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

[Rave7215]

Of course POJ is the one scratched and not Ruh. Sully gonna Sully

 

[Andy99]

More from Taylor…

• Onto the special teams portion of practice. Drew O'Connor replaces Harkins on the second power play unit:

PP1: Erik Karlsson, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell

PP2: Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, Jeff Carter, Reilly Smith, Drew O'Connor

• It's Ruhwedel and Graves working as a pair on the penalty-kill, and Joseph and Ludvig rotating in. So that would suggest that Shea-Ruhwedel is the third pairing and Joseph and Ludvig are the odd ones out.

• Malkin with an absolute snipe for a goal in the power play work and he celebrated with a dramatic show of putting his stick in a fake holster. The kids in attendance liked that one.

and this Nugget…

“Uh, Josh Archibald is here at the rink. Standing on the bench in street clothes. He’s an unrestricted free agent after a mutual agreement with Tampa to get released from the contract he signed with them this summer.

He’s going to the locker room now.”

 

[Gurglesons]

Why was Ludvig acquired if we are never going to try him?

 

[Andy99]

Why was Ludvig acquired if we are never going to try him?

“We love his game. He just needs to get up to speed on how we play and the details that go into it.” — Mike Sullivan

 

[Empoleon8771]

Archibald would bring a nice speed element to the bottom-6 and he was one of the few bottom-6 guys that I didn't completely hate last year. The issue is that they need way more than the 6 goals and 12 points in 62 games that he put up last year.

I bet he would do better while playing on a 4th line of Nieto-Acciari-Archibald, and frankly I like that line on paper, but this team isn't getting rid of Carter so I don't see the point.

 

[Victor Z]

“We love his game. He just needs to get up to speed on how we play and the details that go into it.” — Mike Sullivan

"Ludvig has always played a physical game, and naturally we're trying to break him of that habit. Furthermore he's always played the left side and we'd rather he move to the right. As you can see, by asking him to entirely change his game and playing him out of position in order to accommodate a non-entity on the left side, we are maximizing Ludvig's potential for great success here!" -- Also Mike Sullivan

 

[Empoleon8771]

"Ludvig has always played a physical game, and naturally we're trying to break him of that habit. Furthermore he's always played the left side and we'd rather he move to the right. As you can see, by asking him to entirely change his game and playing him out of position in order to accommodate a non-entity on the left side, we are maximizing Ludvig's potential for great success here!" -- Also Mike Sullivan

It is bizarre to call POJ a "non-entity" and act like Ludvig is this ultra special piece.

He absolutely should move to RD because he should be replacing Ruhwedel.

 

[Grouch]

Two bets on my part:

1. Harkins isn't at practice because they know he was claimed off waivers.
2. POJ is the one that ends up scratched, not Ruhwedel

that.....ORRRRR...he is soooo bad at hockey the don't want him infecting the guys around him any more than he has. (could just be my Harkins Hatred Syndrome )

 

[Empoleon8771]

With that being said about the RD comment, I think a legitimate argument to make is whether the Penguins should trade POJ for a depth forward and call up Smith to play RD, which would allow Ludvig to stay on LD. Had Smith not been so atrociously awful in camp, I think you could make a pretty convincing argument for that setup.

Run with these D pair setups:

Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
Ludvig-Smith

PP D1: only Karlsson
PP D2: Smith and Letang

PK D1: Graves and Letang
PK D2: Ludvig and Pettersson

 

[Andy99]

 

[66-30-33]

Ruh still playing? ha, I knew it!

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

More from Taylor…

• Onto the special teams portion of practice. Drew O'Connor replaces Harkins on the second power play unit:

PP1: Erik Karlsson, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell

PP2: Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, Jeff Carter, Reilly Smith, Drew O'Connor

I hope Letang being moved to PP2 is more of a minute managing thing vs a performance thing

 

[Zirakzigil]

A nothing burger…please remove from the injury thread lol

 

[Darren McCord]

Why was Ludvig acquired if we are never going to try him?

Because Dubas wanted him and Sullivan will only play guys after you trade his favorites. Until ruh is gone he will always play over them.

 

[Victor Z]

It is bizarre to call POJ a "non-entity" and act like Ludvig is this ultra special piece.

