Quoting: JSEB93
So to me - bad transition D and odd man rushes are mainly a forward issue in my opinion. I absolutely agree the rushes were an issue - but all those 3 on 2s and 4 on 2s and 2 on 1s I put mainly on the forwards - whether it be not back checking or not covering. I'm not saying the D are perfect or without blame - I just don't think they were awful or costing the team or anything like that. Didn't Poulin have 4 points in 15 games before he left. I wouldn't consider that great. And it's not like he was setting the world in fire the previous season either. Yeah - I would think Puustinen is definitely more prepared than Poulin at this current time.
I'm all for Nylander on the 2nd and Rust on the 3rd. I agree there. I have no issues there - and that's probably what I would do too. It's all good - sorry if it seems like I was ****ting on your idea haha. I was just giving my two cents on what I think would improve the roster. To me paying a guy 6mil to be on the 3rd pair just seems like a bit of a waste. I like Zucker/Malkin/Nylander. I think they looked good in their brief time together. It's not that I think Kampf is bad - he's a defensively responsible 3C. Which I agree is what we need. I just think you need to surround him with good wingers - the way they surrounded Bonino with Kessel and Hagelin. For example, if you drop Rust to the 3rd line and and then use Pionk's salary to sign a guy like Bunting or something - that would be an awesome third line. But Kampf with two AHLers just worries me a bit ya know
I did not think you were ****ting on me at all, most of our interactions on here have been quite present.
I would put a lot of the odd man rushes on the D pinching when they should not have, and sully being in a tighter leash will likely fix that.
I didn't realize Poulin's AHL numbers were actually bad, everyone I have talked too was saying we should have him with the big club and I assumed he was playing with Nylander so he would have had to have had great numbers if he was supporting Nylander, I guess I need to do more AHL research, I am not from Pennsylvania and don't have a hockey TV Subscription (although I have ran commentary for them so you would think they would give me one lol). so I do not get to watch the AHL team minus some high lights on Instagram. He was actually terrible. Maybe Pustenen would be a better option although I do not like playing two guys on the off wing and I like guys like Nylander who stretch the ice (on the receiving end) and shoot to play the off wing and he has played the off wing more.
So yea, Poink might be out of our price range unless we could off load Petry which I don't think we can do without paying and I don't want to do that because I think If you put him with a true defensive D man he can have success (remember how lethal him and Petterson were before he got hurt and Petterson got hurt as soon as he was back).
Idk if it was Sully or Reirdon who refused to play guys on the off D but if it was Reirdon and he gets fired than Rutta could pay on the left side with Letang and see if he bounces back given he has said he is more comfortable on the off D when he signed. I was honestly certain we signed him to play with Letang. and if that dosen't work we have cap to bring someone in. Although my issue there is is that we will miss the bus on Graves who is my number 1 target.
The other thing I said all year was that Malkin and Zucker could both make other players better than they make each other because they are both so good with the puck on their stick. Signing Barbeshev to play with either of them would deffently work really well. Plus I like the idea of Malkin playing with a Russian winger. Maybe something like barb, Malkin, Rust/Rackell (flip flop every time it goes stale like we have been doing) then Zucker, Kampf Nylander would work.
Or something like Bunting, Malkin, Rust/Rackel and Zucker, Barb, Nylander could work too. I don't hate Malkin and Pustenen either so long as Malkin doesn't play with Rackel at the same time as Pustenen (Again, I am a stonch 1 off wing guy, and thats coming from a guy who played the off wing most of his life albeit not a high level (I had the skill and IQ but had to remain to fat and slow to be a hockey player because my primary sport was football))
An idea I had last year was Carter with Crosby but that was before the season started and I saw that he had became a defensive liability. I do like the idea of Bunting because I think we can get more out of him than any other team. He probably lost himself 1.5 million with that suspension but IK he would not do that **** in Pittsburgh because of our leadership. So we could probably get really good value out of him for 3 to 4 mill.
If we could trade DOC for someone of equal talent and pay but who has more of a 4th line type of game that would also be a great move.
The thing that is really Handcuffing this team on the Back end is the fact that we have two right handed offensive D man in the top 4. A guy like POJ should be a cap messiah but we can't play him with Tanger or Petery because they are all too offensive. Maybe if we could trade Jospeh for a similar guy who is more defensive minded. If we could hack into Chel 2024 and change POJ's play type from Puck moving D man to Stay at home D man we have a perfect partner for Letang lol. I tried a trade we Upgrade JBD to POJ for Ottawa and throw in 3rd in exchange for them taking on Rutta but their fans didn't want to acquire Peirre when they're trying to trade Mathieu