Nothing special in that article, imo. Just some jagoff that has to find something to b*tch about. We could have signed everybody in UFA and guys like him would still find something to whine about.
Anyone that wants to criticize the moves Shero made without making an attempt to offer what he would have done instead isn't really worthy of discussing.
It's great that he can pick apart the moves, but it's a cop-out. He took the easy way out.
Gonchar is one of the elite offensive d-men in the league. Any team that loses him is going to take a hit, but this guy doesn't seem to be taking into account his age and the fact the past two seasons he's missed a large portion of the season due to injuries.
He's also looking at the picture like if we don't win this year, we have to completely dismantle our team like Chicago had to do.
The facts are, this team hasn't had a problem scoring goals, they've had trouble preventing them. We upgraded our defensive unit and next year, once we have more money to work with, we'll upgrade our wingers and be a serious threat for at least the next 3 years.
In an ideal world, would we have legit wingers to surround Sid and Geno with while having a great defense from top to bottom? Yes, but that's fantasy land talk. The offense will be fine, even though we'd all love to see someone brought in who can take some pressure off Sid and Geno. A long summer of rest and time to heal injuries is just fine. The real problem was the laughable defense we had, and now we have one of the strongest corps top-to-bottom in the East, maybe NHL.
I am thrilled with what Shero has done, and eagerly await the season's beginning.
Pretty bad downer on the Pens D. Which hasn't been this solid since the cup runs of the 90s. Also, he didn't even bother getting the contract numbers right he wrote that both Z and Martin are going to make 5 mill a year.
Like many of the people here I am not as worried about the forwards as I would have been watching last years D corp stumble around on the ice another year.
We had fedostinko on the second line, making every time he was out on the ice a black hole for offense, and with lackluster defense it was a recipe for disaster.
Now we won't have fedostinko and a superb defense, I really don't see what this guy is debbiedowning on when shero adressed the biggest flaw in the team.
What did he want us to do? sign Gonchar to a 3 year NTC $16,5 million contract and get Kovalchuck too?
Jesus christ, this guy is almost as retarded as the mainboard.
Well, first off, Shero knows that to win, ultimately we still need to draft well. But in the mean time he looks back to last year and asks himself why we didn't repeat? To anyone with half a hockey brain he notices we were 5th overall in Goal Scoring. Perfect!! So the need a winger bull isn't even up for discussion. We build our top 6 from the inside, long term. Looking at the back end it was quite obvious what are issues were. When you can't even break out of your own zone for minutes at a time, it causes major issues with goaltending, fatigue, penalties, lack of scoring chances, etc. Martin and Michalek are both top notch at puck retrieval and both of their first passes are money. There's a reason both NJ and Phoenix fans were jealous when we ended up with these two. Our defense is twice as good as it was last year, DEFENSIVELY. Orpik went from being the #1 to #3. That's a hell of an upgrade. Personally I think the upgrade in defense will ultimately allow our fowards much more puck possesion in the offesive zone and our offense will be fine. The Fourth Period has now reached rock bottom in sports journalism, anything that's written on that site from now on is deemed madness.
Anyone that wants to criticize the moves Shero made without making an attempt to offer what he would have done instead isn't really worthy of discussing.
It's great that he can pick apart the moves, but it's a cop-out. He took the easy way out.
I think the point he was making is that by making this moves he takes away every other option and still doesnt fill a few holes, hes a little too negative buts hes not wrong
Was Andy Sutton mentioned as to say Gonchar or Hamhuis + Sutton would amount to a better defense?
I like Shero's strategy, he added younger, stable, long term quality. Both guys play a complete game and play it very well. Its easier to draft to fill specifics holes. Especially if that hole is bruising #6 crease clearing D man (aka Sutton). There's arn't a handful of Martin's every year. And maybe they tell Lovejoy he is here to provide some grit. He's not a shrimp of a man.
I also still think if we can get a Madden or Moore to play 3rd line center we are an improved team overall.
And again, its not like the team played great last year in the playoffs and in the end we lacked the skill to win. 2 of our most important players had down years, and our wings all played worse than their already low expectations.
I think Shero is building a Red Wings. A team with a hard working, experienced, highly skilled core that will become tougher to beat every year. It will take time to get there, most of our stars are under 25. But like someone else mentioned, we already won a cup. Next year isn't our only chance. The next 5 years we should (WILL!) be in the running.
Sounds like he doesn't know much about hockey. He is just counting stats. When Sutton whiffed on Crosby and gave him a goal I didn't hear people yelling for him to become a Pen. There is more to deffense then big hits and points. Hacks like this don't know that.
No need to put on sour faces simply because an article isn't complimentary of the Pens' moves.
Is anybody going to doubt that even despite the Michalek and Martin acquisitions:
1) We have little grit outside of Orpik on the blueline, and no legitimate crease-clearer?
2) We have no bona-fide PP quarterback, and we looked like garbage without Gonchar last year.
3) Our wingers are the worst in the league.
Shero's direction has merit, but it certainly isn't immune to criticism. We have a fair amount of holes on account of Shero's "mobile, unphysical defensive blueliners first" philosophy. We'll see if putting all our FA eggs in that basket will pay off.
No need to put on sour faces simply because an article isn't complimentary of the Pens' moves.
Is anybody going to doubt that even despite the Michalek and Martin acquisitions:
1) We have little grit outside of Orpik on the blueline, and no legitimate crease-clearer?
2) We have no bona-fide PP quarterback, and we looked like garbage without Gonchar last year.
3) Our wingers are the worst in the league.
