Pittsburgh Penguins Thread

[fleung22 1]

thats all i am saying...I hate when people jump on a team and praise them like they are the greatest team ever..baaaaaa

I'm saving this quote for future use

[krup24 0]

Messier doesn't think much of the Cros“It is clear that Sidney Crosby has become a bona fide NHL superstar. His performance over the past month is indicative of both his incredible hockey skills and his impressive leadership skills as well,” said Messier. “Great players make their teammates better and Sidney has done exactly that. Combine that brilliant performance with his active role in the community and the way he lends himself to different charities in the Pittsburgh area, and you have one pretty special 19-year-old. Looking towards the future, I don’t think the National Hockey League or the Pittsburgh Penguins could ask for a better marquee player.”Big game tonite. A win and then we have the Devils with serious division implications.

[digitalmonkey 929]

Messier doesn't think much of the Cros

Stop it!

[fryer98 30]

Stop it!

'The Wizard of Cros'Better?

[Zach6668 513]

'The Wizard of Cros'Better?

Steigy sucks.

[digitalmonkey 929]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...s/s_493121.html

[doox 15]

Steigy sucks.

QFTMFT.

[gruven 530]

Steigy sucks.

LOL.... I did some TV with Steigerwalderhausenholde last week when the pens were in town. He's kind of a funny, bitter man, but I gotta tell you... he loves the Pens....

[doox 15]

True enough - he's a fan and I do like that about him. It used to be funny to hear him sputter and fume after the Pens got a bad call and have Mike Lange say, "Now calm down Steiggy..." Thing is, he's not Mike Lange, and fair or unfair - he's going to be compared to him. A lot of local Pens fans were upset when Mike got bumped off of TV broadcasts and then tossed the radio duties. Rumors were that it was because of his drinking habits, but fans that judge him on his broadcasting alone weren't happy at all. He just has a more likable personality, and is a lot more entertaining to watch. If they timing matched up better, I'd happily turn off the tv volume and keep the radio on, but unfortunately there's a delay between the 2 feeds.

[fryer98 30]

woot!

[doox 15]

I give a hesitant whoot. They won and even though giving a point to a western team isn't so bad, they're not winning solidly. They can't seem to hold a lead and finish a team off cleanly when they have them down by 2-3 goals. I'm cautiously optimistic....but hey - a win is a win.

[digitalmonkey 929]

I give a hesitant whoot. They won and even though giving a point to a western team isn't so bad, they're not winning solidly. They can't seem to hold a lead and finish a team off cleanly when they have them down by 2-3 goals. I'm cautiously optimistic....but hey - a win is a win.

A sign of youth.

[doox 15]

Good point. I suppose I should be just happy with the points they're getting lately and their improvement as a whole. Hopefully they'll just learn how to keep teams down as they go.

[dEv~ 19]

A win is a win is a win is a win.Sure I'd like then not to have to work so hard but 12-0-2 in their last 14 is pretty awesome I must say.Living in Charlottesville sucks ***. Being from Pittsburgh I've always been more of a Pens fan than anything else. Sure I love the Steelers and Pirates but I always LOVED the pens. I stuck with em through their bad years and now that they finally again are a big time attraction I can't watch./pathetic rant

[krup24 0]

this team never ceases to amaze me. the third and fourth lines are really making the difference the last 5 or so games. these lines were no existant during the first half of the season. great SH goal by Talbothighlight real save by Fleury in OTbring on NJ

[digitalmonkey 929]

That John Tonelli-like shift that Crosby had last night was very impressive.19!

[dEv~ 19]

That John Tonelli-like shift that Crosby had last night was very impressive.19!

I don't know what that means but it reminded me to add that the current streak the Penguins are having doesn't align itself with an overly impressive personal streak by Crosby. Sure he has 23 points in the last 14 games but he hasn't scored a goal since Jan. 27 which was 8 games back. 17 of those points are on the Power Play leaving him with only a -1 during that time. For a guy that's +13 on the year that's meaningful.

[rinswun 6]

I don't know what that means but it reminded me to add that the current streak the Penguins are having doesn't align itself with an overly impressive personal streak by Crosby. Sure he has 23 points in the last 14 games but he hasn't scored a goal since Jan. 27 which was 8 games back. 17 of those points are on the Power Play leaving him with only a -1 during that time. For a guy that's +13 on the year that's meaningful.

i knew the kid was a dud

[fleung22 1]

Okay Pens fans I'd like to ask you a question and am assuming you can be mildly objective as opposed to Maple Serge.How much do you think Pens management should be congratulated for the present sucess of the team?When you literally come in bottom 3 for so many years in a row you're going to get a lot of quality draft picks. It's pretty hard to be that bad for so many years in a row. Watching superstar after superstar leave or get traded away must've been tough for the fans. Was it strictly economics? Was management ingenius and taking advantage of the draft system?Had luck not given Pittsburgh Crosby where would this team be now?Thoughts?

[digitalmonkey 929]

Okay Pens fans I'd like to ask you a question and am assuming you can be mildly objective as opposed to Maple Serge.How much do you think Pens management should be congratulated for the present sucess of the team?When you literally come in bottom 3 for so many years in a row you're going to get a lot of quality draft picks. It's pretty hard to be that bad for so many years in a row. Watching superstar after superstar leave or get traded away must've been tough for the fans. Was it strictly economics? Was management ingenius and taking advantage of the draft system?Had luck not given Pittsburgh Crosby where would this team be now?Thoughts?

I think the Penguins are lucky to have been crappy at the right time. While management has done a fine job of plugging holes with quality players the Penguins would be a lot worse off without the likes of Fleury, Malkin, Crosby and Staal.

