PensFan1969's blog
Pittsburgh not better?
Wednesday July 09, 2008 @ 08:41 PM EDT
I guess people are only paying attention to the players that are leaving Pittsburgh. That is the only reason I can think of for so many comments by people who think that Pittsburgh will not be better next season.
In my opinion, Pittsburgh is already better and they will only improve over the course of the regular season. Sure we lost Hossa and Malone, the two best evacuees. I never expected Marian Hossa to stay and I figured Malone would follow the money (he is a new dad after all). Conklin is a loss, but I think Sabourin will improve and Fleury finally proved that he’s a great goaltender. Ruutu, Roberts and Laraque will be missed too.
Hossa and Malone have already been replaced by outstanding players in Satan, Feditenko and Finn phenom Pesonen (the guy is amazing). Feditenko’s Stanley Cup experience partly fills the Roberts void and Ruutu and Laraque have already been replaced by role-players Cooke and Godard.
Add to the roster guys like Goligoski and Caputi and the fact that last year’s experience will give a tremendous boost to a team that looks like it will be together for five years, Pittsburgh is going to be an amazing force on the ice.
GO PENS!!!
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5 Comments - 9 Replies
PensFan1969
Jul 10 2008 13:11
In addition
Stats are just stats. It’s all about chemistry and style out there on the ice. Until his two months with the Penguins, Marian Hossa was underrated. Playing with Sidney Crosby elevated his game. Satan, Feditenko, Pesonen will all be better playing with Crosby, Malkin and Staal. Stats don’t mean anything without analysis of the entire picture and just to say that Satan and Feditenko haven’t posted good stats the pas couple of years is an empty statement without looking at some of the reasons why they didn’t post good stats.
PENSFANVICT...
Jul 10 2008 02:23
Let's not forget
The Penguins were two points away from first place despite only having Hossa for like 2 months and Crosby only played 53 games. They pretty much kept their entire core in tact yeah they lost a few guys but now a days you’ll notice that players seem to come and go but they added a few guys that aren’t coming off their best seasons but I remember when Satan was in buffalo he wasn’t half bad. I think playing with the talent in Pittsburgh will elevate his game and Matt cooke is a good player I’m from BC I’ve watched him for years. He’s quick with a lot of energy, pretty much hits somebody every shift and even chips in on offense every now and then. Ruutu kind of sucked from time to time.. he was good on shoot outs. Regardless The Pens are solid throughout their lineup and I’m looking forward to them going deep in the playoffs next year.
Etienne
Jul 09 2008 21:10
Oh come on
Take the homer googles off. Satan would not make the first line in any NHL teams, or the 2nd one in a cup contender. He’ll probably replace Malone production-wise, but Hossa’s departure left the Penguins without a single legitimate 1st line winger (or anything that comes close to it).
Experience is overrated. If having “SCF experience” had any effect at all, I’m pretty sure more than just 1 Cup finalist in the last 10 years would have made it past the 1st round in the next season.
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There are young players learning in every team. Just how much they will improve is something that we can’t predict because basically we have no fugging idea of what will happen. There will be surprises and disappointment.
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What we have now are rosters, and even there it’s incomplete. And, ON PAPER, the Penguins are not as good as they were in the SCF. Compared to last summer, they’re pretty much even, but they lost young guys in the Hossa deal (totally affordable in that context, but Shero can’t keep handing out prospects forever or it will backfire in his face).
Sens_Stars
Jul 09 2008 21:08
Uh
Your can’t even compared Roberts with Fedotenko. Plus Cooke and Godard are bad replacements for Laraque and Ruutu. And Satan isn’t that good anymore really. He’s like a 15 goal scorer…how is that Hossa??? So, ya basically, the Pens aren’t even close to as good they were last year. Sorry.
twentytwo
Jul 09 2008 20:54
Sorry
you haven’t fully made up for what you lost yet. Trust me, I’ve gone pretty in depth into it.