pi2000

I don't know if I can stomach another season of "... we're giving everybody a clean slate, let's see what we have here..." We know what we have, and it's a steaming pile of *****. If they bring in a new GM I want RK gone and all the assistants, Gerard Gallant, a #1 goalie, a #2 goalie, a #3 goalie, a 2C for Risto and Reinhart, move on from all tank roster players, and a president of hockey ops.

Agreed. Your goalie is also your best penalty killer... so it's no secret why the PK has been so bad this season. With better goaltending, even mediocre goaltending, this team is probably 6-8 points higher in the standings.

I've said it for the past few years, this team won't take the next step until the leftovers from the tank years are replaced... Girgensons, Larsson, Risto, McCabe, and I'd also lump Reinhart in that group. They need a change of scenery as well. Are there other players on the team playing worse? Yes. Will they do better on another team? Likely. If you want a culture change you need to move on from that group of players. If they want to save their NHL careers, they need a change of scenery.

They're a few pieces away, but I'm not sure I trust him to fill those holes. Get rid of him, fine. But don't go and blow it all up in the process.

The more I watch him play the less I want him on the team. He's on pace for fewer points than last season. 0g, 0a, -7, 7 SOG, 1 hit on this 4 game road trip. Skinner had 5 hits, even Eichel with a core injury had 3 hits. As an offensive guy on the top line, to have 7 SOG over the course of 4 games is very very poor. Skinner had 8 SOG in one game vs Vegas. Seriously, is Sam playing with an injury?

We need to get away from the mindset of basing contract numbers strictly off of point production.

This conversation exists because he's a pending RFA who is playing on the top line, and puts up decent scoring numbers for a top line winger. He has offensive skills, no doubt, but for me, he's too one dimensional... his offensive production (eg he'll never score 40g) doesn't outweigh his lack of productivity in other areas.

His draft position doesn't matter to me. He's a soft, extremely one dimensional player, who contributes absolutely nothing when he's not scoring. In fact, I consider him a liability when he's not showing up on the score sheet. 3rd worst TRpm (-11) on the team, 3rd worst +/- at -12. IMO, he's not a core guy you build a winning team around. He's already 24, this is peak Sam, and it's not good enough, do better for a $7mil player.

Olofsson injury looked bad. He's already skating?

I am glad that you admit Reinhart needs help.

Eichel is playing hurt, and he's still contributing more than a healthy Reinhart. Olofsson is a rookie and he won't be asking for $7m/yr this offseason. What's Reinhart's excuse? answer: Eichel is hurt. This was a great opportunity for Sam to step and help out Jack, but he couldn't (or wouldn't).

Reinhart last 3 games. 0g, 0a, -6, 5 shots, 1hit, 29% on faceoffs

In my amateurish opinion, he needs another year, maybe 2, before he's NHL ready. His shot blocking isn't quite there yet. A little sluggish on faceoffs, and doesn't take the correct angles for throwing hip checks. Need to see him drop the gloves a few times to better understand how much he really wants to play in the big leagues.

Unlike Sam, he refuses to give up.

Probably couldn't get enough in return for the UFAs to make it worthwhile. He has over $30mil in cap space this summer, I'm convinced he has a spending plan and TP is on board. Next year is the year that real progress has to be made or it's curtains for JBOT.

Make the other team play crossbar. Seriously tho, i like the disaster goalie option. I could see Risto being a decent disaster goalie. Or if your going to give Reinhart $7mil then make him play goalie if needed. Would rather see a known player have to play out of position than some dude I've never heard of.

If the plan is to continue with Hutton and Ullmark next season, then JBOT needs to be fired. If I'm TP, first order of business is JBOTs plan to fix the goaltending position, next is 2C. They need to continue to drafting and developing goalies, but in the meantime there has to be a plan to bring in an established veteran goaltender, with starting experience, somebody significantly better than what they have. Khudobin, Kuemper, Greiss, etc...

I'm leaning that way too. For a cap team to be leaning heavily on Jonas Johansson to backstop them in a critical game.... that alone is fireable offense.

You have to start in net. It's so tough mentally as a player when your goalie is below average. It's a helpless feeling and I do really believe that if you shore up the goaltender position, improve from say a bottom 5 to top 10 goalie, then the mental state of the entire group will improve and they'll start scoring more as well.

comparing ROR to Reinhart? lol

He simply doesn't skate well enough to keep up with teams like Vegas.

Erod has averaged 8 minutes of ice time in each of his two games with the Pens... Has 1 shot on goal, a penalty and was 0-5 on draws last game.

Hoping that once the playoffs are far enough out of reach RK swaps Skinner and Reinhart for the last 10-15 games or so. Or maybe have Reinhart center Skinner and Kahun... for a bit and put Johansson on Eichel's line. For the amount of money they're going to have to throw at Reinhart, we need to see what this version of him can do away from Jack.