The Penguins defense is young but extremely talented. Allowing guys like Pouliot, Dumoulin, and Clendening to make their mistakes and learn during the regular season will only benefit the Penguins in the long term.

I will say this, not many teams can boast a top pairing with more skill than the Penguins. I'd put Letang and Maatta against any top pairing, especially since Maatta is only going to get better.
- cap1681

No way, they're horrible. Definitely bottom of the league type material. Can't you read response from the Blackhawks and Ranger fans? They all suck, trade them for Girardi.

Better than anybody Philly's got
- JohnnyNYR27

you're really going out on a limb there, buddy

The Penguins defense is young but extremely talented. Allowing guys like Pouliot, Dumoulin, and Clendening to make their mistakes and learn during the regular season will only benefit the Penguins in the long term.

I will say this, not many teams can boast a top pairing with more skill than the Penguins. I'd put Letang and Maatta against any top pairing, especially since Maatta is only going to get better.
- cap1681

Agree here. Let them grow throughout the season. They'll gain almost nothing down in the AHL, they'll get to practice with some of the top hockey players in the NHL daily and also get to play against the rest.

Maatta and Letang is going to be a beautiful sight to see

The (hopefully) lack of a decimated defense and injuries to one of the league's top-5 centers will be the reason to worry about them in the playoffs.

I wonder if Chicago would have made much noise last year if they were without Keith, Seabrook, and Oduya and had an injured, ineffective Richards or Shaw. I doubt even the great Scott Darling could have helped them.

But when you have trouble scoring more than 1-2 goals/game in the playoffs, adding a guy like Kessel and insulating his zone starts, coupled with a top-10 (again, if healthy) defense should mitigate his defensive deficiencies.

It was more like Kane being injured than Richards and JHalmarson or however you spell it is much more important than Oduya was but I like the idea behind what you are saying. Kessel is one guy, he's not going to throw team defense off that much. Could fans of other teams be more jealous at the end of the day? Yeah we got Kessel for nothing and you didn't deal with it dummy.

You're insane, they don't even have a top 10 defense in the east. Wash, NYR, NYI, Columbus, and maybe even the devils have better D's.

No you are insane. Rangers I will give you the rest are kidding me right now? Washington's is terrible, they are paying the shell of what used to be Brooks Orpik 5 million and he's in their top 4. If Orpik was still a Penguin he be further down the depth chart than Scuderi. Columbus, hello Jack Johnson top paring and Ryan Im always hurt Murray?? No thanks. They have nothing coming up, nothing looks promising when Fedor what's he Tootin is in your top pairing as well. Islanders top 2 good but not great, second pair bad but not worse, bottom pair = as good as the blackhawks trotted out in last years playoffs. Just because YOU have never heard of the Penguins defense doesn't mean they aren't going to blow teams away because they are.

What people fail to realize is that the Pens have now offensive depth. When was the last time we had something like this? 2009?

All forwards can play any line if needed. If you ice Plotnikov-Crosby-Kessel
we will be just fine. Last year when horny was out all we had was Brian Rust.

We have 4 scoring lines now. It will be great to take the load off Crosby and Malkin's back. Our defense was fine last playoffs, the problem was not scoring.

Oh man. Old man dupuis isn't on ice and is suppose to play today...

What people fail to realize is that the Pens have now offensive depth. When was the last time we had something like this? 2009?

All forwards can play any line if needed. If you ice Plotnikov-Crosby-Kessel
we will be just fine. Last year when horny was out all we had was Brian Rust.

We have 4 scoring lines now. It will be great to take the load off Crosby and Malkin's back. Our defense was fine last playoffs, the problem was not scoring.
- Conse

I think some people don't understand that. Having 4 capable lines that can drive possession will help take the pressure off the defense.

I agree with the blog for the most part. Geno needs to get back to being our powerplay trigger-man. I think he has been miscast as a point man and also had some issues with his shoulder which affected his shot. But it seemed as if he rarely even shot on the PP anymore. Neal was a clear cut trigger man on the PP when he was here but last year it seemed like no one was the go to trigger man. I think every PP needs a trigger man that the opposition has to cover or he'll bury the puck.


Kessel, Crosby, Hornqvist, Malkin, Letang should be unstoppable.

