Dr Rosenrosen

Yea, but Crosby's an easy target. Even many hard core Pens fans are sick of the league forcing him down everyone's throats all the time. I'd hate him too if he played for someone else - especially in our division. I love him [insert *** joke here], but I have a 71 jersey myself.

That's still too long. This waiting is killing me! And when the good guys are winning, I just hope the bad guys aren't whining! :hockeysmile:

1) It's no secret we could use the type of D-man you describe, but we got this far without one. 2) Staal is all that already, as you will soon see.

Yea. Probably. I'd settle for getting Eaton back now that Gill is here as a big body. Gonch-Eaton Whitney-Gill Goligoski-Letang Scuderi or Sydor (7th) I can live with that.

Orpik/Gill and Jordan Staal. Check and check.

Understood, but that's a $1M pay cut from his current salary. Not gonna happen. But you know what the real question is, right?

You're not gonna hear complaints from Pens fans on this one. See "Armstrong, Colby"

"Tiger made this one yesterday. Left edge - it's a can't miss."

Not really. That assumes young, affordable guys like Kennedy, Staal, Letang, Talbot, and Goligoski (AHL) won't develop further while the core gets even more experience. Even without signing Hossa and Malone, there will still be plenty of cap space for capable (though not equal) replacements. Shero's plan has been coming together nicely and this year was an unexpected early blessing. We're fine as long as our young core of Sid, Geno, Fleury, and Staal grow together.

$12M seems like a stretch, but he'll end up with more than Sid and I think the kid will be fine with that. In the previous post, getting Hossa for $6M is not even close. He'll be $8M/year minimum long term. Our best hope right now is to sign him to $10M for one more year (while we have the room) and hope we can work out a smaller cap hit after that. Malone at $4.5 is a longshot because his wife wants to move to Minnesota to be with her family and the Wild will pony up.

Duly noted and... (I'm so jealous of all the cool emoticons you have here)

Expected. But don't piss off Malkin like Richards did. One of those shots might just put a hole in Osgood instead of hitting the back of the net.

What a sissy!

And that's just the way he likes it.

That's right. Thank you for clarifying my point. The dirty play may have gotten to Malkin a bit, but even the biggest of clean or borderline hits seem to motivate him, if anything. Case in point: Richards absolutely leveled Geno behind the Flyers goal (cleanly) and the play quickly got to the other end while a groggy Malkin slowly made his way to the bench behind the play. He gets to his own blue line and suddenly finds the puck on his stick from an Orpik hit, TO, and stellar pass from Gonchar. He calmly turns with the puck, skates to about 20 feet, stares down Biron while practically standing still, and unleashes his fury with a "take that muthaf***a!" slapshot that Biron never saw. It was the ultimate payback (especially since Richards had defensive responsibility for him on the play). I just don't see the Wings playing dirty enough to have a negative effect on our guys, and it would only mean they were not playing their own game.

That may have been true in the past, but I just don't see Kronwall having that effect on Geno after what he's faced in the last 2 series. Kronwall won't have many opportunities to get great, clean hits if he's in position. And if he leaves his post even a little to make the big hit, well, that just plays right into Malkin's hands.

As an example, a few Philthy players were taking some cheap shots at Malkin to throw him off his game. The refs let it go or didn't see it. Instead of getting frustrated and taking an immediate retalitory penalty, he just shook it off and played his game. Later, Briere got his head a little too low and too close to Geno, skating into his elbow. It was borderline, but nothing worse than was deserved and the message was received because the cheap shots stopped immediately. I'm not suggesting dirty play, just well timed and appropriate payback to ensure protection (a la Messier). Having said that, I don't anticipate the need for that kind of thing against the Wings because they're not dirty like the Flyers. But, Geno now knows how to handle things if the need arises. That's all I'm saying.

Again, ask how that worked out for the Cryers. Malkin isn't looking for it but, if an opportunity presents itself and payback is warranted, he can get pretty salty. It's nice to have stars who can stick up for themselves because Laraque really doesn't do it for them. That's why I backed off my statement about Laraque. Not only because it's the playoffs, but because he's the type of enforcer that refuses to do anything but fight the other team's heavyweight in a "gentlemanly" way. It's quite annoying and completely useless. Instead of fighting the goon that runs your star, it's my opinion that someone should be recipricating on the opposing stars. Rutuu can do it, but it's also great to have your stars capable of handling themselves because they tend to stay out of the box at the same time.

Is it reasonable to assume that, if you're leaving anyway and you think can make a difference in the future of the game, you might make a statement like that on the way out as a wake up call to the league?

Probably true. If Kronwall runs someone though, I hope it's Malkin. He's starting to learn from the Messier school of payback. Instead of relying on his goon to fight the opposing offender (which accomplishes nothing), he waits for the right moment and takes a shot at an opposing star. Ask Briere how it feels to pay for Hatcher's sins.

No big deal. After the Rags and Cryers taking runs all playoffs, not to mention the entire division all season, one guy isn't gonna rattle the Pens. He doesn't really wanna answer to Big George anyway.

Let the games(manship) begin!

To the OP: Thanks. Now I don't have to watch the games and can finally get some work done around the house.

I guess there's reading, then there's reading comprehension. Pens66: We also have a few people on our boards that like to create an argument when there is none, no?

...depending on your needs. Again, too much sense being made here. Must... return... to... Cryers board!