How shd we measure success here?

[OldMan]

Right now we have 6 rookies on the roster, and 3 more guys 25yo or under. We have a new coach who really cdnt even think of this as "his team" under recently (when Mario retired--God love Mario, but it was always his team, except MAYBE when Badger Bob was the coach (and even then only for the last half of the season)).

So it seems to me that the question might be--do we see improvement, not whether they are "good" as compared to Ottawa, NYR etc.

Throw out Vandenbussche, Roy, Odelein, and Thibault (bcz we surely will as soon as we can) and maybe throw out Recchi, LeClair and Jackman (regardless of whether you think we shd or will), let's not even talk about Gonchar for awile. Of what's left of current team (and others maybe down at WB that you think are notable), let's take a look at whether the rest of the team (the long term core of it) have improved over the course of the year.

I've provided the roster for cut-and-paste purposes, with the above-mentioned deleted, and invite your assessmnts. I will answer my own post in a minute so this one is easy to cut the roster from.

Wingers
Sidney Crosby
Shane Endicott
Colby Armstrong
Konstantin Koltsov
Michel Ouellet
Jani Rita
Tomas Surovy
Eric Christensen
Maxime Talbot

Defensmen
Brooks Orpik
Rob Scuderi
Ryan Whitney

Goalies
Sebastien Caron
Marc-Andre Fleury

Coach Therrien

Thank you for your responses...

[Mad City Mike]

Wingers
Sidney Crosby Yes
Shane Endicott No
Colby Armstrong Yes
Konstantin Koltsov No
Michel Ouellet Yes
Jani Rita ???
Tomas Surovy Yes
Eric Christensen No
Maxime Talbot Yes

Defensmen
Brooks Orpik Yes
Rob Scuderi Yes
Ryan Whitney No

Goalies
Sebastien Caron No
Marc-Andre Fleury No

Coach Therrien No

[OldMan]

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 5:07 pm Post subject: How shd
Wingers
Sidney Crosby--ups and downs but everything we hoped--is he a leader?
Shane Endicott--no consitencey
Colby Armstrong--gritty, but can he score
Konstantin Koltsov--solid 4th liner at best, but decent PK
Michel Ouellet--can he score 5 on 5
Jani Rita--too early to tell
Tomas Surovy--no consistency
Eric Christensen--WHY is he at WB
Maxime Talbot--most improved,biggest surprise

Defensmen
Brooks Orpik--solid enough,and better
Rob Scuderi--improved
Ryan Whitney--worse than at first, but as good as can be expected for age

Goalies
Sebastien Caron--stuck in neutral (ever since he first came up
Marc-Andre Fleury--better but, I bet, tired. Not likely to improve much this year

Coach Therrien--PP, overall scheme better, but can he build on trap style to coax goals out of this team?