MAF

[VENOM]

One of his biggest improvements this season seemed to be his puck handling and his movement behind the net. He looked real good the first 4 weeks of the season with this, but the last few games he seems to be looking like the MAF of old. The past 2 games he has mishandled a few pucks behind the net and almost got caught out of position like he often used to. Hopefully the staff sees this and gets him looking at some tape to get back on track. Then again I wonder if the staff ever looks at tape of the PP??????

[C4 Row E]

Fleury was the only reason the Pens were in the game as long as they were last night. The team is just not producing enough offense right now with 4 starters out of the lineup, which is to be expected. It'll all come full circle soon enough. 12-4 with the injury bug hitting early. No complaints here.

[Pipes Hochuli]

The kings likely scouted us well, as did the ducks and jackets, coupled with their quick zone entries, probably forced him to play the puck in more uncomfortable situations

[offsides]

Fleury was the only reason the Pens were in the game as long as they were last night. The team is just not producing enough offense right now with 4 starters out of the lineup, which is to be expected. It'll all come full circle soon enough. 12-4 with the injury bug hitting early. No complaints here.

Yep, I hate to say it, but our so called depth at forward is nonexistent. Bourque and Conner are borderline NHL players. We are going to have to stay healthy because no one at WBS seems to be stepping up.

[Pitt87]

Fleury was the only reason the Pens were in the game as long as they were last night. The team is just not producing enough offense right now with 4 starters out of the lineup, which is to be expected. It'll all come full circle soon enough. 12-4 with the injury bug hitting early. No complaints here.

Yep, I hate to say it, but our so called depth at forward is nonexistent. Bourque and Conner are borderline NHL players. We are going to have to stay healthy because no one at WBS seems to be stepping up.

You have to be kidding; Bourque and Connor have very little NHL experience and you can't count on them to score when they get the least TOI on the team. We have the most GF in the NHL, and the scoring champion hasn't played in a week. Mike Rupp has 4 goals, and we're getting scoring from all 4 lines plus hardly even talking about missing Gonchar.

Fleury had a ton of traffic going to the net last night, especially from Ryan Smyth. That line killed us, but Fleury handled it better than he has in the past. He's becoming a pretty mature goaltender...

[VENOM]

I'm not complaining about his over all play or the 12-4 start. I just hope MAF isn't trying to do too much since the injuries. He may be and causing himself to make a few more mistakles than he was earlier. Thats where the coaching staff comes in to get that chink back out of the armor.

Concerning depth at forward. They have depth, but not finishers. You can take 70% of them and toss them in a hat. Pull one out and I bet whoever it is, they're fast, they can skate well, they pass well, but can't finish. I'll take that any day. Most of the teams in the NHL would love to have our fringe players on their 2nd or 3rd line.

[offsides]

Fleury was the only reason the Pens were in the game as long as they were last night. The team is just not producing enough offense right now with 4 starters out of the lineup, which is to be expected. It'll all come full circle soon enough. 12-4 with the injury bug hitting early. No complaints here.

Yep, I hate to say it, but our so called depth at forward is nonexistent. Bourque and Conner are borderline NHL players. We are going to have to stay healthy because no one at WBS seems to be stepping up.

You have to be kidding; Bourque and Connor have very little NHL experience and you can't count on them to score when they get the least TOI on the team. We have the most GF in the NHL, and the scoring champion hasn't played in a week. Mike Rupp has 4 goals, and we're getting scoring from all 4 lines plus hardly even talking about missing Gonchar.

Fleury had a ton of traffic going to the net last night, especially from Ryan Smyth. That line killed us, but Fleury handled it better than he has in the past. He's becoming a pretty mature goaltender...

Actually we are tenth in the league in goals per game at 3.12. The Flyers are first at 3.67. You are also making my point by saying we cannot count on certain players to score because we have very little "quality" depth at forward. They don't get ice time for a reason; they can't play very well.

[steelhammer]

for all the OMG, Fleury is NHL best, start on team canada for sure talk; he is is 19th in the league in sv%. he is behind Emery (kind of far actually), Biron and Osgood (god that's painful to type).

[JoseCuervo]

Easy there billy mays

[offsides]

for all the OMG, Fleury is NHL best, start on team canada for sure talk; he is is 19th in the league in sv%. he is behind Emery (kind of far actually), Biron and Osgood (god that's painful to type).

Save percentage can be deceiving, but I didn't realize he was that low. I do think his low save percentage has a lot to do with the quality of shots our D is giving up in front of him. He did steal a point for us against the Ducks, but last night LA just kept the pressure on and refused to be denied. We were simply out played and out husseled. MAF kept us in the game for two periods. LA played the third the way the Pens often do.

