GDT: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Chicago Blackhawks 9/23/13

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Kobasew deserves a spot over D'Agostini. Especially if he's willing to sign for league minimum. Sill over Glass.

I've been thinking the same thing about D'Agostini. He hasn't shown me any reason why he deserves a spot on this team, let alone a major role on the third line.

His stops and starts are pretty awkward TBTH.

Dupes hasn't had a very good preseason, but then again neither has Sid. I'm sure DB will give that line a long time before any changes are made, but #19 sure would look nice next to #87. And with Juice looking very comfortable with Malkin and Neal, we could be pretty set up front. Dupes and Kobasew flanking Sutter would be a monster 3rd line.

Do you believe in the tooth fairy also?

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Oh and Z outplayed Glass ONCE again. How is Glass going to get a roster spot? Even Vitale is outshining him by miles on the PK.

Let's have a friendly wager....

The first one to start munching on cardboard to hold back tears of rage from the cumulative effects of watching Glass and Adams together all season, loses.

We'll use the honor system.

 

[mpp9]

I've been thinking the same thing about D'Agostini. He hasn't shown me any reason why he deserves a spot on this team, let alone a major role on the third line.

His stops and starts are pretty awkward TBTH.



Do you believe in the tooth fairy also?

Kobasew just seems like a good fit for this team. If we're looking for a player to help alleviate the loss of Cooke and TK, he's about as good as it gets on the cheap.

I hate to wish for Dupuis to struggle. He's a great player. But his place on the team, if not now then in the near future, is on the third line.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

The preseason means everything!!

Seriously...people need to take a deep breathe here.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Look, the preseason is where you show you're ready. The regular season means nothing. Then the playoffs are where it counts.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Look, the preseason is where you show you're ready. The regular season means nothing. Then the playoffs are where it counts.

Exactly, Sid should just play every other game during the regular season to stay rested. Preseason and Post season are where it's at, Regular Season..meh, just a warm up for the playoffs.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Exactly, Sid should just play every other game during the regular season to stay rested. Preseason and Post season are where it's at, Regular Season..meh, just a warm up for the playoffs.

Exactly. This team is guaranteed to make the playoffs forever. Cups the only thing that matters, except for the preseason games that we must watch to notice disturbing patterns that might result in Not Cups.

 

[Tender Rip]

The preseason means everything!!

Seriously...people need to take a deep breathe here.

It doesn't necessitate childish impatience or pre-season overreactions to suggest that:

Glass is worthless and shouldn't be on the team.
Adams was ineffective last year, terrible in CORSI terms, and is slowing down too much not to hurt any possession efforts for his line.
D'Agostini is a nice enough utility player, but adds absolutely nothing needed when compared with our other options. Indeed he is more or the same, and should not be prioritized.
Niskanen.... well, the cap is the cap and Minnesota boy gotta go.

I would haphazard the guess that all four of them are going to be on the opening night roster. How is that for belief in the right decisions being made?
Even a long deep breath doesn't cancel out the frustration that this roster has been so close to being super complete for three years running, and ultimately it seems that the only areas that look like definite weaknesses (or at least issues to deal with), are the ones we never address. It frustrates the crap out of me, and that's without even considering our beloved bench boss.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

It doesn't necessitate childish impatience or pre-season overreactions to suggest that:

Glass is worthless and shouldn't be on the team.
Adams was ineffective last year, terrible in CORSI terms, and is slowing down too much not to hurt any possession efforts for his line.
D'Agostini is a nice enough utility player, but adds absolutely nothing needed when compared with our other options. Indeed he is more or the same, and should not be prioritized.
Niskanen.... well, the cap is the cap and Minnesota boy gotta go.

I would haphazard the guess that all four of them are going to be on the opening night roster. How is that for belief in the right decisions being made?
Even a long deep breath doesn't cancel out the frustration that this roster has been so close to being super complete for three years running, and ultimately it seems that the only areas that look like definite weaknesses (or at least issues to deal with), are the ones we never address. It frustrates the crap out of me, and that's without even considering our beloved bench boss.

I'd rather wait and see how they do during the regular season, the only thing I will agree with is that Adams sucks, everyone knows that, but he's a Shero favourite, not so much Dan and people forget that, I recall Shero saying he'd fight Bylsma to keep Adams in the line-up...sad and scary thought that the GM loves a useless player that much.

