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

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Ugene Magic said:
I'm gonna keep beating the same drum.

POJ, O'Connor and a 3rd for Duclair from SJS at 50%.
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I could get on board with that. There are several forwards in SJ that could help here - Duclair, Barbanov, Kunin, Zetterland. All would be upgrades. Would be great if we didn't have to include the 3rd for a UFA but...it is what it is.
SomeDude said:
I eagerly await the fan-fic piece from Rob Rossi after this Dad’s trip.

It’ll be hard to top “that’s not how we do things in Pittsburgh” but I’m sure that butt weasel will dig until he finds a way.
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Can someone refresh me about the whole "that’s not how we do things in Pittsburgh” thing? I swear 100% there was an article that said they told Bleuger in the locker room and his dad was there. The dad even commented on how nifty it was to be a part of it, as uncommon as it is. That didn't match up well with the Rossi story.

Am I on crack (specifically...SPECIFICALLY...on this. Not other stuff.)?
 
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SEALBound said:
Can someone refresh me about the whole "that’s not how we do things in Pittsburgh” thing? I swear 100% there was an article that said they told Bleuger in the locker room and his dad was there. The dad even commented on how nifty it was to be a part of it, as uncommon as it is. That didn't match up well with the Rossi story.

Am I on crack (specifically...SPECIFICALLY...on this. Not other stuff.)?
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That about it. Rossi published a hit piece on Pens management and said Blueger found out he was traded on Twitter during a team dinner with the dads. Obviously, that never happened and Rob Rossi is still cos playing as a reporter to this very day.
 
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SEALBound said:
I could get on board with that. There are several forwards in SJ that could help here - Duclair, Barbanov, Kunin, Zetterland. All would be upgrades. Would be great if we didn't have to include the 3rd for a UFA but...it is what it is.
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That's for difference and retention of 1.5.

Also, a real good chance they could re-sign him.
 
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SomeDude said:
That about it. Rossi published a hit piece on Pens management and said Blueger found out he was traded on Twitter during a team dinner with the dads. Obviously, that never happened and Rob Rossi is still cos playing as a reporter to this very day.
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Don't forget the dramatic moment when Crosby silently stood up and with a steely-eyed gaze to all who would dare look at him intoned "that's not how we do things in Pittsburgh" as he gathered his things and purposefully walked out of the room to now-abashed silence. Cue dramatic music. A singular tear falls down Jeff Carter's face. Somewhere in the distance a wolf howls forlornly.

Tell it right, Dude.
 
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BlindWillyMcHurt said:
Don't forget the dramatic moment when Crosby silently stood up and with a steely-eyed gaze to all who would dare look at him intoned "that's not how we do things in Pittsburgh" as he gathered his things and purposefully walked out of the room to now-abashed silence. Cue dramatic music. A singular tear falls down Jeff Carter's face. Somewhere in the distance a wolf howls forlornly.

Tell it right, Dude.
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Then Geno started a slow clap and then eventually, everyone joined in.

I thought the whole finding out on twitter thing was bogus. I was like "...I swear they told him to his face in front of his dad!"
 
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BlindWillyMcHurt said:
Don't forget the dramatic moment when Crosby silently stood up and with a steely-eyed gaze to all who would dare look at him intoned "that's not how we do things in Pittsburgh" as he gathered his things and purposefully walked out of the room to now-abashed silence. Cue dramatic music. A singular tear falls down Jeff Carter's face. Somewhere in the distance a wolf howls forlornly.

Tell it right, Dude.
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Think Washington crossing the Delaware only Crosby crossing the Mon in a row boat with Sam Lafferty and Casey DeSmith.
 
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SEALBound said:
I don't think Shea-Ludvig is that bad though. You have to make sacrifices when you run Grave-Letang and Petts-Erik Karlsson as your top 4. There's a salary cap. And you have Shea, Ludvig, POJ, Rudwedel, Smith...heaven forbid you try a few combinations.

