EF: (1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs (4) Boston Bruins. (Bruins SWEEP Pittsburgh 4-0!!).

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by davidbjordan

it does seem that bylsma's only coaching card is to put crosby and malkin on a line to gain momentum...

On a curious side note, since i can't pinpoint it, which year was it that Iggy stopped playing a hardnosed style and started "gaining the line to stop and turnover the puck" style?

i do think though a Morrow-jokinen-iginla line would have better chemistry and play at more the same speed but wouldn't see any ice time

The summer of 2006.. discussed on this CP thread how he dropped 15 lbs and was going to be so much faster..

He changed his body type in preparation for the crackdown in the hooking holding rules that never extended to the playoffs.

Now he looks small and over powered by the Boston D-men.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

I think the Pens should've focused more on getting an elite goaltender instead of Iginla and Morrow.

No kidding, what if Kipper had gone to Pittsburgh as well? Might be a totally different outcome.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

It should...

2003 NHL Draft:
28: Corey Perry
30: Shawn Belle

2004:
28: Mark Fistric
30: Andy Rodgers

2005:
28: Matt Niskanen
30: Vladimir Mikhalik

2006:
28:Nick Foligno
30: Matt Corrente

Looking through history there actually is a much larger success rate at 28 then their is at 30.

That's kind of a cherry-picked statistic, as there's not much history of 30 team drafts to analyze.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Dion

Fake, look at the stairs in the crowd behind where his torso rips in half.

Almost had me though.

[jhunt223]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

They need to go back to what the team was comfortable with.

Dupuis-Crosby-Kunitz
Bennett-Malkin-Neal
Cooke-Sutter-Kennedy
Morrow-Jokinen-Iginla

Go back to your lines before the trade deadline, and throw all the new guys on the same line. Try to get some of that chemistry and familarity back.

That fourth line would be way too slow. Iginla and Morrow need to sit. There is no place for them in the penguins line up. The game has passed both of them by.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I noticed it starkly in Turin, but that first season with Keenan was the beginning of the end.

Yeah, it was around about then, maybe Playfair's year. I noticed it when he started trying to imitate Huselius' style of play. That guy, Kristian was the beginning of the downfall of the Flames tough brand hockey.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Yeah, it was around about then, maybe Playfair's year. I noticed it when he started trying to imitate Huselius' style of play. That guy, Kristian was the beginning of the downfall of the Flames tough brand hockey.

Bertuzzi.

[minnow]

Just did a quick drive through of some Pens fan sites. They seem to be overwhelmingly calling for Bylsma's head. Also, silly, but it was reported that a group of reporters on their way to Boston had a crying baby on their plane also. The pilot heard it crying and asked if Sydney Crosby was aboard. That made the news????

[Locke]

Unfortunately, I dont think the blame is all Bylsma's. Shero went and added Iginla, Morrow and Murray at the deadline.

So he messed with team chemistry by adding three old, big and slow players.

Iginla looked like he didint know what he was doing out there, I saw him more often on his butt than on his skates. His play looked very half-hearted and hes dragging his line down.

Since when was Iggy's stick so easy to lift?

[Igottago]

Ultimately, I think the Pens have been massively outcoached. The Pens came out in game 1 trying to be a "tough" team, and while they did an admirable job of it and threw some nice hits, they forgot about the other aspects of their game.

Their offensive zone play has been atrocious and I think its leading to most of Boston's scoring chances. They are getting next to no time on attack and Boston is chipping the puck out and transitioning backup the ice with ease. The Bruins seem like a well oiled machine playing together within their system and the Pens are just all over the map. And that includes Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Neal, Iginla...they all look lost.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by Locke

Unfortunately, I dont think the blame is all Bylsma's. Shero went and added Iginla, Morrow and Murray at the deadline.

So he messed with team chemistry by adding three old, big and slow players.

