Therrien makes lineup changes

And we can't say we agree with them...

Winger Miroslav Satan, who does not have a goal in eight games, has been demoted to the fourth line, where he will work alongside Dustin Jeffrey and Eric Godard, and defensemen Alex Goligoski and Hal Gill apparently will be healthy scratches.

If you're going to send a message, why not scratch Satan for a game and use Tim Wallace (a hard working 4th line forward) on the 4th line, instead of sitting him?

Goligoski, while being a rookie, hasn't looked out of place, and while Gill has had a couple of shaky outings in his few games back from injury, Mark Eaton and Phillipe Boucher have been shakier this whole season.

Some of the moves Therrien made, like moving Tyler Kennedy to the top line with Sidney Crosby, we do like. Kennedy plays with energy, causes turnovers and actually isn't afraid to put the puck on the net. Keeping the 3rd line of Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Max Talbot together also makes sense.

Of course, the results will be known tonight. If the Penguins can finally shake that six game powerplay goal drought, especially early, the sigh of relief may be good enough to carry them to a win and start playing a little looser. But if Boucher and Eaton, two noticably bad players of late (3rd bullet) are out their for some PK goals against, the cries for Therrien's head are only going to get louder.

Banged up Brigade

After last night's 3-2 gimmick loss to the Rangers you can add Tyler Kennedy and Mike Zigomanis to the band of injured players quickly piling up on the Pens...And apparantely Phillipe Boucher is on the IR now as well. Add that to franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and top defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney.

Both injuries are undisclosed, but rumor has it Mr. Kennedy has already flown back to Pittsburgh to have a leg examined and could miss several weeks. Zigomanis is listed as "probable" so perhaps he will be able to win faceoffs tonight.

There will certainly be no empathy coming from the Carolina Hurricanes and old/new head coach Paul Maurice tonight, but hey, it's worth pointing out. Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard have gotten the call.

Tonight's projected lines, from the main site are:

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Dupuis-Staal-Cooke
Pesonen-Minard-Godard

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Minard and Pesonen have played and played well all season long (no one in the AHL has more goals than Minard so far). But why keep Pesonen on the 4th line? We can tell that Mike Therrien doesn't trust Pesonen, doesn't know him well enough to give him the added responsibility of playing much. It's something that pretty much all new players to Therrien have to do; prove themselves on the ice, especially defensively before more icetime is given.

Another wrinkle to watch: Kennedy was being used on the top power play. Who gets the call now to join Crosby, Malkin, Satan and Alex Goligoski? We'd bet Staal and Fedotenko are the likely choices.

Fedotenko's had a great game, a lot of effort out of him. The recent benchings and line-demotions seem to have upped his game in recent days, hopefully something he can continue.

Sydor for Boucher and the implications that follow...

Sooner or later you had to figure Darryl Sydor would be waived or traded. Sydor wants to play, and unfortunately for him with the emergence of young defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski over the past two seasons the reality was clear: Sydor just isn’t among the top 6 defensemen the Penguins have anymore. To his credit Sydor was the ultimate professional while going through this frustrating time. While others in his shoes coughMark Recchicough often loudly voiced displeasure and anger at having a diminished role; Sydor kept quiet and continued to be a positive example to the boys in the room. The leadership he brought off the ice, especially lately, was very commendable and he deserves much respect for that and we wish him well in Dallas.

On the other hand, we welcome Phillipe Boucher. This is an interesting acquisition; right handed defensemen are in short supply and Boucher did score 19 goals two season ago before battling all sorts of injuries. If nothing else, Boucher should provide a little more “oomph” on the power-play than say, Brooks Orpik, and hopefully steady what’s been, at times a shaky unit on the man advantage. If Boucher can remain healthy (and obviously that’s a big if) he could be a key player down the stretch.

Our forward thinking mind though can’t help but wonder what will happen when Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar return. Whitney is already practicing and should be back sometime in December—though it is too early to say if that will be in the earlier or later part of the month. Gonchar is still in a sling and no where close to coming back, but he should be around come March. It’s a great thing to have a surplus of defensemen at the NHL, especially given the injuries that can happen at any given moment. But having too many NHL caliber players could poison the drinking water—like it may have if Sydor wasn’t such a good sport—and that would be a terrible thing. Boucher, for instance, has said that he is playing for a contract next year and we can’t imagine him being happy or quiet if he’s the odd man out. A lot of the logjam has been created by Goligoski establishing himself as a full-time NHL defenseman right off the bat. If his play wasn’t at such a high level it would be easy to demote him to the minors for further work. But that probably isn’t an option at this point.

So which two of the eight defensemen (this includes Whitney) are the odd men out? Surely not a healthy Whitney or Orpik. Letang’s played well in an expanded role, and as mentioned, Goligoski has been awesome. The team has been very high on Gill (remember Therrien called him a top 4 guy a couple weeks ago) so seemingly he’s in too. This would leave one playing spot for three veteran defensemen: Boucher, Rob Scuderi and Mark Eaton. Eaton’s had a rough season so far and Scuderi, though a solid shot-blocker and reliable guy, is a 5/6 guy that could be replaceable.