[dEv~ 19]

Okay Pens fans I'd like to ask you a question and am assuming you can be mildly objective as opposed to Maple Serge.How much do you think Pens management should be congratulated for the present sucess of the team?When you literally come in bottom 3 for so many years in a row you're going to get a lot of quality draft picks. It's pretty hard to be that bad for so many years in a row. Watching superstar after superstar leave or get traded away must've been tough for the fans. Was it strictly economics? Was management ingenius and taking advantage of the draft system?Had luck not given Pittsburgh Crosby where would this team be now?Thoughts?

Craig Patrick was a great GM until his last 5-8 years. The Penguins have picked so high in the draft lately that they can't help but get some studs. Any GM could have picked Malkin, Crosby, and Fluery. Ray Shero (the pens current GM) inherited these guys and is fortunate that they all are playing so well now. I can't speak intelligently without seeing many of these games but some of free agent signings/trades have seemed be working out pretty well.

[Zach6668 513]

Aside from the fact that the Pens won a lottery in order to get Crosby (was it even weighted at all for the lower ranked teams?), management has done a pretty good job. I mean, they took Fleury of Eric Staal when they could have had either, the took Jordan Staal over Kessel and others. Of course, Malkin was easy as we got screwed out of getting Ovechkin that year (we had less points than the Crapitals, but lost the lottery, I'm using "screwed" lightly here).However, look at some of the **** CP did before he was gone. Palffy? Leclair? Gonchar's monster contract (probably the least of his bad moves as it's paying off rather well now).I think most of the Penguins success, aside from just having an amazing core of players, comes from the turn around from the country club days of Eddie O and Mario (think Friends of Mario days), etc. Michel Therrien and Ray Shero have done a great job actually getting a system set up and have gotten everybody to buy into it.Furthermore, something CP never did, RS has focused on intently. Look at our 3rd and 4th lines. They are really the backbone of this team. Remember the years of Straka, Kovalev, Jagr up front were wasted because we had no depth to this team. Now we have a real depth, both from trades (Petro, Moore, Ruutu) and the draft/AHL system (Talbot, Christensen, etc). That's the key to our recent success right there, IMO.- Zach

[fleung22 1]

Aside from the fact that the Pens won a lottery in order to get Crosby (was it even weighted at all for the lower ranked teams?), management has done a pretty good job. I mean, they took Fleury of Eric Staal when they could have had either, the took Jordan Staal over Kessel and others. Of course, Malkin was easy as we got screwed out of getting Ovechkin that year (we had less points than the Crapitals, but lost the lottery, I'm using "screwed" lightly here).However, look at some of the **** CP did before he was gone. Palffy? Leclair? Gonchar's monster contract (probably the least of his bad moves as it's paying off rather well now).I think most of the Penguins success, aside from just having an amazing core of players, comes from the turn around from the country club days of Eddie O and Mario (think Friends of Mario days), etc. Michel Therrien and Ray Shero have done a great job actually getting a system set up and have gotten everybody to buy into it.Furthermore, something CP never did, RS has focused on intently. Look at our 3rd and 4th lines. They are really the backbone of this team. Remember the years of Straka, Kovalev, Jagr up front were wasted because we had no depth to this team. Now we have a real depth, both from trades (Petro, Moore, Ruutu) and the draft/AHL system (Talbot, Christensen, etc). That's the key to our recent success right there, IMO.- Zach

Good response.Out of curiousity Zach...how did you become a Pens fan in Thunder Bay?

[digitalmonkey 929]

Aside from the fact that the Pens won a lottery in order to get Crosby (was it even weighted at all for the lower ranked teams?),

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the National Hockey League Draft Drawing, held today following the League's Board of Governors meeting in New York, and obtained the first overall selection for the 2005 Entry Draft, to be held Saturday, July 30 (noon, ET) at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.The Draft Drawing, a weighted lottery system, was used to determine the order of selection for all seven rounds of the Entry Draft. Under the weighted lottery system, the clubs that neither qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons, nor were awarded the first overall selection in each of the 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Entry Drafts, had the greatest chance of receiving the first overall selection, 6.3 per cent. These clubs were the Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers.Ten clubs met one of the seven criteria listed above and had a 4.2% chance of winning the Drawing, while the remaining 16 clubs met more than one of the criteria and had a 2.1% chance.Forty-eight balls, numbered one through 48, were placed in a lottery machine. Three ball numbers were randomly assigned to each the Penguins, Sabres, Blue Jackets and Rangers; two ball numbers were assigned to the 10 clubs with a 4.2% chance; and one ball number was assigned to the 16 clubs with a 2.1% chance. The first ball expelled determined the winner of the first overall draft pick and it had been assigned to the Penguins.After the first overall selection was awarded, another ball was expelled to determine which club, from among the 29 remaining, received the second overall pick. This process was continued until each of the 30 first-round draft positions was assigned.Source: http://www.nhl.com/nhlhq/cba/lottery_results072205.html

[gruven 530]

Okay Pens fans I'd like to ask you a question and am assuming you can be mildly objective as opposed to Maple Serge.How much do you think Pens management should be congratulated for the present sucess of the team?When you literally come in bottom 3 for so many years in a row you're going to get a lot of quality draft picks. It's pretty hard to be that bad for so many years in a row. Watching superstar after superstar leave or get traded away must've been tough for the fans. Was it strictly economics? Was management ingenius and taking advantage of the draft system?Had luck not given Pittsburgh Crosby where would this team be now?Thoughts?

Three words: New York Islanders. They are an example of how NOT to manage your finishing dead last and having high draft picks year after year...