It's a pretty good roster as it stands today. The team has under-performed if you ask me. Hell, I think Sullivan has done a worse job than Rutherford. Case in point.... Ruhwedel is a somewhat competent bottom pairing RHD. It's been obvious for months the lack of RHD was killing them. Sullivan watched Oleksiak, Rikki and Johnson murder that role for 3 months before giving Ruhwedel some games. It made zero sense.

If the season comes crashing down, JJ is going to take an undeserved oversized bite of the blame....which shouldn't be the case. That's why I hate articles like this.....it's too obvious. JJ is the easy mark when a bunch of players deserve a share of the blame.

Some other things that I blame... Malkin going through a funk. Kessel going through a funk. Hornie going through a funk/concussions. Schultz getting hurt. Murray being a sieve. Sullivan's incoherent lines. Brassard skating like he tore his vagina....etc....
- madmike71

Schultz getting hurt has definitely been the single biggest problem on the ice, but a lot of the other stuff is due to Rutherford’s roster construction. You can’t just replace a top 4 defenseman, but you can weather the storm a bit better if you had some RDs to pick from rather than loading up on LDs. JR’s roster construction has also limited what Sully can do, so even though he’s made bad decisions this year, it’s not totally his fault that he’s had issues finding poop that stuck to the wall. And I also think Malkin’s issues are directly tied to not having a competent defensive pairing to help him push play from the back end.

So in the list of problems affecting our team, I’d probably rank them:

1. GMJR’s faulty roster construction (including JJ signing)
2. Schultz injury
3. Johnson’s play in and of itself
4. Faulty decision making by Coach Sullivan

You usually post HATE drivel… love the inclusion of the F word... that's a good one. Just for the kiddies that read, eh. Is it Jack Johnson or Jim Rutherford that exposed that you were a registered sex offender?

You are now dirt to me. Bye-bye. Worst article I've read here, ever.

Sufi-Judge... that's right - that's right
- sufi-judge

Damn. You’re a pūssy.

Schultz getting hurt has definitely been the single biggest problem on the ice, but a lot of the other stuff is due to Rutherford’s roster construction. You can’t just replace a top 4 defenseman, but you can weather the storm a bit better if you had some RDs to pick from rather than loading up on LDs. JR’s roster construction has also limited what Sully can do, so even though he’s made bad decisions this year, it’s not totally his fault that he’s had issues finding poop that stuck to the wall. And I also think Malkin’s issues are directly tied to not having a competent defensive pairing to help him push play from the back end.

So in the list of problems affecting our team, I’d probably rank them:

1. GMJR’s faulty roster construction (including JJ signing)
2. Schultz injury
3. Johnson’s play in and of itself
4. Faulty decision making by Coach Sullivan
- Victoro311

Honestly wondering... how many rosters on paper do you like more then the penguins roster for just this season only?

Don't bring those fancy numbers into this!
- obie

When did icetime become a fancy stat lol

Damn. You’re a pūssy.
- j.boyd919

Lol

Honestly wondering... how many rosters on paper do you like more then the penguins roster for just this season only?
- pens4life-66

When completely healthy? TB, TOR, WPG, NSH, SJ, and CGY.

I think we’re a second tier contender behind those high end contenders. Our forwards are really good following the Brassard trade, but our defense is critically flawed, and I don’t think any of those high end contenders have a flaw to that extent.

Don’t get me wrong, a second tier contender can definitely win the Cup, and no team can withstand the loss of a major piece for long, but our roster construction as is has made it difficult to withstand the loss of a secondary piece like Shultz which is not great.

Coyle on the move. Interesting to see where he lands. Great player.

Coyle on the move. Interesting to see where he lands. Great player.
- burgh4life87

Boston according to Bob. Crap.

Boston according to Bob. Crap.
- burgh4life87

Good pick up by them. I’ve always liked Charlie Coyle.

When completely healthy? TB, TOR, WPG, NSH, SJ, and CGY.

I think we’re a second tier contender behind those high end contenders. Our forwards are really good following the Brassard trade, but our defense is critically flawed, and I don’t think any of those high end contenders have a flaw to that extent.

Don’t get me wrong, a second tier contender can definitely win the Cup, and no team can withstand the loss of a major piece for long, but our roster construction as is has made it difficult to withstand the loss of a secondary piece like Shultz which is not great.
- Victoro311

Yup thats fair. Toronto, nashville sj and calgary have some shaky areas with 1 injury as well though i think. Id definitely say tampa and winnipeg have better rosters. All im kind of looking at is thats a pretty well put together roster if its about the 5th best roster id say.... Has rutherford made a perfect roster? Nope. Is any roster perfect? nope. But to say the roster construction is the number 1 reason for a bad season i think is a huge stretch

When did icetime become a fancy stat lol
- 668710

I guess you missed the sarcasm... it's ok, try reading it again

Yup thats fair. Toronto, nashville sj and calgary have some shaky areas with 1 injury as well though i think. Id definitely say tampa and winnipeg have better rosters. All im kind of looking at is thats a pretty well put together roster if its about the 5th best roster id say.... Has rutherford made a perfect roster? Nope. Is any roster perfect? nope. But to say the roster construction is the number 1 reason for a bad season i think is a huge stretch
- pens4life-66

Agree. It's a pretty good roster. It's too good to be this inconsistent. I mean JJ isn't good, but he shouldn't be knee capping this team. He's had plenty of help.

