When the Penguins schedule came out this year I looked through it and said this going to be the best game of the season. I waited patiently for the last couple of months for this game to come, changed all of my plans so that i could make sure i was able to go to this game and then the Penguins come out and have a performance like that. Sure glad I decided not to play in my Adult league game so i could sit at the Mellon and watch the Penguins play some very uninspired hockey.
A lot of fans calling into the post game radio show were blaming this loss on Johnson, saying he had a terrible game and we would have won if MAF was in the net. I honestly didn't think Johnson played a bad game. It is hard for a goalie to keep pucks out of the net when we give up tons of quality opportunities to the very gifted players Washington has. And yes we would have had a better chance of winning with MAF in the net, that is why he is our starting goalie and Johnson is the back up. You can't believe how many people were calling saying we should trade for a better back up goalie. There is a reason they are called "back up" because they are only there to spell the starting goalie when he needs a rest, and to fill in if the starting goalie is injured.
The reason this team is losing right now is our defense is terrible. I am beginning to wonder if the Penguins have completely forgotten the defensive responsibility that Therien taught them before Bylsma took over last year. In the last two games the Penguins have given up 5 break aways (Johnson stopped 4 of them by the way). I bet the Penguins have not had 5 break aways all season. It seems like teams constantly come in our zone on odd man breaks and then once they gain the zone we cannot get the puck out. When we finally do gain possession we ice the puck after guys have been stuck on the ice for over two minutes. This forces us to keep tired players on the ice while the other team gets to bring out fresh troops. This happened 5 times in the first period last night.
I believe it is time for a major shake up with this team. Some people may say this is crazy considering the Penguins are the defending champs, but remember Craig Patrick made some huge moves at the dead line the year after the Penguins won their first cup and those moves resulted in another cup that season. I would not trade any of our core players being Crosby, Malkin, MAF,Staal,Letang. any other player i would be willing to deal. here are the players i think the Penguins will shop and why.
Talbot: He is not essential to this team winning and is a natural center which is a position we are deep at. Other teams value Talbot fairly high because of his intangibles and timely scoring. But the biggest reason I put his name into this discussion is his name has came up in countless trade rumors.
Gonchar: The only reason the Penguins might consider trading Gonchar is they will probably be unable to re-sign him after this season, so they may want to get something for him. I don't think they will trade him though because it will be hard to get a player that can help the Penguins more than he can considering he would only be a rent-a-player for any team that would trade for him. It would have to be another play off team that needs PP help and has a rent-a-player scoring winger they are willing to part with. That being said I expect Gonchar to be in a Penguins uniform for the entire season.
Gogo: Trading him makes a lot of sense to me, he has a three year contract, can bring PP help to a team that needs it, and he is only 27 years old. I think he is the player that can bring us the highest return that I am willing to part with. I am willing to see him go because his defensive play is terrible, and Ben Lovejoy is ready to be a full time NHL player and is also a much better defensive player than Gogo.
Kunitz: This is just wishful thinking, I don't think the Penguins will trade him but he is overpaid and will never be a real top six winger. Dupuis contract is a third of the price of Kunitz and his play is much better.
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