Pittsburgh Sports Media Gibberish - Part IX

[Til the End of Time]

Like six months ago.

Who are you referring to? I genuinely can't recall, perhaps I am forgetting though.

I don't consider staal or neal to be tough trades. They were obvious moves that had to be made.

 

[steveg]

Who are you referring to? I genuinely can't recall, perhaps I am forgetting though.

I don't consider staal or neal to be tough trades. They were obvious moves that had to be made.

The Staal trade, sort of like the Michalek trade, in a way "had to be made," in that the player requested to be moved. Not the case with Neal. There's no reason that trade "had to be made" IMO.

 

[BigEezyE22]

Adams persistence in the lineup is just a very visible and obvious example of the incompetence of this organization. If they can't get rid of Adams or at least sit him, how on earth could they make the tough calls that this organization needs, ie move on from fleury, trade Kunitz, maybe move letting, etc.

When was the last time this team made a tough call and traded a guy off the team that didn't clearly need to be moved?

It's just ridiculous that the Pens haven't moved Adams. I mean think of the market there is for guys like him.

 

[penguins2946*]

TIL that trading a 40 goal scorer that had great chemistry with both star centers isn't making a tough call and trading a player they don't have to trade.

Tbh, now that we have Perron, I'd rather have Neal than Hornqvist for that 2nd line, mainly because I think we're severely lacking what Neal brings. I kinda wish they would have tried moving him to the LW to see if that made him a more complete player instead of downright moving him. A top-6 of Kunitz-Crosby-Perron and Neal-Malkin-Bennett would have been sweet IMO.

 

[Fordy]

what does neal bring that we are lacking

more regular season goals?

he allows whatever line or powerplay he is on to play the wrong way because he'll just make a ridiculous shot anyway?

make sure crosby and malkin never want to shoot again?

we need more of that? who is the last pure sniper that won his team a cup?

 

[penguins2946*]

what does neal bring that we are lacking

more regular season goals?

Size, physicality (when he feels like it) and goal scoring ability. And believe it or not, regular season goals still count. Crazy idea. Neal wasn't good in the playoffs for us, but it wasn't entirely on him. The line he was on was always poorly constructed, whether he be with a finesse guy (Jokinen and Sullivan) or another scorer (Iginla). Putting him on LW would have made him a more complete player, switching to RW and getting spoon fed passes from Malkin under Bylsma made him devolve into a pure sniper.

I'm one of the most critical people of Neal here, but let's not act like he's Craig Adams 2.0. He was an elite goal scorer.

he allows whatever line or powerplay he is on to play the wrong way because he'll just make a ridiculous shot anyway?

make sure crosby and malkin never want to shoot again?

Well both of these are just stupid. I guess Malkin never scored 50 goals along Neal then. Crosby already never wants to shoot anymore, and that's after we got rid of Neal. That ridiculous shot seems to work, seeing how he's one of the best goal scoring wingers in the league.

we need more of that? who is the last pure sniper that won his team a cup?

Who is the last net front presence guy to win his team a cup? That's an absolutely asinine question because Neal was never going to be the player to win the Pens the cup, and the guy we traded Neal for won't win the Pens a cup either. He's a complementary guy, just as Hornqvist is. There are 0 players in the NHL that can win a cup alone, the closest are Crosby and Malkin in a group of players that can carry their teams past a round or 2. Neither Neal nor Hornqvist are in that group. Hell, 99% of players aren't in that group.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Eh, even with Perron Neal still had the same problems. Doing stupid ****, not doing much when he wasn't scoring and having a serious lazy streak on a team with real problems on that front. He has a great shot and chemistry but ultimately I also think Malkin is a better player without Neal and it's insane to say that about a 40 goal winger.

Kunitz is also a lazy, old player who shouldn't be on the 1st line and I'm really growing to hate him.

 

[mpp9]

I see Perron as a better version of Neal. He's harder to play against, has a wicked shot of his own, can create his own scoring chances and is a better fit on the PP being a RHS and willing to go to the net.

 

[Captain Hook]

Eh, even with Perron Neal still had the same problems. Doing stupid ****, not doing much when he wasn't scoring and having a serious lazy streak on a team with real problems on that front. He has a great shot and chemistry but ultimately I also think Malkin is a better player without Neal and it's insane to say that about a 40 goal winger.

Kunitz is also a lazy, old player who shouldn't be on the 1st line and I'm really growing to hate him.

Yeah, Neal's a guy that will always look way better when he's on another team because all you do at that point is stat watch and his stats are always going to look nice. Stats don't show you the stretches of laziness, dumb penalties and doing nothing to help the team when he isn't scoring.

Don't get me wrong, I still like Neal a lot. I was willing to put up with most of those flaws for the sniping. I wasn't exactly doing cartwheels over the trade either but I understood and still understand the logic. Hornqvist doesn't take dumb penalties, he gives you everything he has from an effort standpoint every night and scores in areas that we've had trouble scoring in when the playoffs roll around.

