There are a bevy of issues in the front page article, but I'll stop with this one because I heard there's a Penguins/Flyers game tonight.

Note how it's just assumed that Goc's teammates are significantly worse than Sutters? Well, they very much are, obviously. But if stats are so great at overcoming preconceptions, why not use the actual stats to paint that picture, too?

Well, it's because in the world of fancy stats, Goc's linemates (49.7 5v5 Fenwick of teammates) aren't that much worse than Sutter's (50.6 5v5 Fenwick of teammates).

So, that's what fancy stats can tell us. That Goc and Sutter play with comparable linemates.

I was thinking more like...

Slightly overrated #2 defenseman, overrated and overpaid 3rd line center who is soft as they come, decent prospect for a 33 yr old respected d-hammer, 3rd liner PF with room for growth w/good cap hit, a 2nd pick in a super deep draft, AND EXTRA CAP SPACE TO DO OTHER THINGS.

You forgot the cap space savings..... Bieska + Kassian $6.6 mill. Letang and Sutter around $10.5? Bout $4 mill to do other things.

EDIT: Bieksa isn't a UFA until 2016.
- 87_71_11_29

Fact is this season:

Letang>Bieksa
Sutter>Kassian
Dumoulin>2nd round pick.

This makes the Penguins a worse team. Maybe more physical, but overall not as good.

For Saad? A.. um... because Chicago can't afford him, Pittsburgh can't really offer any salary back in a trade. They could simply sign him to an offer sheet and handcuff the Hawks. I'm not so sure the maneuver is worth it when it comes to Brandon Saad. I'd rather take a shot at Brock Nelson.

The Pens should have offer sheeted PK Subban. That would have been classic.
- Johnny Wrath

If you are going to offer sheet a player, it has to be a guy that the other team is willing, under the correct Cap circumstances, would let walk, without severe over payment, due to it wrecking their Cap structure down the road.

I have to think Chicago would unload Versteeg, Shaw, and maybe even Sharp for peanuts prior to losing Saad. Unless Pitt. wants to pony up somewhere on the higher end of the 1st & 3rd round pick range (ie, over $3.3M to $5M), possibly more, I just can't see Chicago letting the kid go. With Nelson, I'd say you'd run into the same issue as Saad except NYI have more space to match.

Gotta go for the tier below RFA's. Not Saad, but maybe Marcus Kruger. Not Nelson, but maybe Nick Leddy. Not Toffoli or Peason, but maybe Clifford, Nolan or Shore.

I never thought the Penguins were a soft team. If anything, they go overboard trying to prove how tough they are. I think the issues were other things, whether it be MAF's head, injuries to key players, lack of a reliable bottom-6, etc. Team toughenss was never an issue for the Penguins, from what I saw.
- jmatchett383

They're pretty soft. Columbus ate the Penguins' lunch. Pittsburgh gets bullied. Philly, Boston, Islanders. Hell, Montreal bullied the Pens.

That's all well and good except that the Penguins abandon their strategy of not imploding unlike the Blackhawks or the Wings. Soft can also mean a team with no composure and/or no maturity. That's the most alarming part about the Penguins; at this stage of the core players' careers they look like a second year playoff team.

Lol ok dude.

Another cat who loves a team full of soft, overrated p*ssies on his team and has no clue on what wins in the playoffs. I bet you were a Neal guy too?

Enjoy all the skill from Oct-April. Don't come on here and complain when they're bounced again in April and get pushed all over the ice.
- 87_71_11_29

So let me get this straight. You want to move the Pens best Dman who is locked up for like 7 yrs and a decent cap for what he brings and is under 30, for a 33 yr old Dman when the Pens already have a 33 soon to be 34 yr old Martin and a 32 yr old Ehroff. Also knowing that the prospects have looked like crap so far. While also knowing that Martin and Ehroff can both walk after this year?

They're pretty soft. Columbus ate the Penguins' lunch. Pittsburgh gets bullied. Philly, Boston, Islanders. Hell, Montreal bullied the Pens.