While it's true that Ruhwedel should never touch the ice again in the NHL, nobody should pretend that POJ doesn't suck 95% as bad just because he's younger and has some (likely fictitious) upside potential. He makes one good pass every couple of weeks and people start making ridiculous projections. He's the Drew O'Connor of Penguin defensemen.

Nobody thinks Ludvig is going to be our savior all by himself, but he brings a physical element until Sully coaches it out of him and should be at least as useful as Mark Friedman (low bar I know, but still preferable to a weak, clueless, non-defensive defenseman). Maybe Ludvig even brings some actual toughness and crease-clearing ability as opposed to Friedman's pestiness without much to back it up.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

While it's true that Ruhwedel should never touch the ice again in the NHL, nobody should pretend that POJ doesn't suck 95% as bad just because he's younger and has some (likely fictitious) upside potential. He makes one good pass every couple of weeks and people start making ridiculous projections. He's the Drew O'Connor of Penguin defensemen.

That's my biggest gripe: POJ's story has yet to be written, but has shown he can probably be a #4 Dman

Ruh is a known commodity: a 7th NHL Dman who can play top 6 spot duty

 

[Josey Wales]

Mike Sullivan was asked after practice what he'd like to see from Joseph moving forward.

"P.O's played a lot of games for us and is a solid defenseman," Sullivan said. "I think when P.O is at his best, he's using his mobility and his stick, and his smarts to win pucks to help us get out of our end. He defends well with his mobility and his stick, he's active off the offensive blue line. We can play him on the second power play, he distributes the puck pretty well up top if we choose to play him on the second power play. These are all the things that he's done for our team when he's at his best and he's a very capable defenseman in that regard."

Sullivan did note, though, that Joseph hasn't been "at his best" as of late.

"It's our challenge as a coaching staff to help him get there," Sullivan said. "We'll work through these challenges with all our players. You know, every player goes through ups and downs in the season where sometimes they're at their best, and sometimes for whatever reason, they're not. I mean, I just think it's part of sports, it's the human aspect of what we do. And it's our job is a coaching staff to work with these guys and try to help them capture their very best game."

 

[Gurglesons]

Mike Sullivan was asked after practice what he'd like to see from Joseph moving forward.

"P.O's played a lot of games for us and is a solid defenseman," Sullivan said. "I think when P.O is at his best, he's using his mobility and his stick, and his smarts to win pucks to help us get out of our end. He defends well with his mobility and his stick, he's active off the offensive blue line. We can play him on the second power play, he distributes the puck pretty well up top if we choose to play him on the second power play. These are all the things that he's done for our team when he's at his best and he's a very capable defenseman in that regard."

Sullivan did note, though, that Joseph hasn't been "at his best" as of late.

"It's our challenge as a coaching staff to help him get there," Sullivan said. "We'll work through these challenges with all our players. You know, every player goes through ups and downs in the season where sometimes they're at their best, and sometimes for whatever reason, they're not. I mean, I just think it's part of sports, it's the human aspect of what we do. And it's our job is a coaching staff to work with these guys and try to help them capture their very best game."

maybe one day you’ll be able to succeed at a challenge Mike.

 

[Gurglesons]

Sounds like Big Z is getting called up.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

maybe one day you’ll be able to succeed at a challenge Mike.

Poor Mikey Sullivan who only has 4 (possibly 5 with Jake) HOF's on his roster
Maybe with 9 or 10 Hall of Famers, he'll finally be able to win a playoff round

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I hope Letang being moved to PP2 is more of a minute managing thing vs a performance thing

He's been on PP2 since preseason. PP1 looks better with him off it.

 

[vodeni]

so tomorrow probably:
GCR
SGR
Doc-Eller-Nieto
Z-Acciari-Carter

Letang-Graves
EK-Petts
Ruh-Shea

Curious about Shea, read an interview with him seems like a good guy who thinks hockey pretty well, hope it will translate,
prediction L4 will not play more than 4 minutes and third line will do a little bit more offensively, maybe even chip a goal

 

[Grouch]

Two bets on my part:

1. Harkins isn't at practice because they know he was claimed off waivers.
2. POJ is the one that ends up scratched, not Ruhwedel

Everyone from yesterday cleared.....looks like my reason was closer. ;-)

From NHL to 3rd line WBS

 

[Factorial]

Sounds like Big Z is getting called up.

"The missing piece."

 

[Empoleon8771]

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