A decent Dman that can't crack our lineup. Are they too stupid on not using him, or is he not as good as people think. The fact he isn't being used tells me a lot.
- Oneonta Penguin

The fact is the D are playing relatively ok except for Scuderi. And its all about how much he gets paid... If he were a one million dollar plug he'd be on this bench already. Clendenning is just easier to scratch from a mgmt perspective.

imagine if *someone would "accidently" bust scudz kneecap.

The fact is the D are playing relatively ok except for Scuderi. And its all about how much he gets paid... If he were a one million dollar plug he'd be on this bench already. Clendenning is just easier to scratch from a mgmt perspective.
- nelson911

I get that it's cool to trash Scuderi, but he actually hasn't been playing bad, and the stats back it up.

Edit: And I know, for the contract, blah blah blah.

So they stop performing offensively? Not how a good coach woukd do it. He was brought in as a coach that had a fast moving effective offense. He hasn't done that this season. He's not doing what he was hired for. I'm not saying fire him now I'm just pointing out he isn't do his job.
- Zac_O

I could be mistaken but I thought he was brought here to win, which currently he's doing. If he didn't feel he could win using his system then only a jackass would lose sticking to his system as opposed to tweaking his system and winning.

The team is playing well enough to win 66% of their games.
- MacPatty

Before last night they were 1st in save%, 28th in Corsi/Fenwick%, 27th in Shooting%, and 15th in shots for% in all situations. Doesn't look like a very sustainable team effort.
http://stats.hockeyanalys...l&sort=GFPCT&sortdir=DESC

The fact is the D are playing relatively ok except for Scuderi. And its all about how much he gets paid... If he were a one million dollar plug he'd be on this bench already. Clendenning is just easier to scratch from a mgmt perspective.
- nelson911

Not sure what games you have been watching but Scuderi has played as well as anyone else on D and Maata's game has improved drastically since being paired with Scuds. I'm not a Scuderi fan and have supported Clendening playing from day 1 but Scuderi has done nothing to deserve being benched and until he does he will stay in the lineup, his contract has nothing to do with it at all.

I could be mistaken but I thought he was brought here to win, which currently he's doing. If he didn't feel he could win using his system then only a jackass would lose sticking to his system as opposed to tweaking his system and winning.
- jaydogg1974

He was brought in to win in his system. Not a defensive system that he is using now. Why have Aman for the job when you could have THE man for the job. Meaning if we want to continue to win with a defensive system there are better head coaches out there to do that. Just because it works doesn't mean it cant be improved. I want his offensive system to kick in and the team start scoring more regularly. They are doing fine in scoring for now but they are relying on Fleury way to much. Its great he can do it but lets not make it so he has to do it.

I get that it's cool to trash Scuderi, but he actually hasn't been playing bad, and the stats back it up.

Edit: And I know, for the contract, blah blah blah.
- cap1681

did you see yesterday... almost cost us a goal atleast 3 times and took a penalty (although sedin had a little to do with it). the way he blocked fleury... and also he seems to spend more time on the ice lying down or iceing the puck. I ain't that mad for him playing. I am mad for him playing over obvious better options.

Not sure what games you have been watching but Scuderi has played as well as anyone else on D and Maata's game has improved drastically since being paired with Scuds. I'm not a Scuderi fan and have supported Clendening playing from day 1 but Scuderi has done nothing to deserve being benched and until he does he will stay in the lineup, his contract has nothing to do with it at all.
- jaydogg1974

I'm often on the side of giving Scuds the benefit of the doubt but he was in fleurys way more than a few times this season. So that might be reason enough.

It doesn't make sense to sit a young prospect as long as they have, so they need to bench some one once in a while to play him. Considering all the players on defense Scuderi makes the most sense to bench for a few to let the young guy play.

"despite Root Sports doing its best to try and sell their viewers on the Penguins being the #1 defensive team"


In general can we talk about the Penguins efforts to create a biased announcing team focused on vague making themselves look good content. I used to love to listen to Bob Grove before, during, and after the games. He gave an honest account of where the Pens stood based on facts and stats. His replacement(s) have been terrible. Beyond the fact that they constantly struggle to find words to say they feel like they are constantly reading from the Penguins marketing guidebook. "Sidney looked good last game, I think he's going to start getting some points" That is about as indepth as Josh Getzoff, Sam Kasan and Michelle Crechiolo get.


The penguins management is doing their best to make me not want to be a penguins fan. Also they took down the link to penguins radio from the official site- not a huge deal as I can go to the x's website- but at the same time it assures that I don't have a single reason to go to the Pens official site anymore. I'll head to nhl.com to obtain the boxscore.
- ChuckUpston

Ok

Lets promote the pens being a great defensive team. Maybe someone will view scuderi as a shut down guy worth giving up a pick for.

I do think the back ends limitations offensively is half of our offensive woes (The other half being the PP). It doesn't matter how good your forwards are if the dmen can't get the puck to them with time and space.

I get that it's cool to trash Scuderi, but he actually hasn't been playing bad, and the stats back it up.