If it's healthy, they absolutely do. I'll put Letang, Maata, Cole, and Pouliot up against any other top-4. Lovejoy is a fine 5/6 player, the only weakness is at the #6 spot.

If they're not all healthy, then there are issues as players get put into spots they won't handle.
- jmatchett383

Maata is the nly sure thing. Letang is an injury waiting to happen. Pouliot is still very wet behing the ears as is Cole or that matter. Neither have played a full NHL season. Lovejoy and whoever is #6 are dime a dozen d-men. Sorry but defensively, Pittsburgh is nothing spectacular. Their offense on the other hand...

When you really break it down the Rangers defense isn't that great, it's so over rated, they have a goalie that hoops a whole horse shoe before every game and a d corps, that if split up are pretty over rated. For example

Ryan Mcdonaugh is steady, reliable but no all star, would not trade Letang or Maatta for but could be convinced to trade one of the others for him.

Dan Girardi slow, offensively inept and when he's in the shower he looks like Sid's
moms dryer when he was growing up. With his contract and the quick decline that usually comes with players of his ilk I would not trade Scuderi's diaper or anything in increasing value for he and that contract.

The Staal kid that plays defense, the black sheep of the family- really same as McDonaugh but not quite as talented- I would not trade Letang, Maatta, Pouliot, and I would have to think about Cole, the rest is a strong maybe, definitely Lovejoy, Scuderi and Erixon

The next one is something Klein right, yeah it's Kevin not the actor Klein- who? I really don't think his skills outweigh any of the young guys potential so it's a hard no for anyone but again Scuderi and Lovejoy.

Yandle the guy the Rangers over paid for and under performed the entire time they had him? Letang- no, Maatta- no, Cole- maybe, Pouliot-no, Dumo- maybe, the rest probably.

And then old man Dan Boyle and I think we know where we are going with that so moving on after this very scientific experiment I think the Rangers better win SOMETHING before Lunk turns much older or you are never going to have a reason to justify all the $hit talk you do. I really hate your roster it's full of just good enoughs and ya know maybes.

What people fail to realize is that the Pens have now offensive depth. When was the last time we had something like this? 2009?

All forwards can play any line if needed. If you ice Plotnikov-Crosby-Kessel
we will be just fine. Last year when horny was out all we had was Brian Rust.

We have 4 scoring lines now. It will be great to take the load off Crosby and Malkin's back. Our defense was fine last playoffs, the problem was not scoring.
- Conse

Yeah, I'll concede the Pens defense might be a weakness because it is very unproven. But when someone says the team is "top heavy" and/or lacks forward depth they're just being ignorant. Compare recent offensive production of new depth forwards Bonino, Fehr, Cullen, Plotnikov, and Dupuis to old depth forwards Sutter, Spaling, Adams, Sill, Lapierre, Goc. It's not even close.

I think some people don't understand that. Having 4 capable lines that can drive possession will help take the pressure off the defense.
- cap1681

Yeah, but it'd be nice to see a full roster on the ice for a preseason game already... Having 1.5 to 2.5 lines and a D pairing or two just gives huge holes for part of the game. I get we need to get the rookies and AHLers ice time to see if they are a hidden gem, but its not doing any favors to our fringe players giving them tougher than they would normally face matchups.

The lineup the Pens are throwing out tonight is infinitely worse than the B squad that played against Columbus. I really want to see more of the actual roster than all this trying things stuff. We're looking bad, Ranger fans already think we are worse than the Flyers and I won't stand for that.

To throw my two cents into a pointless argument: Before the preseason started I would have taken the Pens' D over everyone in the Met's except for the Rangers. I think the Caps' core is vastly overrated and people are forgetting, willingly or otherwise, how untalented NYI are after Letty and Boychuck and CBJ's D is even more unproven than Pitt's. Canes, Devils, and Flyers are unmentionable although all are gonna be good in years to come. Pens D has by no means wowed during the preseason but I'd like to see how they function as a full top 6 unit before passing judgement.

