The 4th line is going to be a donut...

[netwolf]

Patrick said they are going to go with a bare bones rosted - 12 F, 6D, 2G.

He also said Hilbert and Nordgren would remain up; Taticek and Kolanos would go to WB. I belive both guys staying are wings so assuming Hilbert fills in Recchi's spot and Nordgren plays 4th line, you are left with this.

Hilbert-Crosby-Armstrong
LeClair-Malone-Boguniecki
Surovy-Rita-Koltsov

That leaves the donut 4th line as Roy, Ouellet, and Nordgren. There's no center.

Come to think of it, Rita and Malone aren't natural centermen either.

[Draftnik]

Patrick said they are going to go with a bare bones rosted - 12 F, 6D, 2G.

He also said Hilbert and Nordgren would remain up; Taticek and Kolanos would go to WB. I belive both guys staying are wings so assuming Hilbert fills in Recchi's spot and Nordgren plays 4th line, you are left with this.

Hilbert-Crosby-Armstrong
LeClair-Malone-Boguniecki
Surovy-Rita-Koltsov

That leaves the donut 4th line as Roy, Ouellet, and Nordgren. There's no center.

Come to think of it, Rita and Malone aren't natural centermen either.

Erik Johnson or Phil Kessel should be guaranteed.

[Defence21]

Wow, that's a bit pathetic. Talbot and Christensen need to be rounding out this team. If it were me, I'd keep 13 forwards, 6 defensemen and 2 goalies and would have the lines as follows:

Hilbert-Crosby-Armstrong
Surovy-Christensen-Rita
LeClair-Malone-Boguniecki
Ouellet-Talbot-Nordgren
ex:Roy

[Jesse]

The first line should be interesting to watch.

I'm interested as to what Hilbert's reaction will be the next time someone cheap shot's Sid.

Apparantly he has a track record of extreme pride and whatnot towards his team/teammates.

[netwolf]

Patrick's reason for the minimum roster in Pittsburgh was all about Wilkes-Barre and their Calder run. By keeping no extras up here, if a player gets injured he can recall someone on an emergency basis, which has some benefit to WB clear day roster, or waivers or somtehing.

[Defence21]

The first line should be interesting to watch.

I'm interested as to what Hilbert's reaction will be the next time someone cheap shot's Sid.

Apparantly he has a track record of extreme pride and whatnot towards his team/teammates.

Wow. That is exactly what you want to hear about players. Even if he doesn't pan out as a top liner, he might end up being the energy-type guy we need for a 3rd line winger.

[Defence21]

Patrick's reason for the minimum roster in Pittsburgh was all about Wilkes-Barre and their Calder run. By keeping no extras up here, if a player gets injured he can recall someone on an emergency basis, which has some benefit to WB clear day roster, or waivers or somtehing.

That makes sense. Even so, I just don't see why the Pens would consider going with 1 natural center, 1 coverted centers, and 2 make-shift centers. Even if this team is shooting for a high draft pick, this doesn't make much sense. These guys should be on a tryout and, as we have seen with players in the past (Fata), sometime playing a guy at the wrong position can really destroy his game.

[Jesse]

The first line should be interesting to watch.

I'm interested as to what Hilbert's reaction will be the next time someone cheap shot's Sid.

Apparantly he has a track record of extreme pride and whatnot towards his team/teammates.

Wow. That is exactly what you want to hear about players. Even if he doesn't pan out as a top liner, he might end up being the energy-type guy we need for a 3rd line winger.

Hopefully he's a bit tougher than pfim indicated. But the guy definitely has skill, he just needs someone to bring it out. I'm hoping that with Sid and Colby feeding him the puck/recieving it that it really helps his game.

The potential is there, but as we Penguin fans are learning, Potential is an crude mistress.

[netwolf]

Maybe Hilbert won't play with Crosby after all:

Craig Patrick on Andy Hilbert: "He's a young guy that's run some good numbers in the past. We watched him play a bunch over the years, and we've liked what he can do. He can play center, he can play wing, he can play point on the power play. He's a young guy who we feel, along with a lot of the other guys we got (Thursday), can hopefully fit in with us and the young guys we've got going forward."'

[Jesse]

Maybe Hilbert won't play with Crosby after all:

Craig Patrick on Andy Hilbert: "He's a young guy that's run some good numbers in the past. We watched him play a bunch over the years, and we've liked what he can do. He can play center, he can play wing, he can play point on the power play. He's a young guy who we feel, along with a lot of the other guys we got (Thursday), can hopefully fit in with us and the young guys we've got going forward."'

I'm not sure that indicates one way or another, Net, but maybe we'll see the return of ol' Tommy Surovy to the top line?

[netwolf]

I guess we'll know on Saturday, right?

[Canes-KA14]

Nordgren may surprise you. Since the Olympic break he'd been skating on Carolina's 3rd line with Whitney and Cullen. Don't write him off as a 4th liner only. He does have some grit and speed, and if he can learn to finish more, he's going to open a few eyes.

[BurghThing]

This team has a #1 line, and three #4s

[ExPatriatePen]

Uhhh, the 4th line is the least of this teams problems...

Which 4th line ????

[conforto45]

we remember how after last seasons deadline, the team went on a roll and won 15 games or something like that? and we were getting our hopes up and thinking that this team would be pretty good in the next season now that they finally got their roles and were gelling...


interesting to see if this team will be any different.. or if they might lose their last 19 games