Confirmed with Link: POJ to PIT, ??? to STL

[pistolpete11]

Yup I was always a POJ fan.
Would never be a top pairing guy, but a 2nd pairing player is nothing to sneeze at.

Nobody thought Petts was going to be a top pairing defenseman when he was 25 either. I guess some would argue that he's not a "true" top pairing defenseman even now, but I see a lot similarities between Petts and POJ beyond their lanky stature.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Nobody thought Petts was going to be a top pairing defenseman when he was 25 either. I guess some would argue that he's not a "true" top pairing defenseman even now, but I see a lot similarities between Petts and POJ beyond their lanky stature.

As someone else alluded to, POJ's partner is critical to his effectiveness. EK is likely not a good partner.
He was middling with Letang.
But had tremendous success with Ruuta.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

As someone else alluded to, POJ's partner is critical to his effectiveness. EK is likely not a good partner.
He was middling with Letang.
But had tremendous success with Ruuta.

That someone be smart.

 

[pistolpete11]

As someone else alluded to, POJ's partner is critical to his effectiveness. EK is likely not a good partner.
He was middling with Letang.
But had tremendous success with Ruuta.

I don't know what his career stats are with Letang, but he was good with Letang at the end of last year (6 points in 14 games and was a +7). I'd like to see if they could pick up where they left off.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Nobody thought Petts was going to be a top pairing defenseman when he was 25 either. I guess some would argue that he's not a "true" top pairing defenseman even now, but I see a lot similarities between Petts and POJ beyond their lanky stature.

I do not think either are top pairing defensemen and I think their style of play is evidence of a certain perverse tendency in modern hockey.

 

[SEALBound]

Given where the team is at right now, I'm actually happy to have him back. The left side was looking pretty grim with Pettersson's injury. Adding POJ for nothing is fine by me. I wish we would have just kept him from the beginning but I think he was eyeing arbitration and wanting a lot more than what he ultimately signed for. Bummer part is, we then went out and got Gryz. Not sure who would have been better for us but whatever.

POJ-Letang
Pickering-Karlsson
Gryz-Graves-Shea

isn't the worst. The system we run is far worse so it's not like personnel makes a ton of difference.

 

[Pens x]

Mehhh

 

[Ugene Magic]

 

[pistolpete11]

I do not think either are top pairing defensemen and I think their style of play is evidence of a certain perverse tendency in modern hockey.

Well, I hate getting bogged down in what is a top pair vs. a top 4 type of discussions, but I'd agree Petts is probably no better than a good team's 3rd best defenseman. Whether he plays on the top pair or second pair comes down to roster fit and cap utilization.

POJ, yeah, of course. Not yet anyway. I just wouldn't rule out the possibility that he has a Petts like jump at some point. I don't think he's as good as Petts was at that age, so I don't think he will reach that level, but I could see him being counted on to play 18min on the second pair or something like that.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Always liked Joseph, happy to have him back. This speaks to just how hard it is to play in Sullivan's system. He could have gon after any left D-man, but chose to go back to someone who knows the system. Dubas is starting to figure it out. I am sure he has buyer's remorse on Kevin Hayes and Ryan Graves, to name two.

I liked Joseph-Letang late last season, but I think Pickering should stay with Letang because he has definitely helped stabilize Letang this season. Grz-Letang was a train wreck.

I really liked O'Connor-Crosby-Rust too down the stretch last season, so perhaps we should no longer think of late last season when deciding anything.

 

[Icarium]

This speaks to just how hard it is to play in Sullivan's system.

Surely you mean the lack thereof?