Post-mortem on the season

[Ogrezilla]

Have the injuries been released yet? Not the suspected ones, but the actual ones?

I doubt we hear much about the ones that don't require some sort of surgery.

 

[shoeshine boy]

since every other post-game/post-series thread has been locked I'll post this here.
I had a comforting thought yesterday. at least by losing in game 6 none of the Pens were forced to shake Tom Wilson's hand.

 

[Nadal On Clay]

You couldn't possibly be more wrong even if you tried.

The good ole argument of im good, You’re wrong. Werent you a mod before?

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Kunitz wasn't there.....the story of the 2017-2018 penguins.

I have to admit that it'd be crazy if Kunitz had 5 rings. MAF could have FOUR, though terming it as "rings" instead of Cups is probably the most apt description in his case. One could argue that he'd have about two and a half lol.

 

[Tom Hanks]

That 1st and Gus could have gone a long way to acquiring defensive help this season. He's got a lot of work to do to justify being the guy we have instead of that instead, even at 3m.

Long way? Not sure about that. Brassard at 3 mil is worth more than a 1st and Gus.

All he has to do is be the player he was before he got injured. Seems like some are really tossing that fact aside. He’ll probably be even better with a pre season and not having to play with injured Phil and Sheary.

 

[Andy99]

Cleveland/Destroyer ain't bad, but I'm sure there is a lot I've not heard...

The soundboard from the first gig on the 27th is bad but get the audience recording from the second night, the 28th, is excellent....

Edit ...the holy grail of the ‘77 tour is Listen to this Eddie from 6-21, the first night of the LA run and a Mike Millard audience recording...it is excellent, but 6-22 and 6-23 are also great for different songs too...I hope Jimmy decides to put out a live LA 77 album for the 50th anniversary this year....

 

[Jesse]

I posted my final breakdown on the Athletic today with a lot of video, and what really stood out to me (IDK if you guys agree) is that Caps neutral zone lock. They forced the Penguins to do everything the hard way. At the end, they were running on fumes. They just didn't have it. Hard to be mad about that given the last two years. Credit to Trotz and his staff by hiding his teams weaknesses and forcing the Penguins to trade blows with him in the neutral zone as opposed to each end of the ice in a firewagon style.

 

[Peat]

Long way? Not sure about that. Brassard at 3 mil is worth more than a 1st and Gus.

All he has to do is be the player he was before he got injured. Seems like some are really tossing that fact aside. He’ll probably be even better with a pre season and not having to play with injured Phil and Sheary.

Brassard at 5m was worth a 1st, Gus and Cole - the least valuable part of the equation. The defensive equivalent of Brassard at 5m would be quite nice to have and probably nicer to have than Brassard, because we've got a lot more centre and scoring depth than defensive depth.

Brassard at 3m is pretty cool. I'm sure he's going to do well here - as he was doing pre-injury - particularly at that cap hit. Well enough to justify the premium spent? I'm not sure on that.

In any case - saying that the 1st and Gustavsson had no other use to us than getting Brassard is factually inaccurate.

 

[Andy99]

I posted my final breakdown on the Athletic today with a lot of video, and what really stood out to me (IDK if you guys agree) is that Caps neutral zone lock. They forced the Penguins to do everything the hard way. At the end, they were running on fumes. They just didn't have it. Hard to be mad about that given the last two years. Credit to Trotz and his staff by hiding his teams weaknesses and forcing the Penguins to trade blows with him in the neutral zone as opposed to each end of the ice in a firewagon style.

The Caps coaching and defensive execution were excellent....I have to agree....they know the Pens well and had a good game plan....

 

[pistolpete11]

I don't believe the good times are all over.
I don't believe the thrill is all gone.
The weak ones fall the strong carry on.



Felt a bit empty today, not sinking in just yet. I have stayed away from all hockey media today. I'm still struggling with the gong shows of games 2 and 3, though; very hard to completely be ok with those, especially this fresh. For me, the events in those games spoiled this series and put a sour taste on it. Some late series gaffes by Simon and Letang also stand out, as do the wheels coming off in game 6, yet still going to OT with plenty of chances. The series was there to be had, just didn't have the finish on the myriad of opportunities to get it done. Too many key guys at various stages of injury, further complicating things.

So we have to look back and enjoy what happened, now that it is over. We've been in the middle of some great stuff over the past 29 months, that can't be denied. Still hard to say goodbye, though. Time to catch up on 29 months worth of DVR stuff, blurays still in packaging, and so many other things, I suppose. I still would have preferred to continue to let those pile up.

Hey man, even the losers get lucky sometimes.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Brassard at 5m was worth a 1st, Gus and Cole - the least valuable part of the equation. The defensive equivalent of Brassard at 5m would be quite nice to have and probably nicer to have than Brassard, because we've got a lot more centre and scoring depth than defensive depth.

Brassard at 3m is pretty cool. I'm sure he's going to do well here - as he was doing pre-injury - particularly at that cap hit. Well enough to justify the premium spent? I'm not sure on that.

In any case - saying that the 1st and Gustavsson had no other use to us than getting Brassard is factually inaccurate.

I didn’t say that. We got a good deal on Brassard because of the Senators circumstances. My point was Brassard is significantly more valuable than those 2 pieces and we didn’t seem to have a lot more scoring depth these playoffs.

 

[Peat]

I didn’t say that. We got a good deal on Brassard because of the Senators circumstances. My point was Brassard is significantly more valuable than those 2 pieces and we didn’t seem to have a lot more scoring depth these playoffs.

Apols if I misread you, but saying the first and Gus wouldn't help at all next season reads an awful lot like that.