Except that the Penguins were dominant for a month with Crosby out of the lineup and Iginla, Morrow and Jokinen among their leading scorers. Those guys have not delivered in this series so far, but they didn't upset the chemistry - the return of Crosby did. If a coach can't figure out a way to get the best player in the world into the lineup without hurting the team, that's on the coach.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by minnow

Just did a quick drive through of some Pens fan sites. They seem to be overwhelmingly calling for Bylsma's head. Also, silly, but it was reported that a group of reporters on their way to Boston had a crying baby on their plane also. The pilot heard it crying and asked if Sydney Crosby was aboard. That made the news????

If I've learned anything from CP in my almost 10 years of hanging out here, is...it's always the coaches fault, always.

[puckluck2]

Why is Malkin a center? He couldn't find the defensive zone with binoculars.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

If the Flames are astute with their scouting I don't think history is going to play a big role of success picking 28 or 30.

If we pick 30 and the teams picking in front of us are Chicago and Boston (great drafting records) I think they might get that one guy that history shows seems to go in the last couple picks of the first round.

However if we pick 28 and Chicago and Boston pick behind us we have a better shot at getting that one guy late in the first round who ends up being a good player.

[CliffFletcher]

Two spots in a draft matters. Everyone who has been a hockey draft and had the guy they wanted grabbed by the guy who picked immediately before him knows this.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Two spots in a draft matters. Everyone who has been a hockey draft and had the guy they wanted grabbed by the guy who picked immediately before him knows this.

Patrick berglund at 25, Irving at 26.

[Major Major]

I think Iggy needs to take this season as a wake up call. Of course, things need to play out, but he is going to make drastic changes to his style of play in order to remain effective in this league. It is as if he is playing like all that was missing was a good centre, and once that happened, everything would get ironed out and he would be 27 again. That has clearly not panned out for him, nor even close.

It should be enough for him to see that he was as much of a problem in Calgary as the Flames were themselves rather than an amazing player struggling against the grain of a terrible team. He needs to take a serious look at himself in order to Recchi-fy his career.

[Cole436]

I think the biggest problem with Iginla is that he's not being played to his strengths. When he doesn't have chemistry with someone, come hell or high water he does not have chemistry with them. I've seen him play better with Dean Mcammond then he did with Mario Lemieux. Get him away from Malkin and start playing him with Crosby. And for gods sake put him on the #1 PP. You have a guy with a shot like that and he's being replaced with James Neal?! Come on.

[Major Major]

Originally Posted by gargamel

Except that the Penguins were dominant for a month with Crosby out of the lineup and Iginla, Morrow and Jokinen among their leading scorers. Those guys have not delivered in this series so far, but they didn't upset the chemistry - the return of Crosby did. If a coach can't figure out a way to get the best player in the world into the lineup without hurting the team, that's on the coach.

Meh, being dominant during the regular season in a butter soft eastern conference with a Crosby-less Penguins is no feat. This team is simply not built for the playoffs. This is on Shero moreso than Bylsma, although he is currently being severely out coached. If you find yourself in the conference finals with the worst goaltending and team defense of the 4 remaining teams, that means you are the fourth best team.

I love how coaches turn bad overnight. A year ago, most would have LOVED to get a Bylsma quality coach, but now he's a bad coach? For trying to ride Crosby to the final? How dare he. I'd easily take him over any coach we have had since D Sutter.

[Major Major]

Originally Posted by Cole436

I think the biggest problem with Iginla is that he's not being played to his strengths. When he doesn't have chemistry with someone, come hell or high water he does not have chemistry with them. I've seen him play better with Dean Mcammond then he did with Mario Lemieux. Get him away from Malkin and start playing him with Crosby. And for gods sake put him on the #1 PP. You have a guy with a shot like that and he's being replaced with James Neal?! Come on.

Have you seen James Neal's shot? The biggest problem with Iginla is that he thinks his strengths are the same as they've always been. I don't think playing with Crosby is going to make him stop flying the zone, not taking passes, and looking incredibly weak on the puck. If I were running that pp and it was between Neal and Iggy, it wouldn't be much of a decision.