Quoting: Yinz3r
he averaged over 13 minutes of ice time with pit. and guys like Bonino and others weren't the fastest but they had other things to offer. incase you hadn't noticed the past 3 cup winners didn't win with "speed" there's more to the game than that. if speed was the only thing that mattered then sam Lafferty is a goat
did you read what you just typed.
Bonino played with speed. That's not even a debate.
That HBK line blew people off the ice. They were simply faster than everyone else. The whole line was built around speed.
TB won with Speed. I don't know how you get to they didn't. That is one fast team and it's their greatest weapon.
Speed is one of the biggest factors in winning games today. I don't know where you get it's not. Guys like Stutzle have changed teams with pure speed. They are just dangerous on the ice with it.
The whole game is faster today and if you can't skate you're done. Which is why you don't see the old players you use to see. They are weeded out as they can't keep up.
As for his averaged 13 minutes a night, that is very misleading. He got time due to injuries. It bumped him up into 3rd line minutes. They didn't want him playing that much ice time.
Malkin played 57-62 games.
Crosby was pretty healthy only missing like 7 games one year. But Bonino also only played 63 games one year. You add it up and you're playing a lot more minutes.
So Cullen got pressed into roles that put his ice time much higher than what they wanted it. When guys were healthy, he was playing under 10 minutes a night.
Their problem was they were always banged up. If it wasn't a center than it was a winger.
But that was never the intention with him.