We shall have to agree to disagree beyond that - I don't think we got a particularly good deal on Brassard and therefore, those two assets must be close in value to Brassard.

And I'm not going to alter my opinion of our scoring depth due to 6 matches with injuries to several key attacking players.

 

[Andy99]

My post-mortem on the season is that we need to take up a collection to stop Ron Cook from ever writing about hockey again...
It’s a sport he know zero about and his columns drive me nuts....

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

My post-mortem on the season is that we need to take up a collection to stop Ron Cook from ever writing about hockey again...
It’s a sport he know zero about and his columns drive me nuts....

He is painful on the radio. Anything other than maybe the Pirates he pretty much just spits out some broad, generic opinion. Either that or something that was thought to be true two years ago.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

You could certainly compare Letang to MAF in teams of game-altering brain biffs.
Thing is, Letang has always done those but has saved a lot of them w speed/athleticism. He's lost that particle of a step now. Bottom line his issues are IQ-related and he's old enough now that he won't improve in that area. And he will only decline in athleticism.

Is he big buds w Sid? That could explain why the local media seems to have zero expectation he'll be moved.

It's tough to compare a Dman with a goalie. When a Dman makes a mistake he has someone behind them to bail them out (which is what we say in 2016 and 2017). When a goalie makes a mistake the other team gets a goal (which is what we saw this year and the years before 2016). There aren't highlight reels of dumb D plays that the goalie saves but ther sure are of dumb goalie plays that result in goals.

 

[Andy99]

Clean out day is going on now.....

I hope we get some injury information....

 

[cheesedanish87]

I posted my final breakdown on the Athletic today with a lot of video, and what really stood out to me (IDK if you guys agree) is that Caps neutral zone lock. They forced the Penguins to do everything the hard way. At the end, they were running on fumes. They just didn't have it. Hard to be mad about that given the last two years. Credit to Trotz and his staff by hiding his teams weaknesses and forcing the Penguins to trade blows with him in the neutral zone as opposed to each end of the ice in a firewagon style.

What changed from game 5 to game 6?

In game 5 the Pens had a million chances, they could of scored 7 goals in that game.

 

[Tom Hanks]

What a roller coaster of a season.

Started in the off season. JR couldn’t get what he wanted except for Reaves which wasn’t a great deal (but turned out good in the end).

For a team that had played as much hockey in the last two seasons the NHL really bent us over with the draw. The first quarter of the season was brutal. We fought through Niemi and the first part we did ok then we ran into a stretch of 7 of 8 away games (all WCF except Caps) and 3 back to backs. Safe to say we struggled. The draw throughout was a big hill to climb in itself.

JR continued to try and get a C. Ended up with Sheahan who got better as the year went on. The new year rolled around and a fatigued team needed to put a good stretch together. HGH was born and Crosby said ‘hold my beer’ (not Sprong he wasn’t 21 yet ). They went on a 6 week bender that basically meant we only had to be solid after the deadline to make the decision layoffs.

Deadline approaching and we land a big fish in Brassard. Things are looking pretty good until Phil slips on some relish and sustains an injury that he doesn’t seem to recover fully from. We push on and look a lock for finals and then Brassard goes down with a groin, Samuel L Jackson has the right words to describe this. Brassard comes back but is limited.

We get to the playoffs against our biggest rival. Philly loses the battle of Guentzelvania but we pay a hefty price losing Malkin and Hagelin.

We never really got that flow going and the injuries (I’ll add some questionable officiating in a few Caps games) and a little luck just weren’t on our side.

This was going to be the hardest cup to win and too much went against us for a tired team to come over that adversity.

A good season to set up for Meatloaf’ new single ‘3 outta 4 ain’t bad’. Centre is legit. Wings need a tweak and that can be partly done internally. D needs a makeover. One of Letang or Maatta needs to move on. I’d add a really good bottom pair guy too that can fill in like Cole used too.

I had a lot of fun.........mostly. Now that our season is over we can pop in some DVD’s and relive the memories

 

[Speaking Moistly]

I guess this can go here.



Say “try” more, Dumo.

 

[SouthGeorge]

I posted my final breakdown on the Athletic today with a lot of video, and what really stood out to me (IDK if you guys agree) is that Caps neutral zone lock. They forced the Penguins to do everything the hard way. At the end, they were running on fumes. They just didn't have it. Hard to be mad about that given the last two years. Credit to Trotz and his staff by hiding his teams weaknesses and forcing the Penguins to trade blows with him in the neutral zone as opposed to each end of the ice in a firewagon style.

Game 6 they played rookies and didn't have that trash bag Wilson out there so they had speed. They clogged up the nz and waited for the Pens to make mistakes. It's a sound strategy when Letang is getting 28+ mins.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Game 6 they played rookies and didn't have that trash bag Wilson out there so they had speed. They clogged up the nz and waited for the Pens to make mistakes. It's a sound strategy when Letang is getting 28+ mins.

Wilson’s suspension in hindsight might have actually helped the Caps. They made changes that made them better which might not have happened otherwise.

​

Obviously doesn’t mean we progress but still a little ironic.........don’t you think.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Clean out day is going on now.....

I hope we get some injury information....

Think we already know and the Pens might downplay them to the media to not use as an excuse. I’d imagine there will be some tweets here and there over the off season from some insiders.

 

[canadianguy77]

Jesus...Murray looks like he hasn't slept in a week.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Jesus...Murray looks like he hasn't slept in a week.

I imagine his life is pretty rough still. Hasn’t been that long since his Dad (and possibly his concussion too)

 

[Gurglesons]

Weird, almost like he’s admitting to exactly what we all know was true..