Got the chance to watch Bennett tonight for the first time with decent quality. Lets put it this way, I missed his goal and I still was very excited about how he played. Very handsy and seems to create offense whenever he has the puck.
Scary, but glad Bennett is still doing well (sounds like). If this mess ends and we have a season / camp, and he has a great camp maybe we'll get to see him in a "pre-season stint" like Morrow last year. After that though, 100% fine with him continuing his development in WBS this year.
Basically if the NHL season ends up starting soon I think Bennett is in the top-6 and Tangradi gets waived, along with Strait. They'll clear easily.
interested to see how the forward lines play out, as I see it there is one spot open next to Sid (though Bylsma will be tempted to bump everyone up a line and put the "rookie" on the 4th line). I guess there could be the 13th forward spot to if they want to start with Mac in WBS. Tangradi, Jeffrey, Bennett, Smith, Ferriero and Peters are battling for those spots but given the season so far Bennett and Jeffrey are the only two playing well.
Defense is interesting to, do they use one of their buyouts on Lovejoy in order to allow both Strait and Bortuzzo to make the top 7, or Despres + one of Strait and Bortuzzo. Probably could even throw Dumoulin in the mix.
Basically if the NHL season ends up starting soon I think Bennett is in the top-6 and Tangradi gets waived, along with Strait. They'll clear easily.
More like Tangradi gets his shot in the NHL one last time, then gets waived or traded if he doesn't pan out. No way do I waste years of him developing by taking a chance on him being picked up off waivers.
I just don't see it happening. There will be a lot of players on waivers that are better than Tangradi.
Probably, but you never know. It's not exactly the same situation in regards to the amount of people getting waived, but who ever thought someone would bother with claiming Nick Johnson?
Second consecutive game that Despres is a healthy scratch. Its not good to help his case if the reason will start shortly... It also won't help Shero out if he was planning on moving him for a young winger at the start of the season...
Despres is just getting tough love. I doubt it changes too many peoples opinion of his upside. It's entirely possible that a guy like him will look better at the NHL level with much more skill around him.
Well, it's certainly not a *good* sign for Despres. But with all the defensemen they have available during the lockout, pretty much every one of them has had a stretch of scratches like this.
Well, it's certainly not a *good* sign for Despres. But with all the defensemen they have available during the lockout, pretty much every one of them has had a stretch of scratches like this.
Basically if the NHL season ends up starting soon I think Bennett is in the top-6 and Tangradi gets waived, along with Strait. They'll clear easily.
Surprised to see you say this, as you're one of the traditional "let 'em develop / don't rush things" guys here. I don't doubt it's possible but do you think he's ready, given only a short time in AHL and that he's not yet physically where they want him to be probably?
I can see Strait getting waived but I don't think they'll risk Tangradi. We are way too thin on decent offensive prospects to give one away for nothing even if there's a reasonable chance he wouldn't get picked up.
Surprised to see you say this, as you're one of the traditional "let 'em develop / don't rush things" guys here. I don't doubt it's possible but do you think he's ready, given only a short time in AHL and that he's not yet physically where they want him to be probably?
I can see Strait getting waived but I don't think they'll risk Tangradi. We are way too thin on decent offensive prospects to give one away for nothing even if there's a reasonable chance he wouldn't get picked up.
Strait won't get waived, because he has legitimate trade value. He is a young guy who has good mobility and is ready for the NHL. On probably half the teams in the league, he would have played on the 3rd pair full time last year; and I certainly think there are a lot of teams that would like a young guy with that cap-hit, who could be a future Rob Scuderi. Easily worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick, IMO, and/or be packaged with someone else in a trade for a forward.
I do, sadly, agree about Tangradi, though. No way he gets waived just yet. He will be one of the few extra guys that gets invited to a shortened training camp if the lockout ends, and gets the "benefit of the doubt" trial of a few games if he performs ok and see if he catches any fire. If he does and the Pens still don't love him or fear inconsistency, trade him then. Worst case scenario is he'll just raise his trade value with a few good games. Can't be much worse now, so I don't see the downside.
interested to see how the forward lines play out, as I see it there is one spot open next to Sid (though Bylsma will be tempted to bump everyone up a line and put the "rookie" on the 4th line). I guess there could be the 13th forward spot to if they want to start with Mac in WBS. Tangradi, Jeffrey, Bennett, Smith, Ferriero and Peters are battling for those spots but given the season so far Bennett and Jeffrey are the only two playing well.
Defense is interesting to, do they use one of their buyouts on Lovejoy in order to allow both Strait and Bortuzzo to make the top 7, or Despres + one of Strait and Bortuzzo. Probably could even throw Dumoulin in the mix.
Why would they use a buy out on Lovejoy? He only makes 525K and they only own him 1/2 of that. That makes absolutely no sense at all. They can just waive him and send him to WBS and it will probably cost them about the same amount of money. The buy outs are for big contracts that will help relieve cap space.
Every team has a Strait or two in their system. Nobody's gonna give up assets for ours.
I think you are selling him short. He still has Scuderi type potential, and he's ready to play. There are a lot of teams whose 3rd pairing guys are worse than Strait (WSH, NYI, TOR, MIN are just a few teams that come to mind immediately). He is a fully developed, ready to play prospect who is a no maintenance player. He is worth a 2nd or 3rd easily.
