Pens @ Jets Pregame Thread

[Gaucho]

Dave Molinari ‏@MolinariPG
Lovejoy in for Despres tonight.

[meecrofilm]

Can't say I'm a huge fan of that choice. If anything I thought Engo would be getting scratched.. and for Bortuzzo.

[Paekman]

RS has to play Lovejoy at some point, especially if he's really looking to move him. Based on Rossi's blog today (I know, I know...), Despres could be in a similar situation.

[Gaucho]

It's not sexy, but yeah, I guess it makes sense. In some way. Possibly maybe. I guess.

[penny lane]

since the bottom pair get less than 8-10 mins; why? unless just to make a change.

let's go pens!

[Gaucho]

Dejan Kovacevic ‏@Dejan_Kovacevic
Bylsma: Vokoun starting tonight, primarily because hasn't fared well vs. Senators, next opponent.

[Gaucho]

Bylsma on Despres: "We want to see more consistency in play, demeanor."

[JoseCuervo]

I know tangradi's been getting a lot of flack (and rightfully so), but Despres has also looked pretty bad so far. I'm not sure what the deal is because it looks like he has regressed from last year.

[Gaucho]

Trying to do too much, I'd say.

[The Snapshot]

It makes no sense to have Bortuzzo sitting out at this point in his development, but it is really based on his waiver status that he is here sitting. My only concern is that in order to protect two young players who would need to be waived, leaves us with no veteran reserves if they stay and this is a way to showcase Lovejoy for a trade of some kind.

Lovejoy wouldn't bring much though, so I guess we have to accept the reality of asset management that applies here. We either give Lovejoy away and have no veteran depth, or we trade away Despres for a potentially better return and rotate Bortuzzo into the mix keeping Lovejoy as our 7th D for spot duty.

I know we do not want to keep 8 D around, and I'm guessing we don't want two young guys in the lineup every night.

[meecrofilm]

I don't think Despres has been as bad as people are making him out to be.

[slappybrown]

I don't think so either. And unlike Tangradi, I can at least recall a specific instance where he made a play that made me think he could live up to his potential, the nifty off the boards pass to Vitale that led to the Kennedy goal.

[Gaucho]

I remember some nifty turnovers, unfortunately.

[relantel]

Vokoun to start.

[The Snapshot]

I don't think so either. And unlike Tangradi, I can at least recall a specific instance where he made a play that made me think he could live up to his potential, the nifty off the boards pass to Vitale that led to the Kennedy goal.

Agreed. He can be a top 4 or perhaps even top pair D in this league. If they trade him we need to get something good. A top 6 established Wing would be great.

That said, I don't like the idea of trading him without Letang's ink on an extension.

[slappybrown]

I remember some nifty turnovers, unfortunately.

For sure. But his play has been mixed IMO, whereas Tangradi has been uniformly poor.

[Gaucho]

I remember some nifty turnovers, unfortunately.

For sure. But his play has been mixed IMO, whereas Tangradi has been uniformly poor.

True. Tangradi has shown absolutely nothing to get excited about.

[penny lane]

I remember some nifty turnovers, unfortunately.

I remember superstar nifty from both Sid and Gino. Despres is gaining experience.

[Idoit40fans]

Trying to do too much, I'd say.

Yeah, it looks like time in WBS negatively affected him. He thought he had to do it all there and looked bad doing it and that seems to have carried over.

[Gaucho]

It is irritating that I think Talbot whenever someone says superstar.

[meecrofilm]

An offensively inclined rookie defenseman is going to make some mistakes, no doubt. But they have to work through them. At this point I'd say the good has outweighed the bad thus far. Heck, at least Despres didn't get walked by outside like Letang did on that one Leaf goal.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

Despres had an awful year in WBS (I have heard, this is second hand from what I have read). He didn't look exceptionally bad for us so far because he isn't doing well so they guard his situation and ice time. I doubt we get a top 6 forward for him unless its a rental at the deadline.

If we don't get some depth dmen to help eat up some minutes, short season or not our top 4 are gonna be dead by march. It's not just the sheer number of minutes, it's that eat up all the "tough" minutes as well.

[Staggy]

Twitter:

Covering the Jets in Wpg in the early 90's, city always had a buzz when Gretzky came to town. Crosby's visit has created similar mood. #TSN

[Tico Rick]

I disappoint that 'Tuzzo won't be in tonight.

[DelPen]

Despres started strong b ut got hurt and hasn't has a chance to get his game back. He should have stayed in WBS logging 18-20 minutes.

That being said, he's been fine on defense, the mistakes he made he recovered from mostly. He's looked like a rookie, which is OK, and held his own fine vs the Rags and Flyers.

Everyone sucked in the Leafs game, for Bylsma to point him out as needing more consistancy and let the rest of the team skate is ridiculous.