Shero's direction has merit, but it certainly isn't immune to criticism. We have a fair amount of holes on account of Shero's "mobile, unphysical defensive blueliners first" philosophy. We'll see if putting all our FA eggs in that basket will pay off.
Anyone that wants to criticize the moves Shero made without making an attempt to offer what he would have done instead isn't really worthy of discussing.
Based on the article, I think he wanted the Pens to give Gonchar the 3 years, 16.5 million and no movement clause, then sign Andy Sutton. Which is a terrible idea, because Gonchar is old and oft-injured, while Sutton just plain sucks.
Would you rather overpay for Sutton and Gonchar and have a weaker top 4, or would you rather have a more talented overall top 4?
That's really the question there, CW. Nobody says the Pens are without their flaws. But the article just advocates creating different holes for the sake of satisfying old cliches.
But, if people really want a slow, bruising blueliner who gets lit up fairly often, wouldn't you rather have a cheaper version than an overpaid pylon? We do have Derek Engelland, for example, and Sutton isn't even near Hal Gill in terms of overall game. Let's not act like the choice in free-agency was between Richard Lintner 2.0 or the second coming of Larry Robinson here.
There are plenty of ways to add grit to the blueline, and now, we don't have to worry about exposing whoever we add, when we add them, by playing them out of their role.
Also, I think I'd rather read Rossi than read hockey blogs on the 4th period, and that's saying something.
TSN, on July 1st, had Martin as the #1 UFA defenseman available, ahead of all the other players he mentioned. Doug McLean echoed that sentiment on Sportsnet the same day. Martin was also, along with Hamhuis, the most highly sought after Dman and other teams were offering him more $ than we signed him for.
It seemed that many/most of the UFAs this year saw Pittsburgh as the #1 destination and wanted to play here, and we had the cap space and cash to sign any one of them. So the Penguins had the pick of the litter, and they chose these 2 guys. So I'm going to trust the TSN panel, a former NHL GM, and the entire Pens' management who made these decisions, over some dude with his own (albeit very good) website on the internet.
Also, what he fails to realize is what this move does for the long-term picture of this franchise. We now have the 2 best defensemen of this years UFA class locked up for the next 5 years, along with Orpik & Letang for the next 4, and Goligoski for 2 at a cheap cap hit whose rights we retain after his contract expires. Now that means that if we wanted to, and if the right deal came up, we could trade promising prospects like Despres, Strait, Bortuzzo or Samuelsson to bring in a young forward if need be. We now have one of the very deepest & highest quality organizational pools in the entire NHL of defensemen, which is the most valuable commodity in this league.
And with all those guys locked up in this organization for the long term, next summer, when the cap will hopefully rise again, we could go out and get a some higher priced talent up front. In the meantime, guys like Johnson, Jeffrey & Tangradi will already be a collossal upgrade from Guerin & Fedotenko. Tyler Kennedy is a guy who a lot of people think may have top-6 potential, and he, like our big 3 centres, are only going to take another step forward in terms of development and production. Factor in a healthy, full year for guys like Talbot & Kunitz, and we should be just fine, if not ideal, up front.
Thankfully, this fool isn't running our hockey club.
Tangentially, I'd like to see what people's thoughts are on Letang's development. If he can continually harness his mean streak (as he's been steadily doing since his rookie season), and is paired with a consistent partner, how is that not adding grit to the lineup?
We may have only one Orpik, but many other clubs get by without a single top-10 hitting blueliner (Again, let's not act like the last 4 Cups have been won by the Broad Street Bullies here). Furthermore, we also have Adams, Cooke, and Kunitz, who are well above average in the hitting capacity. I'm a fan of hitting, so obviously I'd like to see more, but I'm at a loss for what exactly Sutton would bring to the table besides his supposed crease-clearing.
No need to put on sour faces simply because an article isn't complimentary of the Pens' moves.
Is anybody going to doubt that even despite the Michalek and Martin acquisitions:
1) We have little grit outside of Orpik on the blueline, and no legitimate crease-clearer?
2) We have no bona-fide PP quarterback, and we looked like garbage without Gonchar last year.
3) Our wingers are the worst in the league.
Shero's direction has merit, but it certainly isn't immune to criticism. We have a fair amount of holes on account of Shero's "mobile, unphysical defensive blueliners first" philosophy. We'll see if putting all our FA eggs in that basket will pay off.
1) Your telling me you would rather have Sutton than Michalek or Martin? How many of these "crease-clearer" defenders did the Hawks have?
2)Valid point but we won games being 20th on the PP last year and dealt with not having Gonchar most of the time anyways because he couldn't stay healthy.
3) and of course the "we need wingers argument" again. We had Marian Hossa and didn't win a cup.
I just fail to see how physicality is a major concern of ours, when we have Cooke, Orpik, Adams, and Kunitz. Clearing the crease is another thing, but then again, I see that as something that stems from a team commitment to playing physical and sound defense. Give Orpik the A, and have him start screaming at his fellow blueliners for not keeping the kitchen clean.
But to say having Sutton on the blueline would some how magically transform us into a feared physical team is ludicrous. We already have the NHL's public enemy number #1 for hits on the roster. And let the people cry what they will over Cooke, I'll bet you dollars to donuts that he's a lot more intimidating for opposing players than Sutton.
I know the last 5 years the Devils have been in the top 5 defensively and Martin has been their number one defenseman. He was the guy logging 24 minutes for them a game. Hits and points don't = defense. These were good moves by Shero who is looking to win a cup not stack our centers points.
