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Forums :: Blog World :: Ryan Wilson: Hubris sinking Penguins
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Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Rochester, NY
Joined: 06.13.2013

Apr 14 @ 4:00 PM ET
Ryan Wilson: Hubris sinking Penguins Hubris sinking Penguins
WSCTeton17
Joined: 07.29.2013

Apr 14 @ 4:09 PM ET
There’s a glut of defensemen for next season. Someone has to go and my guess is that Maatta will be that guy. Many of the other guys don’t have much value and I don’t see us moving on from Petts so quickly. Lots of potential there. Up front we might not see many changes either. Blueger probably gets the 4C job and other than that we’re probably looking at more internal growth
Nucker101
Vancouver Canucks
Location: Vancouver, BC
Joined: 09.26.2010

Apr 14 @ 4:13 PM ET
Ryan Wilson: Hubris sinking Penguins
Hubris sinking Penguins

- Ryan_Wilson



shambles
Guile
Joined: 03.04.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:14 PM ET
Trade everyone
dozerD10
Anaheim Ducks
Location: long beach, CA
Joined: 01.29.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:14 PM ET
JJ is really bad. The isles just take the air out of the ball to borrow a saying.

Murray needs to be better, that 3rd goal should never go in. Sometimes your goalie has to win you a game. And so far Lehner has been better.

That pinch on the Nelson goal cannot happen either. Just a couple small moves have big consequences.

I keep waiting for the Isles to wake up and realize they’re no good. But damn, Trotz is just a wizard with teams. Everywhere the guy goes he just wins.
Guile
Joined: 03.04.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:16 PM ET
JJ is really bad. The isles just take the air out of the ball to borrow a saying.

Murray needs to be better, that 3rd goal should never go in. Sometimes your goalie has to win you a game. And so far Lehner has been better.

That pinch on the Nelson goal cannot happen either. Just a couple small moves have big consequences.

I keep waiting for the Isles to wake up and realize they’re no good. But damn, Trotz is just a wizard with teams. Everywhere the guy goes he just wins.

- dozerD10



Personally, I don't believe Lehner has been better, because he has barely been given the chance to show he is better or worse. So many high danger 'chances' just being whiffed. He is getting a damn relaxing series and I bet he is loving it.
dozerD10
Anaheim Ducks
Location: long beach, CA
Joined: 01.29.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:22 PM ET
Personally, I don't believe Lehner has been better, because he has barely been given the chance to show he is better or worse. So many high danger 'chances' just being whiffed. He is getting a damn relaxing series and I bet he is loving it.
- Guile



You certainly could be correct .. maybe it is that Lehner just hasn’t been tested enough. I’ll know watching the games that the Isles D has put the clamps so far on Sid / Geno and Phildo...
Victoro311
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: San Diego, CA
Joined: 06.17.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:26 PM ET
I'm sure a lot of people are going to have a problem with this blog, but for the most part it'll probably be the people who were clamoring to get Johnson in for Maatta after Game 1.

When the roster decision to scratch Johnson was published prior to Game 1, I said that game was a must win, or else Johnson would be right back in and stifling Shultz, as he has done for about a month now. That's exactly what happened, and the proof is in the pudding that Johnson is a HUGE problem here. During Game 1 we dominated large stretches of the game and ended up losing due to bad individual games by the first line, Dumoulin, and Maatta, but the fact remains that we were in the driver's seat that game. The blue line was facilitating offense at a rate that was barely seen during the season due to injurie,s and despite the 1st line getting shut down, the 2nd and 3rd units were generating dangerous chances on a shift by shift basis. In the end we lost because of three key tun overs, but we had so many chances to make up for those bad plays that ended up in our net with chances of our own. We just didn't convert. What we needed after that game were for a couple of players to wake up and to make some minor adjustments on how we approached zone exits.

Instead, we focused in on isolated mistakes and focused on "tightening up" and icing a more physical presence. Enter Jack Johnson, who for whatever reason is viewed as a defensive hockey player and the difference between Games 1 and 2 are so blatant that you don't need stats to tell the story. The second pairing is completely worthless (Maatta-Dailey levels of worthlessness) and doesn't generate a lick of offense and gets hemmed into their own zone during almost every single one of their shifts. As a result, our offense has been substantially retarded and those high danger scoring chances that were there in Game 1 have just been non-existent for the last two games, which is exactly what the Islanders want! The way they won Game 1 wasn't sustainable for them. If they entered a track meet with us, we would win. Our finishers are just better. But instead we decided to slow the pace and neuter our second pairing, which gets ~20 minutes of ice time (no small impact), so now we're still getting plenty of bad blue line play with substantially less opportunities on the other end to get those bad plays back. That's Islanders hockey. That's what they want to play and we handed it to them on a silver platter by drawing in Johnson.

Maatta had a terrible Game 1. Turnovers and bad decisions a plenty and the icing he had will probably give me anxiety for the rest of my life. Yet despite how bad a game he had, the Maatta-Shultz pairing was STILL able to drive play, and that's all I really need to know. Give me Maatta playing the absolute worst hockey he's capable of and we're still better off with him than Johnson. People don't get that Johnson's negative impact is so much bigger than just Johnson himself playing bad. He makes everyone on the ice so much worse and he gets so many minutes to really flex that negative impact as much as possible and stifle offense for like 20 minutes of a 60 minute game. We were never gonna win with the Letang pairing being the only pairing that could drive play, and here we are, with that being the exact case.

