It’s a really deep lineup. Anyone from rust to erod to zucker can play on the third line. I have feeling it’ll be Guentzel-sid-rust
Erod-geno-kapanen
Zuck-carter/heinen
4th line

Sure is. Those are the lines I think it’ll be as well. But just giving some heavy thinking into what could possibly help certain players and the team

Those forward lines are fire. The defense id keep the pairs in tact rather than change it up. Dumo with Letang, Pettersson with Marino, and Matheson with Ruhwedel

Ya I messed up with that. For some reason it always loads with different defence pairings. And I was mainly focused on putting a different forward group together

It’s loaded based on cap hit so it always puts Matheson with Letang, Dumo with Marino and Pettersson with Ruh.

every year it's the same crap from penguins fans on this board.
"this is a really deep line up......." 1st round and out.

ERod is a waste of space on the ice. I don't care what his production is in meaningless regular season games. Come playoffs it's a different game and he's show consistently he just disappears.
He's soft, he doesn't fight for pucks in a 50/50 battle and win. He's a goal vulture who looks to cherry pick often. You don't win in the playoffs with that.

If this team goes anywhere it's because the defense is vastly improved this year over the train wreck that it has been.
While there maybe only 1 bad forward there in ERod, the real question is, is there enough talent to win against good teams. A lot of these guys are role players, so so guys. Real difference makers in the forward group are 3, Crosby, Malkin and Jake. I don't think that's enough to win a cup. They really needed a guy like Poulin to step up in WBS and be a difference maker wild card. But his play in WBS has not been great. He's gonna have to develop more. Kind of expected he'd show up more than he did to be honest. But you look at that group. Zucker and Kap who knows what you get they are streaky.
Rust is a solid guy but he can't carry a line. He's a jack of all trades who excels in almost any role as a role guy.
Carter is not someone you want running up and down the ice.
Heinen is a solid role guy, so is Brock.
Blueger is a great defensive center, he reminds me of Bonino 2.0. But the 4th line trying to win games isn't a good thing. ZAR as well being a good Defensive forward with offensive upside. But again they can't rely on them to win games. They aren't difference makers like that.

This team is sinking into mediocrity as Crosby and Malkin age. Not because there is no depth. The depth is actually pretty solid. But because the stars can't carry the team like they use to at 34 and 35 years old. They need a guy or two who can bring that offensive pop to take the pressure off. But only one who can really do that is Jake. Everyone else is a solid depth guy.

I see where you coming from. But to be fair the playoff series against the Islanders was really the best playoff hockey we got from the Penguins since 2018. The thing that costed the team losses was terrible goaltending by Jarry. I don’t think there’s really any excuses for 2019 and 2020 though. They got to a spot to be in the playoffs and just flat out sucked with only a few players giving it everything they had. And ya I feel like they are missing another player. But for now once when Geno comes back we’ll wait and see how things turn out before making any moves

I find it really hard to blame the playoff loss on Jarry. They were up in the series 2-1 they put up one goal. The next game they put up 2. They were down 3-2.
Sure Jarry let in goals. But they didn't do anything with the puck. Which is a consistent thing for them when games count all across the board. How many games were there where they had a ton of garbage shots nothing went in. At some point crap or get off the pot. The lack of goals really reflects on the top 3 lines and 1 goal in the playoffs isn't going to win you games. The real issue is there is a lot of depth there. But only 2-3 guys who can really play above that and when you got guys who are hurt, like Malkin was last year and coming off knee surgery this year, it's a huge blow. They need guys who can take over a game when it counts. Asking 34 and 35 year old legs to do it is asking a lot at this point. They are still good players, but everyone needs some help beyond depth. You can't just keep dumping the pressure on 2 aging vets and expect it to end well. As of now, this team is not that great. It's really held up by the defense which I think is probably one of the best in the league. But these regular season games are garbage games. Playoff hockey is completely different hockey. I don't see this team getting past the 2nd round right now. The forward group just doesn't have the look of a team that can score goals consistently against the better teams in the league. That's what's held this team back the last two years.

