Ahem I am Ric Jackman, B!TCH.

[SMTM]

Personally, I will be pissed if the Pens lose or trade Jackman. Gonchar and Jackman on the PP is worth having him on the roster. The only right handed dman beside Odelein and he has one sweet slapshot one timer. Wow this is an exciting game.

[Pens4Life]

Thats right,if we lose him that is bull....,he is worth about a milion contract next year.

[NIN]

at his very best he's a sixth defenseman who has a nice shot from the point on the PP.
if the penguins are stuck with gonchar, which is seems they will be for the next four years, and have any desire to let whitney play through his mistakes and give him as many minutes as possible it doesn't make sense to bring jackman back.


I think you are all forgetting how terrible he is defensively. With Gonchar on the roster they can't afford to have another non-defender.

Jackman has scored 14 of his 26 points at even strength so the myth that he is only a power play specialist has been dispelled. Gonchar has scored 22 of his 31 points on the power play which would seem to indicate that Jackman is a better player 5 on 5 both offensively and defenseively.

Jackman is -11 with 36 PIM in 41 games. Melichar is -7 with 44 PIM in 45 games. Melichar has scored 7 ES points which means he has been on the ice for only 9 less goals then Jackman in 4 more games. Melichar is better defensively but there is a very good reason why he has 7 points in 45 games and Jackman has 26 in 41 games. They work well together and should be paired up as a 3rd unit behind Gonchar/Orpik and Whitney/Scuderi.

The fact is Jackman was never put in the best possible situation to succeed all season. The few games he was paired with either Melichar or Orpik he was able to attack and force the play with clever puck movement through the neutral zone. As long as he is moving the puck well he is a valuable asset, and he has proved time and time again that he is no more a fluke offenseively then Tarnstrom or Gonchar.