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Questions about Dustin Jeffrey

Tyler Durden

Tyler Durden

Registered User
Sep 18, 2009
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First of all how is that line doing, where he centres Neal and Bennett? Does he play C or LW more? Do you see him playing with the Pens much longer? Thanks
 
He has played almost exclusively at center this season with the exception of a game or two audition on Malkin's left wing. He's centered the 4th line with Glass at LW and Adams at RW. He's centered Bennett and Neal and even Cooke and Kennedy too. He's basically been up and down the lineup and that's his strength is he's versatile enough to play on almost any line. He looks okay out there. He gets chances but has failed to finish a lot of them. He's RFA after the season so he'll be brought back unless he's needed as throw in trade bait.
 
I would really love to see him displace someone on the 4th line. He would do well there against 4th liners who are less skilled than him. He just needs tons of minutes to tune his game. The talent is hiding in him to one day be a decent 3rd line, 2 way player. He is anything but a defensive liability out there. Would like to more offense and gritty play around the net though.

There is no way he should ever be a scratch above 3-4 current roster players on this team.
 
He doesn't center that line by the way. Or at least he shouldn't, because when he has they're deader than... I dunno, Shakespeare or something.
 
Tyler Durden said:
First of all how is that line doing, where he centres Neal and Bennett? Does he play C or LW more? Do you see him playing with the Pens much longer? Thanks
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Here's the way I read the Jeffrey situation:

I really like his upside and hockey sense. He hasn't produced numbers yet since Malkin has been out, but to be fair, this could be expected given how many games he missed as a healthy scratch. (I think even if he was playing 4th line minutes before and then moved up, you would have seen quicker results). He's still getting back into game-shape, literall, and getting used to playing key minutes.

Having said that: because of the (unfortunately) limited time (or lack thereof) that Jeffrey has gotten on the wing position in the top-6, we are no further ahead in terms of knowing whether this guy can be effective as a winger for us.

So, I believe that either the right deal is going to come along in which Jeffrey can be a valuable trade chip, or Jeffrey and his agent are going to ask for a trade so he can be given an opportunity. Shero just has to time this one right to maximize the value of the asset, if Jeffrey cannot perform/is not given a shot on LW (or at least play every game as a 4th line C and get some PP time). He's not going to be happy here long-term. He'll need to "spread his wings" just like Staal needed to.

Given our propensity to not use him regularly in the line-up, I would look to trade him in a package for a winger (i.e. Jeffrey + Orpik, or Jeffrey + Maatta/Dumoulin) this season, for a guy like Iginla (if Jarome wants to come here), or a young guy like Burmistrov (drool).
 
Like the Idea of perhaps Trading Jeffrey and a second round for Bermistrov...
 
Jeffrey is not a true second line C. Has the upside of a solid 3C, and ability to be very good as a 4C. The problem here is none of our 4th liners are offensively skilled (adams and glass less than Vitale, and less than Kennedy, who we can't put on the 4th line because we stupidly paid him $2M a year). So Jeffrey is in a tough spot here.

He never gets called up except to play a role he's not cut out for, or to play a role he is cut out for but has no help offensively speaking. I think he do a solid job on most teams' 3rd line.
 
Jeffrey lacks the offensive pedigree or natural ability to play anywhere above a the 3rd line. Although he's pretty smart with the puck his finishing is pretty sub-par. I think that his versatility, face-off ability, and two-way responsibility will help him sustain a full-time job at the NHL level, but not as anything more than a bottom sixer.
 
jmelm said:
So, I believe that either the right deal is going to come along in which Jeffrey can be a valuable trade chip, or Jeffrey and his agent are going to ask for a trade so he can be given an opportunity. Shero just has to time this one right to maximize the value of the asset, if Jeffrey cannot perform/is not given a shot on LW (or at least play every game as a 4th line C and get some PP time). He's not going to be happy here long-term. He'll need to "spread his wings" just like Staal needed to.

Given our propensity to not use him regularly in the line-up, I would look to trade him in a package for a winger (i.e. Jeffrey + Orpik, or Jeffrey + Maatta/Dumoulin) this season, for a guy like Iginla (if Jarome wants to come here), or a young guy like Burmistrov (drool).
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This is the way I see it. If you want to use him maybe let him play LW. Kennedy could be traded if you think Jeffrey can duplicate Kennedys year to date.

If you don't think he has a fit on this team trade him. I hate to trade away centers that can play but there are only 4 spots. It will be the same thing as trading Letestu, it sucked but he's getting playing time and we didn't lose an all star.
 
Jeffrey's a 55 point center...

If he plays for a bottom feeder team and gets 1st line minutes, first unit PP, etc..
 
he really cannot complain about opportunities last couple of games, he showed nothing, he had a chance to showcase on second line (and I know it was only one game, but that's the life when you are not pedigre kind of player you better show up when called), he is on the third line doing pretty much nothing...go back to Croatia...
 
Jeffrey has great hockey smarts and a great shot. He is perfect for 10-14 mins a game. He just makes a lot of little smart plays that usually go unnoticed. I think once he lands a consistent spot/role he will become a steady 30-40 point player. People in here bashing him clearly have not watched him play and are simply looking at stats alone.
 
gdsmack267 said:
Jeffrey has great hockey smarts and a great shot. He is perfect for 10-14 mins a game. He just makes a lot of little smart plays that usually go unnoticed. I think once he lands a consistent spot/role he will become a steady 30-40 point player. People in here bashing him clearly have not watched him play and are simply looking at stats alone.
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he is not going anywhere with his"little smart plays-what are they anyway?" He needs to make his presence feel like Sutter does, he is competing in this league for the same spot with Sutter like players, he needs to show he can takeaway puck, he can cover the space, he can forecheck and backcheck effectively, and produce points,
and yes I am watching him closely this season, when he is on the ice I pay special attention to him beacuse I WANT him to succeed.

