Official GDT: Pens vs Utah 11/23/24

[FLPensFan]

Nashville is up 3-1 on Winnipeg. Nashville, currently the least points in the NHL, is beating the best team.
Chicago lost in OT to Philly, giving Chicago a point tonight. If NSH goes on to win, Chicago and Montreal become tied for least points overall.
SJ is also beating Buffalo 2-1 halfway through the game. A win by SJ will give them more points than the Penguins.

4 of the 6 teams below the Penguins in the standings (SJ, NSH, UTA, CHI) are all in line to pickup points tonight, while OTT and MTL, plus PIT, are set to lose.

We lost to DET, we lost to CBJ, we had to go to OT to beat SJ. This team is no longer just losing to the good teams and beating the bad teams...they are now starting to lose to the bad teams, too.

Pure, total insanity.

[Zalapski33]

Ned going to give up 5+ playing that deep tonight.

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

[Daniel]

All of a sudden it’s become acceptable for the Pens to be a bottom 5 team in the league.

Our POHO needs to show some leadership asap. And send a message out.

That’s my biggest problem with this franchise right now. They don’t even care how bad everything is like they don’t know anything about the sport.

If only our POHO would fire the GM and the coach...

Remember when I said Dubas was overrated.

Overall I haven't been all that impressed with him. He seems to be Rutherford 2.0 in terms of having a goal of getting 22 contracts with minimal competition in September. Good to see Pickering, Poulin, etc on the NHL roster, but when the injured scrubs come back it'll be business as usual. If new ownership and new management can't get this franchise out of it's rut, what will?

Hayes, Beauvillier, Lizotte, Glass, Grzelcyk...that's a few too many guys that you need to "hope" have rebound seasons and pickup their play. I get why he did Hayes and Glass (for the picks), but this is similar to what the Penguins did under Rutherford several years ago when we brought in ERod, Simon, Jankowski, Gaudreau, and Sceviou...just too many guys to bank on all or most of them having a revival. Statistics aren't very favorable there. And when the large majority of them fail...your team looks like...THIS.

That's a strategy for an expansion team, not a team expecting to win the cup. What if ERod, Jankowski, Gaudreau, Sceviour were Bjorkqvist, Drozg, Hallander and Hayes, Beauvillier, Lizotte, Glass, Grzelcyk were Poulin, Legare (was part of the worthless Karlsson trade), Svejkovsky? The team might have been the same, might have been better. The thing is, all those scrub players were what they were and not going to get better, though I have to admit ERod did pretty well.

I also get Hayes and Glass but the trades wouldn't have been necessary with proper asset management. How many players need to give up on their NHL dream and go back to Europe before we see the organization as the common denominator in all these situations?

[Catfishcol87]

Fire Sullivan they had enough of this system!

[Crash66]

Time for fans in the stands to break out the paper bags.

[Daniel]

Ned going to give up 5+ playing that deep tonight.

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

[Zalapski33]

Nashville is up 3-1 on Winnipeg. Nashville, currently the least points in the NHL, is beating the best team.
Chicago lost in OT to Philly, giving Chicago a point tonight. If NSH goes on to win, Chicago and Montreal become tied for least points overall.
SJ is also beating Buffalo 2-1 halfway through the game. A win by SJ will give them more points than the Penguins.

4 of the 6 teams below the Penguins in the standings (SJ, NSH, UTA, CHI) are all in line to pickup points tonight, while OTT and MTL, plus PIT, are set to lose.

We lost to DET, we lost to CBJ, we had to go to OT to beat SJ. This team is no longer just losing to the good teams and beating the bad teams...they are now starting to lose to the bad teams, too.

Pure, total insanity.

And getting Boat Raced by the bottom feeders.
CBJ and Utah have beaten us outscoring the Pens 12-3.

[Catfishcol87]

Never seen them play this uninspired!

[Catfishcol87]

Start the fire Sullivan chats!

[Zalapski33]

Ned going to give up 5+ playing that deep tonight.

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

After watching these horrid performances I guess I was out of negative things to post here.

[DelPen]

Never seen them play this uninspired!

Not for this long of a period. They quit on Therrien and he was gone pretty quick. Under Johnston they played hard but did exactly what he wanted and it was a horrible product on the ice and he lasted just over a year. Bylsma was never this bad either.

This team has looked disinterested since 2022.

[Daniel]

Never seen them play this uninspired!

It's like watching the Walking Dead with skates. I stopped watching about halfway through and I'm getting less and less interested as the season goes. Frankly if it wasn't for the fact that I've been coming to this website for 25 years, I'd probably not even know they were playing.

[FLPensFan]

Time for fans in the stands to break out the paper bags.

I am EXTREMELY surprised the fire Sullivan chants have not started in the arena these last few games.

[DelPen]

Pickering is everything that Graves isn’t.

[Daniel]

Ned going to give up 5+ playing that deep tonight.

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

After watching these horrid performances I guess I was out of negative things to post here.

How about something positive then. Owen Pickering has looked like he belongs and the 3rd line of Puljujarvi/O'Connor/Poulin has looked pretty good as well.

Something else, WBS looks really good so far this season and that new coach might be legit.

[DelPen]

Yes, boo them, they deserve to hear that fans are not happy so they can hopefully do something about it. When the boos stop you are totally screwed.

[BurghThing]

Pickering is everything that Graves isn’t.

Don't worry, Sully will coach it out of him.

[FLPensFan]

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

After watching these horrid performances I guess I was out of negative things to post here.

How about something positive then. Owen Pickering has looked like he belongs and the 3rd line of Puljujarvi/O'Connor/Poulin has looked pretty good as well.