To throw my two cents into a pointless argument: Before the preseason started I would have taken the Pens' D over everyone in the Met's except for the Rangers. I think the Caps' core is vastly overrated and people are forgetting, willingly or otherwise, how untalented NYI are after Letty and Boychuck and CBJ's D is even more unproven than Pitt's. Canes, Devils, and Flyers are unmentionable although all are gonna be good in years to come. Pens D has by no means wowed during the preseason but I'd like to see how they function as a full top 6 unit before passing judgement.
- Victoro311

Make no mistake, the Penguins will be in the playoffs not because of their D but because they'll score a ton of goals.

Yeah, but it'd be nice to see a full roster on the ice for a preseason game already... Having 1.5 to 2.5 lines and a D pairing or two just gives huge holes for part of the game. I get we need to get the rookies and AHLers ice time to see if they are a hidden gem, but its not doing any favors to our fringe players giving them tougher than they would normally face matchups.
- Guile

Probably won't happen until the last pre-season game. Scheduling 3 games in 3 days takes a huge roster. Expect it trimmed down by the mid-week.

The lineup the Pens are throwing out tonight is infinitely worse than the B squad that played against Columbus. I really want to see more of the actual roster than all this trying things stuff. We're looking bad, Ranger fans already think we are worse than the Flyers and I won't stand for that.
- Dcoms

I'd be happy if they didn't play any of the big guys the rest of the preseason. No need to get Crosby, Kessel, Malkin, Hornqvist, Letang, Maatta, or Fleury any more reps. All you are doing sending them out there is risking injury.

Probably won't happen until the last pre-season game. Scheduling 3 games in 3 days takes a huge roster. Expect it trimmed down by the mid-week.
- chimpira

Agreed.

I always think its odd when jmatchett, a Flyers fan, argues for the Pens in this instance. He should just make the change. He has been a closet Penguin fan all along.

Make no mistake, the Penguins will be in the playoffs not because of their D but because they'll score a ton of goals.
- habfanforever

Right now, I will 100% agree with you. Our defense is still awfully suspect. We have probably one of the best top D pairings when healthy. After that, we have inexperience absent two third pairings of Lovejoy and Scuderi. If the second D pairing can play to its potential, it could be solid. Time will tell.

Because you're a Chicago fan you're automatically an authority. You couldn't be more wrong on Kessel.

Against Boston taking them to 7 games Kessel was the first star by a country mile, 4g, 6pts, +3 in 7 games. Hardest thing to do in the playoffs is score goals.

Kessel will be dynamite in Pittsburgh steal trade of the year. His playmaking is so underrated he's just as dangerous hitting the breaks and dishing from the wall as he is shooting

If it's healthy, they absolutely do. I'll put Letang, Maata, Cole, and Pouliot up against any other top-4. Lovejoy is a fine 5/6 player, the only weakness is at the #6 spot.

If they're not all healthy, then there are issues as players get put into spots they won't handle.
- jmatchett383

DP might not even be a NHL player next year. Cole is a solid bottom pairing guy, but was a healthy scratch with the Blues. He played well for his time in Pitt but his true abilities are TBD.

Bottom line once again is the Pens D is basically 58. Hopefully Maata continues to improve but 2 major shoulder surgeries sucks. If I'm an opposing coach the strategy is beat up 58. The way its been and will always be. Pens D will not be good this year.

I always think its odd when jmatchett, a Flyers fan, argues for the Pens in this instance. He should just make the change. He has been a closet Penguin fan all along.
- Oneonta Penguin

Its funny I have this experience in real life too. The only people that I can talk intelligent, unbiased hockey with are Flyers fans.

The lineup the Pens are throwing out tonight is infinitely worse than the B squad that played against Columbus. I really want to see more of the actual roster than all this trying things stuff. We're looking bad, Ranger fans already think we are worse than the Flyers and I won't stand for that.
- Dcoms

Pens have a great 1/2 in letang and maatta
A solid 3 in Cole
A nice 5/6 in love joy
Dumo is a solid 5/6 ... Can he be a four?
Pouliot, clendening, erixon ???
Scuderi 6-8
The issue is can one of the kids step up and be a solid 4?
If you look at the pens d over the last year it's been solid in both the regular season and the playoffs... In fact goals against was pretty comparable to the rags in the regular season .... And that's despite all the injuries... I'm not sure where the "myth" among non pens fans comes from that there d sucks??? Maybe because there not overpaying "big name" guys like girardi and Boyle....