No inventive for the Canes to do this

These three trades are a waste in my opinion.

NJD will take Pettersson at that price

Seems like an overreaction to one bad game...

Every time we lose people post sell trades and when we win we get moves to make the team better, it’s amusing tbh. That was definitely the worst game of our season. It’ll be interesting to see how the team responds and if we see at least rakell back next game.

They definitely aren't, 2 firsts would vastly help a rebuild.

If the Canes hadn’t made the move for Orlov this offseason, they probably would have considered that MP move.

Oh it was bad but still only 1 game in the first half of the season. I suspect this team will find its footing by mid January. All it takes is one good winning streak to turn a 500 team into a playoff team.

One bad game? 29 games and 29 points is enough to see we are going no where.

Orlov can play on the right and MP is a cheaper replacement for when Skjei leaves. I think that’s a bargain deal for Carolina.

There are two camps of Pens fans, the ones pretending and the ones who are accepting reality. I don’t see any arguments based on rational thinking that can lead to the belief that this is a playoff team.

I'll admit i'm in both camps lol.

A rebuild is needed regardless, but at the same time I'd at least like to see the team at full health... Like if they get to the deadline and are out of playoffs and don't sell Jake and Pettersson i'll be pretty annoyed as I believe both can return a 1st and a prospect.

before everyone got injured they had very good goal tending, 5v5 and PK play with 0 help on the PP. Only reason why I'd be curious to see full health... and a PP that works lol. Asking a lot though.

We started with full health and a PP that looks on paper like it should be amazing. What we got was a .500 team… like we have now. The fact of the matter is we have two absolutely elite players, Jake and Sid. We have a list of older guys who are fading even if they’re still good players like Geno, EK65, and Tanger. Rust and Rakell have been very solid in their time here (especially Rust) but they aren’t going to lead the team to glory or even carry this team to some other level. You can’t win in this league when your best player is 36. It’s just not that kind of league anymore.

Yeah but Sid isn't your average 36 year old either...

There isn't much to be done with the roster, nor was there much to be done in the summer as imo the last regime along with the end of JR really obliterated the roster and screwed up their cap (and assets).

Looking at the stats, 5v5:
8th in %Goals
11th in Expected%Goals
7th in Corsi
8th in Goal differential
9th in expected goal differential
5th in save% on unblocked shots
3rd in faceoff win %

They are 25th in Shooting% on unblocked shots, which is a luck based stat.

The Pens weakness is the PP, and it is a scheme issue not a talent issue. If that is fixed, this team is solidly in the playoffs and could make a run.

See my post above. Numbers don't lie. This is a good team.

But see your numbers kind of lie for one reason, this isn’t horseshoes. There are no points for almost scoring goals. That’s the problem with the overhyping of analytics. It doesn’t matter how many times you almost scored. No one remembers all the times great players almost made a great play, they remember the greats plays that are made.

The PP is an egos problem, which isn’t easy to fix. There is too much talent which sounds like a weird problem to have but it’s a big one. PP’s work when everyone has a role and fulfils that role.

You're right close isn't close enough but, you can't beat the house. All luck evens out. This team is a few clicks from winning 10 straight. It is a good team. That isn't some vein hope or dilusion, it's a fact.

I can't speak to ego but I can speak to scheme. They need more guys in front of the net, willing to take a beating. Shots from the parameter with no screen, rarely score.

“They need more guys in front of the net, willing to take a beating. Shots from the parameter with no screen, rarely score.”

That’s the reason the PP is a major problem. It takes a player with that mentality to do that job. Right now we haven’t shown that we have that guy. There is no Hornqvist, Kunitz, or Stevens. We have a lot of guys that like pretty passes and pretty goals.

The team is fine, just give it time to get people back off injury. The metrics were good, they’re consistently losing the close games without a working PP and if the PP becomes consistent at even 20-22% they’ll start climbing back into the playoff pic when guys come back.

My counter point is Rust is a big miss sure but Rakell? He was useless before his injury so what exactly are we expecting now?

Rakell wasn’t producing but the line dropped considerably in its production after he went down, which should tell you he was doing something to help out the offense even if he wasn’t putting up points.

Geno hasn’t had a multi point game since 11/11. I am not sure how much of that has to do with Rakell who didn’t score a single goal before his injury but it is a bad sign for Geno.

Well rakell was helping the line play in the opponents end more often, which lead to more opportunities to score. I’ve watched every game, the line definitely took a hit since rakell went down.