Spector weighs in on the Penguins

[cs6687]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/8513 ... 62&ATT=142

[HockeyDaddy]

Fair article. Let's just get this season started already.

[Rimbaud16]

Nothing new....

[pens#1]

i love how none of these write ups mention how Crosby and Malkin are sure to improve from last year - i guess im getting use to all the doom and gloom from most hockey writers

[DocEmrick]

Yeah why is everyone so focused on the loss of Malone? No offense I like the kid, but Malkin's elevated play really lead to him having the season that he did. I doubt he does as well in TB. Not saying he's a bad player, but come on.

[farnham16]

Seriously, the biggest factor for us this year is the fact that MAF, Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Letang, Orpik, Talbot, and Kennedy are all going to be better than they were last year.

[Defence21]

Yeah why is everyone so focused on the loss of Malone? No offense I like the kid, but Malkin's elevated play really lead to him having the season that he did. I doubt he does as well in TB. Not saying he's a bad player, but come on.

Malone's value comes not in his point total, but his big frame and ability/willingness to go to the front of the net and cause problems. Power forwards are a dying breed, and he mastered it in the previous two years.

With that being said, he's not worth the money he got, and aside from his physical presence, I doubt the Penguins will miss him much. There are plenty of young guys (Kennedy, Talbot, Staal, etc) ready to move toward filling his scoring void -- though only Staal has the frame to fill the physical void).

[CKA24]

I think that it will still be hard for Detroit to escape the West. They are certainly not a lock to win this thing.

That said, I'm mostly worried about the trade deadline. You can only trade away the young guys for so long (read - San Jose). Shero most likely will not trade prospects or picks away at this trade deadline, so who do you trade to get someone in here?

[Pitts]

so who do you trade to get someone in here?

They won't need anyone else here this year.

[wallflower]

That said, I'm mostly worried about the trade deadline. You can only trade away the young guys for so long (read - San Jose). Shero most likely will not trade prospects or picks away at this trade deadline, so who do you trade to get someone in here?

I really don't expect major trade deadline deals to be the norm with Shero and, honestly, if things go well [ie. everyone plays at least as well as they did to end the season & the new guys work out well enough], I don't believe they'll need anything at the deadline. But mostly, IMO, it's far too early to worry about the trade dealine, camp hasn't even started.

[Mongoose87]

so who do you trade to get someone in here?

They won't need anyone else here this year.

If we're constantly trading to pick up the last piece for one year, we're going to suck very, very soon.

[bhaw]

so who do you trade to get someone in here?

They won't need anyone else here this year.

If we're constantly trading to pick up the last piece for one year, we're going to suck very, very soon.

That's why it likely won't happen again this year. And if it does, probably not again for several years.

[Mad City Mike]

I really don't expect major trade deadline deals to be the norm with Shero

Unless Mario intervenes again . You're right, though. They really have little to trade for awhile now. They cashed in the Esposito chip. They dealt depth, too. And the lack of draft picks this year must be made up for with a robust draft next year. All this means is Shero will be adding spare parts and nothing more at the deadline.

[penny lane]

I can't recall, but is M Satan(almost wrote santa) the type of player who wants to carry the puck up the ice? Sid loves having the puck from the get-go. for the play-offs Sid and Hossa made that quirk work.

So very ready for the penguins to start returning to Pittsburgh.

[Mad City Mike]

I can't recall, but is M Satan(almost wrote santa) the type of player who wants to carry the puck up the ice? Sid loves having the puck from the get-go. for the play-offs Sid and Hossa made that quirk work.

So very ready for the penguins to start returning to Pittsburgh.

My impression of him is more that of a sniper. I don't recall him ever being really dominant with the puck. The reason being, guys that carry the puck get hit, and Satan doesn't like that. He's more of a Palffy than a Hossa, if you want some kind of comparables.

[DelPen]

I disagree with his assesment of our weaknesses. Goddard and Cooke will make players fear cheap shots against Malkin and Crosby more than Laraque and Ruutu. Cooke will destroy you and not get calls like Ruutu did. Goddard will actually get people to fight him and will also go after the Steve Downie's of the NHL and will pummel them without thinking about the code that BGL alwasy went by.

We won't miss Hossa'd goals, Satan is as gifted on offense and if Staal gets moved to LW with Sid then that makes up for the loss of Hossa's defense.

Which is better, Dupuis-Crosby-Hossa or Staal-Crosby-Satan. I think they are at worse a wash. And Fedotenko is a better player than Malone, we will miss Malone's middle weight fights but just have Kennedy take whatever roids Scuds took last year and he can take that over.

As far as Conklin goes, he played out of his mind but Fleury is still better. Teams can't worry about having players available to fill in long term. It just does not make good business sense.

[KG]

I disagree with his assesment of our weaknesses. Goddard and Cooke will make players fear cheap shots against Malkin and Crosby more than Laraque and Ruutu. Cooke will destroy you and not get calls like Ruutu did. Goddard will actually get people to fight him and will also go after the Steve Downie's of the NHL and will pummel them without thinking about the code that BGL alwasy went by.