If all are healthy, would another trade be coming? In that case it would seem that Eaton or Scuderi would be the most likely candidates.

Whitney-Orpik
Gill-Letang
Goligoski-Boucher

That’s probably how we would line them up, provided Boucher plays well. We realize the risks in looking even that far down the line, but what do you think? Sooner or later when reinforcements trickle back in the Penguins are going to have some decisions to make.

Crosby gets a stud new winger...

And he's fimiliar too, per the PG here was today's lines:

Malkin-Crosby-Dupuis
Fedotenko-Staal-Sykora
Kennedy-Talbot-Satan
Biz Nasty-Thomas-Godard

(Zigomanis out with minor, unspecified injury)

We think this is an idea worth trying for many reasons:

• It gives some life for Crosby and Malkin...The best players love playing with each other, they're on the same wave length that others don't understand out there.
• Jordan Staal has been far too quiet this season, and moving him back to the center may well be a good idea. It helps the next opponent is Toronto. In his brief career Staal has 5 goals, 2 assists and 28 shots on goal against the Maple Leafs in eight games. It's definitely one of his favorite teams to play.
• That 3rd line could be a great one. Petr Sykora cut his teeth for too long last year on the 3rd line before Coach T trusted him and it looks like this will be Miroslav Satan's fate as well. That and it would be over-kill to play him on Sykora's line.

It can't be bad to try. This team needs to create at 5 on 5. The Pens doing well enough to make the other team take penalties (and then make them pay) but they need to bury some chances to get the confidence up and then we'll be rolling. There's no better way for a shot in the arm then to try Geno up on the top line.

Pieces of the puzzle for 2008-09

Here’s what Shero is dealing with….If next season started today, here’s how the Pens lineup looks (for players under contract or at least RFA's-to-be). Consider this basically your first look at the Pens lineup for 2008-09:

_____-Crosby-_____
_____-Malkin-Sykora
_____-Staal-Kennedy
Stone-Talbot-Filewich

Gill/Gonchar
Whitney/Letang
Goligoski/Scuderi
Sydor

Fleury*
Sabourin

*Fleury is the most notable restricted free agent. Staal and Malkin have contracts for next season but will likely get extensions this summer…But of course you knew that…

As you can see, we’re projecting right now that Ryan Stone, Jonathan Filewich and Alex Goligoski make the jump from the minors to the show. The more obvious point is the glaring holes at skill forward positions. Plus questions on if the defense is deep and physical enough to get back to where everyone wants to be.

Roughly the Penguins could have about $25-30 million to make it happen. You could sign guys like Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone for that. But the kicker is that guys like Fleury, Malkin and Staal will be making more in the years to come. That’s where the issue of signing a guy like Malone or Hossa long-term just doesn’t jive. The Pens might be able to afford paying big bucks for one year (while Malkin/Staal are on entry level contracts) but there’s no room to fit them long-term. Plus, due to the nature of the business (and namely guaranteed contracts) it’d be foolish for a guy a Hossa to take a 1 year deal when another city will offer him 6, 7, 8 years. If he were to blow out his knee while on that one year contract, there wouldn’t be the safety net of that guaranteed contract.

Needless to say, it’ll be interesting to see how Shero handles filling out the roster. He’s done well to sign his veterans (like Sykora, Sydor, Gary Roberts) to just one or two seasons in a time where the rest of the league it largely handing out huge terms to players. Shero’s most pressing immediate need is obviously finding some skilled wingers for Crosby and fitting guys like Malkin, Fleury and Staal into the contract jig-saw puzzle. Hopefully the signings will be of the more effective Sykora variety than the largely ineffective Sydor signing, which is going to eat up $2.5 million on the cap if he’s not bought out/traded/retired behind a barn somewhere.

Depth wise, a guy like Max Talbot could jump up and play 3rd line wing or if the Pens re-sign Pascal Dupuis or another like-minded grinding, defensively aware, hard working winger that should suffice there. The biggest and most pressing concern is making Line 1 not look like a helicopter (because it has no wings!) and trying to get Marc-Andre Fleury under contract before another team gets the chance to present him an offer sheet.

Lines and Defense pairings

One of the things we wonder most about is the lines and defense pairings that Michel Therrien will employ.


For the forwards his top two lines are pretty set and don't require much tinkering:


Pascal Dupuis-Sidney Crosby-Marian Hossa

**Dupuis has had the speed and intelligence to keep up with Crosby and Hossa. It's not easy to play with two great players, but Dupper has done the little things (getting back on D, hustling into the corners, winning loose pucks, going to the net) to be very effective. Crosby and Hossa have come into their own, developing a great chemistry that is starting to be evident. These two need to feast on the powerplay but they also have to score at even-strength. Crosby and Hossa combined for 4 goals and 5 assists at ES during the Philadelphia series.



