The Pens have somehow flipped the entire season's narrative in the last 2 weeks, going 4-0-2 and now somehow are only a couple points out of a playoff spot with kind of a game in hand depending on which spot you're looking at, the 3rd spot in the division (PHI) or the 2nd wild card (WSH/DET) are actually attainable somehow, but of course with the season we've had i don't think anyone has true faith at this point.
I don't even care if PIT makes the playoffs at this point, I'd rather they didn't and i wish they did not win all these games, so dubas would have had no choice but to make major hard decisions this offseason. i don't want any member of PIT management to be able to point at this and say, "yeah after 70 games we finally found our game blah blah".....
that being said, the lineup we have iced for the last 6 games give or take has been missing the following players: (Nieto, Acciari, Harkins, and partially Graves, Carter, and Jarry)...
i'm not sure what happened with jarry, he was pretty solid for the first half+ of this season, then fell off...
during the dallas game, he was snapping as a couple of his D after goals against, and even a occasional stare down, then sullivan pulled him not for no reason, but its rare to see a pull that late in a game the team was down big in...
and jarry has not started since and now he has a "vague hockey injury"... probably a upper body injury meaning he's going to counseling or something idk, i'd like to see a Ned, Blomqvist, and Hellberg-vet-type goalie tandem of 3 guys to start next season...
i think jarry has caught matt murray syndrome without ever catching an iota of Murrays rookie success...
i'll say it, the team is better without them. it's a net positive. i don't want any of those players in the lineup next year, albeit carter is the only expiring contract....
Carter is a FA, harkins can be waived, you'd think there would be takers for nieto/acciari for smaller contracts, but jarry and graves are on big deals and i'm not sure how we can work out deals, but there only has to be one team...
Release the few kids we have and actually let them play. Please. It can't get worse than the constant state of a "cardiac arrest waiting to happen every hockey night in pittsburgh" that we've been stuck with for the first 70 games of this year...
it might actually be better.
full ACGM post coming with all of this acted out next season...
As a Caps fan I'm glad they are winning. I don't want them anywhere near Celebrini lol
would you rather:
pens never go on the winning streak, finish #24 in the league, jump from pick 8 to #1 pick OVR and get Celebrini MEANWHILE the caps get the 2nd wildcard spot and make it to the stanley cup final (not clear if they win, 50/50 shot)
OR
pens do win out, edge out the caps for the 2nd WC spot, make it all the way to the SC Final, while WSH gets the #16 pick and it's a major bust
pens never go on the winning streak, finish #24 in the league, jump from pick 8 to #1 pick OVR and get Celebrini MEANWHILE the caps get the 2nd wildcard spot and make it to the stanley cup final (not clear if they win, 50/50 shot)
OR
pens do win out, edge out the caps for the 2nd WC spot, make it all the way to the SC Final, while WSH gets the #16 pick and it's a major bust
O gosh that's a tough one. Probably the 2nd one because no way in hell Caps are winning the Cup. It would be a MTL situation a couple years back.
I feel like this is arguably the worst case scenario for the Pens. You guys sold your best winger at the TDL, and are making a late season surge which will either result in you barely missing the playoffs or getting matched up against a juggernaut. Plus, there is a first round pick on the table considering the pick moved in the Karlsson deal is only top 10 protected. Even if it's at the later stages of the lottery, you guys are still missing out on an elite prospect who you dearly need.
Having guys like Nieto, Harkins, Carter, etc out of the lineup definitely help for sure. Partially Graves too as you mentioned.
I'm not sure anything really happened to Jarry, or that he fell off - I just think the team decided to not play any defense for basically the entire month of March. If Jarry's poor month of March was an outlier then I would agree with you, but him and Ned have the same catastrophic dropoff in save % starting March 1. I just think the play in front of both of them was horrendous. Ned's had a good season and exceeded my expectations - not sure if he's a starting caliber goalie though. His year overall isn't any better than Jarry's. If they can get a good return for Jarry I'd have no issues moving him - I just wouldn't do a "take whatever you can get" type of deal
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