Penguins' Janne Pesonen

by FrankD on Jul 8, 2008 2:00 AM EDT in News

Unless you knew of him beforehand (which, frankly none of us can say we did) news of the Penguins signing Finnish forward Janne Pesonen may not rock the lines like you'd hope it would. Word around town is he's insanely fast, amazingly skillful and capable of playing both sides of the puck. But if you're still not convinced, there's probably one thing that will sway you for sure.

Right - evidence.

So, let's take a look at some of his videos and decide ourselves how big an impact this guy is going to have on the Penguins.

The Pensblog found this one and posted it a few days ago:

Pensburgh user Pittsburghkid shared this one as part of the Matt Cooke signing thread from a day or two ago:

Pesonen scores here at the 1:00 minute mark in a shootout

If you find more toss them up as fanshots and link over to them in the comments. I think this guy is going to come up huge for the Pens this year. He's a nice, solid addition to the depth of this team and may just provide a serious threat on the third line - unless that responsibility is reserved for the likes of Fedotenko and Satan.

And now - I think the Pens are done. There's no money left, no positions left to fill and nothing I think to be necessary for the Penguins to jump on.

What do you guys think?

0 recs | Comment 18 comments

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Here's to

hoping the NHL never goes to selling advertisements on the uniforms like they do in a lot of the Euro leagues.

I’m excited to see what he can do in the NHL.

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Jul 8, 2008 11:05 AM EDT 0 recs

I agree. Those guys look like race cars out there. There’s a point where you go from semi-fashionable advertisement to overly grotesque and obnoxious – the latter is where the Finnish uniforms land.

FrankD from Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Jul 8, 2008 11:14 AM EDT up 0 recs

Some of the AHL teams

have went to showing advertisements on their helmets like they do in the euro leagues.

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Jul 8, 2008 11:52 AM EDT up 0 recs

Heinus uniforms. The Mexican Baseball League’s uniforms look the same way. I think American sports (sans Arena Football) are really the last professional sports orginizations not to sell out.

But with Puck Finn, I think it’s a great move by Shero. Low risk, high potential . . . not many people can say they can make investments like that very often.

by JDMaker1 on Jul 8, 2008 11:31 AM EDT up 0 recs

And to gold helmets . . . geez, those are horrid.

by JDMaker1 on Jul 8, 2008 11:40 AM EDT up 0 recs

in the MLS

the team who won the title the season before gets to use a gold ball for their games(not sure if it’s all the games or just road/home games).

On one hand I kind of think it’s cool that a huge achievement gets to wear something that makes you stand out… on the other hand… I’m not so sure I like it.

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Jul 8, 2008 11:51 AM EDT up 0 recs

Top line wingers

It seems to me that we’ve got a plethora of 3rd line wingers to pair with Staal. That said, who’s going to replace Malone and Hossa on the top lines? Does Dupuis even remain with Crosby now that Hossa is gone?

www.californiagoldenblogs.com

by CBKWit on Jul 8, 2008 12:06 PM EDT 0 recs

Crosby-Fedotenko and Pesonen on 1?

Malkin-Sykora-Satan on 2?

Staal-Talbot-Dupuis on 3?

I think the fourth line is the most confusing one. Godard and Kennedy with…?

I think Crosby can usher Pesonen in and turn him into a machine. Fedotenko is a veteran in his own right and can definitely handle the ice with Sid.

You can’t break Malkin and Sykora; those guys just mesh well.

And Talbot was a proven scorer this past season when he wasn’t hurt and may just get the promotion to a line with more ice time.

If anything, the fourth line is a bit scant in firepower. Thoughts?

FrankD from Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Jul 8, 2008 12:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

Maybe keep Satan and Fedotenko together

pair them on the top line with Crosby? I agree that you have to keep Malkin and Sykora together, so maybe you put Pesonen with the two of them. If Pesonen pans out, maybe he can replace Malone’s production (but not the physical play). I doubt that Satan can match Hossa. The 3rd line looks rock solid.

www.californiagoldenblogs.com

by CBKWit on Jul 8, 2008 12:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

I think that there’s a good chance Talbot could get a shot with Malkin-Sykora, especially with Therrien because he loves to switch the lines. We’ll probably see all of the new wingers take a spot with Crosby/Malkin in the beginning of the season to see what fits best.

