Not much going on since the victory over the Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Scott Burnside has an article on ESPN about likely trade candidates. He lists Gonchar, Jackman and Thibault from the Pens, but notes that only Jackman is likely to be able to be traded, due to salary considerations of the other players. More interestingly, Burnside seems to thing that Tom Poti, from the Rangers, is on the block. Think maybe the Rangers would take Gonchar off of our hands in a deal for Poti? Would you make the trade? hmmm...
Would it be jumping the gun to start showing how far the Pens are out of a playoff spot as a regular part of the previews? Maybe I'll wait until after these two games on Friday and Saturday...
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4 comments:
I like Jackman but would not be too sad to see him go. Gonchar, now I'm not to sure if I'm ready to give up on him or not. I think under Therrien he is a much better player than Edzo. He has started being more aggressive than before (which is not hard to do) and has even had a few goals/assists the past few weeks. I do think that he's a second half of the season kinda player and it would suck to pawn him off to the Rangers only to have him catch fire and hurt us down the road, that is if we're even in contention then.
As far as showing how far the Pens are out of the Playoffs, go for it. Things are looking better since Therrien took over. Their schedule is as easy as they are going to get the rest of this month so it's a good time for them to make a move. I could see them not being very far out of the Playoffs come mid Jan... well I can dream can't I?
Considering the Pens were willing to invest 5 years/$25 million in Gonchar, I think it's way too soon to pull the plug on him, barring an extremely unlikely (great) return in a trade. He is playing much better of late, IMO, but trading him now would be a case of selling low, based on the overall season to date.
You guys crack me up with this playoff talk. I keep hearing the Jim Mora sound-bite ... but I do admire your optimism :)
I've slagged off the Pens as much as anyone. But if they win both of these games against Atlanta, they have a shot at making the playoffs in my book because it will imply a far better record in the second half under Therrian. Also, it's against one of the teams in the playoff hunt. And it would be 12 points out of the last 14. That's a huge run.
Lose them both and i'm singing Kessel's name.
C'mon, thrash those Thrashers!
One more point: Gonchar's previous employer had a knack for sucking balls, year after year, right up to the first of January, and then going on a direct march to the playoffs.
I'm just sayin'...
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