I think another thing is, Pittsburgh has just started to really find themselves last season and this season. I don’t think it’s really fair to compare regular season hockey to playoff hockey. It doesn’t make total sense. Sure they are different atmospheres but it’s the grind of the regular season to shape the team for playoff atmosphere hockey. And right now for Pittsburgh it just feels different than other years. Although I don’t think it was our top 3 lines. Our 2nd and 3rd line were able to be pretty productive. The Islanders just played their best defence against the 1st line. They were prepared to bring their best hockey against the Islanders and the Islanders just had a really good system in place to beat them. But like I said Jarry really let in goals that should’ve been saves. Also didn’t help never used his glove hand. Literally felt like almost all the goals the Islanders scored was on his glove hand

This isn't just a one year issue though. They couldn't score on Price, They couldn't score on the Islanders twice......
You can't keep blaming it on Jarry. They have issues putting the puck in the net. Everyone has excuses as to why they can't score, oh it's price, oh it's islanders defense. oh blah blah blah.....they can't score when it counts and the game elevates. There is 3 years of proof of that.

This is the problem with the team. When they lose this year, after another year of, "the forwards are so deep" and they have games with 0, 1, maybe 2 goals....people will still find reasons as to why.
But truth is they got a bunch of depth guys and few real threats on the ice that can impact a game. Those facts are costing them. I don't even think we'll see Malkin making much of an impact this year. That knee takes time to heal. An ACL is 1 year min. A break is over a year to heal properly. He's been out since June so that's 8 months. We never got a surgery type to my knowledge. I know it does not take an MCL 8 months to heal. The same is usually true with a meniscus. My guess is he tore his PCL or ACL based on the time line. Which means that knee isn't going to be right till next year. At which point he'll be 36.
I'm just willing to be honest about what this team is and isn't. If they win this year, it's on the strength of defense and goaltending. If they lose, it's most likely because of lack of scoring due to the forward ground lacking real help. They are loaded with a lot of really solid depth guys. But that's about all they have. I count 2 guys on that roster right now in Crosby and Jake who can be counted on consistently. But Crosby isn't a 40 goal guy at this point, and Jake takes a beating in the playoffs. So it's inconsistent offense and most likely a lack of goals in the future playoffs.

I’m unsure of how many goals Pittsburgh had to score in tight games against the Islanders in the playoffs last year because they really didn’t do a bad job of scoring. I remember game 6 they played hard and I do believe it was on Jarry for not making the saves he should’ve. And looking at 2020 the team wasn’t really the team they were from before the pandemic. They were winning games and the pandemic hit and I think having as long of a break as that is a good excuse for all sports teams I think. And it’s unfortunate that Pittsburgh wasn’t able to get themselves back in to shape. They really didn’t seem like a good team in the bubble. 2019 they just seemed damaged and tired. They barely even made the playoff in 2019 as well. I believe 2021 was the best Penguins playoff hockey. They had been scoring goals and they were playing their best playoff hockey for years and to me that series was a really good series to watch. It was a series that felt like every game was a game 7. There was only one game they played really poorly and that was it. It almost seems to me you’re listening to nothing I’ve said about how they were actually good in the playoffs last season despite losing. The thing that was missing at the time was literally the goaltending last season. What you say is what youre “willing” to say about the team isn’t 100% true at all. It’s just been nothing else except whatever you say and ignorance to what I’ve had to say. I watched these last few years of playoff hockey in Pittsburgh and 2019 was a broken Pens team. 2020 was a weird year to say the least but they were better. 2021 like I’ve said plenty of times was the Penguins best year and a year they had the drive to really win. They were literally scoring between 2-4 goals a game against the Islanders and like I said lost because of Jarry which doesn’t seem fair to the goalie but it’s the truth. Like what else do you want from them? Score 5-6 goals a night in the playoffs?

