Twitter Q and A (Penguins)

The Penguins current layoff between games hasn’t exactly bred a ton of ideas for this blogger.

With no new developments until tomorrow’s game I did a little Twitter Q & A. Here are the responses.

Coin flip, and you can make very strong arguments for both sides of the coin. Paul Martin is an awesome player and his presence in the lineup will always help the Penguins. On the other end of the spectrum the Penguins will eventually be trading for a top 6 winger (in my opinion). Paul Martin will certainly be part of the discussion in any such trade. For Paul Martin to become “expendable… we will need to start seeing some of the Penguins young defensemen taking on a bigger role. Could this be Scott Harrington? Potentially, but the guy to watch as this unfolds is Derrick Pouliot. Once he is healthy and fit to play he could be the wild card that makes Martin a tradable asset.

Not sure if you are talking about the Penguins or other teams but the answer is no to both. Eric Staal’s perceived value is probably a lot higher than his real value. Carolina will be looking for assets in return that match that perceived value. Staal has a cap hit of 8.25M until next season which is on the high end. Staal is a depreciating commodity that will cost any potential team valuable future assets. I wouldn’t target him in any trade.

I think he plays. He has done an alright job in the bottom pairing. The question then becomes, who is the odd man out? We all know who the ideal candidate is, but I think you will see a rotation. Scott Harrington will most likely be sent down to WB/S because he does not have to pass through waivers. Then it will become a three man rotation with Bortuzzo, Despres, and Scuderi.

The evaluation process is in its infant stages during this part of the season, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start to form some hypotheses. For example, Jaro Halak gave the Islanders quality goaltending last night while they weren’t playing great. He bought his team time to get their act together and score some goals. The result was a win. You can hypothesize that the Islanders are in a much better place to win games because of the improved goaltending. You will still have to wait to see if that hypothesis is correct.

Another example is Patric Hornqvist. You can tell he is a great fit in Pittsburgh and the likelihood that he sees a dramatic drop in his quality of play is low.

The evaluation process is ongoing and as the sample size of games grows the more confident you can feel about things.

It will take a little bit of time for Mike Johnston’s PK approach to take hold. Even though the Penguins have looked pretty good so far there are still going to be learning curves as the season goes on. Also worth noting that no matter what system they are running Adams and Scuderi will never be optimal options for it.

Chances are when Robert Bortuzzo comes back he will cut into Scuderi’s ice time on the PK, at least that is something I would consider.

I don’t have any concerns about the penalty kill. If they are struggling in January then that will be cause for concern.

I am going to use a loose definition of “former Pens…. I am going to include players they drafted and players they technically acquired via trade. Here goes:

Marian Hossa-Jordan Staal-Jaromir Jagr Matt Moulson-Jussi Jokinen-James Neal Matt Cooke-Mark Letestu-Jarome Iginla Ryan Malone-Dominic Moore-Lee Stempniak Max Talbot-Tyler Kennedy

Dan Hamhuis-Matt Niskanen Alex Goligoski-Jake Muzzin Jordan Leopold-Zybnek Michalek Sergei Gonchar-Andrew Ference

Tomas Vokoun

Not too shabby. Iginla is still a round peg trying to be jammed into a square hole though.

Yes, Mike Johnston’s system is more about getting the most out of his best players instead of trying to prop up the lowest common denominator.

Malkin on the wing is a nice short term option they have right now. It allows him to continue to get into game shape and keeps a solid 2nd line with Sutter playing his natural position. Having Marcel Goc on the roster allows this to happen. Long term Malkin will be playing center and Sutter will drop back to the third line. Ultimately this plays into the idea that the Penguins will be looking for another top 6 forward via trade at some point.

I still think it is Christian Ehrhoff. By locking up Ehrhoff they at least open the door for a potential Martin trade. Although Marcel Goc may find himself with an extension if the Penguins look to trade Brandon Sutter. There are so many moving parts and options with this year’s team and it will take time for the market to develop in order to feel more strongly about what they will do.

Like I said above it will take some time to really see what kind of players are on the market. There could be some surprise teams that fall off in the playoff race that will look to be sellers. IE: New Jersey and Jaromir Jagr. It is way too early to have a handle on this year’s trade market.

Hope this holds everyone over until tomorrow’s game against the exciting Dallas Stars.

Thanks for reading!

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