That's all well and good except that the Penguins abandon their strategy of not imploding unlike the Blackhawks or the Wings. Soft can also mean a team with no composure and/or no maturity. That's the most alarming part about the Penguins; at this stage of the core players' careers they look like a second year playoff team.
- Johnny Wrath

I feel the Pens need Boone Jenner type players. Not overly skilled, but willing to play hard, big bodied, do the dirty work for 87 and 71. Also have a bit of speed. I thought Perron was to have a bit of that. But Kunitz is getting too old for that duty, Comeau shows signs of it. Spaling Def not. PH a bit. But yeah they aren't physical. Fun to watch in the regular season though.

I feel the Pens need Boone Jenner type players. Not overly skilled, but willing to play hard, big bodied, do the dirty work for 87 and 71. Also have a bit of speed. I thought Perron was to have a bit of that. But Kunitz is getting too old for that duty, Comeau shows signs of it. Spaling Def not. PH a bit. But yeah they aren't physical. Fun to watch in the regular season though.
- sammy87

All PH has to do is set that perfect screen and he can play longer than Holmstrom. He's a throwback.

I would rather have sound defensive forwards than 'energy guys'. Samuel Pahlsson. Jere Lehtinin. John Madden. Filppula. That kind of player who can eat minutes against quality competition at even strength; Pittsburgh doesn't have near enough of that.

Ummm I just read the blog not many of the comments. I'm pretty sure Goc is scratched tonight with Adams centering the 4th line. Speaking of the grey ghost, has anyone check Goc for a pulse?

He could be. Or it's possible that he's an average NHL goalie, and he just has crazy good numbers due to the team in front of him.

Nah, can't be. Rangers defense r teh WeRzT!
- jmatchett383

Never said the Ranger's defense wasn't good. Just saying that looking at other back-up in the past for the Rangers, and none of them put up the numbers Talbot is putting up. Does he benefit for a great defense, yes, but i think he has skill as well.

I have to admit, it does sound pretty steamy.
- jmatchett383

Said you and no one else ever

Ummm I just read the blog not many of the comments. I'm pretty sure Goc is scratched tonight with Adams centering the 4th line. Speaking of the grey ghost, has anyone check Goc for a pulse?
- Grinder47

No they're just resting him, he's too important to our team. We need the second coming of Jesus to be fresh and ready to play.

To what exactly would you attribute Cam Talbot's 2.15 GAA and 92.6% save percentage in his 11 games this year? Is Cam Talbot really a better goalie than all but 6 full-time NHL starters, or is it possible that the Rangers have a top-end defense?

Oh, sorry, using logic and reason and I'm a Flyers fan. I must not be making sense.
- jmatchett383

Or cam talbot plays against the worst teams in the league on average so who cares what his stats are. Good job looking them up so fast though. Must be nice to have time to do this day in and day out!

No they're just resting him, he's too important to our team. We need the second coming of Jesus to be fresh and ready to play.
- znagle

No seriously Madden said Goc out and Farnham in, I mean I know a guy that actually talks to people at the game skate in philly is way less credible than a blogger who lives is New York but that's what Madden said.

Or cam talbot plays against the worst teams in the league on average so who cares what his stats are. Good job looking them up so fast though. Must be nice to have time to do this day in and day out!
- Dcoms

Look up the teams we play cam against bud

Look up the teams we play cam against bud
- RAGSareDANGERus

Wasn't his last win against the defending champs??

I was thinking more like...

Slightly overrated #2 defenseman, overrated and overpaid 3rd line center who is soft as they come, decent prospect for a 33 yr old respected d-hammer, 3rd liner PF with room for growth w/good cap hit, a 2nd pick in a super deep draft, AND EXTRA CAP SPACE TO DO OTHER THINGS.

You forgot the cap space savings..... Bieska + Kassian $6.6 mill. Letang and Sutter around $10.5? Bout $4 mill to do other things.

EDIT: Bieksa isn't a UFA until 2016.
- 87_71_11_29

You could easily get the same deal with Martin going the other way instead of letang, make more sense too, but if Dumo is going We're gonna need Horvat or Shinkaruk coming this way, 2nd round pick for Dumo, no thanks.

Look up the teams we play cam against bud
- RAGSareDANGERus

No, I have no interest in looking up stats from a team I could not hate more to appease a person I could not care less about, calling someone bud is literally the call of the idiotic.

Ok if Farnham is in MJ is hoping Downie will play hockey & let Farns do the rough stuff - we need all hands on sticks tonite people!

