Quoting: ChampEddy
Wrong again.
Penguins won in 2016/17 based off of speed and skill BUT they had tough,gritty players as well.
Ben Lovejoy, Ian Cole, Chris Kunitz, Eric Fehr, Patric Hornqvist, Carter Rowney, Ron Hainsey.
We now have Sidney Crosby. Brandon Tanev, Cody Ceci, ZAR and Brian Dumoulin. They want to add to that list. There is plenty of speed and skill elsewhere in the lineup.
These were ROLE players. These are what great teams are made of. You hear coaches talk about it all the time. Everyone has a role and they fit that role and the team fires on all cylinders. MP does not fit the role he is playing right now. Marc Staal does. Jordie Benn does. Derek Forbort does. These are just a few that are available. These guys are not usually easy to get. They ARE highly coveted because they often times are the pieces that take a team all the way.
We lost to MTL because GMJR did not build this team into a championship roster (and we ran into a hot goalie). The team had no jam. No spark. No sandpaper. We got rolled. The year prior was even worse against NYI. They bullied us. Same with 2018 against the Capitals. Not to mention, the league has realized that size and toughness are extremely important again after trying to totally eliminate it a few years back. The best, smartest managers realized this and made the change back to size and toughness and they won the last 3 Stanley Cups and will once again win this one. Tampa, Carolina, Boston, NYI, Washington, Colorado, Vegas. The best teams in the league. See a common theme with all of them? Big, tough, skilled teams. Do we need to go out and beat the crap out of them? No. But we do need pushback. We do need physicality. It is a mental game. Momentum. Playoff hockey is tough. Goals are hard. Often times they are scrums and tips. We accomplish nothing in front of the net outside of Sidney Crosbys line and Brian Dumoulin in our own end. We are weak around the crease throughout the majority of our team. They need to fix this or they don`t stand a chance in the playoffs.
The good thing is, Brian Burke and Ron Hextall are aware of this. They are going to make moves that reflect these FACTS in the coming days. The Penguins will be better for it. I just hope that they are brave enough to make significant enough moves that put us in a position to be a true contender. We can do it but there are moves that need to be made.
So, once again, your argument that the team is not going to be more competitive this playoffs as a result of these moves is just flat out wrong and it doesn`t take a genius to understand why. Really only takes anyone with any sort of true hockey knowledge/instinct. Does Team Canada take the 23 best players? The 23 top scorers? No. They take players who can fit specific roles on a team and create the best team. It isn`t a EA Sports simulation. It is real life. Reality is much more complex than a video game simulation or a stack of analytic charts.
The bonus is that these moves actually help the team in the long-run too. Which is why there is no question it is the best strategy moving forward.
You have read way to much click bait.
Just look at this list
Ben Lovejoy, Ian Cole, Chris Kunitz, Eric Fehr, Patric Hornqvist, Carter Rowney, Ron Hainsey
You got Kunitz and Cole...the only guys there who actually hit anyone. Truth is they got more players who hit today than they did then. Tanev, Lafferty, ZAR, Blueger.Zucker, Angello, Ceci...all hit more than they did then. But you think they don't have enough "grit"
Did you miss the parts where the team was outhit all over the ice against CBJ and WSH. They didn't lose games because of it. There wasn't any "grit"
Hell you had that little runt Calvert breaking the stick on TK because they were so frustrated they couldn't win and the penguins wouldn't engage them and turn it into a brawl. Because they knew that was not their game.
This is the point you seem to not realize. You aren't going to turn this roaster into what you want it to be. You don't have nearly the pieces nor the mindset to do it. When you turn away from what you are to try to pretend to be something different, you lose. This whole team started to go down hill with these ideas like "trade a 1st for Reaves" The last thing this team wants is a slug fest. They want to race up and down the ice and beat you with skill. That is their goal.
The biggest issues this team has had is the powerplay isn't effective. So it isn't costing other teams when they act like idiots.
You go out there and put the puck in the net every time and instantly they know they can't win that way. The game plan changes.
But you want to pretend this is about winning fist fights and not winning hockey games. I hate to break it to you, but they didn't have anyone to drop the gloves then and they don't really have it now. That's not going to change.
Furthermore, Colorado and TB are not big teams or overly physical either. TB just got the crap kicked out of it all over the ice by CBJ....but they won the game. They got a whole bunch of guys who drop gloves just to get killed. Like happened last night.
I don't know where you get these ideas from. TB is looking to smoke you on the ice because you can't catch them. They got like 2-3 guys on a 4th line somewhere. Nothing more than the penguins have.
But here you are trying to destroy the whole team for "grit"
but yeah, your trading assets away for rentals, helps the team in the long run....... sure thing.