Quoting: BELIEVEnPENGUINS
Yes, they did bench him. Sullivan benched him. He then was a healthy scratch and then sent back down to Wilkes Barre. It didn't help that he sat out for almost an entire year......so its not entirely on the penguins and the mismanagement you speak of. its completely different then Shane Wright and you know it. I am fine with giving him a chance in training camp......just will be disappointed if he makes the team, he isnt that great.
Now you say 4th liners lol......you originally said bottom 6. also you completely ignored my Kessel comparison......he was not a "fight for a puck guy" at all and look at that 3rd line. Not everyone has to be a "fight for the puck" line. You need different types of guys. Marchand isn't in the bottom 6 but he is a "fight for the puck guy" and he is the same size as Puustinen. Connor Sheary was a "fight for the puck" guy. He did a lot of dirty work for Sid and he is small.
lets get it right. You don't get bench when you only get 3 games.
He was only there on an injury call up. It's not like they were giving him a real chance to play. The second guys got health he was off the ice again. You can't get benched when you don't have a place to begin with.
Kessel and Puustinen have nothing in common. Kessel was a scoring machine. Puustinen is not. That is where that ends and why it's not even worth talking about.
You are talking about a different team at a different time. That was when the rest of the league was literally slow as snails and the penguins were blowing people off the line. Two years later when the rest of the league caught up....how was Kessel working out? Especailly when he was never playing defense. He wasn't. But he was feasting on the PP which has never been the same without him.
If he could have just played defense, but he didn't. Which is why a real top 6 talent like Kessel was on the 3rd line to being with. because they couldn't put him and Malkin on the same like as they were both too lazy to play defense. So lets not compare a guy who was a legit top 6 guy to an AHLer.
For the record Marchand is a rat and Sheary was back checked to the ground nightly. Which is why he is no longer here. He couldn't fight for the puck if his life depended on it. He did no dirty work.
I don't even know what Sheary you are talking about here because it sure as hell was never one that played for the penguins. Hell I use to call him the mop.... because he was always down moping up the ice with his face.
Which is why they don't need Puustinen on the bottom 6.
If you were talking about a team back in 2017 maybe he could have fit in being a faster player while the league was slow.... but that time is gone. You have to meet the standards of where the game is today.
Those smaller players are simply getting eaten alive when they have to play their own zone.