 

[penguins2946*]

Eh, even with Perron Neal still had the same problems. Doing stupid ****, not doing much when he wasn't scoring and having a serious lazy streak on a team with real problems on that front. He has a great shot and chemistry but ultimately I also think Malkin is a better player without Neal and it's insane to say that about a 40 goal winger.

Kunitz is also a lazy, old player who shouldn't be on the 1st line and I'm really growing to hate him.

Eh I don't know about that, Malkin did have his best season with Neal. I feel like Neal's issues could have been corrected with a change back to LW and a new coach. From the way Preds fans have talked, that has worked. However, the issue is that if we had Neal, we wouldn't have Hornqvist. I was talking about wishing we still had Neal and we still managed to get Horny, which is basically impossible.

I'm not upset about having Hornqvist instead of Neal, but I do still with we still had Neal. It's basically me being greedy, I want both both of them instead of just one. We have our new Neal-lite player in Perron now, but Perron does a hell of a lot more than Neal ever did. However, I feel like both Crosby and Malkin should have a Perron or a Neal, which is why I said that I wish we still had Neal. I don't dislike Hornqvist even remotely, but I just wish we had both a Hornqvist and a Perron/Neal for both Sid and Geno.

 

[Night Shift]

Neal has 15 goals and 27 points. He's no longer a 40 goal scorer.

 

[Jacob]

Neal is insanely good at scoring 1 type of goal. Perron & Hornqvist are very solid at scoring several different types of goals.

Spaling is redundant, but we didn't know we'd get the production we have from Comeau and Downie. In hindsight, it would've been better to trade Neal for Hornqvist + a draft pick (2nd or 3rd maybe).

 

[ProgOg]

Neal has 15 goals and 27 points. He's no longer a 40 goal scorer.

Yeah, his point production is at Dallas levels again. Weird how that works.

^ Also, Spaling has as many points as Comeau and Downie - in more games, though.

 

[madinsomniac]

what does neal bring that we are lacking

more regular season goals?

he allows whatever line or powerplay he is on to play the wrong way because he'll just make a ridiculous shot anyway?

make sure crosby and malkin never want to shoot again?

we need more of that? who is the last pure sniper that won his team a cup?

for the record, Neal was with the team for 4 playoffs... the first (his first playoff experience) he had a goal and an assist in 7 games, which sucked... but the next year he had 2 goals and 4 assists in 5 games, which was pretty good... the following year he scored 6 goals and 4 assists in 13 games, which is also good... the final year he blew... so basically critiquing him as a non playoff performer is incorrect, as it the idea that he couldn't generate his own shot... he wasn't asked to do that here. there were more coaching and system issues there than talent issues

I think people are confusing his value. he is very much more talented than a hornqvist, though we do need more netfront guys... we definitely overpaid for hornqvist to get him. The talent based role Neal should have filled is now filled more or less by Perron, which was a fabulous deal.....

 

[catnip]

Regardless of what one thinks of Neal and his contributions to the team, without that trade, there would be no Perron - Crosby - Hornqvist. The End.

 

[BigEezyE22]

for the record, Neal was with the team for 4 playoffs... the first (his first playoff experience) he had a goal and an assist in 7 games, which sucked... but the next year he had 2 goals and 4 assists in 5 games, which was pretty good... the following year he scored 6 goals and 4 assists in 13 games, which is also good... the final year he blew... so basically critiquing him as a non playoff performer is incorrect, as it the idea that he couldn't generate his own shot... he wasn't asked to do that here. there were more coaching and system issues there than talent issues

I think people are confusing his value. he is very much more talented than a hornqvist, though we do need more netfront guys... we definitely overpaid for hornqvist to get him. The talent based role Neal should have filled is now filled more or less by Perron, which was a fabulous deal.....

This is pretty much spot on. Now we're looking for a Neal caliber player to ride Geno's wing.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Neal's long forgotten, for me.
Perron+Horny can put up 50+goals in a full healthy season.
Both give maximum effort.

This is pretty much spot on. Now we're looking for a Neal caliber player to ride Geno's wing.

I'd much prefer a big bruising banger power forward that can score dirty goals.

 

[Fordy]

for the record, Neal was with the team for 4 playoffs... the first (his first playoff experience) he had a goal and an assist in 7 games, which sucked... but the next year he had 2 goals and 4 assists in 5 games, which was pretty good... the following year he scored 6 goals and 4 assists in 13 games, which is also good... the final year he blew... so basically critiquing him as a non playoff performer is incorrect, as it the idea that he couldn't generate his own shot... he wasn't asked to do that here. there were more coaching and system issues there than talent issues

I think people are confusing his value. he is very much more talented than a hornqvist, though we do need more netfront guys... we definitely overpaid for hornqvist to get him. The talent based role Neal should have filled is now filled more or less by Perron, which was a fabulous deal.....

