I can not even begin to describe to you how much I could care less about Stone and Hoff-whatever the hell his name is; it wont matter when he is in the AHL in 2 years, you guys are a powerhouse; you have an all world first line center in Kevin Turris, and your elite net minder Grimace Lalime gets more and more impressive with how he juggles his sloppy rebounds into fantastic unnecessary saves. I don't care about your team, I just care about the fact that we felt like we didn't have to show any effort to beat them.
- nbartley9

I'm not an Ottawa fan, I'm a Pens fan. But I am also a HOCKEY fan and follow all of the teams, unlike yourself clearly. Overall is Ottawa more talented that us? No. Injuries and fatigue have caught up to us. But your complete disregard for the young stable of Quality players Ottawa has built up shows your utter lack of knowledge about the rest of the league and give the rest of us Pens fans our arrogant and ignorant reputation. I don't think Hoffman and Stone are future MVP's. But give credit where credit is due.

I can not even begin to describe to you how much I could care less about Stone and Hoff-whatever the hell his name is; it wont matter when he is in the AHL in 2 years, you guys are a powerhouse; you have an all world first line center in Kevin Turris, and your elite net minder Grimace Lalime gets more and more impressive with how he juggles his sloppy rebounds into fantastic unnecessary saves. I don't care about your team, I just care about the fact that we felt like we didn't have to show any effort to beat them.
- nbartley9

I'm not an Ottawa fan, I'm a Pens fan. But I am also a HOCKEY fan and follow all of the teams, unlike yourself clearly. Overall is Ottawa more talented that us? No. Injuries and fatigue have caught up to us. But your complete disregard for the young stable of Quality players Ottawa has built up shows your utter lack of knowledge about the rest of the league and give the rest of us Pens fans our arrogant and ignorant reputation. I don't think Hoffman and Stone are future MVP's. But give credit where credit is due.

Haha that's actually pretty damn funny


Im not sad, im pissed with how our team acts and plays.
- nbartley9

very obvious with all your "stone and hoffman aren't top six players" and "ottawa has an AHL roster" talk.

coaching
- wingz4life

you cant make chicken soup out of chicken shat

I'm not an Ottawa fan, I'm a Pens fan. But I am also a HOCKEY fan and follow all of the teams, unlike yourself clearly. Overall is Ottawa more talented that us? No. Injuries and fatigue have caught up to us. But your complete disregard for the young stable of Quality players Ottawa has built up shows your utter lack of knowledge about the rest of the league and give the rest of us Pens fans our arrogant and ignorant reputation. I don't think Hoffman and Stone are future MVP's. But give credit where credit is due.
- Willaged

name the last superstar that got traded and actually got traded for fair value.
- SuperHenderson13

When was the last superstar traded that didn't have a large flaw? for example, Seguin seemed to have attitude issues when he was traded. Neal/Kane had off-ice stuff. Other players traded because the team couldnt afford them.

Not the same level of player as Malkin but just making a point. But in this case, Malkin doesn't really have some huge flaw..

I'm not an Ottawa fan, I'm a Pens fan. But I am also a HOCKEY fan and follow all of the teams, unlike yourself clearly. Overall is Ottawa more talented that us? No. Injuries and fatigue have caught up to us. But your complete disregard for the young stable of Quality players Ottawa has built up shows your utter lack of knowledge about the rest of the league and give the rest of us Pens fans our arrogant and ignorant reputation. I don't think Hoffman and Stone are future MVP's. But give credit where credit is due.
- Willaged

I will give credit when I feel like giving credit, I don't care if you root for the Cal Seals; Stone and Hoffman are by no means impressive to me. I watch atleast one NHL game every night so don't come at me with that "im a fan of the NHL" crap. Jason Megna is a home grown young player that everyone was so enamored with, well guess what he sucks too.

If you love them so much good for you, I cant express how happy I am for you guys.

guys like Crosby, Malkin, MAF, and Letang aren't crippling this franchise.

Paying guys like Spaling, Sutter, and Scuderi that kind of money is what is crippling this franchise.

1. Penguins need to find some new homes for some of these guys. Scuderi will be impossible to trade more than likely. maybe buy him out, take the cap penalty and open a spot for someone else. Trading Sutter and Spaling should be doable.