Bottom 6, 100% upgrade. Harkins should be in the AHL. Gruden is more of the 4th line plug that we don't need. DOC is passable but barely, honestly. With that, it's not like we have a ton of assets to pursue any meaningful players. You need a Daley-Scuds situation where a struggling guy that you bring in reboots. But then you have to fit that under a very tight cap unless Rust and Rakell are LONG LONG term IR. If Rust is out for the next 5 months, then sure go use his space. Weaponize it and trade POJ for a $4-5mil guy to a team that wants the cap relief.
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Agree with all of this.
There are a hodgepodge of D on the bottom pair. Kudos to Sully for trying various combinations to see what works. I don't think he's making egregious Dmen lineup decisions.

Also agree with your F assessment. Harkins is brutal. Gruden probably won't develop into anything special.

DOC's spot is on that 3rd line with Eller and Z; they seem to be at the perfect level where giving them anything more is outside their capabilities

I said this elsewhere but I'm a major Hino fan. He's a great 3rd wheel for nearly any line
 
It’s disappointing how Zohorna has fallen off as much as he has over the past group of games, he really doesn’t look nearly as impactful as he did earlier in the year. Eller is still looking like a solid 3C and I actually like O’Connor as a 3rd wheel in the top-6, but that 3rd line needs more. I’m disappointed Zohorna couldn’t maintain his super strong start.

I imagine Dubas planned on adding some bottom-6 help regardless, but adding a guy to push Zohorna to L4 seems like a very necessary addition at this point. They need a play driver on that line, I thought Zohorna was going to be that but he has really cooled off.

My goal at this point would be make the 4th line Zohorna-Acciari-Nieto/Hinostroza and add a good 3rd liner to play with O’Connor and Eller.
 
Empoleon8771 said:
It’s disappointing how Zohorna has fallen off as much as he has over the past group of games, he really doesn’t look nearly as impactful as he did earlier in the year. Eller is still looking like a solid 3C and I actually like O’Connor as a 3rd wheel in the top-6, but that 3rd line needs more. I’m disappointed Zohorna couldn’t maintain his super strong start.

I imagine Dubas planned on adding some bottom-6 help regardless, but adding a guy to push Zohorna to L4 seems like a very necessary addition at this point. They need a play driver on that line, I thought Zohorna was going to be that but he has really cooled off.

My goal at this point would be make the 4th line Zohorna-Acciari-Nieto/Hinostroza and add a good 3rd liner to play with O’Connor and Eller.
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Didn't Z cool off when DOC had to leave that line due to injuries?
Not making excuses, but I feel that may be an impact.
 
Buddy Bizarre said:
Didn't Z cool off when DOC had to leave that line due to injuries?
Not making excuses, but I feel that may be an impact.
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Yeah that may be a valid thing to mention. I think I was underrating O'Connor's impact from earlier in the year because he wasn't getting a ton of production.

I still want Zohorna playing, especially when the alternatives are guys like Carter and Harkins. But I think O'Connor and Eller on L3 with a trade addition and Zohorna-Acciari-Hinostroza/Nieto is the best way they can realistically set up their bottom-6. It's still not good but it's probably the best they can do with their little cap space.
 
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Empoleon8771 said:
Yeah that may be a valid thing to mention. I think I was underrating O'Connor's impact from earlier in the year because he wasn't getting a ton of production.

I still want Zohorna playing, especially when the alternatives are guys like Carter and Harkins. But I think O'Connor and Eller on L3 with a trade addition and Zohorna-Acciari-Hinostroza/Nieto is the best way they can realistically set up their bottom-6. It's still not good but it's probably the best they can do with their little cap space.
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Yea individually I think Z and DOC are wholly average. But I feel they've got some real synergy. Not to discredit Eller in his role either.
 
Shouldn't Sullivan just go back to OEZ and verify if it still works before jumping to conclusions? I feel like that would be a logical course of action. Maybe I'm crazy though.

