While I never like to see a guy injured, this is a blessing for the franchise. This will allow them to pick up roughly $7-$8 million in salary at the deadline, which they can use to get one or two top 6 forwards. They really only have four top 6 guys coming into the season... could be five if Staal proves his worth, but IMO he's gonna be a top 5 3rd line centre for life.
Hard to find any kind of silver lining to this dark cloud.
They better spend that money to shore up a very questionable defense. Or if they spend some money to fill holes what happens when Gonchar/Whitney come back?
Pens are screwed. Gonchar ran that PP perfectly. Contributed on the PK and logged huge minutes. He was great in the transition game and no one is better at keeping clear outs in the offensive zone.
Now the Pens have Brooks Orpik/Rob Scuderi and Darryl Sydor/Hal Gill as your top four?
Good grief. Pens are fade material for me.
They better spend that money to shore up a very questionable defense. Or if they spend some money to fill holes what happens when Gonchar/Whitney come back?
Pens are screwed. Gonchar ran that PP perfectly. Contributed on the PK and logged huge minutes. He was great in the transition game and no one is better at keeping clear outs in the offensive zone.
Now the Pens have Brooks Orpik/Rob Scuderi and Darryl Sydor/Hal Gill as your top four?
Good grief. Pens are fade material for me.
Not saying to back them during the regular season, but I don't think anyone questions their ability to at least get in the top 8 with their current squad. They are good enough to at least sneak in, and if they can make some moves with the extra room, plus get those two big guys back, they will be a top contender once the playoffs roll around.
Of course I agree with your assessment. However one last thing to consider in all this is the Penguins played as many games, and deep into the season, as Detroit did. I'm a firm believer that these extra games played take something out of these players the following season...both physically and emotionally.
Most of the Pens skill core is young and I wonder how that will effect these guys. Since last year the Pens have lost Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Gary Roberts, Georges Laraque, and to a lesser extent Colby Armstrong/Erik Christensen. They pick up Matt Cooke, Miroslav Satin, and Ruslan Fedotenko. The scales to this are weighted heavily to the have nots.
Think back to what kind of Anaheim Ducks squad showed up for the first half of the season minus Neidermyer, Selanne et al. I think we same the same result, or worse, in Pittsburgh for October thru December.
Most of the Pens skill core is young and I wonder how that will effect these guys. Since last year the Pens have lost Marian Hossa, Ryan Malone, Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Gary Roberts, Georges Laraque, and to a lesser extent Colby Armstrong/Erik Christensen. They pick up Matt Cooke, Miroslav Satin, and Ruslan Fedotenko. The scales to this are weighted heavily to the have nots.
Think back to what kind of Anaheim Ducks squad showed up for the first half of the season minus Neidermyer, Selanne et al. I think we same the same result, or worse, in Pittsburgh for October thru December.
