Listen, to be hard to play against we don't need to be bruisers that beat the poop out other teams. That's certainly one way to be hard to play against, but it's not realistic to get there with our current roster and our stars aren't really build to play bully puck. But the other way to be tough to play against is to be (frank)ing dogs. Dogs that scrap and wear you down on the fore and back check. That grind out the cycle and win puck battles. In 2015-2016, we were dogs.
I think people missed the forest for the trees when this board started talking about speed vs. grit. These aren't flip sides to the same coin and aren't mutually exclusive. You can have guys that can skate but aren't dogs at all like Rodrigues, Mathesson, Lafferty, Jankowski, etc... And you can have guys with "gritty" aspects to their game that don't make the team any harder to play against. Johnson, Gudbranson, Bjugstad. On the other hand, Hornqvist wasn't fast, but he was a dog, and Hagelin wasn't gritty but he was a dog.
This team, above all, needs more (frank)ing dogs. I prefer them to be fast. I like the Kapanen/Tanev/Rust mold. I think you can win with a team of Kapanens, Tanevs, and Rusts provided that you have enough finishers who can actually put the puck in the net to complement them. But I'd much prefer to have guys that don't skate very will but go hard on the cycle than the collection of Nilla Waifers we currently have as bit pieces like Rodrigues, Lafferty, and Jankowski. Speed without skill or battle is utterly useless.
First and foremost our stars have to be stars. Malkin and Letang need to turn their seasons around or we're going nowhere. But if that happens, something as simple as replacing Rodrigues, Jankowski, and Lafferty with three dogs I think would go a long way.
- Victoro311
While I agree with the general tenor of your post, what happens in the playoffs when you have a guy like Chiarot beat Guentzel to a pulp and make him scared to go anywhere near the crease?
The Pens are literally the softest team in the league. Guys like Tanev and Rust are nice, but come playoff time, if 90% of your team can get pushed around with ease and 100% cannot challenge anyone, that's a problem.
Also, we have zero defensemen who clear the crease (or are willing to or are told to). This is another huge problem. I don't care how many PMDs we have if we can't clear the crease.
The Cups that Sully won were inherited teams. Since then, he got rid of all the grit or wouldn't play them. He was fooled into thinking he has the winning formula of "just play," but in reality, it means some of the worst playoff performances of the Sid/Geno era. This Pens team, if they make the playoffs, looks like another first round sweep. And it is entirely predictable because of the aforementioned reasons. Not because of a lack of talent or any other reason. It is purely roster make-up and coaching.
