Quote:
Originally Posted by bigrangy
How many players do they have that are better than every single player that has ever played for this franchise (minus soon-to-be-Jagr)?
The Pens are not a model for sucess
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Why is a successful team not a model for success exactly? Especially one that is so much
more than Crosby and Malkin. We are talking about so-called 4th line construction, not 1st and 2nd line construction, and the Penguins got a
LOT of use out of their fourth line and third defense pair last year so ignoring that is just silly.
Further to that, Tanner Glass along with CP favorite Deryk Engelland played on the 2012-14 Penguins, two perennial UNDERACHIEVING teams that didn't start living up to their potential until they completely revamped their approach and stopped employing these kind of "sheriffs" and actually modelled their roster construction after the Chicago Blackhawks.
Modelling your team after the penguins means modelling your team after the Chicago Blackhawks.
That's five of the last eight Stanley Cups there as a model. That's throwing away a pretty significant group of winners if you're
not going to model a team essentially built around Johnny Gaudreau after those teams.
And who were the players used on that Pens fourth line? Not Crosby, Malkin, or Kessel. But it was an excellent fourth line and a huge part of their cup wins:
Matt Cullen, who was the anchor. A do-it all two-way center. Not a face puncher or a big hitter.
The wingers he saw the most playoff ice time with were:
Tom Kuhnhackl who had more points last year in 57 games than Tanner Glass had in 134 with the Rangers. Scoring logs show only one of his points was assisted by Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin
Scott Wilson, a guy who had
26 even strength points last year with only six of those being a direct result of Crosby or Malkin. That's a fourth liner with one less 5v5 point than Frolik had last year. Getting 2nd liner type even strength production out of your fourth line... that's not going to happen if Tanner Glass type players are on that line as they don't contribute anything offensively.
Chris Kunitz, who even in his washed up old age would probably be an upgrade on all five wingers who made our fourth line ahead of Mark Jankowski. A grinder, yes, but a skilled grinder not just a plug.
Carl Hagelin, who is basically the Penguins' version of Frolik
Sorry, but your premise - that having great players makes you a poor model for success is flawed. There was more that went into the success of that team than having the two best players. That team has had high-expectation seasons end unsuccessfully when not built around its current model. They are very much THE model franchise because of how quickly and efficiently they retooled their peripheral roster in around December 2015 into a two-time cup winner after being out-of-the-playoffs-at-the-time. And a big part of that was no longer "overcooking" prospects like Sheary, Rust, Kuhnhackl (and eventually Guentzal, who started last year as an AHL rookie just like Jankowski)