[C4 Row E]

When the Pens are rolling their 4 healthy lines, there are not too many teams out there that can be competitive in a 7 game series with them.

[C4 Row E]

I wasnt complaining about goals. There is much more to offense that just goals. Quality scoring chances, time in the attack zone, MOVEMENT ON THE POWER PLAY, a good forecheck, etc.......

[Pitt87]

Yep, I hate to say it, but our so called depth at forward is nonexistent. Bourque and Conner are borderline NHL players. We are going to have to stay healthy because no one at WBS seems to be stepping up.

You have to be kidding; Bourque and Connor have very little NHL experience and you can't count on them to score when they get the least TOI on the team. We have the most GF in the NHL, and the scoring champion hasn't played in a week. Mike Rupp has 4 goals, and we're getting scoring from all 4 lines plus hardly even talking about missing Gonchar.

Fleury had a ton of traffic going to the net last night, especially from Ryan Smyth. That line killed us, but Fleury handled it better than he has in the past. He's becoming a pretty mature goaltender...

Actually we are tenth in the league in goals per game at 3.12. The Flyers are first at 3.67. You are also making my point by saying we cannot count on certain players to score because we have very little "quality" depth at forward. They don't get ice time for a reason; they can't play very well.

I think you are missing the point; .5 point difference is not much through 16 games, especially when the team on top has played 1/4 fewer games than most of the league. That said, we have scoring coming from 14 different players this year, and 14 players have played in all 16 games. Only 21 players have played in games so far, so its not like we've put 10 WBS guys on the ice.

You're right, but your thoughts about depth cannot be based on 2 guys who haven't played in the NHL for a reasonable period of time. Bourque and Connor don't get time because they are prospects, and it might be too early for either one to be regular players in this program, but its not fair to say we don't have depth because those two guys who haven't played much haven't scored. Just be patient...

[DocEmrick]

I think it's possible that the Pittsburgh Penguins have a goaltending controversy. Anyone else?

[penny lane]

I think it's possible that the Pittsburgh Penguins have a goaltending controversy. Anyone else?

Sid in as 3rd goalie~

[offsides]

I think you are missing the point; .5 point difference is not much through 16 games, especially when the team on top has played 1/4 fewer games than most of the league. That said, we have scoring coming from 14 different players this year, and 14 players have played in all 16 games. Only 21 players have played in games so far, so its not like we've put 10 WBS guys on the ice.

You're right, but your thoughts about depth cannot be based on 2 guys who haven't played in the NHL for a reasonable period of time. Bourque and Connor don't get time because they are prospects, and it might be too early for either one to be regular players in this program, but its not fair to say we don't have depth because those two guys who haven't played much haven't scored. Just be patient...

Maybe we are comparing apples to oranges here, but when I say depth, I mean people who can step up and play well when injuries occur. Goaltending depth is having someone who can fill in for an injured or tired goalie with very little if any difference, which we have. As far as I can see, we do not have anyone who can fill in when injuries occur at the forward position. All we have are "prospects" for our depth. I also do not see anyone at WBS who looks like they can fill in for more them 7 minutes of ice time a game just to give the starters a breather.

[C4 Row E]

I think you are missing the point; .5 point difference is not much through 16 games, especially when the team on top has played 1/4 fewer games than most of the league. That said, we have scoring coming from 14 different players this year, and 14 players have played in all 16 games. Only 21 players have played in games so far, so its not like we've put 10 WBS guys on the ice.

You're right, but your thoughts about depth cannot be based on 2 guys who haven't played in the NHL for a reasonable period of time. Bourque and Connor don't get time because they are prospects, and it might be too early for either one to be regular players in this program, but its not fair to say we don't have depth because those two guys who haven't played much haven't scored. Just be patient...

Maybe we are comparing apples to oranges here, but when I say depth, I mean people who can step up and play well when injuries occur. Goaltending depth is having someone who can fill in for an injured or tired goalie with very little if any difference, which we have. As far as I can see, we do not have anyone who can fill in when injuries occur at the forward position. All we have are "prospects" for our depth. I also do not see anyone at WBS who looks like they can fill in for more them 7 minutes of ice time a game just to give the starters a breather.

If Tangradi and Caputi cant fill more than 7 minutes of ice time next season this team is hurting. Guerin and Fedotenko won't be back. I believe RS is expecting these 2 to fill their roles on this team.

[offsides]

I think you are missing the point; .5 point difference is not much through 16 games, especially when the team on top has played 1/4 fewer games than most of the league. That said, we have scoring coming from 14 different players this year, and 14 players have played in all 16 games. Only 21 players have played in games so far, so its not like we've put 10 WBS guys on the ice.

