Chuck Kobasew signed to tryout contract

[shafnutz05]

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=682033

Forward depth isn't the worst thing, I suppose.

[tfrizz]

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=682033

Forward depth isn't the worst thing, I suppose.

[SolidSnake]

Worth a shot

[shoeshine boy]

I always thought he was a hard worker when he was in Calgary. if we can get him on the cheap I'm all for it.

[canaan]

The old BC Eagles squad back together.

[DelPen]

He was the Avs #4 forward on the PK the last two years. Could make moving Jokinen or Glass easier to move if he makes the team and plays PK for us.

[mikey287]

He's much closer to a TK replacement than D'Agostini for those wondering. Stylistically.

[Steve Dave]

He's much closer to a TK replacement than D'Agostini for those wondering. Stylistically.

Was thinking the same, slightly bigger, older version of TK.

[Defence21]

He's much closer to a TK replacement than D'Agostini for those wondering. Stylistically.

That's not a bad thing. TK was a fine player when he focused on what was necessary and played to his capabilities -- which wasn't that often as his career progressed. To me, TK's strengths always were his speed, quickness, relentlessness, and in a non-agitating way, agitating. By the last one, I mean that his game of chippy hits and never-die attitude ticked off opponents -- of course, this all was dependent on him actually playing that type of game, which, again, didn't happen as often as it should have.

I don't believe the Penguins need a D'Agostini. I believe they need another TK -- but one who is consistent in his effort. On another note, D'Agostini's cheap contract makes him, in my opinion, a likely candidate to be shipped to WBS via waivers. He, along with Connor and Ebbett sound more like AHL depth than NHL'ers.

[mikey287]

Kobasew has better hockey sense and better defense probably. I'm not sure he's as fast anymore. But he'd be a fine addition to the bottom six. You guys would like him more than Glass probably...I like him more than D'Agostini...

[shmenguin]

if sutter is the center, a TK analogue doesn't sound like a good idea.

[murphydump55]

Kobasew has better hockey sense and better defense probably. I'm not sure he's as fast anymore. But he'd be a fine addition to the bottom six. You guys would like him more than Glass probably...I like him more than D'Agostini...

I like anyone better than Glass. I like Kobasew because of his PK ability. I'm not a fan of Glass on the PK.

[pcm]

This makes a lot more sense than D'Agostini. He was a good player 5 years ago with the B's. Injuries have slowed him down though. Not a bad depth guy to have around if he fits in. I'd say he's a lot more like Fedetenko than TK.

[pcm]

if sutter is the center, a TK analogue doesn't sound like a good idea.

This is a good observation. Sutter plays a smart well-rounded game. He needs to play with players who can think on their skates. TK and Cooke were not the best fit for that... at all.

I could see a guy like Jeffrey working well with Sutter.... Will be interseting to see how that 3rd line takes shape.

[meow]

I've always been a Kobasew fan. this signing

[largegarlic]

I, too, liked Kobasew when he was with the Bruins. I haven't seen him play much since then, but if he can come close to that level/style of play, he could be an ideal bottom-6 forward for the Pens.

[shmenguin]

in the category of "i know we don't NEED offense, but this is still depressing"...

in the 2011-2012 season, if you take our bottom 6 forwards (cooke, staal, tk, adams, asham, park) and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: 209 total points
if you take the 2012-2013 numbers for sutter, 2 out of 3 of jeffery/kobasew/d'agostini (they're all pretty similar), adams, glass and vitale and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: 103 total points

that's an unbelievable drop - even considering that we HAD to let staal go.

[Defence21]

in the category of "i know we don't NEED offense, but this is still depressing"...

in the 2011-2012 season, if you take our bottom 6 forwards (cooke, staal, tk, adams, asham, park) and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: 209 total points
if you take the 2012-2013 numbers for sutter, 2 out of 3 of jeffery/kobasew/d'agostini (they're all pretty similar), adams, glass and vitale and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: 103 total points

that's an unbelievable drop - even considering that we HAD to let staal go.

One positive spin on this -- and I can't crunch the numbers right now to prove it -- but the top-six forwards are deeper and less reliant on Malkin and Crosby to be successful, making them more difficult to shut down. Of course, this can be refuted by simply referencing the Boston series.

One other nit-picky note: one of Bennett or Jokinen will be on the third line, which will raise that number slightly -- not by 106 points, but by a few

[shmenguin]

One positive spin on this -- and I can't crunch the numbers right now to prove it -- but the top-six forwards are deeper and less reliant on Malkin and Crosby to be successful, making them more difficult to shut down. Of course, this can be refuted by simply referencing the Boston series.

the top 6 is nearly identical to what it was over that last 2 seasons. this is a fuzzy experiment but...

2011-2012 kunitz, crosby, dupuis, neal, malkin, sullivan extrapolation: 522 total points
2012-2013 kunitz, crosby, dupuis, neal, malkin, jokinen extrapolation: 496 total points

kunitz was the only player who got significantly better (point-wise) last year. but that was offset by malkin's dip. dupuis' point production has been steady over the last 2 seasons - he was just goal heavy last year.

[pugilist13]

The old BC Eagles squad back together.

The keyword being "old". Now if they can find a way to get Krys Kolanos we'll be set.

[SolidSnake]

in the category of "i know we don't NEED offense, but this is still depressing"...

in the 2011-2012 season, if you take our bottom 6 forwards (cooke, staal, tk, adams, asham, park) and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: 209 total points
if you take the 2012-2013 numbers for sutter, 2 out of 3 of jeffery/kobasew/d'agostini (they're all pretty similar), adams, glass and vitale and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: [b]103 total
that's an unbelievable drop - even
considering that we HAD to let staal go.

You'll never get over this staal thing

[Pens4Life]

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=682033

Forward depth isn't the worst thing, I suppose.

Good,maybe he can crack the lineup and play some bottom 6 minutes.

[shmenguin]

in the category of "i know we don't NEED offense, but this is still depressing"...

in the 2011-2012 season, if you take our bottom 6 forwards (cooke, staal, tk, adams, asham, park) and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: 209 total points
if you take the 2012-2013 numbers for sutter, 2 out of 3 of jeffery/kobasew/d'agostini (they're all pretty similar), adams, glass and vitale and extrapolate all of their individual points out to 82 games, they end up with: [b]103 total
that's an unbelievable drop - even
considering that we HAD to let staal go.

You'll never get over this staal thing

depends on what happens with pouliot.

but for the bazillionth time, i understand that staal wasn't re-signing here after his contract ran out no matter what. this disparity, however, goes beyond just losing a good center.

[Beveridge]

I know I'm going to get "but Boston series" (even though it had very little to do with bottom 6) thrown back in my face....

While that point total gap is quite large, I still argue that scoring is not our problem.


I'd like to see the numbers (+/-), (GAA between lines 1-2 vs 3-4), etc for that same period.

What are the non offensive stats telling us?

[Gaucho]

Like.