Yeah... not even sure he played the game I watched, but there is the smallest of small chance he won't be on the starting lineup come the start of the season.
He’s such a bland option of all the options that were out there, mostly just stupid imo.
So we have Sid out for a bit of the start, Malkin out a little longer. Our players that can play C are - Carter, Blueger and Rodrigues. Then a bunch of AHL’ers that can play C and have been in the AHL or at some point in their career like Angello, Zohorna, and Bellerive.
I can’t stand Sam Lafferty because he’s so grossly inconsistent, but he can also play C and has for a lot of his career outside of the Pens. I would have even tried him there. He’s taken almost 350 faceoffs in 82 games and is a 50.4% player at the dot. Which is .2 better than Boyle’s career numbers. It’d also be something that could work because Sam plays an in your face game and if you drop him to C where he’s likely to be less of an idiot, you have more options at W and it takes Sam out as one of the wingers.
At that point, I would have maybe invited a veteran winger or something instead.
Guentzel, Carter/Blueger, Rust
Zucker, Blueger.Carter, Kapanen
McGinn, Rodrigues, Heinen
Zohorna, Lafferty, Aston-Reese
Not ideal, but it’s a f***ton easier to bench Sam when blokes come back all healthy (lol, we wish) and for all we know, this could be the spot where Sam fits the best. I think he’s looked adequate at C when he was there at times for the Pens in short stints. He’s quick, aggressive, he’s a decent 2-way player, he’s not the greatest offensively, but at C he has wingers to rely on and he just has to do his game and be more role focused at Center. I mean why the f*** not. The winger depth allows it to be worth a shot.
roster:
roster:
