Thursday, December 15, 2005

Player moves - Therrien makes his first moves

Mario Lemieux expects to play in tomorrow night's game at home against the Sabres. The team also recalled Michel Ouellet from the minors. To make room (since Lemieux was on the injured list), the team sent Lasse Pirjeta and Maxime Talbot to Wilkes-Barre.

I'm actually shocked that Talbot was sent down. I'm not sure what it is they want him to work on down there - I thought he was filling his role here quite well. I can only guess that Therrien isn't as enthused about his performance. Could be the strict adherence to a system that is the problem... at any rate, Therrien is the best one to be making those decisions. Have to attribute the recall of Ouellet to the same thing.

For better (hopefully) or worse, Therrien is making his impact on the team.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. This could get interesting.

I wasn't too enthused to hear that Therrian is a ball buster. I'm not too much a fan of hothead coaches, and it's certainly not typical of the Pens. (I doubt he'll have the same hotheaded charm of Cowher.) But much of the team needs it right now.

I could care less about Lasse, but I agree, sending Talbot down was the wrong message. That kid has been a champ up here. He works his butt off every shift. (But consider that Patrick pulls the trigger on those moves.) I don't know, perhaps he was the only one that didn't have to go through waivers.

If he can get Ouellet and Surovy to put up the numbers like they did in WB, more power to him.

I'm also hoping that he kicks some sense into Gonchar and Malone. I'm off of my trade Gonchar kick for now. If Therrian can jump start Gonchar, the PP could become a force and they could ride it to the playoffs. God, how many games would have ended differently if the PP was clicking? Especially now with Fleury in goal.

I expect to Mario come back as a force. I think it's fair to assume that his heart problem had been affecting his performance these past few weeks. Age can't explain the lame passes he kept making. Having that sorted out should only help him on the ice.

And the two best players on the team should only get better.

I'm excited to watch Penguins hockey again! Imagine that!