Ryan Wilson: Penguins getting a new dress code: Long pants for everyone Penguins getting a new dress code: Long pants for everyone

I’m pretty sure Burke addressed that skill must go with size/grit. I don’t think size is necessarily the issue. It’s playing with size. I mean being big helps that but Burke is right. The crease needs to be cleared. The other crease needs to not be clear. Someone willing to take a beating needs to go there. Big or not. Just a little size makes it easier.

I'm not saying the Pens need to get a bunch of meat heads but they are the easiest to play against because teams defencemen know they are never going to get hit.

Even when the Pens won small, they had Kunitz, Hagelin, Cullen and Hornquist who would go flying in to hit the D on puck retrieval.

You need to either have some guys with some ability to create offense in the bottom 6 or have guys who are going to get after it and give the D something to think about. Preferably you have a mix like the Pens used to have.

Right now the Pens bottom 6 is an ungodly amount of bland. There is no one who can generate offense and nobody who will put a defenceman through the boards on occasion.

We can get way more gritty and bigger while adding skill. I agree with Burke 100%. We need to bring in 3 forwards. Some character guys with at least one that can add scoring depth. Move out McCann and petterson.

trade Guentzel for Reaves.

I'm not saying the Pens need to get a bunch of meat heads but they are the easiest to play against because teams defencemen know they are never going to get hit.

Even when the Pens won small, they had Kunitz, Hagelin, Cullen and Hornquist who would go flying in to hit the D on puck retrieval.

You need to either have some guys with some ability to create offense in the bottom 6 or have guys who are going to get after it and give the D something to think about. Preferably you have a mix like the Pens used to have.

Right now the Pens bottom 6 is an ungodly amount of bland. There is no one who can generate offense and nobody who will put a defenceman through the boards on occasion.
- MacPatty

"bUt TanEv.."

"bUt TanEv.."
- j.boyd919

Sorry, there is one player in the bottom 6.

We can get way more gritty and bigger while adding skill. I agree with Burke 100%. We need to bring in 3 forwards. Some character guys with at least one that can add scoring depth. Move out McCann and petterson.
- sextoymagic

McCann and petts for mantha? Haha

I'm not saying the Pens need to get a bunch of meat heads but they are the easiest to play against because teams defencemen know they are never going to get hit.

Even when the Pens won small, they had Kunitz, Hagelin, Cullen and Hornquist who would go flying in to hit the D on puck retrieval.

You need to either have some guys with some ability to create offense in the bottom 6 or have guys who are going to get after it and give the D something to think about. Preferably you have a mix like the Pens used to have.

Right now the Pens bottom 6 is an ungodly amount of bland. There is no one who can generate offense and nobody who will put a defenceman through the boards on occasion.
- MacPatty

Bland for sure. Although if the buzz saw can shut down others and start to generate a little more offence this year I’m fine with them as a 4th line/pk. Zar can only help.. I hope.

That leaves 1 line to sort out. O’Connor is a rookie and although I think he plays a safe game he needs some ahl time to develop and grow some balls. I honestly don’t mind jank the last couple games. He is going hard trying to do something by himself on the pk and on any ozone time they get. I’d focus on a couple wingers before focusing back on centre as we know how that goes. Bennett and virtanen are big bodied buy low candidates. Virtanen was a scratch last night. Are these ideal quality players? No. But we don’t have much to offer. McCann should get Bennett and maybe add to get kylington seeing he isn’t playing either.

Edit- when healthy anyways. I forgot McCann is out week to week. But if Bennett hasn’t produced in Calgary by then I don’t see why that trade isn’t feasible. Maybe even McCann for both straight up. Idk

Bland for sure. Although if the buzz saw can shut down others and start to generate a little more offence this year I’m fine with them as a 4th line/pk. Zar can only help.. I hope.

That leaves 1 line to sort out. O’Connor is a rookie and although I think he plays a safe game he needs some ahl time to develop and grow some balls. I honestly don’t mind jank the last couple games. He is going hard trying to do something by himself on the pk and on any ozone time they get. I’d focus on a couple wingers before focusing back on centre as we know how that goes. Bennett and virtanen are big bodied buy low candidates. Virtanen was a scratch last night. Are these ideal quality players? No. But we don’t have much to offer. McCann should get Bennett and maybe add to get kylington seeing he isn’t playing either.

Edit- when healthy anyways. I forgot McCann is out week to week. But if Bennett hasn’t produced in Calgary by then I don’t see why that trade isn’t feasible. Maybe even McCann for both straight up. Idk
- 10inchTerror

Virtanen would be a good pickup. Vancouver mismanaged him they wanted a Lucic but he just doesn’t have that mean streak in him, but they kept trying to force it upon him and ruined his development IMO.
He’s fast, big, has a powerful but not very accurate shot. His hockey IQ isn’t great, but I still think he would be an excellent middle six guy.

Could be another Brian Rust.

I've brought him up before, but I'd love to see if there's a way to pry Lawson Crouse from AZ. I don't know how he's valued, but if there's a way to swing a McCann/Crouse package somehow I'd be all in.

Bland for sure. Although if the buzz saw can shut down others and start to generate a little more offence this year I’m fine with them as a 4th line/pk. Zar can only help.. I hope.

That leaves 1 line to sort out. O’Connor is a rookie and although I think he plays a safe game he needs some ahl time to develop and grow some balls. I honestly don’t mind jank the last couple games. He is going hard trying to do something by himself on the pk and on any ozone time they get. I’d focus on a couple wingers before focusing back on centre as we know how that goes. Bennett and virtanen are big bodied buy low candidates. Virtanen was a scratch last night. Are these ideal quality players? No. But we don’t have much to offer. McCann should get Bennett and maybe add to get kylington seeing he isn’t playing either.