Kennedy might be a good fit with Staal too, he has the speed. Staal’s faceoffs are improving too, he could be a good faceoff man for the PK, since he spends so much time there already.

by Dayna on Jul 8, 2008 12:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

Sadly, Adam Hall was our best faceoff man. He won nearly half of the draws during the regular season.

I think CBK has a point in keeping Satan and Fedo together. And your idea of promoting Talbot to the Malkin/Sykora line wasn’t far from my train of thought either. Staal is a perfect third line center – that much is understood. As good as he can be and as efficient as he is, his skating style is a bit average to play up to the potential of the top two lines. But if he can really work on his faceoff percentage (one of the hardest things for young guys apparently) then he’s going to be lights out.

FrankD from Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Jul 8, 2008 3:05 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'm not as high on Staal as some people

He’s not the greatest skater, and he seems to have bad luck when trying to score a lot of times… he’s not physical at all, but he’s really good on defense(a long reach) and obviously has skill.. just needs some fine tuning.

Go 'Stros!

by Stros Bro on Jul 8, 2008 5:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

I think Staal led the league in bad luck shots last season. A few dingers off the post, another few just wide shots rushed when under pressure, so I kinda agree. But I think there is a lot of potential there that Staal has yet to tap into. I don’t expect him to have a 25 or 30 goal season anytime soon, but he is the Penguins’ version of Michael Peca.

FrankD from Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Jul 8, 2008 5:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

Staal had terrible luck last season, but I think it was amplified by the good luck streak he had the season before. I actually really like Staal, and I think that he improved a lot last season, even though his production dropped.

Marc was the same way, improving a lot in his late teens, and in his two extra years in Junior, as well as last year. I think Jordan needs to step up his physicality a bit, and work on his skating, but I think he has a lot of potential, and will develop more this season. (All of the Staal brothers seems to be this way a bit, Jared is just really starting to see his potential last season, with the Sudbury Wolves, and still seems to have a lot of untapped potential. Marc too, took a few years to develop into an NHL level player.)

by Dayna on Jul 8, 2008 7:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

I like Staal. I have to agree that he looks “slow” out there at times. But I think he’s one of the smarter players, and he’s in the right place a lot of the time. That says a lot about a young kids “hockey sense.” I think he’ll be a pretty darn good center and scorer in the next few years.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if he ended up a lot like Marian Hossa. I was never impressed with Hossa’s wheels, he always looked “slow” as well. But he has great hands and never stops playing.

by JDMaker1 on Jul 8, 2008 7:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

Hossa just never stopped moving. And his transitional play for offense to defense was uncanny. Staal can play the D end pretty well, but yeah – he skates in slo motion sometimes.

I think Dayna hit it on the head – he’s young, he was drafted and started playing at an earlier age than his brothers so we’re watching him mature. BUt at least we get to witness the progress. Now I hope he doesn’t blow the world away when it comes time to re-up him in the future.

FrankD from Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Jul 8, 2008 7:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

bad luck!

I totally agree. How many times this season did we see Stall make a great move and hit the post? It was rediculous. I think he is a little slow on his feet but even with that long stick he handles the puck really well, his defense is awesome. The only thing I think he lacks is the physical play. He’s a huge body and I seemed to see a little more physical play late in the season this year but I almost think Staal needs to get roughed up a little more this year so we can see some fire. He seems a lil’ too layed back

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry

by TimStros on Jul 8, 2008 10:44 PM EDT up 0 recs

But when he uses his size he’s insane. I can think of at least two or three different instances when Staal laid guys out during the playoffs. It’s almost like the post shots got into his head and he played the second half of the season somewhat scared. The offseason will be big for him, and hopefully he can bulk up a bit on his frame. He won’t be the fastest skater, but if he’s going to be the tallest he might as well learn how to use his size.

FrankD from Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Jul 8, 2008 11:16 PM EDT up 0 recs