2. Let the young guys play. In 2008 and 2009, both of those teams were filled with young guys who brought all the energy we needed. i dont believe you need grit, i believe you need energy in your bottom 6. Ruutu, Laraque, Kennedy, Cooke, Roberts, Talbot, etc. those guys all sucked from a hockey standpoint but they brought energy and timely goals. guys like spaling, lapierre, sutter, adams, and bennett dont bring any of that. penguins need to open their roster and let younger guys compete. replace those bottom 6 guys with farnharm, rust, wilson, sundqvist, kapanen... those guys might not be experienced and not the most talented guys, but you know all of them will give you 100% every night. Of the current bottom 6, the only guy i hope is there next year is Winnik. I've loved the game he has played so far. very smart and responsible hockey. Bennett, maybe give him a chance on the top 6.

penguins arent nearly in trouble like many of you say, they need a reevaluation of the makeup of the roster.
- SuperHenderson13

People think that the major moves in the offseason that will change the direction of this franchise involve trading Scuderi, Spaling, Sutter, maybe Kunitz. Hate to tell you, that doesn't solve the problem. None of those guys brings you back much. You get third and fourth round picks and middling prospects that probably never see an NHL game. The free agent market is poor. Has anyone seen the list? I would love Frolic and Soderberg, but those guys are going to be highly coveted because the free agent market sucks ass.

There needs to be an overhaul in the way this franchise is run. The win-now mentality needs to be curtailed; the stupid deals for rentals need to halt and we need more balance in our cap. I'd rather have one stud player and a bunch of good players than two studs and subpar players with no forward prospects under 24 to speak of.

Let the kids play? We will be seeing that on the blueline next year for sure. We have no choice but to play Pouliott, Harrington and Dumo. We have some injury prone Dmen (Letang, Maatta) and well need to constantly play the kids. We have no kids at forward to speak of to play absent Kapanen and maybe Sundqvist.

guys like Crosby, Malkin, MAF, and Letang aren't crippling this franchise.

Paying guys like Spaling, Sutter, and Scuderi that kind of money is what is crippling this franchise.

1. Penguins need to find some new homes for some of these guys. Scuderi will be impossible to trade more than likely. maybe buy him out, take the cap penalty and open a spot for someone else. Trading Sutter and Spaling should be doable.

2. Let the young guys play. In 2008 and 2009, both of those teams were filled with young guys who brought all the energy we needed. i dont believe you need grit, i believe you need energy in your bottom 6. Ruutu, Laraque, Kennedy, Cooke, Roberts, Talbot, etc. those guys all sucked from a hockey standpoint but they brought energy and timely goals. guys like spaling, lapierre, sutter, adams, and bennett dont bring any of that. penguins need to open their roster and let younger guys compete. replace those bottom 6 guys with farnharm, rust, wilson, sundqvist, kapanen... those guys might not be experienced and not the most talented guys, but you know all of them will give you 100% every night. Of the current bottom 6, the only guy i hope is there next year is Winnik. I've loved the game he has played so far. very smart and responsible hockey. Bennett, maybe give him a chance on the top 6.

penguins arent nearly in trouble like many of you say, they need a reevaluation of the makeup of the roster.
- SuperHenderson13

I kind of agree with this. Farnham isn't a good hockey player but he def brought a spark that none of these other slunks are bringing. When the playoffs start and there is no cap it's time to raid wilkes barre. It will kill their playoff chances, which were looking pretty good with Matt Murray bring the Carey price of the ahl, but Harrington and Dumoulin are much better than chorney, Scuderi and Lovejoy and make our whole 4tv line WBS guys. Rust, Wilson and Farnham of that works positionally. They can't be worse.

Ottawa beat us last night and I didn't see talent being the deciding factor.
- icedog97

Really. The TSN NHL coaches poll was released last night. The NHL coaches voted Karlsson the best NHL Dman by a 2 to 1 margin over the runner up (Doughty). And, perhaps you might have noticed that the player who joined the rush and fed the sweet pass to Stone was none other than Karlsson.