The cap, well with Vokoun likely being put on the IR and Despres being in the AHL hopefully and let's be real, he should be there to start the year, I think the Pens are ok. I think Shero is looking to just get under the cap, a move will likely be made in October anyway. Someone is going and I wouldn't put money on who at this point, all I know is that Bortuzzo should be a regular over Engelland.

I'm 50/50 on Glass, he hits often, but not really a game changer in that sense, he's just physical for the sake of being physical and his cap hit sucks, if Shero can dump him and sign Kobasew for half of what Glass makes, the team would be better off for it. I also don't like Harry Z, but we're stuck seeing him in a Pens uniform.

I'd also rather see Dustin Jeffrey moved because there really is no proper spot for him in the line-up and using him on the 4th line seems rather pointless, the team might as well get something for him rather than waste him on a 4th line and a 3rd line shift every now and then.

 

[Captain Hook]

Rather have Kobasew than D'Agostini on line 3. D'Agostini just hasn't shown me anything in these games but he does have a 1-way deal so the Pens are probably stuck with him unless someone else will trade for him.

I'd also rather have anybody but Tanner Glass on line 4. Zolnierczyk, Sill, Payerl, Vitale and just about everybody else has looked better than Glass, imo. Just not sure they can dump that contract or if Bylsma can get his head out of his rear end long enough to see that Glass brings nothing to this team.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Rather have Kobasew than D'Agostini on line 3. D'Agostini just hasn't shown me anything in these games but he does have a 1-way deal so the Pens are probably stuck with him unless someone else will trade for him.

I'd also rather have anybody but Tanner Glass on line 4. Zolnierczyk, Sill, Payerl, Vitale and just about everybody else has looked better than Glass, imo. Just not sure they can dump that contract or if Bylsma can get his head out of his rear end long enough to see that Glass brings nothing to this team.

While I am all for some "What the hell is Bylsma thinking" talk...Shero signed him. Bylsma
is stuck with him.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Rather have Kobasew than D'Agostini on line 3. D'Agostini just hasn't shown me anything in these games but he does have a 1-way deal so the Pens are probably stuck with him unless someone else will trade for him.

I guess it's time to make a package of Glass, D'Agostini and Nikanen to tempt someone with, throw in Adams to sweeten the deal.

Nothing less than Lundqvist will be accepted.


Seriously though, they might have to suck it up with D'Agostini and stick him in the minors.

While I am all for some "What the hell is Bylsma thinking" talk...Shero signed him. Bylsma
is stuck with him.

No one is forcing Bylsma to play him every game, or to try and make Glass happen on the third line. Yet here we are.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Season hasn't started, Pens have other options now...let's see if he actually uses him as much as people are already predicting he will.

Shero signed him to that contract, then you expect Bylsma to not use him after making that much? Who's to say Bylsma was going to scratch him and Shero said well...with his pay, you need to play him?

But yeah, Glass does suck.

 

[#66]

Kobasew just seems like a good fit for this team. If we're looking for a player to help alleviate the loss of Cooke and TK, he's about as good as it gets on the cheap.

I hate to wish for Dupuis to struggle. He's a great player. But his place on the team, if not now then in the near future, is on the third line.

The best thing about putting Dupes on the third line is that he can use his speed and shot to just get pucks on net with Kobasew cleaning house in front of the net. He's upped his game but lacks poise to play on the top line. The fact that he's actually doing it and playing well is a huge credit to him but in the end he's over his head.

Another thing is that playing that simpler game could actually see him up his game again.

Is anyone else really starting to dislike Sutter? Glass and Adams getting 4th line dollars and minutes hardly upsets me as much as Sutter, a third line center that makes some pretty good money. I know he's not a bad player but he's so damn blah its insane. He's not physical, doesn't score that often, isn't that good defensively, only OK on face offs and not even that active. If he wasn't RHed and had that last name he would be slightly worse than Letestu.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I'm glad the Sill train is picking up some steam.

Chooo chooooooo!

 

[Will Hunting]

Is anyone else really starting to dislike Sutter? Glass and Adams getting 4th line dollars and minutes hardly upsets me as much as Sutter, a third line center that makes some pretty good money. I know he's not a bad player but he's so damn blah its insane. He's not physical, doesn't score that often, isn't that good defensively, only OK on face offs and not even that active. If he wasn't RHed and had that last name he would be slightly worse than Letestu.

"Dislike" is a strong word until he plays a full season here. It´s still early to tell. But yeah, I expected more from him and there are times when he frustrates me quite a bit.