Once people start saying you oh look at him he does all the little things your career is trending down big time I am afraid...
 
I had hopes he could replace TK on the third line RW after this season but I have my doubts now. I don't even know what his trade value is at this point. Seems like he's in a tough spot with this organization like mentioned above.
 
He's got good skills but his battle level is atrocious. His other problem is his skating is sub par. If the guy just battled a bit harder along the boards than he'd be a rather useful player but some guys just never learn to become grinders.
 
Thought he's looked his best with Neal and Bennett, these last couple of games. Better on the forecheck. Got several chances but most of that was from the work of Neal and Bennett.

He's not a bad 13th forward to have but theres no room for him here if this team is healthy. Vitale brings more to the table as well. Faster, hits/forechecks harder, better on faceoffs.
 
vodeni said:
he really cannot complain about opportunities last couple of games, he showed nothing, he had a chance to showcase on second line (and I know it was only one game, but that's the life when you are not pedigre kind of player you better show up when called), he is on the third line doing pretty much nothing...go back to Croatia...
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I'm not saying Jeffrey is great, by any means; but I don't think you can throw him into the line-up after sitting out for most of the last month and expect him to pick things up right away. He's out of game shape, plain and simple. I think it would take at least a good 6 to 8 games just for him (or any average/decent) player to get into game shape if they have only been practicing and not seeing game action.


I think Jeffrey will get his chance to be judged more fairly over the next handful of games, but I do not think it's fair to judge this player based on the last few games since Geno has been out. This is why I wish Jeffrey would have been at least playing semi-regular minutes on the 4th line instead of Glass, because at least he'd then be ready to move up & down the line-up. This coming week will be a big one for Jeffrey, but I do think he's got some value to a team who is thin at centre as part of a package (such as WPG, NSH, CGY and some others)
 
Jeffrey's sort of in a strange spot. He isn't contributing on the score sheet, but he looks good not doing it, if that makes sense. Whether he's not producing because he got jerked around or if he got jerked around because the expectation was he wouldn't produce, I can't really say.

You can focus on the guy and see smart little play after smart little play...but it's not adding up to anything tangible this year to date.
 
Jeffrey has been one of my pet projects this year and I don't think he adds much of anything to the lineup. He's not particularly strong on the boards. Has never showed any particularly noteworthy offensive skills. He is just reasonably adequate at playing his assignments.

In baseball there's a term called 'Replacement Level'. It should be pretty obvious what that means. Jeffrey is - to me - the definition of a replacement level hockey player. The best compliment you can give him is that he doesn't have any big weaknesses.

I wouldn't miss him if he left.
 
Everyone already touched on the points I was going to make but I will say this..

His skating has been very good this year, to the point where if you saw him now and never before this season, you'd laugh at people that said his skating needed a lot of work.
 
Illinest said:
Jeffrey has been one of my pet projects this year and I don't think he adds much of anything to the lineup. He's not particularly strong on the boards. Has never showed any particularly noteworthy offensive skills. He is just reasonably adequate at playing his assignments.

In baseball there's a term called 'Replacement Level'. It should be pretty obvious what that means. Jeffrey is - to me - the definition of a replacement level hockey player. The best compliment you can give him is that he doesn't have any big weaknesses.

I wouldn't miss him if he left.
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I kind of agree with you, but I think at the same time, he's got a little bit of Mark Letestu in him (but better), and here's what I mean by that: Jeffrey is a player whom, like Letestu, knows that his days are numbered with this organization and has virtually no upward mobility. I think that, to a degree, it will take the wind out of his sales in terms of having that extra gear and determination. In short, Jeffrey will be a better player somewhere else than he will be in Pittsburgh -- unless both he and the Pens agree that he will make a full-time transition to (and be effecting on) the wing somewhere in the top-9 and get PP time. But this is probably more likely to not be the case.


But Jeffrey is a smart guy, so I think he sees this opportunity to step in and play with some great players as a good means of showcasing himself and what he can do. The only problem is, he is simply not in game shape (at least not yet) because he has sat out far too many time and for far too long. HOWEVER, having said that, Jeffrey now has had a handful of games under his belt and will play 2 games in 27 hours this weekend, and then another one on Tuesday, so he will be getting into game shape VERY soon. At that point, he will have no excuses other than to perform well and produce. That's why I say this coming week is a make-it or break-it week for Jeffrey.


But I do agree with you that he is replaceable. The only thing that bothers me is that, in the event that one of our top-3 centres go down, we neither have the offense or an adequate replacement for them at the centre position. This is why I am a HUGE fan of trading for some who as I have said is a "swing-man" and could play centre or wing. Such players would include Umberger, Dubinsky, Lars Eller (who is probably no longer available, however) or even Josh Bailey, who could use a fresh start. But my favourite player in that category by far is Alex Burmistrov. I don't think that I would trade Despres for him, but I absolutely would trade Jeffrey + Kennedy + either our 1st(or)Maatta. This guy has elite talent and all-star potential, and I think he could reach it playing with Sid or Geno.
 
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Didn't he kill penalties at WBS? Witht the way our penalty kil is, why not try him there? It might help our PK. It might show his value to both and others if we have lost our use for him. Could he really be worse than Glass on the PK? Glass gets regular PK time and I swear is on the ice for a lot of those goals. He even takes PK face offs. Maybe not regularly but should he ever?
 
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