Pens once had a good team with great depth of talent. That team has been broken. Star players are passed peak performance. Expect a constant decline every year going forward. It is the same mistake every team makes. They believe that star players will recapture their peak. They never, ever do. But GM's keep shifting the bodies around them until somebody says time for a rebuild.

Like everybody else who has hit this wall the Pens will say they are different. They believe Malkin and Crosby will revert to their 100+ point seasons as early as next year. It never happens. Age combined with injury is relentless. Once peak has been accomplished, the decline (as measured by (ppg) cannot and will not be reversed.

The idea that the Pens can rebuild around Crosby and Malkin is sheer lunacy. They don't even have a 1st round pick. If it takes 2 or 3 years to rebuild the team around them they will be in their 30's and their performance will reflect the further decline. The party is over. Time to turn out the lights.

I will give credit when I feel like giving credit, I don't care if you root for the Cal Seals; Stone and Hoffman are by no means impressive to me. I watch atleast one NHL game every night so don't come at me with that "im a fan of the NHL" crap. Jason Megna is a home grown young player that everyone was so enamored with, well guess what he sucks too.

If you love them so much good for you, I cant express how happy I am for you guys.
- nbartley9

Stone is p cool, but he'll never be the goalie slayer (INTENTIONAL) that Megna was.

very obvious with all your "stone and hoffman aren't top six players" and "ottawa has an AHL roster" talk.
- sensarmy_11

Bennett is a top 6 player.... no honestly he is.

Really. The TSN NHL coaches poll was released last night. The NHL coaches voted Karlsson the best NHL Dman by a 2 to 1 margin over the runner up (Doughty). And, perhaps you might have noticed that the player who joined the rush and fed the sweet pass to Stone was none other than Karlsson.

Pens once had a good team with great depth of talent. That team has been broken. Star players are passed peak performance. Expect a constant decline every year going forward. It is the same mistake every team makes. They believe that star players will recapture their peak. They never, ever do. But GM's keep shifting the bodies around them until somebody says time for a rebuild.

Like everybody else who has hit this wall the Pens will say they are different. They believe Malkin and Crosby will revert to their 100+ point seasons as early as next year. It never happens. Age combined with injury is relentless. Once peak has been accomplished, the decline (as measured by (ppg) cannot and will not be reversed.

The idea that the Pens can rebuild around Crosby and Malkin is sheer lunacy. They don't even have a 1st round pick. If it takes 2 or 3 years to rebuild the team around them they will be in their 30's and their performance will reflect the further decline. The party is over. Time to turn out the lights.
- spatso

Yeah you keep shovelling this BS on us. Dualy noted. Now take off you hoser eh.

The fact of the matter is that the playoffs are now for the Pens. 7 of their last 8 losses are to non playoff teams. What do you guys think is going to happen when they face off against playoff caliber teams? If they would happen to back in the playoffs it is because of their record from Oct-Dec. This current team doesn't resemble that team at all. Revenue is the least of this franchise worries.
- all-pgh

I've heard otherwise in regards to revenue. I think it might have been Colligan, I can't remember, but we need to play at least one round of playoffs to break even financially. It was a shocker to me as well.

And the glass-half-full counterpoint is that we actually seem to play better against playoff caliber teams. Most non-playoff team losses were a product of lack of effort, imo.

Really. The TSN NHL coaches poll was released last night. The NHL coaches voted Karlsson the best NHL Dman by a 2 to 1 margin over the runner up (Doughty). And, perhaps you might have noticed that the player who joined the rush and fed the sweet pass to Stone was none other than Karlsson.

Pens once had a good team with great depth of talent. That team has been broken. Star players are passed peak performance. Expect a constant decline every year going forward. It is the same mistake every team makes. They believe that star players will recapture their peak. They never, ever do. But GM's keep shifting the bodies around them until somebody says time for a rebuild.

Like everybody else who has hit this wall the Pens will say they are different. They believe Malkin and Crosby will revert to their 100+ point seasons as early as next year. It never happens. Age combined with injury is relentless. Once peak has been accomplished, the decline (as measured by (ppg) cannot and will not be reversed.