You're right, but your thoughts about depth cannot be based on 2 guys who haven't played in the NHL for a reasonable period of time. Bourque and Connor don't get time because they are prospects, and it might be too early for either one to be regular players in this program, but its not fair to say we don't have depth because those two guys who haven't played much haven't scored. Just be patient...

Maybe we are comparing apples to oranges here, but when I say depth, I mean people who can step up and play well when injuries occur. Goaltending depth is having someone who can fill in for an injured or tired goalie with very little if any difference, which we have. As far as I can see, we do not have anyone who can fill in when injuries occur at the forward position. All we have are "prospects" for our depth. I also do not see anyone at WBS who looks like they can fill in for more them 7 minutes of ice time a game just to give the starters a breather.

If Tangradi and Caputi cant fill more than 7 minutes of ice time next season this team is hurting. Guerin and Fedotenko won't be back. I believe RS is expecting these 2 to fill their roles on this team.

I agree C4. I don't know much of what is going on at WBS, but from their website it looks like Tangradi is hurt because he has only played in 3 games (with 1 point) and Caputi has 6 points in 10 games. Doesn't exactly fill me up to overflowing with confidence of our prospects.

[Draftnik]

Orpik & Letang were terrible on 3 of the 5 goals. MAF has his moments where his lack of stickhandling lets him down but on the whole he usually doesn't make bad decisions on a consistent basis. The same can't be said for Orpik & Letang.

[knives of ice]

MAF has been downhill since the NJ game. he set a pretty high standard early in the year but hasn't been as good lately.

[bhaw]

I think you are missing the point; .5 point difference is not much through 16 games, especially when the team on top has played 1/4 fewer games than most of the league. That said, we have scoring coming from 14 different players this year, and 14 players have played in all 16 games. Only 21 players have played in games so far, so its not like we've put 10 WBS guys on the ice.

You're right, but your thoughts about depth cannot be based on 2 guys who haven't played in the NHL for a reasonable period of time. Bourque and Connor don't get time because they are prospects, and it might be too early for either one to be regular players in this program, but its not fair to say we don't have depth because those two guys who haven't played much haven't scored. Just be patient...

Maybe we are comparing apples to oranges here, but when I say depth, I mean people who can step up and play well when injuries occur. Goaltending depth is having someone who can fill in for an injured or tired goalie with very little if any difference, which we have. As far as I can see, we do not have anyone who can fill in when injuries occur at the forward position. All we have are "prospects" for our depth. I also do not see anyone at WBS who looks like they can fill in for more them 7 minutes of ice time a game just to give the starters a breather.

Maybe you could point us all to a team that can cycle a guy in to cover for an injury like Malkin? Or maybe you could show me a team that has top 6 talent just sitting around waiting for an injury.

It doesn't happen. Any team that gets hurt in their top 6 will not have anything besides "prospects" to fill in those positions because you can't afford 9 top six players.

[offsides]

Maybe you could point us all to a team that can cycle a guy in to cover for an injury like Malkin? Or maybe you could show me a team that has top 6 talent just sitting around waiting for an injury.

It doesn't happen. Any team that gets hurt in their top 6 will not have anything besides "prospects" to fill in those positions because you can't afford 9 top six players.

Maybe I should have said prospects that look like they know how to play hockey. I agree with everything you said, but our prospects are just disappointing to say the least. If we have to depend on them for any length of time, or even next year, we could be hurting.

[Draftnik]

The Pens are missing 3 of their top 9 Fs and their top Dman. That is a pretty substantial impairment in a Salary Cap league. Teams can't afford to have high quality depth to cover those types of losses in a Salary Cap era. The dropoff in play is inevitable.

[bhaw]

Maybe you could point us all to a team that can cycle a guy in to cover for an injury like Malkin? Or maybe you could show me a team that has top 6 talent just sitting around waiting for an injury.

It doesn't happen. Any team that gets hurt in their top 6 will not have anything besides "prospects" to fill in those positions because you can't afford 9 top six players.

Maybe I should have said prospects that look like they know how to play hockey. I agree with everything you said, but our prospects are just disappointing to say the least. If we have to depend on them for any length of time, or even next year, we could be hurting.

Well chances are if there is an issue Shero will find a band aid for another season. I'd see if Rupp is extendable around his current contract for another 2 years to keep on hand like Talbot and fill holes in the roster where necessary.

They are only going to need to find 2 guys. TK is going to get bumped up into the top 6. Kunitz will be there. Filling two wingers shouldn't be that much of a problem as long as Kennedy progresses. Guerin really isn't that much of a hockey player right now. He just has Sid and Kunitz doing the work. It won't be hard to find someone to fill that role.

Goligoski is making it easier to let Gonchar go if he wants too much money after this season. They can use what's left from his contract to get a winger. I don't think there's much to worry about even if Caputi and Tangradi need another year.

[Easton]

I don't understand the reason for the big text.