pens medical staff. First class!

 

[Andy99]

Well that’s not good…looks like a foot/ankle injury but it could be a knee and he’s had work done on both knees! That could be the remainder of his career if it’s a knee…

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

lol they are gonna write off the last few seasons of Crosby as a Pen before they choose a direction.

Yeah this really is... something. Never thought they'd stoop that low.

This idea of Dubas taking over with the thought that Crosby's last few years are "meh whatever... but we'll play along" and the REAL main course is rebuilding from the ashes is kind of a tough pill to swallow. Crosby at nearly 40 and even Malkin and Letang at nearly 40 is almost certainly better than whatever you're gonna get next.

Just feels a bit like stabbing those guys in the back. You know... the ones who actually won them everything three times over? I took the Penguins for a serious team. I guess not.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Well that’s not good…looks like a foot/ankle injury but it could be a knee and he’s had work done on both knees! That could be the remainder of his career if it’s a knee…

Looks like his right knee has some discomfort/weakness.
Which knee got the procedure last offseason?

 

[Andy99]

Looks like his right knee has some discomfort/weakness.
Which knee got the procedure last offseason?

In 2022, the injury was to his right knee!

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Dude's done.