The Datsyukian Deke

You're not. Thank god.

In a perfect world, you want your talent to surpass your injury-prone, old backup goalie. Even with him being great last year and a major factor for making the playoffs. But yeah, I get the "you need a proven backup when your talent just had 11 NHL games" argument, so I surrender... ...for now, discussing contracts we handed out before this season. Next season, I don't want us to spend money on Gus again.

But paying a goalie you actually don't want to play ~2 mil makes more sense? Or having Petr full-time in Detroit, having him count faceoffs more than getting ice time? Does Sammys ability to move (at all..) allow him to juggle?

Yeah, I know about our history, but I think in salary cap leagues, lower risk often means lower chance to win the big prize.

For this season, since he is already paid, I agree. But I can't find the logic behind it in the first place. Paying a #2 goalie like Gus only makes sense if you consider your talent in #3 not to be ready. But that's not the fact, every time Jimmy sits, Petr should get the start. So why did they re-sign Gus? Makes no sense.. Maybe you could say "but we want Petr to play, not sit on the bench as a backup". Fine, put McCollum on the bench when Jimmy plays, let Petr start in GR and recall him, when you want to rest Jimmy/Jimmy is injured once again/Jimmy sucks. Then move McCollum down.. Maybe you could say "but if that doesn't work for whatever reason (delayed flights, Jimmy being a late scratch for whatever reason with Petr not able to get to the game in time, etc. ..) we would have to play McCollum!". Sure, might happen. But how often? 1,2 or 3 times in 82 games? Why pay ~2 mil/year just for that scenario, if you could use them elsewhere with more impact? I'd rather do that and let McCollum get a couple games...

My main problem is how much more confident and relaxed the team looks with Petr, most likely due to his ability to play the puck. Something Jimmy will never be able to do at this level...

Side note: How terrible is their music selection? If that's fitting for their audience, then the average Pens' Fan is a 15y old girl with an pink Iphone...

Agreed. If it's beneficiary for the team, after everything is added up, I'd just continue as usual = 3rd pair and #1 point man on the PP.

THIS. Not really. Maybe easier for Babs to decide, but it all comes down to: It's professional sports, it's a million dollar business, it's not some social feel-good program - and that's why the best guy should play. And usually does.

Nice. Very close to what I posted in the "Lines"-Thread in terms of overall balanc along with goalscoring ability on the first three lines. Let's go! :yahoo:

What about... Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Abdelkader Tatar - Sheahan - Nyquist Cole - Weiss - Pulkinnen Miller - Glendening - Jurco Kronwall - Ericcson Quincey - DeKeyser Zidlicky - Smith No need to discuss the D pairings, so let's get to the forwards. Since our offense isn't going right now, I thought we should get back to those two first lines. The Eurotwins together with Abby looks like our best combination all year, and I simply cannot understand why we're not seeing the "Original Kid Line", that worked so well last season, at all this season. Let's put them back together, see Line 2. For the 3rd line, my idea is... 1. If we want to get Weiss to at least contribute (at this point, "live up to his contract" seems delusional to me...), he should play center. That's what he used to play for his whole career and if you want to get him going, don't put him on the wing. 2. Cole + Teemu on the same line could really boost our offense. I like the idea. If this works perfectly, fine. We would need to change some positions when Helm gets back, but at least we would have some value in Weiss. If it doesn't work, no problem - just let Helm center that 3rd line. And we get back our 4th line, which was an absolute plus in this formation, too. Thoughts?

@frankgrimes: If they are legal, you can tell us about them. But I doubt they are..

Besides the winning goal controvery... ...I cannot remember when I actually was in such a good mood after a loss. Maybe that's because of the overall game we played, which I really really enjoyed. And that's the main part. We lost because of two stupid mistakes around the net costing us two goals, but overall I saw a LOT of things I really liked: - 2nd game, 2nd time Cleary a healthy scratch..keep up the good work Babs, keep it up.. - Franzen really looks in the best shape since..I can't even remember. No floating, works defensively..nice! - Kindl was at least solid, no major mistakes, and Q played really well. - When did we play like this for the last time? Hitting all over the place, I loved it! - Speed and creativity on offense, especially our young guys. - I really like the new PP tactic. That should bring a lot of goals..especially when you imagine a healthy Pavel in it.. - Hank looks completely healthy. Not at 100%, too much time without real competition, but that's just a matter of time. So overall...let's just continue like this, cut the mistakes, execute it a little better, and it's going to be a great season.

I still don't get why they don't add Pre- & Postgame to the (archived) games. Especially because that cannot be a legal issue...if it was, they wouldn't be allowed to show Pregame Live either..

You can - just not on a legal road.

Ok, so far my google results are: 1. No promo code whatsoever except the one from NHL 15 (which only makes sense if you were going to buy that game anyway..). 2. The regular international price of 99,95$ can be cut to 74,95$, if you are from Eastern Europe. As for 2., I don't know if and to what extent that works inside the US.

Ok, one sentence wouldn't have been worth it. Btw, I started writing my post before you explained it, but got interrupted and then continued. So I never saw your post before I sent mine.

harold: Did you really need to delete my whole post? It might be illegal to use offshore sites offering whatsoever, but afaik there is still no jurisdiction on the use of vpn services..at least I haven't heard of anyone in Germany getting into trouble for pretending to be somewhere else while registering for something. Or accessing something you already paid for.

Since creating a new thread for just one question looked unnecessary to me, I instead dug up this one.. Question is..does anyone know if there is an active promo code for Gamecenter Live to lower the price a little bit? I know, 99,95$ or ~78,50€ isn't that expensive, especially when you translate it into "per game"-prices...but if I could save a few bucks, I would..

Yup. It's like a car accident - you don't want to watch any longer, but you just can't turn your head..

THIS Man, are you on drugs??? Quincey is crap, absolute crap. Did you watch any games over the last couple years? Unbelievable..

Screw it, another two wasted years, the last of Pavel, without a chance to compete. Thx Kenny..

Ahahaha. That might be the best mistake i've ever read. Jesus, I'm about to cry..

Yup. Just saw him score the GWG.

Part of that might be Malkins injury, Pavels return and Fleurys postseason habits.