Edit: And I know, for the contract, blah blah blah.
- cap1681

I don't know... I guess he's played ok, but his gaffas lead to some pretty gnarly scoring chances and a good bit of them have gone in so far. I have noticed that the amount of off glass dumps and passes to no where have gone down a but he's still the absolute floor that a full time NHL defenseman should be.

Lets promote the pens being a great defensive team. Maybe someone will view scuderi as a shut down guy worth giving up a pick for.

I do think the back ends limitations offensively is half of our offensive woes (The other half being the PP). It doesn't matter how good your forwards are if the dmen can't get the puck to them with time and space.
- sditulli

I don't think most the forwards look comfortable together on their own merits. It's not like they are making a lot of strong plays on the rush or in odd man breaks either. Malkin and Kessel are the only two in the top 6 that show consistent chemistry.

Pens possession game looked great last night we had no answer.

Any takers on Hamhuis over there?

Pens possession game looked great last night we had no answer.

Any takers on Hamhuis over there?


- LordHumungous

Maybe it looked great compared to Sutter.
Hamhuis is often viewed as a possible deadline acquisition.

Pens possession game looked great last night we had no answer.

Any takers on Hamhuis over there?


- LordHumungous

Kunitz for Hamhuis. Whaduya say?

despite Root Sports doing its best to try and sell their viewers on the Penguins being the #1 defensive team in the league (still 29th overall in shot attempts against per 60).

Wake me up when teams start earning wins and losses based on # of attempted shots for/against. Actually, kill me when that happens.

No teams is allowing fewer goals per game than the Penguins.

Wake me up when teams start earning wins and losses based on # of attempted shots for/against. Actually, kill me when that happens.

No teams is allowing fewer goals per game than the Penguins.
- hardnosed

Why ignore a potential problem and wait until it actually becomes one and we start losing games? Would you rather rely on one player (Flower) to win games, or an entire team? There's nothing wrong with what the penguins are doing right now as long as Flower keeps up a SV% of over .936. Even though we are winning and earning points I'd rather us suppress more shots and take the burden of off MAF a little which I believe we will.

Any takers on Hamhuis over there?

Absolutely! I think he would be a great addition. Just would be curious what the asking price would be.

Why ignore a potential problem and wait until it actually becomes one and we start losing games? Would you rather rely on one player (Flower) to win games, or an entire team? There's nothing wrong with what the penguins are doing right now as long as Flower keeps up a SV% of over .936. Even though we are winning and earning points I'd rather us suppress more shots and take the burden of off MAF a little which I believe we will.
- Victoro311

Because it's not a bug, it's a feature. They don't care about a large volume of meaningless shots - they're trying to prevent juicy chances. Which they're doing very successfully, to the tune of the top GA/G in the league (tied with Rangers).

Just like Sutter - he'll give you the 50 footer, but you're not getting into prime scoring areas. Which is why judging him, and this year's Penguins' defensive acumen is asinine as judging Pete Rose based on his home run totals, or Shaq based on his assists per game, or Peyton Manning on his rushing yards.

Because it's not a bug, it's a feature. They don't care about a large volume of meaningless shots - they're trying to prevent juicy chances. Which they're doing very successfully, to the tune of the top GA/G in the league (tied with Rangers).

Just like Sutter - he'll give you the 50 footer, but you're not getting into prime scoring areas. Which is why judging him, and this year's Penguins' defensive acumen is asinine as judging Pete Rose based on his home run totals, or Shaq based on his assists per game, or Peyton Manning on his rushing yards.
- hardnosed

Pens are mediocre in HDSC% and SC%. Even with good goaltending, teams that have significant negative shot attempt differentials don't win SCs. Pens goal is to win it all so they should recognize that they need to make improvements. There's plenty of time to do so.

Kunitz for Hamhuis. Whaduya say?
- Victoro311

Need Dmen.

Badly.

Absolutely! I think he would be a great addition. Just would be curious what the asking price would be.
- Mino42

Pouliot might be a good start...

He was brought in to win in his system. Not a defensive system that he is using now. Why have Aman for the job when you could have THE man for the job. Meaning if we want to continue to win with a defensive system there are better head coaches out there to do that. Just because it works doesn't mean it cant be improved. I want his offensive system to kick in and the team start scoring more regularly. They are doing fine in scoring for now but they are relying on Fleury way to much. Its great he can do it but lets not make it so he has to do it.
- Zac_O

I could counter that with if it ain't broke don't fix it. Right now they are winning playing the way they are playing, obviously everyone would love for them to score more goals while winning but there is no way for any of us to know if that is what will actually happen if the open up and try to score more. For all we know that change could lead to them losing 6-5 regularly as opposed to them winning 3-2 regularly. Not sure if it's really worth the risk while what they are doing is working, if/once things change and they are struggling to win games playing this way then by all means open the system up and focus more on scoring goals, as of now they should focus on continuing to win games doing what they are doing.

Pouliot might be a good start...


- LordHumungous

Pouliot and Kunitz for Hamhuis and Shinkaruk