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

[AuroraBorealis]

Letang has more points than Karlsson. Hilarious, considering the difference in roles.

 

[Josey Wales]

Looks like Bryan Rust and Jesse Puljujarvi will join the Penguins for practice today

 

[Zirakzigil]

I am curious what magical thing Harkins does that gives Sullivan this insane want for him in the line-up, minutes aren't the issue, he's still playing.

He handles the puck like a grenade.
His defense is severely overrated.
He throws hits like Archibald did, as in, pretty pointless times, he's a Tanner Glass devoid of skill.
He literally has not produced a single point, yet his line mates have in that same f***ing span.

It is just absolutely bizarre that this bloke is still in the line-up, I don't care about the cap excuse, etc. He is quite possibly the worst player we've seen on this team in the Crosby era.

Scores in the shootout

 

[Zirakzigil]

Letang has more points than Karlsson. Hilarious, considering the difference in roles.

Outside the first 5-10 games, I have been pretty meh on Karlsson. He forces the pass more than Letang forces the shot. Nobody on that 1st unit is willing to shoot now. Right now Karlssons offensive talents are not making up for his defensive ineptness.

 

[Genetic]

Puustinen absolutely wires the puck into the net... Off pp1. Sully gonna sully

 

[Andy99]

From DK, at practice today…


Injury updates from Mike Sullivan:

• Radim Zohorna fell ill, so he was told to stay home.

• Bryan Rust was considered to be a full participant in practice -- even though, as I reported below, he was held out of all special teams -- and is expected to keep doing so until he's eligible to be activated off LTIR Tuesday.

• Matt Nieto still isn't skating but is progressing.

• Jesse Puljujarvi 'will continue to work with us here for the next little while, and we'll see where that goes moving forward.' Which didn't exactly come across as encouraging, but hey.


• Gathering around Mike Sullivan now at the dry-erase board, setting up a drill that ultimately emphasizes a one-touch breakout up the wings.

• Whoa ... bit of power-play scrimmaging. Hadn't anticipated this. Full-on five-on-four with the rest of the rink cleared. Coming up ice, gaining the zone, the whole deal. Todd Reirden's running this one.

• It's ... not going well. Unless you're with the PK dudes.

• Units are the same as yesterday. First: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell. Second: Lars Eller, Reilly Smith, Jeff Carter, Valtteri Puustinen, Kris Letang.

• And there it is, an actual power-play goal, complete with most of the team roaring its approval and Sullivan banging his stick on the glass in approval. First unit. ... And now the second unit gets one, too. More approval. Both came on -- wait for it -- shots to the net that were tipped or whacked home.

• Way more aggressive, way more fluid now. Everyone's stoked. A 180 at hand. And this goes for both units.

• Rust's not participating in any of this, by the way. Hanging near center red. He's eligible to return from LTIR on Monday, by the way.

• More power play. Still more power play. Nothing but. Apparently determined to not let this latest lull -- 0 for 9 -- stretch out for a month or so.

• Finally, the power-play work ends. Man, won't see something like that too often at a practice.

• Five-on-five scrimmage now that shows lines, pairs:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Smith-Malkin-O'Connor
Rust-Eller-Puustinen
Harkins-Acciari-Carter
Hinostroza

Pettersson-Letang
Graves-Karlsson
Ludvig (Joseph)-Ruhwedel

Finally, let’s hear from Geno lol: still thinks Federov is best Russian player, he’s looking forward to reaching 500 goals and has high expectations of himself…

 

[Malkinstheman]

Something like this later in the season would be fun:

Guentzel-Sid-Rakell
Smith-Geno-Puusty
Poulin-Eller-Rust
DOC-Acciari-Nieto

That third line could be really interesting. Rust wont stay in the bottom-6 for long though. First sign of doubt and GCR will be reunited.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Something like this later in the season would be fun:

Guentzel-Sid-Rakell
Smith-Geno-Puusty
Poulin-Eller-Rust
DOC-Acciari-Nieto

That third line could be really interesting. Rust wont stay in the bottom-6 for long though. First sign of doubt and GCR will be reunited.

I haven't had nearly the problem with Rust's game this season as the previous few, he's been going to the dirty areas more often (because it couldn't be less) and putting in a little more effort defensively (also, could not be less). The issue with that is that he's also been very injury prone trying to do those things, and probably won't hold up doing that down the stretch and in the post season.

