No Joy in the ‘Burgh: Penguins Crosby to Miss Four Weeks

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• Still avoiding the discussion of Skinner and Silovs?

  OK

  As for Sully, Eventually you did say, maybe it was time to change, years after he gutted the team nd even when you did suggest a change needed to be made, you kept arguing that he was a great Coach - Not sure NYR would agree.

  Pickering, before the draft you were not a fan but after he was drafted and I kept beating the Lamoureux drum you dug your heels in and said that the team knew better, even when I pointed out that the highlight reel of Pickering's passing was the same pass from many different views you chose to argue against me (and most of our discussions do not occur in writing but in person).

  And these are only a sampling of times we disagreed, there is plenty more to pull out.

  As for Blomqvist, show me a goalie that plays lights out hockey when he plays less than once per week! and when he does he plays the back end of a back-to-back. Now add to that the fact that he was playing better than Murashov for a long stretch but was still being forced to take a back seat. Again, I do pray he gets traded to a team that actually understands Goaltending and he can get out from under a team and city that hasn't a clue, thinking that Golies who spend half a game out of position, having to make what should have been an easy save take on epic, highlight reel proportions.

  Now, get back to the important part Skinner and Silovs. I have already shown in previous replies how shelter these two ersatz goalies have been over the team's current winning streak. Counter how they are not being tested. Talk about how there low 20 shots against games where so terribly tough how the team needed them to stand tall against such daunting numbers.

  Then while you are doing that, look up how many of those games the Pens were playing opponents who had played the night before.

  • I'll be brief. My opinion, and that's what it is, an opinion, is that the Pens would not necessarily be better off with a Murashov/Blomqvist tandem as opposed to Skinner/Silovs, unless your primary goal is developmental. Even then I don't think you gain by throwing two kids into the breach at the same time.

    Re: Blomqvist playing once a week. Maybe it's unfortunate that he's had to share the net with Murashov in terms of his development. I can certainly buy that. Again, bottom line, I just don't think he's made a legitimate case for being fast-tracked to the NHL. Certainly not as a starter or even 1A.

    If you can find where I wrote Sully was a "great coach" over the past half-dozen years or so, then please reference it. And Pickering-Lamoureux? I truly have no idea what you're referring to. Given my preference for physical players, there's no way I would've poo-poohed Lamoureux in favor of Pickering. I may have tried to explain the Pens' logic. I certainly wasn't trying to defend it.

    If you offered me Lamoureux straight-up for Pickering, I'd jump at the chance.

    Rick

    • PS--On to something I think we may agree on. The Girard-Letang defensive pair scares me to death.

      • The only thing I like about the Girard - Kulak trade is that is the net result is the team lost Jarry and his contract while gaining two second round picks.

        Girard is not a defenseman I would ever want, but Muse and his staff have found a way to make a rag-tag group of Defenseman perform well above their individual skill. Level. The idea of Letang and Girard skating together would scare any sane man, but if anyone could pull that tandem off it would be Muse and his group of magicians.

• Rick,

  These first 2 games back, against the Devils and The Rangers, I wouldn’t worry too much about. However, the following 13 games will be problematic, especially considering that our Pens will be playing these 15 games in 27 days with 3 back-to-back weekends and those other 13 games include 3 games against Carolina, 2 games against Vegas, 2 games against Boston, 2 games against Colorado, a game against Buffalo, and a game against those hated Flyers.

  I would like to hold out hope; there certainly are a lot of skaters that deserve a better fate than coming this far only to fold down the stretch run. It would be great for this team to pull off a 15-16 but that 15-16 team had real NHL level Goalies. The current incarnation of our Penguins, even though they have the kids in the minors, has refused to admit that their best Goalies are not plying their trade in Pgh.

  It will be interesting to see what the team does before the trade deadline. There are only 5 games between now and March 6. That isn’t many games, not enough to say 3 or 4 losses is critical yet.

  One interesting thing I have read is that NYR may be ready to shop Trocheck. I probably wouldn’t trade for him, if this rumor is true, but I could see a delusional GM/POHO roll the dice. I would have signed him as a UFA way back when, but I am not sure, these years later, I would trade for him.

  • With all due respect my friend, I still don’t agree with your assertion about our goalies. Maybe you can make a case for Sergei Murashov, whose numbers with the Baby Pens are excellent (2.13 GAA, .924 SV%, 20-6-1 record).

    But Joel Blomqvist? After an outstanding start through his first nine appearances (.933 SV%), he’s been in a funk since the start of the New Year to the tune of an .886 SV% over his last eight games. Over his past three games…an .871 SV%.

    If Blomqvist’s having this much trouble stopping pucks in the AHL, and behind a strong team to boot, I doubt if the kid suddenly finds his game in the NHL, where he has an .885 SV%.

    Rick

    • Rick, you disagreeing with me is not an unusual occurrence. You disagreed with me when I said the team needed to dump Mike Johnston (we won the Cup that very season), you disagreed with me when I said the team needed to dump Sullivan (before Sid’s injury, Muse had this team 7th in the League – it does remain to be seen what will happen now), you and a particular blogger on another site with the initials of DK disagreed with me when I said Jarry stunk (what is is his Sv% and GAA in Edm? Sv%: 0.864, GAA: 3.85).