Edit- when healthy anyways. I forgot McCann is out week to week. But if Bennett hasn’t produced in Calgary by then I don’t see why that trade isn’t feasible. Maybe even McCann for both straight up. Idk
- 10inchTerror

I really like the prospect of adding Virtanen. I think a change of scenery might help him. Also like Bennett.

I'm also liking some options in Ottawa. Tierney and Paquette would both be nice depth additions.

I'd call Edmonton and Calgary about Matheson for Neal or Lucic, though not sure either would listen.

I've brought him up before, but I'd love to see if there's a way to pry Lawson Crouse from AZ. I don't know how he's valued, but if there's a way to swing a McCann/Crouse package somehow I'd be all in.
- Rinosaur

Would also love that. I've been wanting to get him since his Florida days. He hasn't done a heck of a lot yet in his career but I think he could still turn out to be a Mantha lite. Just not sure if Zona is in the market to trade young cheap guys right now.

I'd also take the chance on a trade for McCann as you suggest.

The one thing that Pens need to focus on if they make any moves are NOT "CHANGE OF SCENERY" guys.

The Pens don't have the luxury of time given the Sid/Geno window. IMO, any moves they make need to be for established players with a track record. The only reason the Pens should possibly looking to moves like that are if they're DIRT CHEAP and not planning any major splashes until the off-season.

Sorry, there is one player in the bottom 6.
- MacPatty

Don't really think Tanev strikes fear into any Dman to be completely honest.

The one thing that Pens need to focus on if they make any moves are NOT "CHANGE OF SCENERY" guys.

The Pens don't have the luxury of time given the Sid/Geno window. IMO, any moves they make need to be for established players with a track record. The only reason the Pens should possibly looking to moves like that are if they're DIRT CHEAP and not planning any major splashes until the off-season.
- Rinosaur

With what assets lol

What a hack blog. Burke is right that the last 3 winners had some size, notably in the bottom 6 and blue line. It doesn't mean he thinks they should pick up Godard, Brashear, and tibbets. Just some players that will forecheck and clear the front.

I've brought him up before, but I'd love to see if there's a way to pry Lawson Crouse from AZ. I don't know how he's valued, but if there's a way to swing a McCann/Crouse package somehow I'd be all in.
- Rinosaur

Crouse would def bring an immediate impact in physicality. He wears my fav number (the number right between my 2 fav players) I don’t know how much he would move th needle offensively compared to say Virtanen but I’d take a shot with him for sure!

I mean Burke’s not wrong that we’re not hard to play against. Like I said before you don’t need bruisers if you have dogs. We don’t have dogs so everyone thinks we need bruisers. We’ll see what Hextall does but I’m not super concerned with Burke’s comments here. I’ll start to get concerned if we go out of our way to acquire a bunch of plugs.

With what assets lol
- j.boyd919

That’s why i think we are limited to change of scenery types. I’d say a line of crouse-jank-Virtanen is a hell of a lot better than with O’Connor and sceviour/Laff. Virtanen was just scratched and van has a lot of bad contracts so I’m sure they wouldn’t mind freeing up 2.5m for minimal.

I’m pretty sure Burke addressed that skill must go with size/grit. I don’t think size is necessarily the issue. It’s playing with size. I mean being big helps that but Burke is right. The crease needs to be cleared. The other crease needs to not be clear. Someone willing to take a beating needs to go there. Big or not. Just a little size makes it easier.
- 10inchTerror

Exactly right. Horny at 5'11" 189 lbs is night and day tougher / grittier than 6'4" 212 lbs Jankowski. Horny plays long pants hockey. But yeah, having at least one guy on both offense and defense who is big and throws his weight around certainly helps. However, we know what happens when "just play" Sully intervenes...

With what assets lol
- j.boyd919

We've got a couple lol. Nothing shiny, but a few things.

The one thing that Pens need to focus on if they make any moves are NOT "CHANGE OF SCENERY" guys.

The Pens don't have the luxury of time given the Sid/Geno window. IMO, any moves they make need to be for established players with a track record. The only reason the Pens should possibly looking to moves like that are if they're DIRT CHEAP and not planning any major splashes until the off-season.
- Rinosaur

I was kind of thinking the opposite. They don't have any assets so they need to take some cheap gambles ala Sprong for Petterson.

2009- Penguins trade Whitney (seen as a skill guy) for Chris Kunitz- hard forechecking, body-banging role player with speed (and a shot)

2016- Penguins trade Perron (seen as a skill guy) for Carl Hagelin- hard forechecking, body banging role player with speed

2017- Already had the two aforementioned players and shored up D depth.

GMRW just loves his numbers and needles to move, but the numbers are right in front of him. Hard forecheckers with some speed are what is needed. People that teams do not want to run into. There are countless times a game when instead of laying the body into someone the Pens opt for the poke check. More often than not, this totally backfires. Time to get back to work- chip it in, bang a body, win the puck and get a shot off. The small speedy skill guys will always get figured out. No substitute for beef. Not saying to go and get a knuckledragger...but we need some beef.

Virtanen would be a good pickup. Vancouver mismanaged him they wanted a Lucic but he just doesn’t have that mean streak in him, but they kept trying to force it upon him and ruined his development IMO.
He’s fast, big, has a powerful but not very accurate shot. His hockey IQ isn’t great, but I still think he would be an excellent middle six guy.

Could be another Brian Rust.
- stackthepads

Virtanen sucks.