We won't miss Hossa'd goals, Satan is as gifted on offense and if Staal gets moved to LW with Sid then that makes up for the loss of Hossa's defense.

Which is better, Dupuis-Crosby-Hossa or Staal-Crosby-Satan. I think they are at worse a wash. And Fedotenko is a better player than Malone, we will miss Malone's middle weight fights but just have Kennedy take whatever roids Scuds took last year and he can take that over.

As far as Conklin goes, he played out of his mind but Fleury is still better. Teams can't worry about having players available to fill in long term. It just does not make good business sense.

I think the pens will have a big year this coming season but I disagree on both the bolded parts. Satan is no where near as talented as Hossa. Malone is also better then Fedotenko. There is a reason why these players took 1 year deals with the pens to boost up their careers...

[Pitts]

I really don't expect major trade deadline deals to be the norm with Shero

Unless Mario intervenes again . You're right, though. They really have little to trade for awhile now. They cashed in the Esposito chip. They dealt depth, too. And the lack of draft picks this year must be made up for with a robust draft next year. All this means is Shero will be adding spare parts and nothing more at the deadline.

Rather than look for the big deadline deal this year, we might see Shero dealing bit parts for draft picks and moving guys from WBS up. We have waiver rules to worry about this year.

As for my original sentiment, i think the Pens are going to be a force this season from the start. I expect Crosby and Malkin to be absolute beasts this year. Satan and Sykora will have banner years. Staal and Fedotenko will up their games as well.

I also agree with DelPen word for word regarding Cooke and Goddard. For once, it will be nice to see our heavyweight just grab Downey and beat the snot out of him just for being on the ice.

[penny lane]

I can't recall, but is M Satan(almost wrote santa) the type of player who wants to carry the puck up the ice? Sid loves having the puck from the get-go. for the play-offs Sid and Hossa made that quirk work.

So very ready for the penguins to start returning to Pittsburgh.

My impression of him is more that of a sniper. I don't recall him ever being really dominant with the puck. The reason being, guys that carry the puck get hit, and Satan doesn't like that. He's more of a Palffy than a Hossa, if you want some kind of comparables.

So Sid will bring up~ dupuis / fedetanko or sid will go to the corners while satan plants himself in the slot! This could work well.

[DocEmrick]

Malone's value comes not in his point total, but his big frame and ability/willingness to go to the front of the net and cause problems. Power forwards are a dying breed, and he mastered it in the previous two years.

With that being said, he's not worth the money he got, and aside from his physical presence, I doubt the Penguins will miss him much. There are plenty of young guys (Kennedy, Talbot, Staal, etc) ready to move toward filling his scoring void -- though only Staal has the frame to fill the physical void).

Agreed. That's more or less what I meant, without saying it. Malone's numbers were impressive because of a red hot Malkin. I'm not saying we won't miss Gonchar/Whitney/Letang's shots deflecting off Malone's stick, leg, chest, and his screening ability...but as many others have said, I think Staal can take this position, with his large frame.

I just get tired of sports columnists, uneducated Steeler fans, random people who suddenly became Pens fans saying "omg we gunz mizsz Maloneyz!" Mainly, the only reason they knew his name is because he was from Pittsburgh. Again, I'm not saying he's bad...I just don't think his movement will affect the cohesion of the team as much. We have plenty of talented players from WBS and brought in that are CAPABLE of doing the jobs, as most of you have said in previous posts. As negative as we were in July, it's not looking as bad as projected. Honestly, the important thing is we have Malkin, Crosby, Fleury. Not too mention they're a year older and a year hungrier.

[pens#1]

If Shero and the Pens do make a move for a big name this year you can almost bank on it being for a player with more than 3 months left on his current contract or the trade will be announced with that player signing an extension at the time of the trade- if that happens i would guess the deal gets done in December or Jan (not last second like the Hossa deal)

i could see the Pens making a deal like the Flyers did last year which was a Prospal type for a mid round pick and a mid tier prospect

[Henry Hank]

I'd bet that whoever Shero gets, it'll be a guy he wants to keep into the next season. When you look at the major deadline moves he's made, he's acquired five players - Hossa, Dupuis, Gill, Roberts, and Laraque - and five of those six were back for the next season. They intended to re-sign Hossa. Given past precedent, I don't think Shero ever looks at deadline deals as moves that are strictly rentals.

It's just too early to tell what will happen going forward. Last year was incredibly unpredictable going back to the start and this year could be too. We don't know what, if any, major needs they'll have by the deadline. That's going to depend on how guys like Staal, Satan, Fedotenko, Dupuis, and Pesonen perform. That's going to depend on what kinds of injuries they accumulate. I'm sure the plan is that the team will be in shape to win the Cup by the deadline so that no mega moves are necessary.