/endrant
Guile
Joined: 03.04.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:28 PM ET
You certainly could be correct .. maybe it is that Lehner just hasn’t been tested enough. I’ll know watching the games that the Isles D has put the clamps so far on Sid / Geno and Phildo...
- dozerD10



And of course, my double disclaimer...

Not saying Lehner cannot be better/good or has played bad... He just has been given a very easy series so far, imo.
kaptaan
Toronto Maple Leafs
Location: Turning a new Leaf, CA
Joined: 09.29.2010

Apr 14 @ 4:32 PM ET
I don't understand why people keep trading or signing jack Johnson... what'd he do to earn a good reputation as a player with hockey management that they trade for or sign him???

Carolina trades him to Kings, who trade him to CBJ who let him walk in free agency and Pittsburgh sign him...
Guile
Joined: 03.04.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:34 PM ET
I don't understand why people keep trading for jack Johnson... what'd he do to earn a good reputation as a player with hockey management that they trade for him???
- kaptaan



Didn't trade for him, we... willingly... signed him.

And I have decided his agent has a picture of JR (frank)ing a goat or something. Makes zero sense
j.boyd919
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Tampa, FL
Joined: 06.14.2011

Apr 14 @ 4:34 PM ET
Pens = zero identity.
kaptaan
Toronto Maple Leafs
Location: Turning a new Leaf, CA
Joined: 09.29.2010

Apr 14 @ 4:36 PM ET
Didn't trade for him, we... willingly... signed him.

And I have decided his agent has a picture of JR (frank)ing a goat or something. Makes zero sense

- Guile

it seems like insanity to me.... no one wanted to get him at the trade deadline when he was with the BJs... who gave up jeff carter who is a machine for LA or was at least...
kaptaan
Toronto Maple Leafs
Location: Turning a new Leaf, CA
Joined: 09.29.2010

Apr 14 @ 4:36 PM ET
isles just arent' letting them breathe at all....
Guile
Joined: 03.04.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:38 PM ET
it seems like insanity to me.... no one wanted to get him at the trade deadline when he was with the BJs... who gave up jeff carter who is a machine for LA or was at least...
- kaptaan



How about Gudbranson looking... well, not bad since being here overall?

That might be more shocking than us signing Johnson in general.
acdc1206
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Get the Cup back, PA
Joined: 06.13.2007

Apr 14 @ 4:38 PM ET
They win back to back so what's the next step? Change the philosophy that won you the Cups. Brilliant idea!!
MacPatty
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 05.21.2015

Apr 14 @ 4:40 PM ET
Pens = zero identity.
- j.boyd919


Pretty much this. A mish mash of players whose skill sets don't match and a team where the veteran players just do their own thing.
Dr Blob
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 09.30.2018

Apr 14 @ 4:42 PM ET
Time to retool. Expect big changes as this team is trending down and nothing at WBS to help. This may be GMJR’s final shot. Trader Jim goes out in a ball of flames. I can see Maatta, Kessel, Hornqvist all on the block.
jchst22
Joined: 01.24.2013

Apr 14 @ 4:43 PM ET
All this hate on johnson, but where is Crosby ? The best player in the league can’t be invisible. Can’t blame your 6th defenseman when your captain can’t even record a point
MacPatty
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 05.21.2015

Apr 14 @ 4:44 PM ET
isles just arent' letting them breathe at all....
- kaptaan


Honestly, it's not even what the Isles are doing. It's the Pens being unable to make or catch passes and having very poor decision making.

The Isles are being consistent in applying their gameplan but it isn't like the Boston series where they had the life sucked out of them.
kaptaan
Toronto Maple Leafs
Location: Turning a new Leaf, CA
Joined: 09.29.2010

Apr 14 @ 4:44 PM ET
Time to retool. Expect big changes as this team is trending down and nothing at WBS to help. This may be GMJR’s final shot. Trader Jim goes out in a ball of flames. I can see Maatta, Kessel, Hornqvist all on the block.
- Dr Blob

you'd think somebody in mgmt. would notice that they can't move the puck and that Johnson is a plug...
MacPatty
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 05.21.2015

Apr 14 @ 4:46 PM ET
All this hate on johnson, but where is Crosby ? The best player in the league can’t be invisible. Can’t blame your 6th defenseman when your captain can’t even record a point
- jchst22


I think he has made some plays and looked dangerous. But yeah, they are never going to win if he doesn't tear it up.
pghbirdman
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Joined: 02.27.2007

Apr 14 @ 4:48 PM ET
The biggest glaring difference in this series is about available ice space in the offensive zone. The Islanders look to have more space and time. Oh...the amount of free willing turnovers are a nice bonus as well. Look on the bright side- out attentions can turn to the Pirates
jchst22
Joined: 01.24.2013

Apr 14 @ 4:48 PM ET
I think he has made some plays and looked dangerous. But yeah, they are never going to win if he doesn't tear it up.
- MacPatty

He has no points. Best player in the game has nothing. Malkin is awful. We can discuss defense and line ups but these two should be on the board regardless.
MattStrat
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: ...serial abuser...and misuser...of the ellipsis , NF
Joined: 12.12.2014

Apr 14 @ 4:49 PM ET
This ain't over yet... Like no, really, literally, it's not hahah

They can bang off 4 with the players they have... Probably won't, but they can. I think in an elimination game Olli deserves the respect of a spot. He's been on this team longer and he's been a starting dman the majority of games through two cup winning runs... We'll see what coach thinks...

Next game gets my full attention. Could be the last until September.
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