      In fact, the only time you ever agree with me is when I write something to the effect that the team needs more grit, and even then, it is hit or miss. When I wanted said that the team should draft Maveric Lamoureux but the Pens drafted Owen Pickering you sided with the Penguins. Hmm…..

      Pickering NHL Totals - GP: 29, G: 1, A: 2, Pts: 3, PIM: 8, +/-: -8
      Lamoureux NHL Totals - GP: 20, G: 1, A: 3, Pts: 4, PIM: 44, +/-: +7

      As for the current discussion:

      You elide the important factor of my disdain for the 2 Goalies in Pgh. That is interesting in itself.

      You also seem to want to go over ground I have already covered many times. I have already stated on several occasions that the development of both Goalies (Blomqvist and Murashov) is being destroyed by playing them at the AHL level rather than in the NHL. They are shriveling up into raisins from a lack of challenge. Blomqvist is being harmed more, because he is not getting playing time and when he does, he is being asked to backstop a team that played the night before and is exhausted. Blomqvist has only played 17 games this season, even after games he stood on his head, he is getting relegated to back up status and being sacrificed on the back end of back-to-back games.

      The fact that he doesn’t look as bad as Jarry is a testament to his actual knowledge of how to play the position. The fact that it is not as good as it could be is more a question of the lack of respect you and the clowns that gave Jarry a 5-year contract have for a Goalie who knows how to play the position and can make difficult saves look easy. When this kid first came over from Finland and was given playing time, in his first season in the AHL his numbers were GP: 45, GAA: 2.16, Sv%: 0.921, SO: 1, W: 25, L:12, OTL: 6. Since then, with idiots that thought Jarry was the answer have anointed Murashov the Pens future, Blomqvist was only given 18 games last season and 17 so far this season. Anyone not burying their head in the sand can easily see what the problem is here – it is called rust.

      I know you don’t want to listen to me. You rarely do. And then you have to write, “Hindsight is 20/20”. For Blomqvist’s sake, I do hope they trade him. He doesn’t deserve the pathetic treatment this team, DK, and now even you wish to give him.

      • My goodness, a lot to unpack here. I’ll go step-by-step.

        First…Jarry. I freely admit you were the first to call a spade a spade and frame him for what he is…a wildly erratic goalie given to starts and mostly fits. You also were among the very first to point out the disparity in his first- and second-half play.

        I agree on Mike Johnston, too. I wrote a misguided article defending him about a month before he was fired. A move that led to the team reeling off not one but two Cups under…what was his name? Oh yes, Mike Sullivan.

        Speaking of, again you assert that I disagreed when you called for us to fire Sully. Again, I say you’re practicing revisionist history. In case you missed it the last time, here’s a sampling of the articles I wrote to the contrary:
        “Penguins Lose Again, Time to Say Goodbye” October 24, 2024
        “Is it Time for the Penguins to Move on from Mike Sullivan?” April 15, 2023
        “Penguins Update: Is it Time for Sullivan to Go?” January 4, 2023
        “Penguins Update: Time for a Coaching Change” May 29, 2021

        I’ve given Sully credit where credit is due for our back-to-back Cups and the redeeming qualities he possesses. But at no time in recent history did I fully endorse him as coach. Most of the time, the opposite.

        Along those lines, I sure don’t recall favoring Owen Pickering over Maveric Lamoureux. If anything, I agreed with you, based on Lamoureux’s physicality. In fact, here is my initial reaction to the Pickering pick in my article titled, “Penguins Pick Pickering,” (July 8, 2022)

        “I confess. When I saw the Penguins had selected defenseman Owen Pickering of Swift Current with their first-round pick my initial thought was, ‘Oh no (Eddie Spaghetti)…just what we need…another beanpole defenseman.’“

        Hardly a ringing endorsement.

        As for Blomqvist? Most every goalie goes through hot and cold streaks. Maybe, hopefully, the kid bounces back and becomes everything you thought he’d be.

        As for your reasons behind his recent struggles? I can certainly understand a kid becoming discouraged if he feels like he’s being overlooked or is drawing the short straw. However, that’s precisely when they need to buckle down and grind through it. That’s what true pros do.

        As for playing the second of back-to-back nights behind a tired team? Do you think he’d draw the plum assignments if he were serving as a backup for the Pens, which right now looks to be his top end? No. He’d likely see similar usage here.

        Plus, being the “veteran” of the Wilkes-Barre tandem, you’d think he’d be in line to handle the tougher assignments and not require coddling.

        Again, if he struggles with this kind of duty in the AHL, what does that say about his ability to handle it in the NHL?

        Rick

  • Considering where our Penguins are ranked right now, I was looking at several potential draftees that figure to be still on the board when our Penguins would have been drafting, in those late picks (Ryan Roobrock, 6'4", 216lb C, William Hakansson 6'4", 207 lb LHD, and Brooks Rogowski 6'6", 231 lb C) but if they fall down the standings and climb the draft ladder, I may get a chance to look at some other players as potential Penguins.