Ryan Malone-Evgeni Malkin-Petr Sykora

**The line that did the heavy lifting when Crosby went down...Recently Sykora's been on a down streak production wise (just 1 goal and 1 assist in the past seven games) but Malone has picked up his slack with 7 points (3g, 4a) in the past six games. The constant has been the brilliance of Evgeni Malkin. In every regard but the faceoff circle we think he's been the best, most consistent sensational player so far in the playoffs. Slapshots? Got 'em. Uncanny passing on the PP? Here. Hustling back to play D? No prob. Fighting through physical play? Yawn. Taking control of the puck and galloping all over the ice at will? Yep.



Maxime Talbot-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy

**When we get to the 3rd line is where the questions begin. It's usually been Ruutu/Staal/Kennedy...But through a little experimentation, plugging Talbot up and dropping Ruutu down has seemed to ignite the offense and get a little more production out of Staal. By all means, we say roll with it. Talbot offers a little bit of a better skating and more energy than even Ruutu. It is worrisome to think of the age and experience of this line (especially since it often matches opponents top line) but if that's the way it has to be, we're comfortable with it. Jordan Staal may be 19 years old, but he doesn't play like a 19 year old.



Now we have four players (Ruutu, Hall, Roberts, Laraque) vying for three spots....If it were up to us (and it's not):

Gary Roberts-Adam Hall-Jarkko Ruutu
**It's hard to leave BGL off the roster. But it's just one game. Laraque can do good work on the forecheck and cycle the puck. But Ruutu and Hall can kill penalties in a pinch, Hall is decent at faceoffs. And Gary Roberts has 92 points in 125 career NHL playoff games, experience and results that can't be denied. BGL is the ultimate deterrant for all the funny business that might arise, and while Detroit boasts several gritty guys (think Draper, McCarty, Holmstrom, etc) that's nothing that the Pens can't answer with Orpik, Gill, Ruutu, Malone and Roberts.


DEFENSE

The defense is a little different. While most of the forward lines (aside from where to place Talbot and which of the 4th liners to sit) are pretty much set. Defensively you've got:

Brooks Orpik-Sergei Gonchar

Kuklaskorner thinks that Orpik and Gonchar will be "fetal" by the end of the second period of Game 1. We laugh. No denying the skill and talent that Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have, but ask Daniel Briere (1 goal and 1 assist in five games against Pittsburgh after tallying 8 goals 14 points in 12 games in the first two rounds) or Dany Heatley (41 goals, 41 assists in the regular season, 0 goals 1 assist in the playoffs) how it was to meet Gonchar and Orpik. Kuklaskorner says with glee that Gonchar will be exposed? Unfortunately for them, they haven't been following the Pens close enough to know what that's going to mean.

But Therrien's ideas for the other two defense pairs have been Rob Scuderi/Hal Gill and Ryan Whitney/Kris Letang. Two primarly shot-blocking defensive guys that aren't really puck movers on one pairing and then two great skating, excellent passing (but not effectively physical) players on the other.

We would like to see a split. Towards the end of the regular season Gill/Letang and Scuderi/Whitney seemed to work well and be more balanced. But we're not coaches and no one asks our opinion. Therrien's pairings have flowed well and obviously been effective. But we think that Detroit's grit and puck possession could expose a flaw in the lack of speed in his Scuderi/Gill unit and at the same time open the door for the lack of physicality (or a rookie mistake) in the Whitney/Letang duo.

But what do we know. Too much time to think, if only it was time to drop the puck already!

Todays lines and a new injury

Rob Scuderi apparantely broke a finger last night and is expected to be out 3-4 weeks. Scuderi has been playing on the top even strength unit and killing a lot of penaties so his loss is unfortunate. He's not the ideal top unit guy, but he's played very admirably covering for the Sarge ever since Mark Eaton's injury.

We guess that settles who will sit to make room for Hal Gill's spot in the lineup. It's also lucky that Gill's best traits are the ones mentioned that Scuderi's void will need replaced. A lucky coincidence.

Also, here were the lines used today in practice, expect to see them tomorrow night's game in Boston. Your starting netminder for the first time since December 6th will be old white pads Marc-Andre Fleury.

Dupuis-Malkin-Sykora
Malone-Staal-Hossa
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Minard-Laraque

``The biggest change is obviously Staal will be Hossa's center and Malone is bumped off the top line to join them. We like this. Dupuis is a responsible player away from the puck and his style would seem to support the sleekness of the Malkin-Syko combo.
``Staal has been used as a center all year, it looks pretty obvious that even though coaches/management could put him back on the wing, they don't want to. One has to wonder if Staal is ideal for Hossa's wing though. Eric's little bro has just 26 assists in 145 career games.
``Love the 3rd line though. Taffe has been a pretty reliable lower-line player and hasn't looked out of place in the NHL. We think he might even deserve a spot in the lineup when the injured players come back.
``Speaking of injured players, could you imagine a Robers-Talbot-Kennedy 3rd line come playoff time? What a blend of speed, grit and determination.

Looking too far ahead

Just imagine, barring injuries this could be the Penguins opening series lineup...

Hossa-Crosby-Kennedy
Malone-Malkin-Sykora
Dupuis-Staal-Talbot
Ruutu-Taffe-Laraque

Gonchar/Gill
Scuderi/Whitney
Sydor/Letang

Fleury/Conklin


That's a lineup that could certainly rival anyone in the East Conference.