L1 needs Rakell's defensive play and jam around the net/on the boards, but Sullivan won't put Rust on L3, and his defensive play probably doesn't support it anyways.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Outside the first 5-10 games, I have been pretty meh on Karlsson. He forces the pass more than Letang forces the shot. Nobody on that 1st unit is willing to shoot now. Right now Karlssons offensive talents are not making up for his defensive ineptness.

For me he's exceeding expectations defensively by like 40% for the season as a whole, but has been about 25% worse offensively than I'd like. And almost all of that 25% is his PP work.
I do think he'd be made to look better if we had net front presence though.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I haven't had nearly the problem with Rust's game this season as the previous few, he's been going to the dirty areas more often (because it couldn't be less) and putting in a little more effort defensively (also, could not be less). The issue with that is that he's also been very injury prone trying to do those things, and probably won't hold up doing that down the stretch and in the post season.

L1 needs Rakell's defensive play and jam around the net/on the boards, but Sullivan won't put Rust on L3, and his defensive play probably doesn't support it anyways.

My problem with GCR isnt really Rust in particular. Hes been much better this season. GCR as a unit just make me want to pull my hair out. They cheat on defence and seem to go on long dry spells. Its not an unbreakable line like Sullivan seems to think it is.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

• Bryan Rust was considered to be a full participant in practice -- even though, as I reported below, he was held out of all special teams -- and is expected to keep doing so until he's eligible to be activated off LTIR Tuesday.

Getting Rust back on Jan. 2nd would be 8 days earlier than the average for week-to-week guys. Glad to hear it. He's been great this year.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

My problem with GCR isnt really Rust in particular. Hes been much better this season. GCR as a unit just make me want to pull my hair out. They cheat on defence and seem to go on long dry spells. Its not an unbreakable line like Sullivan seems to think it is.

I only got praise for GCR this year. Without it I woulda been very tempted to turn off a lot of games.

 

[DrDangles]

Yeah. Sundqvist has, at worst, been a serviceable bottom-6 guy on the cheap since and Reaves was never the deterrent or assured mutual destruction option people desperately wish he was (thanks instigator). Reaves is arguably the worst player in the league nowadays.

Swapping the 1st for their 2nd and dropping like 20 spots was the cherry on top of that shit sundae.

 

[66-30-33]

Outside the first 5-10 games, I have been pretty meh on Karlsson. He forces the pass more than Letang forces the shot. Nobody on that 1st unit is willing to shoot now. Right now Karlssons offensive talents are not making up for his defensive ineptness.

Karlsson has been a bum for a while now.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Karlsson has been a bum for a while now.

He told a newspaper in his hometown that he's dying alive

 

[Andy99]

He told a newspaper in his hometown that he's dying alive

Because he has to play for Mike Sullivan? Completely understand that lol

 

[66-30-33]

He told a newspaper in his hometown that he's dying alive

So he's Washington bound?

 

[Andy99]

The Blues are playing Binnington tonight, so they are saving their ELC goalie, Hofer, who’s been better than Binnington with a .913 save % , for the Pens lol…we haven’t faced him before I don’t think, but Bob Grove will let us know how he’ll destroy the 32nd in the league finishing team lol…I’m sure we’ll get a ton of chest snipes and easily seen shots against him

 

[Andy99]

I know there are people who are still positive about the Pens still this season but I don’t get it…they are now back to 4 points out of WC2 tonight because more teams above them in the PO race aren’t losing enough…in fact, in the last 10 games, the five teams above them in the race have gotten the same or more points than the Pens over the same period…they’re going to have to do a shit ton of winning, particularly regulation wins in the division and Atlantic contenders, and hope a few other teams than the Caps start falling off…

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I know there are people who are still positive about the Pens still this season but I don’t get it…they are now back to 4 points out of WC2 tonight because more teams above them in the PO race aren’t losing enough…in fact, in the last 10 games, the five teams above them in the race have gotten the same or more points than the Pens over the same period…they’re going to have to do a shit ton of winning, particularly regulation wins in the division and Atlantic contenders, and hope a few other teams than the Caps start falling off…

The Pens have played fewer games than everyone in the division in front of them and fewer games against the Metro than everyone but the Rangers.

They're in a hole but they have some things working in their favor. They just need to capitalize.