Throw out the flyers series

1 good playoff year out of 4

 

[ProgOg]

for the record, Neal was with the team for 4 playoffs... the first (his first playoff experience) he had a goal and an assist in 7 games, which sucked... but the next year he had 2 goals and 4 assists in 5 games, which was pretty good... the following year he scored 6 goals and 4 assists in 13 games, which is also good... the final year he blew... so basically critiquing him as a non playoff performer is incorrect, as it the idea that he couldn't generate his own shot... he wasn't asked to do that here. there were more coaching and system issues there than talent issues

I think people are confusing his value. he is very much more talented than a hornqvist, though we do need more netfront guys... we definitely overpaid for hornqvist to get him. The talent based role Neal should have filled is now filled more or less by Perron, which was a fabulous deal.....

He got 7 of those points in the blowouts that were game 4 and 5 against Ottawa, but he is someone who mostly scores in bunches, and points are points, so I agree with you.

The playoff experience that Perron and Hornqvist each have adds up to what Neal has so far in his career, and both haven't played in the playoffs in 2-3 years, so it will be interesting to see what they can bring to the table.

Someone like Downie, too - no playoffs since 10-11, but had 14pts in 17 games then. He was pretty dominant against the Penguins.

 

[Rocket of Russia]

I don't blame anyone for not producing with line combinations as bad as they were.

Iginla-Malkin-Neal was set up to fail.
Jokinen-Malkin-Neal was set up to fail.

Time and space disappear in the playoffs. Guys that can snipe with the limited space are invaluable. Although Joe Sakic was an all-around stud (and legend) his game-breaking ability in the playoffs was largely due to that lightning quick snap shot that he was able to get off with the limited time and space. Put in the right circumstance Neal could be a playoff game-breaker I have no doubt.

 

[BigEezyE22]

I'd much prefer a big bruising banger power forward that can score dirty goals.

Let me know when we get one.

 

[madinsomniac]

The hands down best line we have had since Crosby and Malkin have been here was Kunitz, Malkin, Neal. Kunitz was the netfront guy, malkin made the plays and Neal was the sniper. A malkin or Crosby is going to draw extra coverage, you can take advantage of that.

Ideally, if you put a bonafide sniper with each, plus someone to get right in front of the net who can score down low, that give the other team the superstar that needs at least two guys on him, the sniper that draws one, the guy at the net that needs at least one... that leaves at worse a defenseman open.

then, when you are set in the O zone, if the opening is there, the playmaker can either shoot or drive to the net with a guy there for the rebound or a late pass , pass it to the sniper for the one timer, or give it back to the D for a shot through a screen. Its traditional, but far better than the behind the net offense we tried to run the past few years. If the Sniper can create on his own that's even better...

 

[steveg]

The hands down best line we have had since Crosby and Malkin have been here was Kunitz, Malkin, Neal. Kunitz was the netfront guy, malkin made the plays and Neal was the sniper. A malkin or Crosby is going to draw extra coverage, you can take advantage of that.

Ideally, if you put a bonafide sniper with each, plus someone to get right in front of the net who can score down low, that give the other team the superstar that needs at least two guys on him, the sniper that draws one, the guy at the net that needs at least one... that leaves at worse a defenseman open.

then, when you are set in the O zone, if the opening is there, the playmaker can either shoot or drive to the net with a guy there for the rebound or a late pass , pass it to the sniper for the one timer, or give it back to the D for a shot through a screen. Its traditional, but far better than the behind the net offense we tried to run the past few years. If the Sniper can create on his own that's even better...

You just described the line of Perron-Crosby-Hornqvist perfectly! Problem with this model on line 2 is that in Comeau-Geno-Bennett (if that actually ends up being a line), neither BB nor Comeau are really snipers OR net-front guys -- so that model doesn't work on line 2 at present...even though I think that line has potential.

 

[madinsomniac]

You just described the line of Perron-Crosby-Hornqvist perfectly! Problem with this model on line 2 is that in Comeau-Geno-Bennett (if that actually ends up being a line), neither BB nor Comeau are really snipers OR net-front guys -- so that model doesn't work on line 2 at present...even though I think that line has potential.

I am 100% for PCH. Id like us to get an upgrade on Comeau for the second line. I am not opposed to Bennett playing on the third to make that more of a scoring line, but I do not want Kunitz, Malkin, Comeau as the poor mans KMN remix, especially since Kunitz is on the downside of his career. Id rather Bennet play on that 2nd line though. he and malkin can switch roles effectively, making it harder to defend, but they would be well served from a guy to play in front of the net a bit

 

[steveg]

I am 100% for PCH. Id like us to get an upgrade on Comeau for the second line. I am not opposed to Bennett playing on the third to make that more of a scoring line, but I do not want Kunitz, Malkin, Comeau as the poor mans KMN remix, especially since Kunitz is on the downside of his career. Id rather Bennet play on that 2nd line though. he and malkin can switch roles effectively, making it harder to defend, but they would be well served from a guy to play in front of the net a bit

I agree with you completely as well, on your thoughts about L2...NO NO NO to KMC. Yes to "guy whose skills include good net front ability"-Malkin-BB.