Good pick up by them. I’ve always liked Charlie Coyle.
- Victoro311

VERY good pick up.

Good pick up by them. I’ve always liked Charlie Coyle.
- Victoro311

He was certainly dominant in junior. Moncton. I think. Similar deal made by the B's last year, but Nash was too far along in age. May not be a high end goal scorer, but definitely strong in positioning. Such as the Bruins structure is.

Johnson traded from Kings, Kings win Cup.
Johnson signed by Pens, Pens fighting for their playoff lives

Few players in the history of the league has made more $$ off hype than Jack Johnson
Good for him, but he has never been a very good D man
- fsanford

Let's not forget he lost most, if not all, of that money.

Honestly wondering... how many rosters on paper do you like more then the penguins roster for just this season only?
- pens4life-66

Tampa, Winnipeg, Toronto, maybe Calgary, maybe Nashville?

Boston according to Bob. Crap.
- burgh4life87

Coyle is overrated.

Agree. It's a pretty good roster. It's too good to be this inconsistent. I mean JJ isn't good, but he shouldn't be knee capping this team. He's had plenty of help.
- madmike71

I disagree. He plays 1/3 of the game and is on ice for a majority of goals against and a minority of goals for. That absolutely can knee cap a team. I’d want my bottom pairing guys to tread even.

Not very often I give Wilson credit for his blogs but somehow he still gets people to read about Jack Johnson over and over and over and over and over again..... and no I didnt read the blog, never do anymore, just the comments. We desperately need more Johnson blogs please wilson! Lets keep going over this 50 more times
- pens4life-66

It was written in direct response to GMJRs comments yesterday. It’s a relevant blog.

You usually post HATE drivel… love the inclusion of the F word... that's a good one. Just for the kiddies that read, eh. Is it Jack Johnson or Jim Rutherford that exposed that you were a registered sex offender?

You are now dirt to me. Bye-bye. Worst article I've read here, ever.

Sufi-Judge... that's right - that's right
- sufi-judge

Peace out, man (?).

Lol imagine being this offended by something that's so easy to not read.
- Victoro311

Hahaha

Agree. It's a pretty good roster. It's too good to be this inconsistent. I mean JJ isn't good, but he shouldn't be knee capping this team. He's had plenty of help.
- madmike71

That's kind of my point. When fully healthy this roster is really good. But its construction is shallow and can't withstand injury. A D corps shouldn't be completely kneecapped by an injury to its non-#1 defenseman like ours has hence why I think the construction of our blue line is critically flawed. We have only four defensemen that can handle top 4 duties and the rest all play the left side save for Ruhwedel who doesn't even crack the lineup on a regular basis.. One dinger to one of our two regular RDs and our blue line goes to poop. If you haven't noticed, this has far reaching implications that stem beyond just defending our own zone since the blue line is where offense begins to be generated. As I've said, this is a huge reason for our forwards' struggles.

Coyle is overrated.
- j.boyd919

If you think of Coyle as a third line addition and ignore his 1st round pedigree, he's pretty good.

Not very often I give Wilson credit for his blogs but somehow he still gets people to read about Jack Johnson over and over and over and over and over again..... and no I didnt read the blog, never do anymore, just the comments. We desperately need more Johnson blogs please wilson! Lets keep going over this 50 more times
- pens4life-66

Honesty, I don't really care what he's writting about that much, just glad I can read something or anything more Pens related somwhere on the web. Its hit or miss if I agree with what he's saying or not usually but I appreciate that he's writing things regularly about the team I love. I do think the overall quality of his blogs have taken a bit if a hit. I liked when he was more into the stats and had longer detailed blogs. Of course in saying that, I appreciated those blogs, but there were so many around here tearing him a new one about how much he used stats, charts and graphs I can't blame him if it's a factor in toning that stuff down. Perhaps it's not a factor at all.

Honesty, I don't really care what he's writting about that much, just glad I can read something or anything more Pens related somwhere on the web. Its hit or miss if I agree with what he's saying or not usually but I appreciate that he's writing things regularly about the team I love. I do think the overall quality of his blogs have taken a bit if a hit. I liked when he was more into the stats and had longer detailed blogs. Of course in saying that, I appreciated those blogs, but there were so many around here tearing him a new one about how much he used stats, charts and graphs I can't blame him if it's a factor in toning that stuff down. Perhaps it's not a factor at all.
- MattStrat

Oh I agree. His blogs have gone down the shïtter in terms of overall quality this season.