With Goc I was going to throw this in yesterday with all the doom & gloom but didn't. I wonder what instructions he has been given in regards to offence, maybe it's just drive possession in the opponents zone & not shoot so much - leave that to the other lines. Fair enough I've heard '& Goc misses an empty net' but he isn't the only 1 for that. 1 recent game Mike Lange & 29er actually praised a few shifts of Goc's line for the driving possession & keeping the puck in the offensive zone.

A little like Ehrhof being mostly defensive early on & not getting any chance to score.

It's also funny when Crosby or Geno aren't playing more players take different roles & attack more. It may be instruction or maybe just players letting the best players take responsibility for scoring - which is something RW wrote yesterday, Sid & Geno are relied on for that too much.

Anyway go Pens.

Wasn't his last win against the defending champs??
- cap1681

Arn't the defending champs barely holding a playoff spot and in serious injury trouble?

No, why would you trade a young 220 pound 6'4" defenseman for a UFA that we don't need. Everyone that is in such a hurry to trade Dumoulin needs to watch him play live in an environment conducive to him being able to show off what skills he actually has. The guy is almost as good a skater as Letang with tons of offensive upside, whatever Despres did over the summer to get meaner, Dumoulin needs to do it this summer, thats the only thing he lacks in his game. Trade that for a UFA euro d on a last place team after developing Dumoulin for 4 years is stupidity.
- Dcoms

As explained earlier, this was how we can go all-in by 'replacing' Martin, re-couping cap space, and then trading to address other needs. Just a thought... I don't know who we would target after that so this isn't an end to end proposal at the moment.

Seperate of all this, I still think Bergenheim would be a really nice acquisition to really put our forward group over the top and give us some injury insurance. Kind of like the Dupuis replacement we'd been hoping for. Of course, we'd have to make the cap work but could you imagine if Dupuis came back as well?

Perron-Sid-Horny
Kunitz-Malkin-Bennett
Bergenheim-Sutter-Dupuis
Comeau-Goc-Downie


(prob different line combos, and assuming Spaling would be part of Bergenheim trade...but I love our chances with that roster)

No seriously Madden said Goc out and Farnham in, I mean I know a guy that actually talks to people at the game skate in philly is way less credible than a blogger who lives is New York but that's what Madden said.
- Grinder47

LOL!

If true, there are apparently different graphs the coaches and GM are using.

Arn't the defending champs barely holding a playoff spot and in serious injury trouble?
- Dcoms

And didn't they win it from the 8 seed 3 years ago and the 6th seed last year?? If you think the Kings are a bad team, i don't know what NHL you are watching.

As explained earlier, this was how we can go all-in by 'replacing' Martin, re-couping cap space, and then trading to address other needs. Just a thought... I don't know who we would target after that so this isn't an end to end proposal at the moment.

Seperate of all this, I still think Bergenheim would be a really nice acquisition to really put our forward group over the top and give us some injury insurance. Kind of like the Dupuis replacement we'd been hoping for. Of course, we'd have to make the cap work but could you imagine if Dupuis came back as well?

Perron-Sid-Horny
Kunitz-Malkin-Bennett
Bergenheim-Sutter-Dupuis
Comeau-Goc-Downie


(prob different line combos, and assuming Spaling would be part of Bergenheim trade...but I love our chances with that roster)
- YouMeAndDupuis9

Dupuis is not coming back, where is Bennet, you think Bergenheim is an improvement over a healthy bennet? Its more like Comeau Sutter Downie Spalling Goc marcobello with an ocasional Farnham infusion for energy(I still can't believe Farnham is actually a really smart kid from a VERY wealthy family) If Bergenheim costs any more than a 4th we don't need him. If he's an improvement over Spalling and the cats will take Spalling then thats fine.

And didn't they win it from the 8 seed 3 years ago and the 6th seed last year?? If you think the Kings are a bad team, i don't know what NHL you are watching.
- cap1681

Will last year bring Toffoli, voynov and Pearsen back this year? If not then the Kings are in some trouble. I guess the more relevant question is what nhl are you watching?

Will last year bring Toffoli, voynov and Pearsen back this year? If not then the Kings are in some trouble. I guess the more relevant question is what nhl are you watching?
- Dcoms