Last I checked the line had a 6-3 GD when it got disbanded.

Buddy Bizarre said:
Yea individually I think Z and DOC are wholly average. But I feel they've got some real synergy. Not to discredit Eller in his role either.
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The problem is that the guys who people want to replace Z are worse than him.
 
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Empoleon8771 said:
Yeah that may be a valid thing to mention. I think I was underrating O'Connor's impact from earlier in the year because he wasn't getting a ton of production.

I still want Zohorna playing, especially when the alternatives are guys like Carter and Harkins. But I think O'Connor and Eller on L3 with a trade addition and Zohorna-Acciari-Hinostroza/Nieto is the best way they can realistically set up their bottom-6. It's still not good but it's probably the best they can do with their little cap space.
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Let's assume everyone is healthy.

Can that 3rd line upgrade be Puustinen? I'm really back and forth on who to target. As someone mentioned, Duclair would be a nice addition. As would Max Jones. But would a line of Zohorna-Eller-Puustinen be effective? Then run Nieto-Accari-DOC. Or maybe, get your upgrade (say Duclair) and run:

Duclair-Eller-Puustinen
Zohorna-Accari-Nieto

I thought guys like Sheary and Rust would be top 6 or bust guys but I think at any given time, they were okay as the scoring punch on the third line.

tom_servo said:
Kind of cool that Johnstone was in attendance for Crosby's debut in Jersey, the "Parise's better!" game.
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Jersey fans and Parise certainly got the last laugh on that front, eh?
 
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SEALBound said:
Let's assume everyone is healthy.

Can that 3rd line upgrade be Puustinen? I'm really back and forth on who to target. As someone mentioned, Duclair would be a nice addition. As would Max Jones. But would a line of Zohorna-Eller-Puustinen be effective? Then run Nieto-Accari-DOC. Or maybe, get your upgrade (say Duclair) and run:

Duclair-Eller-Puustinen
Zohorna-Accari-Nieto

I thought guys like Sheary and Rust would be top 6 or bust guys but I think at any given time, they were okay as the scoring punch on the third line.


Jersey fans and Parise certainly got the last laugh on that front, eh?
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That 3rd line looks awful to me. Duclair isn't good anymore and both Duclair and Puustinen can't handle a defensive role.
 
Once Acciari, Rakell and Rust return, that really addresses the RW situation. Add in maybe Smith playing better and DOC third line LW and at least that will be the team Dubas hoped to have this year. The problem is time and too much to make up. With maybe 40 games left, just hard to see a top 8 with so many teams ahead of them. But with 18 million cap space and hard to see Dubas not signing jake which I don't support, Pens final year with Sid based on his contract, I guess one more all in would be the move before Dubas blows it up for picks. If Pens miss this year, hopefully the pick is top 10 and lottery protected.
 
Empoleon8771 said:
That 3rd line looks awful to me. Duclair isn't good anymore and both Duclair and Puustinen can't handle a defensive role.
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Duclair had a Achilles injury 2022/23 missed 60 games before coming back for the playoffs, before he was traded to SJS and as far as offense goes, he's the cheapest get. He's a buy low, high reward type guy. Let's not make the mistake of making assumptions when he's playing on a young bottom feeder.

He's about a 40/50 point winger if it plays out right for him. Scored 20 or more on multiple occasions one being a more recent 31 goal campaign. He's currently on a 19 goal pace.

Puustinen is fine enough and you have Eller, and Duclair was no slouch in Florida. I'd say he's worth the risk and has some recent experience playoff wise.

These are the kind of guys you try to get speaking to the 3rd line.
 
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IF, big if, Puusy can stick, I'd like to see this tried when healthy:

Guentzel - Crosby - Puusy
Rakell - Malkin - Rust
Smith - Eller - Zohorna
DOC - Acciari - Nieto
 
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