The idea that the Pens can rebuild around Crosby and Malkin is sheer lunacy. They don't even have a 1st round pick. If it takes 2 or 3 years to rebuild the team around them they will be in their 30's and their performance will reflect the further decline. The party is over. Time to turn out the lights.
- spatso

See that highlighted part, that was when I hung myself out of pure mind numbing boredom.

People think that the major moves in the offseason that will change the direction of this franchise involve trading Scuderi, Spaling, Sutter, maybe Kunitz. Hate to tell you, that doesn't solve the problem. None of those guys brings you back much. You get third and fourth round picks and middling prospects that probably never see an NHL game. The free agent market is poor. Has anyone seen the list? I would love Frolic and Soderberg, but those guys are going to be highly coveted because the free agent market sucks ass.

There needs to be an overhaul in the way this franchise is run. The win-now mentality needs to be curtailed; the stupid deals for rentals need to halt and we need more balance in our cap. I'd rather have one stud player and a bunch of good players than two studs and subpar players with no forward prospects under 24 to speak of.

Let the kids play? We will be seeing that on the blueline next year for sure. We have no choice but to play Pouliott, Harrington and Dumo. We have some injury prone Dmen (Letang, Maatta) and well need to constantly play the kids. We have no kids at forward to speak of to play absent Kapanen and maybe Sundqvist.
- Oneonta Penguin

Oneonta, the point isnt to get good returns for those guys. the point is to trade those guys and get them off the book. not saying you trade them for nothing, but adding a pick or prospect is a bonus. getting them off the books and opening up cap and roster spots is the key with that.

does ottawa have a lot of big name talent? no defense, but karlsson wasnt good last night and bobby ryan has been playing hurt from what i've read. who's been carrying that team? a bunch of younger kids on ELC or bridge contracts.

trading malkin, crosby, or letang isnt the answer. you wont get fair value for them.

In regards to calling up Kapanen and/or Sundqvist....I know everyone disagreed with me. But has anyone come to my side in light of recent events?
- YouMeAndDupuis9

Sundqvist maybe. He looked about ready to crack the lineup in camp and can play a bottom six roll. Maybe he can push out Lapierre or Adams. Its an outside chance, but if Magic Mike's only gonna play them 6 minutes anyways then why not give it a shot. Low risk medium/high reward move.

Kapanen is a hard no for me. Kid's a twig and seems pretty inconsistent and would require a top 6 roll. Comeau has been playing poorly, but the last thing we need to do is give Malkin Zach Boychuk for the playoffs AND run the risk of injuring our top prospect during a physical playoff series (don't think I'm taking for granted that we'll even have that because I'm not)

Also remember that one time when Old Man Ruth drafted Zach Boychuk 14th overall? Yeah... Dear God Kap don't be Zach Boychuk...

You guys wanna see something hilarious :

Sam Lafferty, Anthony Angello, Jaden Lindo, Jeff Taylor, Tristan jarry, Jake Guentzel, Ryan Segalla, Dane Birks, Blaine Byron, Troy Josephs, Derrick Poulliot, Olli Maatta, Teddy Blueger, Oskar Sundqvist, Matt Murray, Matia Marcantuoni, Sean Maguire, Clark Seymour, Anton Zlobin, Joseph Morrow, Scott Harrington, Dominik Uher, Josh Archibald, Scott Wilson, Beau Bennett, Bryan Rust, Tom Kuhnhackl, Kenny Agostino, Joe Rogalski, Reid McNeill, Simon Despres, Philip Samuelsson, Ben Hanowski, Nick Peterson, Alex Velischek, Andy Bathgate, Viktor Ekbom, Nathan Moon, Alexander Pechurski, Patrick Kileen, Nick D'Agostino, Angelo Esposito, Kevin Velieux, Robert Bortuzzo, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Luca Caputi, Alex Grant, Jake Muzzin, Dustin Jeffrey

Is that a minor league baseball team?
The staff at your local Wegmans?
No, it's much worse, it's the last 7 Penguins draft classes.

