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Fantasy First Hockey Podcast


James

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- Letang is not on the decline. 
- crosby is on the decline, but is still a selke candidate. 
- malkin is on the decline, but only in terms of durability. When he’s healthy he’s great. 
- rust is consistent and worth that money (at least in real life)

- jarry is a great goalie

- guentzel is the best player on the team

- blueger will play plenty… three guys over 35 in front of him on the depth chart. 
- carter is due for a real bad year. Could end up on the wing (kapanen sucks). 
- the top 4 wingers will make or break the team. If they can produce like they should, the team will be great. 

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have tickets for 12 Pens games this season, was at 15+ last year including one in the playoffs.

 

they will be a playoff team , know it's a tough Metro division, but they still have a very good team, aging, yes, but with if they have good health, meaning Letang, Malkin and Crosby all possible play 70+ games, and I firmly believe they have a better more physical defense with Petry and Rutta, l liked Mathenson, but I can't tell you how many games I went to where he was directly responsible for allowing 1-2 goals a game because he's "soft" as Michael Terrin used to say. Petry and Pettersson will be playing primarily with Malkin/Zucker/Rakell, so I can see Petry having a pretty good year offensively playing mostly with the 2nd line. Jarry is a very good goalie, and made a couple All Star games, so pretty sure if he's healthy all year, they are OK in goal. Not sure about Carter (although I recently won a Jeff Carter autograph jersey at a golf outing, to go along with my Crosby, Kessel and Fleury signed Pens jerseys) if he plays as a 3rd line center facing 3rd pairing defenseman with Kapenan and Heinen, I can see him have an OK year, hopefully not a lot of TOI and they can hopefully spread the minutes between their 3 aging centers in Crosby, Malkin and Carter, and Bluegar will be the 4th center with McGinn and likely Josh Archibald to being a little truculence to the 4th line. 

 

Don't give up on the Pens just yet for a nice playoff run in Pittsburgh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, leevaughn said:

@James do you think they will make the playoffs or not??

 


yes. It’s been like 7 years since they finished worse than 3rd in the division. The team is potentially better this year than last year, if malkin and Zucker stay healthy for the whole year and rakell continues to be as solid as he was after the deadline last year. Petry vs matheson is the biggest question mark from last year, but I think that’s net neutral at worst.

 

the other metro teams are getting better, sure. But Pitt is still better than the isles, flyers, caps, and probably devils, which leaves 4 teams competing for playoff spots. I like the pens chances. 

 

they could’ve gone deep last year if goaltending health wasn’t an issue.  Even with it, they were a shot or two away from beating the rangers. 

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I think more teams in the playoffs is a bad idea. Totally agree with lee (or was it Chris?) that below average teams (I.e. teams in the bottom half of the league) should not make the playoffs. If the sole argument is financial benefit for the team, that’s not good enough for me. 
 

also what impact would an expanded playoff have on the trade deadline? Wouldn’t we see less activity? No fun in that. 
 

I think 16 is probably just right. I would like to see them move to a 4 wild card option though (top 2 in each division plus next 4). The 8 teams with the best record should make it. Full stop. 
 

totally aside, I would argue that a winner take all play in makes MORE sense in hockey than in baseball. One ace and a weak rotation can still make it, but will easily be handled in the first round. You should have to prove your rotational (and bullpen) depth to advance. 

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