 

[JoeKnows]

Is anyone else really starting to dislike Sutter? Glass and Adams getting 4th line dollars and minutes hardly upsets me as much as Sutter, a third line center that makes some pretty good money. I know he's not a bad player but he's so damn blah its insane. He's not physical, doesn't score that often, isn't that good defensively, only OK on face offs and not even that active. If he wasn't RHed and had that last name he would be slightly worse than Letestu.

I just said to my friend last night that one of my fears for this year is that Sutter never gets truly complimentary linemates and at the end of the season we don't resign him. Sutter has pretty much consistently been put with players that only work with Jordan Staal. He isn't a power forward like Staal and he needs players who can help in the physical/boardwork department. Is that Jokinen and D'Agostini? I certainly don't think so. IMO Shero should be targeting Steve Bernier for the job. Let's say he gets him for Niskanen, Glass, and some picks more or less. That leaves a line up of:

Kunitz-Crosby-Bennett
Jokinen-Malkin-Neal
Dupuis-Sutter-Bernier
Jeffrey-Vitale-Kobasew

Scuderi-Letang
Orpik-Martin
Despres-Bortuzzo

That third line gives Sutter exactly what he needs to be great on this team and it fixes all the other roster issues too. This is the real solution, not letting Sutter go.

 

[Shwag33]

Zatkoff's our number 2 goalie until either TV comes back or GMRS picks up a more experienced pro. Everyone remembers Fleury *****ing the bed in the playoffs. Zatkoff's playoffs were even worse at the AHL level.

Zol certainly brings more to the table than Glass, but I would be mildly surprised if he started the season with the big club.

How many goals did he kick in his own net????

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Is anyone else really starting to dislike Sutter? Glass and Adams getting 4th line dollars and minutes hardly upsets me as much as Sutter, a third line center that makes some pretty good money. I know he's not a bad player but he's so damn blah its insane. He's not physical, doesn't score that often, isn't that good defensively, only OK on face offs and not even that active. If he wasn't RHed and had that last name he would be slightly worse than Letestu.

I'm not going to say I dislike him, but I was disappointed with him in the playoffs. He just seemed weak, to put him in a bubble ignoring linemates.

Kobasew-Sutter-Dupuis would probably help him in the linemate area, but that won't happen.

Glass still pisses me off, especially when I think of how much he gets paid. He's two potentially useful fourth liners.

 

[Nietzsche Zone Play]

Sutter is the least of the team's worries. his defensive metrics were outstanding last season. in his case I think it's really worth looking at the stats because his game is so "quiet" that it can seem like he isn't doing much. in reality, he's thrown out in the toughest situations as much as possible and still tilts possession in his favor.

 

[Al Smith]

How many goals did he kick in his own net????

Well, 0 last night. Over the course of a season? I don't know. During last year's AHL playoffs when he let almost 17% of the shots in goal? Don't know that either.

I'd like to see him do well, but I don't think he's going to get much of a chance with the big club.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Who's to say Bylsma was going to scratch him and Shero said well...with his pay, you need to play him?

Well, Shero, during the exit press conferences last season, where he said he leaves all the lineup decisions to Bylsma.

 

[JQR]

Hawks depth is insane.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Well, 0 last night. Over the course of a season? I don't know. During last year's AHL playoffs when he let almost 17% of the shots in goal? Don't know that either.

I'd like to see him do well, but I don't think he's going to get much of a chance with the big club.

When there's a Fleury, there's a way.

 

[Shady Machine]

I'd rather wait and see how they do during the regular season, the only thing I will agree with is that Adams sucks, everyone knows that, but he's a Shero favourite, not so much Dan and people forget that, I recall Shero saying he'd fight Bylsma to keep Adams in the line-up...sad and scary thought that the GM loves a useless player that much.

The cap, well with Vokoun likely being put on the IR and Despres being in the AHL hopefully and let's be real, he should be there to start the year, I think the Pens are ok. I think Shero is looking to just get under the cap, a move will likely be made in October anyway. Someone is going and I wouldn't put money on who at this point, all I know is that Bortuzzo should be a regular over Engelland.

I'm 50/50 on Glass, he hits often, but not really a game changer in that sense, he's just physical for the sake of being physical and his cap hit sucks, if Shero can dump him and sign Kobasew for half of what Glass makes, the team would be better off for it. I also don't like Harry Z, but we're stuck seeing him in a Pens uniform.

I'd also rather see Dustin Jeffrey moved because there really is no proper spot for him in the line-up and using him on the 4th line seems rather pointless, the team might as well get something for him rather than waste him on a 4th line and a 3rd line shift every now and then.

Why should Despres start in the AHL?