I'm not an Ottawa fan, I'm a Pens fan. But I am also a HOCKEY fan and follow all of the teams, unlike yourself clearly. Overall is Ottawa more talented that us? No. Injuries and fatigue have caught up to us. But your complete disregard for the young stable of Quality players Ottawa has built up shows your utter lack of knowledge about the rest of the league and give the rest of us Pens fans our arrogant and ignorant reputation. I don't think Hoffman and Stone are future MVP's. But give credit where credit is due.
- Willaged

Agree 100%..I do not like the sens at all btw...but like them more with spezza and alfie gone

Bennett is a top 6 player.... no honestly he is.
- nbartley9

see, when you live in a world where it's okay to compare 60pt players to 12pt players, then you're obviously in denial, a complete homer, an idiot, or all 3........................just sayin

When was the last superstar traded that didn't have a large flaw? for example, Seguin seemed to have attitude issues when he was traded. Neal/Kane had off-ice stuff. Other players traded because the team couldnt afford them.

Not the same level of player as Malkin but just making a point. But in this case, Malkin doesn't really have some huge flaw..
- YouMeAndDupuis9

He has a number of things working against getting good return value.
1. Full NMC
2. Russian with a KHL history.
3. 28
4. Injury-prone
5. Expensive

The screenings wouldn't have prevented it though. They only would have caught it a little sooner and Dupuis still would have been out, so not sure how that helps anything.

Also, how do you know they aren't getting screenings? Do you want them doing screenings every day?
- PensFan1103

Well, he managed to play at least 5 games with it affecting him. That means it was forming prior to that point. Screenings anytime during that period should have identified it & it could have been handled earlier. It obviously begs the question of if they are doing screenings and how often in the case of someone with a known past issue, an issue that has a high likelihood of reoccurrence.

And on the issue of prevention? I can't really answer that. But their medical staff's job is to not only treat issues but work on preventative medicine too. I don't know what preventative steps can be taken in the case of blood clots & what can be done if someone has a history of them, but there has to be something beyond just staying on blood thinners to reduce the likelihood of them reoccurring.

Point is, there's some serious questions that should be asked (internally or publicly) of the medical staff & how they handle treating known issues or preventative medicine for the team.

People think that the major moves in the offseason that will change the direction of this franchise involve trading Scuderi, Spaling, Sutter, maybe Kunitz. Hate to tell you, that doesn't solve the problem. None of those guys brings you back much. You get third and fourth round picks and middling prospects that probably never see an NHL game. The free agent market is poor. Has anyone seen the list? I would love Frolic and Soderberg, but those guys are going to be highly coveted because the free agent market sucks ass.

There needs to be an overhaul in the way this franchise is run. The win-now mentality needs to be curtailed; the stupid deals for rentals need to halt and we need more balance in our cap. I'd rather have one stud player and a bunch of good players than two studs and subpar players with no forward prospects under 24 to speak of.

Let the kids play? We will be seeing that on the blueline next year for sure. We have no choice but to play Pouliott, Harrington and Dumo. We have some injury prone Dmen (Letang, Maatta) and well need to constantly play the kids. We have no kids at forward to speak of to play absent Kapanen and maybe Sundqvist.
- Oneonta Penguin

Been reading this form for about a year now Oneonta, you can be an abrasive guy at times, but I often agree with your view point and the above is spot on. Because of our complete lack of depth/prospects up front and continually pissing away our draft picks and every year the FA class becomes weaker and weaker thanks to career long contracts, making the middle of the pack guys we desire demand top dollar we cannot afford. I hate to say it, but we are now the San Jose Sharks of 3 years ago. We will continue to make the playoffs and be a decent team, but I truly feel our window is closed, and unfourtunetly have no options to fix it.

In regards to calling up Kapanen and/or Sundqvist....I know everyone disagreed with me. But has anyone come to my side in light of recent events?
- YouMeAndDupuis9

kap is only 18, he didn't dominate by any means in the swedish league, he had 20 points in 40 games...that tells me all I need to know about how he would do in the nhl right now, not to mention I dont think we should throw an 18y.o. kid who is a big ? into the barnfire that currently is the penguins, thatd be a surefire way to ruin him

In regards to calling up Kapanen and/or Sundqvist....I know everyone disagreed with me. But has anyone come to my side in light of recent events?
- YouMeAndDupuis9

i dont know what your side is, but no way either of them should be called up and burn a year of their current contracts. would make no sense whatsoever.