 

[Pancakes]

I know there are people who are still positive about the Pens still this season but I don’t get it…they are now back to 4 points out of WC2 tonight because more teams above them in the PO race aren’t losing enough…in fact, in the last 10 games, the five teams above them in the race have gotten the same or more points than the Pens over the same period…they’re going to have to do a shit ton of winning, particularly regulation wins in the division and Atlantic contenders, and hope a few other teams than the Caps start falling off…

Pens are up to 10th in point percentage in the east. The Caps (-11) and Isles (-7) have negative goal differentials. The Devils also have a negative 1. Carolina looks vulnerable.

by 5v5 xgoals the Devils and Canes are 4th and 5th, but the Isles 22nd and Washington is 27th. Pens are 8th. Flyers are 10th.

Imo you could make the argument that the Pens are the 8th best team in the east. That doesn't mean they'll make the playoffs, but if they can maintain the strong 5v5 play and goaltending I think there's a chance they get in.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Need to be .597 at most to make the playoffs, barring this Metro setting a new record. To get there, the Pens need to win 3 straight. That's more or less what the hole is right now.

 

[Andy99]

Pens are up to 10th in point percentage in the east. The Caps (-11) and Isles (-7) have negative goal differentials. The Devils also have a negative 1. Carolina looks vulnerable.

by 5v5 xgoals the Devils and Canes are 4th and 5th, but the Isles 22nd and Washington is 27th. Pens are 8th. Flyers are 10th.

Imo you could make the argument that the Pens are the 8th best team in the east. That doesn't mean they'll make the playoffs, but if they can maintain the strong 5v5 play and goaltending I think there's a chance they get in.

Carolina and Devils especially have been on a run…who cares about goal differential…Pens have reached their’s by being on the receiving end of a couple positive blowouts for them…regulation wins are all that matter…Pens will be fighting with the Isles, Car, Tampa, Detroit for WC2…just like last season…they instill little confidence they can pull it out…I’m all for trading our leading scorer for a boatload of assets if possible…top three in the Metro will be NYR and two of Flyers, NJD, CAR…going to be difficult unless they get on a lengthy winning streak

The Pens have played fewer games than everyone in the division in front of them and fewer games against the Metro than everyone but the Rangers.

They're in a hole but they have some things working in their favor. They just need to capitalize.

One fewer game…meaningless…we’re 4 points out and the teams we need to be losing, aren’t (except for the Caps)

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I'll believe this team's toast if they're out by a decent margin approaching the deadline. I expect Philly and Washington to drop out of the race at some point. Not that I think this team's good, but there are a lot of aggressively mediocre to bad teams in the East. Even then, they'll do some dumb shit and trade Yager and next year's 1st in a desperate attempt to keep up the masquerade of contending.

They should already be working the phones on a Jake trade imo.

 

[Andy99]

From Taylor…lol…but he’ll be back in Wilkes next week because, you know, his defense is shaky and he doesn’t PK, says the coach…

Valtteri Puustinen's goal and five assists in his eight games since his season debut Dec. 8 ties him for third in NHL rookie scoring in that span:

Connor Bedard: 11
Marco Rossi: 7
Puustinen: 6
Zach Benson: 6
Brock Faber: 6
Adam Fantilli: 6

Also from Taylor from the morning skate….


• Bryan Rust is on the ice in a full-contact jersey for the second day in a row. He can't come back until Jan. 2 at the earliest though because of LTIR minimums. So don't expect him to play in either game this weekend.

• Rust is wearing a neck guard, by the way. He's trying it out as he's working back from injury. If he wears one in a game he'd join Jeff Carter, Ryan Graves, Jansen Harkins, Valtteri Puustinen as current Penguins players to wear one.

• Participating in the optional skate: Tristan Jarry, Alex Nedeljkovic, Radim Zohorna, Bryan Rust, Chad Ruhwedel, Vinnie Hinostroza, John Ludvig, Evgeni Malkin, Drew O'Connor, Puustinen, EBUG Mike Chiasson

• Reminder on Jesse Puljujarvi, because people ask what the deal is with him every other day: He's on a tryout contract. He can only practice, not play, until he is signed to a real deal, which might not ever happen. The plan all along was to take things slowly with him and have him be on the ice some days, off on others. There is no limit to how long he can be on a PTO. The team can only cover his living expenses for 10 days (which has obviously passed) but that's the only stipulation. They were never bringing him on the road or anything anyway, he's just skating and working with the Penguins' staff. For Puljujarvi, covering your own hotel but working with the staff for free is probably cheaper than going home and paying for a trainer for rehab. So he could stick around until the Penguins make a decision or he gets signed by another team.