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Leaf Rumours

It's hard not to see the Pens amongst the teams vying for Poni. They'll probably express more and more interest as the deadline approaches -- he's the perfect yearly deadline winger rental that they always end up nabbing.
 
The Pens are going to push hard for Ray Whitney, who I think is going to be dealt at the deadline and re-sign with Carolina come July 1.

Whitney makes a ton of sense for them. Ponikarovsky's developed into a pretty darn good, two way/all around second liner. But Whitney is a first line talent. He is good enough to be the top winger on a number of teams in the league, and that is precisely what the Pens need. Though Ponikarovksy would help, they need high end skill more than anything. They already have a number of guys who can chip in some offense, and play the two-way/boards/corners/speed game that Ponikarovsky brings to the table (though he's a lot better than Fedotenko, Talbot and Dupuis).
 
Yeah, Whitney is pretty good. He just finds a way to produce no matter what.

But Poni has established himself as a legit 1b/2a winger who I think anyone would want on their team.

I really hope the return on him isn't just a draft pick. He's a valuable piece that we should use in a package to land a good young player.

We do need draft picks, but those should come from 1) the trades of Stempy, Exelby, Primeau, and maybe even Mitchy, and 2) taking on a few bad contracts.

Poni and Beauch and Grabo are our best and most expendable assets to net us a player. **Jordan Staal, Jordan Staal, Jordan Staal**
 
Poni should get a good return.

A lot more parody than last year, and a lot less good players available because of it.
 
not a rumour, not even a desire, just an idea I'm thinking through:

To EDM: L.Schenn
To TOR: S.Gagner

thoughts?
 
i think all of the d-men will slowly but surely look way more competent defensively now that a) they don't have to play in fear of making a mistake and b) when mistakes are inevitably made, their goalie prevents them from going into the net.

odd man rushes happen. defensemen are going to get caught on pinches. sometimes the wingers won't be able to clear the puck. sometimes a guy is going to beat the defenseman to the net and get a chance on a rebound of a pass across. sometimes goalies are screened. sometimes shots get tipped.

sometimes, when those things happen, the goalie has to stop them. and toskala has proven completely incapable of making those stops.

it's amazing that giguere doesnt' even have to play well to improve this team ten fold. in fact he can continue to be subpar like he has been the past year and a half for anahim, and still improve this team considerably.
 
^ It's amazing when you watch other teams how often some of their better defensemen make these mistakes, but by the time the game's over they are forgotten because their goalie made a nice stop.
 
..or an easy stop.

that's what killed me in the last game. we saw the sort of turnovers that have killed this team the past few years result in harmless shots into giguere's chest.

it happened multiple times, too. there was no running around, no rebound chances. a stemp turnover, a kaberle turnover and a beauchemin pinch all ended up being complete non issues. new jersey didnt' even get decent scoring chances off of them.
 
not a rumour, not even a desire, just an idea I'm thinking through:

To EDM: L.Schenn
To TOR: S.Gagner

thoughts?

Kadri is going to be better than Gagner IMO.

Staal, Brassard, Mueller - these are the guys we should be targetting.
 
If traded where do you guys think Poni will end up?

I'll take a stab and say Buffalo, TB, or Colorado.
 
i think all of the d-men will slowly but surely look way more competent defensively now that a) they don't have to play in fear of making a mistake and b) when mistakes are inevitably made, their goalie prevents them from going into the net.

odd man rushes happen. defensemen are going to get caught on pinches. sometimes the wingers won't be able to clear the puck. sometimes a guy is going to beat the defenseman to the net and get a chance on a rebound of a pass across. sometimes goalies are screened. sometimes shots get tipped.

sometimes, when those things happen, the goalie has to stop them. and toskala has proven completely incapable of making those stops.

Beauch is gonna look a million times better now that (a) He wont be pinching as much, (b) his one bone headed play a game in all likelyhood will be stopped by Giggy.
 
The Pens are going to push hard for Ray Whitney, who I think is going to be dealt at the deadline and re-sign with Carolina come July 1.

Whitney makes a ton of sense for them. Ponikarovsky's developed into a pretty darn good, two way/all around second liner. But Whitney is a first line talent. He is good enough to be the top winger on a number of teams in the league, and that is precisely what the Pens need. Though Ponikarovksy would help, they need high end skill more than anything. They already have a number of guys who can chip in some offense, and play the two-way/boards/corners/speed game that Ponikarovsky brings to the table (though he's a lot better than Fedotenko, Talbot and Dupuis).

The talk is the canes asking price for Whitney is too high, and they likely won't be in the running for him.......L.A.'s the more likely destination.
 
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