Line Combos: Pens 2022-2023 Training Camp thread: Its happenings

[Flying Dego]

I don't know who Deca is nor do I know where to find this person.

Call up a man called Barry Bonds. He can direct you in how to "not" find this thing.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Call up a man called Barry Bonds. He can direct you in how to "not" find this thing.

Wait a second. You want me to contact this skinny guy about bulking up?!:

Preposterous!

 

[Flying Dego]

Wait a second. You want me to contact this skinny guy about bulking up?!:

Preposterous!

No, that's a different B. Bonds. This is him:

 

[Andy99]

It’s amazing how these pairs get automatically generated even before camp…Smith running with the top six, Zucker glued to Malkin….it’s almost like Sullivan is telling them where to play lol….

 

[wheelz87]

Forgive me it’s been a long off season but who’s 43?

 

[Andy99]

Forgive me it’s been a long off season but who’s 43?

Heinen

 

[Flying Dego]

It’s amazing how these pairs get automatically generated even before camp…Smith running with the top six, Zucker glued to Malkin….it’s almost like Sullivan is telling them where to play lol….

Alright since this is all we got let's start the flaming.

Heinen as 2RW and Rakell at 3LW?

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean, I'm glad they're not forcing Kap into the top 6 again if he's not ready for it, but Heinen is not the way to go about that top 6.

Goddamn, Sully gonna f***ing Sully.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Sully's dark plot revealed at last.
Nice to see Heinen with Geno at least. Think he'll do better this year.

I'm open to seeing these combos tried before judging.

 

[Gurglesons]

It’s nice to have some swagger and cockiness from the young kids. All of Legare, Poulin and Hallander sound driven

 

[wheelz87]

Alright since this is all we got let's start the flaming.

Heinen as 2RW and Rakell at 3LW?

It’s day 1. I’m going to not overreact - yet.
Having said that, it’s stupid to even entertain Heinen above Raks.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

It’s day 1. I’m going to not overreact - yet.
Having said that, it’s stupid to even entertain Heinen above Raks.

It's only stupid if the improvement on L3 doesn't justify the lost goals on L2.
L3 was pretty bad last year so there's a lotta room for growth.

Zuck with Heinen is interesting. They played together 86 mins last year. It sorta worked. 5GF 4GA with good possession. Chances about 50/50. Good edge in shots for vs against. This was all with Carter too. With Malkin there should be improvement.
With the way Zucker's line has performed here historically, I'll take that and run.

Kap having Rak supporting him is nice. That'll at least give him a chance to bounce back and push for the L2 spot.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

It’s amazing how these pairs get automatically generated even before camp…Smith running with the top six, Zucker glued to Malkin….it’s almost like Sullivan is telling them where to play lol….

I wouldn't read much into those lines.

Every single player is skating on their preferred, natural side. Rakell, Heinen and McGinn all play either side. But Rakell prefers the left, Heinen and McGinn prefer the right.

 

[Flying Dego]

It’s day 1. I’m going to not overreact - yet.
Having said that, it’s stupid to even entertain Heinen above Raks.

There's no reason it'll stick but it'd be so Pens to sign Geno and have a perfectly good top 6 wing that works with him...just to drop them to line 3 and plop Geno with a tweener and a guy that hasn't been healthy for years not to mention has only looked poor with him when playing.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean, fair enough it's the first day of camp, but also lol this shit happens every year and some people have absolutely terrible pattern recognition skills.

I would love to be wrong on this, but man, after 5 years, even Charlie Brown started having doubts about kicking that football.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I mean, fair enough it's the first day of camp, but also lol this shit happens every year and some people have absolutely terrible pattern recognition skills.

I would love to be wrong on this, but man, after 5 years, even Charlie Brown started having doubts about kicking that football.

It's not even camp yet. These are still mostly player run workouts. Camp doesn't start until Thursday.

 

[The Old Master]

I wouldn't read much into those lines.

yep! now is the time to try things.

 

[HandshakeLine]

It's not even camp yet. These are still mostly player run workouts. Camp doesn't start until Thursday.

Huh, I thought we started today. Well, I'll take that back. I still don't like the idea of Geno and Heinen and putting Rakell on the 3rd line though.

 

[Al Smith]

Huh, I thought we started today. Well, I'll take that back. I still don't like the idea of Geno and Heinen and putting Rakell on the 3rd line though.

I must be the only person here who remotely likes Heiden. I think he’s got good - not great - offensive instincts and unfortunately mediocre hands. But I think he’s well worth the money. But I still don’t see him playing on L2 with Rakell on L3. So even with camp not having officially started yet, I’m going to completely write off this season based on this configuration.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I must be the only person here who remotely likes Heiden. I think he’s got good - not great - offensive instincts and unfortunately mediocre hands. But I think he’s well worth the money. But I still don’t see him playing on L2 with Rakell on L3. So even with camp not having officially started yet, I’m going to completely write off this season based on this configuration.

Heinen really isn't a problem, it's where Heinen is in the lineup that is a problem. It's the Rodrigues problem, the guy makes $1 million, of course he's worth the money for the hit, but that still doesn't mean you need to put him in the top 6.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Eh... it's way too early to say something like this but what the hell... they're gonna try to make Raks/Carter a thing. At least to start the year. And a lot of ya'll are gonna rationalize it.

 

[Flying Dego]

yep! now is the time to try things.

Meh. Trying things would be like sticking a DOC or big Z with G and Rakell....

Sticking Rak on the 3rd line in favor of Zuck and Heinen is not.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I must be the only person here who remotely likes Heinen. I think he’s got good - not great - offensive instincts and unfortunately mediocre hands. But I think he’s well worth the money. But I still don’t see him playing on L2 with Rakell on L3. So even with camp not having officially started yet, I’m going to completely write off this season based on this configuration.

A lot of people here resented the fact that he couldn't score with Geno. The thing with that is that they were only together for 23% of Heinen's even-strength ice time for the year. They make it all about that though, while conveniently forgetting he also potted 3 goals in the playoffs.

He finished 4th on the team in 5v5 P60 scoring. Passing on him with his 1 mil price tag would have been infuriating for me.

I expect him to be more durable and outperform Zucker again, a guy who's making over 5x more.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I sincerely hope that 3rd line is a goof because it looks kinda bad.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I sincerely hope that 3rd line is a goof because it looks kinda bad.

They've already had at least one informal skate with a very similar configuration.