Something else, WBS looks really good so far this season and that new coach might be legit.

Pickering looks good. Brunicke looks like he could step up and play in the NHL next season. Broz and Koivunen have looked good. McGroarty....well, let's hope he figures it out. I'd rather have Broz, Koivunen, DOC, Puljujarvi, Poulin, Puustinen, Gruden, and McGroarty all in the bottom 6 mix next year, instead of Acciari, Hayes, Lizotte (he can maybe stay), Glass, etc. Just go with the young guys. Rather sink with them than a bunch of dead weight that adds nothing to the team.

[Zalapski33]

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

After watching these horrid performances I guess I was out of negative things to post here.

How about something positive then. Owen Pickering has looked like he belongs and the 3rd line of Puljujarvi/O'Connor/Poulin has looked pretty good as well.

Definitely Agree on this.Pickering has played well,his future is promising.That 3rd Line should be left intact,they consistently were effective.

[Zalapski33]

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

After watching these horrid performances I guess I was out of negative things to post here.

How about something positive then. Owen Pickering has looked like he belongs and the 3rd line of Puljujarvi/O'Connor/Poulin has looked pretty good as well.

Something else, WBS looks really good so far this season and that new coach might be legit.

Pickering looks good. Brunicke looks like he could step up and play in the NHL next season. Broz and Koivunen have looked good. McGroarty....well, let's hope he figures it out. I'd rather have Broz, Koivunen, DOC, Puljujarvi, Poulin, Puustinen, Gruden, and McGroarty all in the bottom 6 mix next year, instead of Acciari, Hayes, Lizotte (he can maybe stay), Glass, etc. Just go with the young guys. Rather sink with them than a bunch of dead weight that adds nothing to the team.

Every one of the WBS Forwards should be given priority next year.Get Ponomarev,Kouivunen and Broz a look this Season. Give McGroarty time to develop and don't rush him too soon.And Brunicke needs to be on this Roster next Year.

[Crash66]

Brunicke has a broken wrist. Hope it doesn't hamper his development too much.

[Daniel]

You knew from the start where this was going tonight.

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

After watching these horrid performances I guess I was out of negative things to post here.

How about something positive then. Owen Pickering has looked like he belongs and the 3rd line of Puljujarvi/O'Connor/Poulin has looked pretty good as well.

Something else, WBS looks really good so far this season and that new coach might be legit.

Pickering looks good. Brunicke looks like he could step up and play in the NHL next season. Broz and Koivunen have looked good. McGroarty....well, let's hope he figures it out. I'd rather have Broz, Koivunen, DOC, Puljujarvi, Poulin, Puustinen, Gruden, and McGroarty all in the bottom 6 mix next year, instead of Acciari, Hayes, Lizotte (he can maybe stay), Glass, etc. Just go with the young guys. Rather sink with them than a bunch of dead weight that adds nothing to the team.

I'd like to watch the games and see why McGroarty isn't scoring. I think Pickering scored a bit prior to the AHL and had 0 points during his time, possibly to learn defense first. If McGroarty is typical of his age as a forward, he might not be good at defense (honestly don't know the answer). If that's the case, it might be that MacDonald is specifically stressing defense for him until it becomes habitual and we'll see better scoring as time goes on. I wonder if MacDonald is stressing defense first for the team overall though.

Looking at the age of the roster and noticing that they give up about 2.4 ppg and score about 3.28 ppg, he's probably using a passive system hopefully to get the team into more defensive awareness. I have a feeling WBS is actually being used to develop players, something we haven't seen in awhile.

[Daniel]

In all fairness if he said before every game the Penguins would give up 5+ goals, he'd be right half the time.

Holy crap, I was fooling around then looked it up and I wasn't wrong by much.

After watching these horrid performances I guess I was out of negative things to post here.

How about something positive then. Owen Pickering has looked like he belongs and the 3rd line of Puljujarvi/O'Connor/Poulin has looked pretty good as well.

Something else, WBS looks really good so far this season and that new coach might be legit.

Pickering looks good. Brunicke looks like he could step up and play in the NHL next season. Broz and Koivunen have looked good. McGroarty....well, let's hope he figures it out. I'd rather have Broz, Koivunen, DOC, Puljujarvi, Poulin, Puustinen, Gruden, and McGroarty all in the bottom 6 mix next year, instead of Acciari, Hayes, Lizotte (he can maybe stay), Glass, etc. Just go with the young guys. Rather sink with them than a bunch of dead weight that adds nothing to the team.

Every one of the WBS Forwards should be given priority next year.Get Ponomarev,Kouivunen and Broz a look this Season. Give McGroarty time to develop and don't rush him too soon.And Brunicke needs to be on this Roster next Year.

I've been saying this for several years, just go into training camp with open slots to create competition. When was the last time training camp had any openings where we discussed who would fill that last slot or last 2 slots? Usually it's 22 contracts 22 slots and the only discussions involve the line arrangements. If you have waiver exemption why bother.

Lot of discussion about drafting poorly, but I think the issue is development and opportunity. The draft doesn't matter if the player can never make it past WBS. Someone brought up the Penguins missing out on Pastrnak. Doesn't matter since we'd be having the opposite conversation wondering why Pastrnak was a bust.

[Maestro]

Can’t wait for the draft lottery. Fingers crossed!

[BurghThing]

OK, we got to see Sid get 600. Time to move on to other forms of entertainment. When this organization decides to be a professional hockey organization, I might start paying attention again.

Can't believe I went from a 10 year season ticket holder to not giving a crap, but that's what they've done.