Like right now I understand what you’re saying about the current team. I’m just a little irritated about how you’re making it seem like the Penguins did no scoring in the playoffs last season. The scoring was fine to me. The defence was fine to me. It was literally the goaltending. And that’s not an excuse. It’s literally the truth. It was still a hell of a series to watch.

how do you play well and lose?
I think you really over rate their performance last year. That was a team with out Anders one of their key cogs on a team that isn't in a position to not have them. He's like the penguins playing without Crosby and Malkin and they still lost.

All I'm saying is go back and look at those last 3 years. They have had trouble scoring. Tons of shots on goals, nothing going in. Mainly because they shoot right at the goalie or just take bad shots.

You got game 4 they scored 1 goal. That made it 2-2, Game 5 they got 2 and lost in OT, it was 2-3. That was the series right there. Yeah they had to play again, but anyone watching knew it was over.
You can't say that the offense was fine there, one game of basically no offense and other game that was kept close and they couldn't generate a goal. 1 or 2 goals isn't winning you many games and it didn't. You can blame Jarry all day for the goals that went the other way, but at the end of the day, they didn't put any of their own in the net. Avearge goals per game on guys is usually close to 2 goals Vasy in TB was a 1.9 last year and he's considered one of the best. Which means you need to be averaging at least 3 a game in the playoffs if you are even going to have a chance to win. They didn't and it cost them. Now you add that to the two years prior, and it's clear they have had problems.

They literally put up 3 goals in game 6 but Jarry kept on letting shots get past him like there was no tomorrow and couldn’t make the saves for the life of him. But you know which goalies were making the saves they needed? Varlomov and Sorokin. I don’t think I’ve overrated their performance. Jarry had like 2 good games and didn’t really help Pittsburghs chances especially in the ot games where he’d let the puck through one spot each time. I feel like comparing Pittsburgh to Tampa Bay is sort of a dumb comparison though cause of how widely stacked Tampa was on all sides of their game. Pittsburgh was stacked as well but not as much as Tampa Bay. Geez lol

I'm not comparing TB and PIT here. I'm saying took at the GPG average there as a low. Most other goalies are much higher 2. something. So when you ask "how many goals do you need to win games" which is the exact question you asked, it's 3+. And what I'm saying is, they aren't producing that. You want to argue they are. But they are not. You have to be able to do that consistently. That's how you win.
But in a 3 years stretch in the playoffs, it has not happened. I'm being objective about that. They weren't needing 3 goals per game in MTL, and not against 2 series against NYI. They lost all 3.
You simply can't look at it and say, oh look they got the 3 they should have won. Other teams are going to try to net that too. But you look at game 4 and 5, which is where they lost the series, they did not even hit the minimal mark you would expect them to hit. So when they hit bare minimum in game 6 you just have to scratch your head. 3 out of 6 games they did not hit 3 goals. in 2 out of 6 games they hit bare minimum 3. So they you ask, well why did they lose? You say, oh the goal tender. But I'm going to tell you there was one game where they scored more than bare minimum to win and help the goalie out. That's not gonna help you win a cup.

Just go look at last years playoffs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Stanley_Cup_playoffs
Very few games are decided under 3 goals. With a significant number of them in the 4+ goal range.
You didn't see that out of the penguins. Until that changes they aren't going anywhere.

How can you help the goalie out when he isn’t helping the team out? Literally so many people have said that if Jarry had been better the Penguins should’ve been able to put up a better fight. The penguins scorers were doing their job. Defence did their job. Goaltending wasn’t totally reliable which is where things collapsed. There’s no changing my mind on that. The penguins gave themselves chances but like I said. Jarry let in a lot of soft goals. And there was plenty of times where his glove hand really wasn’t there

there are a lot of ways to help the goalie out. Like not having a piss poor power play that can actually take advantages they get. But they haven't had a good one in years.
Is that the goalies fault too?

There is a lot of blame to go around here. Blaming losses on the goalie is really not where it is at.
Fact is come the playoffs you should be expecting games of needing 4-5 goals to win. You are playing better teams on average and the regular season you are looking at 3 to win as a minimum.

