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CCM46

CCM46
Member Since
Oct. 14, 2020
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Pittsburgh Penguins
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Forum: Armchair-GMAug. 23, 2023 at 4:19 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMAug. 23, 2023 at 1:14 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMAug. 23, 2023 at 9:57 a.m.
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Justafan79</b></div><div>Your top 2 defenders can't defend last year was an
aberration for Karlsson. While Karlsson has missed 82 games the last 5 years Malkin has missed almost 90 games last 4 years . Crosby missed 60
games over 4. LeTang 61 games over 5 years. Karlsson is the kid at 33 LeTang and Malkin 36 Crosby 37 you have a very injury prone geriatric team with garbage depth and questionable goaltending that's how I say they're not a serious contender BECAUSE THEY AREN'T!!!!! Serious CONTENDERS DON'T GET BOUNCED IN THE FIRST ROUND 5 YEARS IN A ROW!!!! THATS A F***ING PRETENDER!!!
WHAT I CAN'T UNDERSTAND IS HOW YOU CAN SAY THEY ARE !!!!!!</div></div>

Someone's a little pressed I'm guessing you're probably a fan of a team that hasn't even made the playoffs for a few years or had success in a long time...... its okay bud believe me I get, but allow me to explain why the Penguins actually are contenders you might want to get a seat belt for whatever you're sitting in cause it's probably going to blow your mind.

Alright here we go.

First Let me start off by saying you don't google ages very well or you just got lazy and tried to do it off the top of your head Letang and Crosby are 36 and Malkin is 37, but thats just me being slightly petty which I think given your use of all caps kind of warranted when you make a mistake.

Now lets get to the good stuff. As sharks fans pointed out when we used this logic to say why the return for Karlsson would be less than what they were expecting (turned out true but they only had to eat 1.5 in retention overall fair trade and Habs won trade overall for pitching in), their rebuttal which is logical was Karlsson was dealing with nagging injuries and attempted to come back too soon (competitive guy I get it). This past year was the first year he actually felt good while playing hockey and look what he did first 100 point season by a dman sine Leetch and did it on an abysmal Sharks team while being the only net positive defenseman for the Sharks (meaning despite the popular consensus he is decent in his own zone). As long as he continues to stay healthy (which he should) he will do fantastic things being able to feed Sid, Jake, Raks, Geno, Smith, and Rusty.


Next, Geno, Geno like Karlsson had been dealing with nagging lower body issues since 2018 (funny how that coincides with the last time the Pens won a playoff series isn't it). This ended up with him having offseason surgery to repair knee issues in 2021. When he returned it took him a little bit to get back up to speed, as you rightfully mentioned he is aging and the body doesn't heal and recover as it used to, however this past season played all 82 games and was point per game with the extremely subpar depth that Ron Hextall saddled us with last year.

Crosby sure he's had his issues with missing time due to injury, but typically when he does the prior mentioned Malkin steps up big time and embodies that next man up mentality. However, Sid was healthy this past year and when he is on the ice he is still one of the most dominating players in the game. 18 years of over a point per game played production no one has been that dominant since this guy named Gretzky. I don't know but that seems like some pretty good company to keep and no one ever called a team Wayne was on a pretender.

Letang, go what a career this man has accomplished despite everything that has gone against him. Sure he may be the most unlucky when it comes to injuries, however you can't question his heart and passion for the game. Mans returned to the ice 10 days after having a stroke. So sure he may be injury prone, but he's a very good hockey player and still a top 10 DMan in the league when healthy.

So you have 2 of the best generational forwards coming off over point per game seasons. 2 of the best offensively gifted defensemen in the league one of which coming off the first 100 point season in 30 years. And I even began to talk about how the pieces around them are better this year than last.

The top six outside of Crosby Malkin remain pretty much the same as last year Jake, Rust, Raks, and Smith (basically same as Zucker). However, the bottom 6 got a vast makeover from last year. For the majority of the year the bottom 6 consisted of Heinen, Carter, DOC, Poehling, Blueger, and Archibald. Post TDL Granlund got thrown in their and he was abysmal. Going into camp our bottom 6 options include DOC (only bright spot of last years bottom 6 hence only stayover), Eller, Nieto, Accairi, Hinnestroza, Johansson, Carter (forced to hang onto because of NMC), Pitlick, Poulin, and Nylander. Now is it leaps and bounds better maybe not, but it is a solid improvement over the state of the team last year.

Defensively is where I think the biggest improvement took place, and it needed to. Last year the Pens pairings were: Dumo - Letang, Pettersson - Petry, Joseph/Smith/Kulikov - Rutta/Ruhwedel/Freidman. This year it is looking like Graves/Pettersson -Letang/Karlsson (I think no matter how you pair them its going to work I personally forsee Graves - Letang, Pettersson - Karlsson) Joseph/Smith - Ruhwedel/Friedman the third pairing was not the Pens problem it was Dumo Petry and Graves Karlsson are MAJOR improvements in that department.

Goaltending, I'll say it 2x here just to make sure the point gets across. Tristan Jarry when healthy last year was a top 10 goalie w/ that abysmal joke of what the Pens called a defense in front of him. Again, Tristan Jarry when healthy last year was a top 10 goalie w/ that abysmal joke of what the Pens called a defense in front of him. That is not questionable goaltending the only time he faltered was when he was playing at 70% health and if you look at the numbers for those game when he came back from injury they were down about 30% of what he was usually doing. I also think Nedeljkovic will have a bounce back year as the team in front of him is better than the team he had in Detroit last year.

If they add in another depth piece in Tatar (which has been rumored to possibly happen) it just makes this teams depth that much better. So, again this team is not bad. Its going to be a fun team to watch with the superstars it has the ability to deploy.

So to wrap up due to the pints listed above the Penguins will have a successful year in my eyes and make the playoffs and once there anything can happen.

Good day :)
Forum: NHL SigningsAug. 22, 2023 at 1:16 p.m.