My beloved Pens stood (mostly) pat at the deadline, only acquiring old man Bill Guerin from the Isles for a conditional draft pick and claiming energy winger Craig Adams off waivers from Chicago, plus a swap of AHL D-men. Along with the acquisition of Chris Kunitz and a top prospect for struggling D-man Ryan Whitney, the Pens now have a bit more grit and skill up front. I think they can roll out 4 lines and wear teams down, if their D can hold up. Brooks Orpik is still the only D-man they have who is physical AND can skate, so we'll see. I foresee the lines something like this:
Kunitz Crosby Guerin
Fedotenko Malkin Sykora
Cooke Staal Kennedy
Dupuis Talbot Adams/Godard
Gonchar Orpik
Eaton Letang
Gill Scuderi
If I had my druthers I would do the following:
Fedotenko Crosby Guerin
Adams Malkin Sykora
Kunitz Staal Kennedy
Dupuis Talbot Cooke
I would keep Kunitz with Staal and Kennedy because they have great chemistry right now, as does the Dupuis line. Malkin and Sykora are great together, so it doesn't matter who plays on their wing (even enforcer Godard!), while Fedo has some chemistry with Crosby and Guerin and Crosby are friends. With this lineup, the Pens WILL wear teams down for sure.
Gonchar Scuderi
Orpik Letang
Gill Eaton
(Wozniewski Goligoski in reserve, though I would consider having them being the 3rd pairing. Gogo has proven he can play at the NHL level, and Woz, the new AHL guy acquired today, was a plus player for a bad Toronto team last year in nearly 50 games. He's big and probably more mobile than Gill...who isn't? and Blysma wants a more uptempo system.)
The Pens did make a few moves in the past week that made many people think something big was brewing. It is typical for teams to hold out players from practice or games who are about to be traded. When they traded Ryan Whitney, the Pens scratched him from the lineup and said that he had returned home to Boston for a family issue. Apparently his mother had undergone surgery, but it was an odd coincidence when the team he was traded to was in Boston at the time of the trade.
The Pens then waived two players, such that they were below the roster limit, as if they anticipated adding multiple players.
So the Pens made room for multiple players, and they had a player out with an injury that was day-to-day...who was it?
Yep.
Superstar Sidney Crosby! Were they gonna trade him?
I entertained that notion for a second...but the fun thing about the deadline is that you can play around with silly notions like this. So...let's play!
Who would want him? Let's say Chicago, they need a center to complement Toews.
C Sidney Crosby
D Hal Gill
for a HUGE return:
RW Patrick Kane
RW Jack Skille
D Brent Seabrook
D James Wisniewski
1st Round Pick.
The Pens lineup becomes:
Skille Malkin Sykora
Kunitz Staal Kane
Dupuis Talbot Cooke
Adams Kennedy Guerin
Gonchar Seabrook
Orpik Letang
Scuderi Wisniewski
The Pens get Kane and a decent Power Forward prospect in Skille, plus a top pairing D-man (Seabrook) and a good puck moving young D with a mean streak
OR, I imagine the only reason Chicago wants to make that trade is to play Kane and Crosby together...so:
RW Sharp
RW Brouwer
D Brent Seabrook
D James Wisniewski
1st round pick
Replace Kane with Sharp and Skille with Brouwer
Brouwer Malkin Sykora
Kunitz Staal Sharp
Dupuis Talbot Cooke
Adams Kennedy Guerin
Gonchar Seabrook
Orpik Letang
Scuderi Wisniewski
Here the Pens get a Top 6 winger with 36 goals last year and 23 this year, plus a more legitimate Power Forward prospect instead of Kane and Skille. Maybe instead of Wisniewski they could pry away Barker (a restricted FA, however) or their touted Swedish D-man prospect Hjalmarsson.
How would the Blackhawks look?
Brouwer Crosby Havlat
Versteeg Toews Sharp
Ladd Bolland Byfuglien
Eager Fraser Burish
Campbell Walker
Barker Keith
Johnson Gill
OR
Skille Crosby Kane
Versteeg Toews Havlat
Ladd Bolland Byfuglien
Eager Fraser Burish
Campbell Walker
Barker Keith
Johnson Gill
(in reserve: Hjalmarsson/Henddry)
I do feel like the Pens should have traded Malkin over the offseason once they lost Hossa and Malone. Championship teams win with scoring balance and skill at every position, and it was clear even then, with the losses of Ruutu, Laraque, and Hall, the Pens lost out on a lot of grit that new FAs Fedotenko and Satan are not known for bringing, and it was a legit question whether those two would equal the scoring of the guys they replaced.
I would have traded Malkin to Chicago for RW Sharp/D Seabrook/LW Rene Bourque (who was signed away to Calgary as an RFA, but for peanuts, and had a breakout season until he got hurt)
Bourque Crosby Sharp
Fedotenko Staal Sykora
Dupuis Talbot Cooke
Kennedy Thomas Goddard
Gonchar Seabrook
Whitney Scuderi
Orpik Letang
While Whitney and Gonchar are out injured:
Goligoski Seabrook
Orpik Letang
Gill Scuderi
(Eaton Boucher in reserve)
And now, the ten best Penguins of all time:
0 comments:
Post a Comment