The forward group has left a lot on the table the past few years. You look at the current team and again the lack of a decent powerplay is glaring, it's most likely not getting fixed with Malkin back. And it's been that way for a while and is a sign of what is to come. They just don't generate goals well when it counts.

I’m not sure if you’ve even watched the series. Cause to be honest the top line was also absolutely shut down by the Islanders. They had no answers. It was the 2nd and 3rd line putting up the numbers. But however I’m still fine with the how the line up was still able to score goals. If you want to see the goals he let in go watch the clips. I just remembered in a very competitive DOUBLE OT game, Tristan Jarry had the puck and you’d think nothing could go wrong right? RIGHT?! Everything had gone very very wrong and Jarry gave it to an Islanders player and the Islanders took full advantage and won the game. So thanks for making me have to remember that.

comments like these are exactly what I'm talking about.
A. you realize they need real forward help. Top line got nothing done. I would argue the 2nd line didn't do nearly as much either and the game was a lot on the 3rd and 4th lines.
AKA they have depth but it's just that depth, no real difference makers who can actually impact games.

B. You take the 1 play and over blow it and magnify it and call everything out on it. Instead of looking at failed PP after failed PP and realizing they had chances and couldn't DO anything with them.
Just like last night vs DAL. Lost 3-2 and they had 3 PP to 1 PP in chances. They couldn't net even 1 goal in 3 attempts.
This is what's going forward on this team. So when you hit the playoffs, and you know they can't score on the PP and struggle to score in general, there is nothing to prevent teams from leaning on them heavy etc... who cares if you take a penalty, they won't score. So you slashes on top guys and you smash Jake into the boards on a nasty trip.....who cares. It doesn't cost you the game, they can't do anything with the man advantage anyway. Meanwhile, your goalie is always under fire.

This is why we don't see these games or this team in the same light. You want to blame everything on the goalie. But this is a team leaving lots of chances on the ice and the top lines don't make the impact they should.
Yeah teams deep has a lot of "depth" but that depth isn't anything more than some depth players. There is no impact there and the forwards they do have are aged and struggling to make those impacts.

The team needs forward help. Not people blaming things on the goalie.

It’s hilarious you bring yesterdays game in to this. They just went on a 10 game win streak and apparently losing the one game isn’t okay? And you said that regular season hockey doesn’t matter so why did you bring a regular season game in to this? The thing about the scoring last season in the playoffs they still gave themselves chances. They played good hockey offensively and defensively. I keep saying time and again the biggest reason they lost was cause of Jarry and that’s okay to me cause he’s still growing his game and look at him so far. He’s been looking insane out there. Although I wished that the Pens had that kind of trust with McCann as well. But I wouldn’t blame Jarry at all for last night. The defence had left holes open where Dallas took advantage. But if I’m being honest here if Geno was able to play games 1 and 2 it may have impacted the series differently. Maybe a series win or it for sure would go to game 7. He was flying on one freakin knee out there. And the reason why I think the team needs a bit of a change is because it’s almost the same team playing out there. The same old formula will become easier to make adjustments to. Which is why with these line up ideas, I feel would bring some change for certain players so they can find more consistency. Zucker and Kappy could use that and Sid has already had good chemistry with them and that chemistry could generate more scoring for Zucker and Kappy. Jake/Geno/Rust. Get Geno back to form quick and I believe they can replicate what they had 2 years ago. Heinen/Carter/ERod. They feel like they could be like a McCann/Carter/Gaudreau combination but maybe better due to ERod’s production. He’s been putting up that production in winning games. 4th line needs no explanation lol. But I doubt that’s a lineup we’ll see. They got pieces there to help themselves out and with goaltending being more solid than last year. They look better. Maybe not winning a Stanley Cuo better but you never know. We’ll have to wait till beginning of the playoffs to see these guys. Hopefully fully healthy and in full force.

winning 10 games doesn't mean anything, you are saying that as if the PP isn't bottom 1/3 of the league. It's what 21s 22nd or something. Yes it's regular season. But you either can or cannot score on the PP.
The hockey is only going to get harder and for a team that can't score now when it's regular season you end up with the same results the last few years with a failure of a PP when it counts.
Point being you look at a couple goals and blame it on the goalie. Meanwhile they are leaving goals all over the ice. But you don't want to recognize that. When the other team doesn't respect you, or your PP, you get a goalie trying to kill your best goal scorer into the boards. What made this team good in the past was they were dangerous. If you crossed the line they made you pay. They capitalized off others mistakes. That's what it takes to win. This team is completely and totally incapable of doing that. They have been for years. But the goalie.

Yet again still bringing in yesterdays game again. At the end of the day especially in the playoffs you need your goalie to also perform well. Stanley Cup Championship teams win when they have the goaltending there as well which Jarry was not that at all. You can’t win games if you’re goalie let’s in so many bad goals and giving away the puck right down the middle in double ot to the opponent. That’s why they failed because of goaltending mistakes. Like I said I was fine with the offence in the playoffs for Pittsburgh. It was a high competitive series. Both strong capable defensive teams and capable offence. One team had the goaltending. One team didn’t. Like I said look at all the goals Jarry allowed. There’s a good amount of them that shouldn’t have gotten past him. But then again I guess you’re gonna be ignorant to that fact.

You seem to think Jarry is giving up 8 goals per game. His GPG this year is 1.94. Last year in the playoffs his GPG was 3.18.
What have I been saying this whole time. You need to score at least 3 goals to win a game. So the losing team last year gave up about 3 goals per game.
That isn't some horrible GPG average you want to claim it is. Matter of fact it's about what one would expect from a team that lost and wasn't much worse than his 2.75 in the regular season when he was one of the main reasons they got into the playoffs to begin with. But then again they were putting up 3+ goals a game on average. But in the playoffs that clearly didn't happen.
We can go round and round on this but the fact is, they can't score.
Huge parts of that is a horrible PP.
They can win games in the playoffs with Jarry as a goaltender. They can not win games in the playoffs with a PP that is bottom of the league and their top lines not being able to score.
If you want facts, those are them.

Yet again ignoring a fact I keep on having to repeat. He easily costed the Pens some goals and I think he even knows that. Did I even say he’s giving up that many a game? Yes he was a reason why they got to the playoffs but also a reason why they lost in the playoffs. This is really the only time I’ll look at the situation for the Pens where all factors of their game was working but Jarry wasn’t able to perform as a good goalie. He was very shaky. Why do you think he allowed 3 goals a game?

All factors of their game were working? what games were you watching. PP stunk, top lines struggled to produce....
If the offense could have scored to being with they win the 2-3 a 2OT loss game. But they couldn't muster a goal. Then you are looking at 3-2 the other way and they probably win that series.
You also have the 1st game of the series they lost 4-3 in OT. Again they couldn't score. It's not like they didn't have every opportunity to win that game. They did.

Not to mention how many of those goals are on the team. The 4-1 game is two PP goals for NY. Something the penguins couldn't do. You take those out it's a 2-1 game.
Those are directly related to the team in front of him. Who lost that game???????

You act like he's the one who cost the team. He kept the team in it most of the series, when he wasn't being thrown under the bus.

You have to actually win those games and score, not put your goalie in a bad spot and capitalize when you get a chance. These are all things they struggled at. Very Shaky, there is no real evidence of that. All the evidence shows otherwise, he got the team to OT twice they lost both. The only real blow out, the forwards were no help as they couldn't score and put in on the PK for 2 goals.

The only "bad" game you can say he had was the last one. But the forwards didn't get their job done the whole series.
You look at this team this year, the goalie isn't the problem. He's playing fine. But the same issues from last year are still there. PP struggling.
Just wait, the playoffs will begin, the roughing calls right and left, slashing, beating on guys, because teams have no worry of them scoring on the PP. It will disrupt the team yet again....and out they go. Not from the goalie, but from a team that's not able to score when they need to.