You know, here they (media, fans of other teams, analysts) go again with claiming the penguins are in bad shape now that Gonch is out. Yes, it sucks, but give me a break.

Personally I think it will allow for Gogo and The Tang to grow up even more. As of yet they have been a bit in Gonch’s shadow, and now they have a chance to shoulder the load so to speak and show that that they can handle it.

I’m looking forward to see how they do.

This isn’t that big of a deal. Go-go and Letang are more than capable enough of handling the PP duties and it will be nice to see what Skoula can do.

Congrats are in order to Orpik for his shiny new “A”!!

The Chinese use the same word for crisis as they do for opportunity and I think Gonchar’s injury may in fact be a blessing in disguise. How is that possible you ask? Allow me to explain.

Gonchar is 35 years old in a final year of a contract when the NHL is on the verge of lowering it’s salary cap. The Pens have “heavy” money tied into their young core and will likely have to make some “adjustments” to the roster for next year and beyond. This is the time to figure out if Gogo and Letang can be trusted to be the 1-2 offensive defenseman combination that quality NHL teams have now.

If it can be shown that the Pens can survive and maintain without Gonchar that will do one of two things, either set the table for Gonchar to leave at season’s end without it being utterly devastating OR lower his asking price if he yearns to remain a Penguin, which I think he does.

If the Pens struggle without him it is going to be for what like 10 to 15 games? That isn’t so bad especially if you take into account that the Pens are off to a 8-1 start. If the Pens go 500 without Gonchar they will be 15 and 8 around the holiday season, there are many teams that would love to be in that situation.

There will come a day when the Pens have to learn to play without Gonchar for good, this will be a test to see if that time is now.

I’m more concerned about my fantasy hockey team being without Gonch than I am the actual Pens being without him. lol

I’m guessing the first two games will be a little shaky until the pairings get nailed back down and everyone gets comfortable. From there, Bylsma’s system will start cranking up again and we’ll never know the difference. I mentioned this in a previous post…monitor the SOG and the PP%. Those will give you a pretty good indication.

Also, with reference to last year, losing a d-man in combination with Therriens system was a losing proposition for the Pens. I think under Bylsma, we’ll have a much more favorable result. I’m also willing to bet our PK gets better. Sarge has made huge strides on the defensive end, make no mistake, but Skoula on the PK may be an upgrade.

I would have given it to Billy boy. But I guess it goes by contract value. :)

I’m sure there are less painful ways to keep fresh for the end of the season, but it’s not like his missing games dooms the Pens.

And unlike last year’s first 50 or so games, the Pens are likely far better equipped to handle losing his presence, both from a team make-up point of view (another year of experience for the young guys), as well as being better handle the aftermath of success. Not expecting Gonchar’s loss to really affect this team, especially if he’s just gone for the 4 week lower end of the estimate.

wouldnt this put both he and talbot coming back at the same time? im a little more interested to see what will happen when they both go back into the lineup who will get sent down/ traded? i think that with out gonch we may have a slight hickup but i still think that this team is going to keep working hard and getting as many wins as possible. injuries are a part of the season and no team will go unscathed.

Weeks, not months. Okay. We all know the rest of the team can deal with this—hopefully, they know it, too.

Congratulations to Orpik for that “A”, though I’m sure that’s not at all how he’d want it.

Ain’t scared.

ahh only a few weeks, no big deal. Hopefully the teams confidence doesnt slip now.

Good chance for GoGo and Tangers

Friday will be the first shutout of the year. Mail it in.

Hello, fellow hockey fans! I’ve been follwing along here for months now and this seemed as good a time as any to join in.

Personally, I think that, while the loss of Gonchar is a big hit, we can take it and come up standing. We were without him for most of last year and went on to win the cup and we have three key people that we didn’t have in Gonch’s absence last year. One is Bill Guerin. He’s an experienced veteran, a solid all around player, and a good leader and I think he can go a long way towards filling the experienced leadership gap left when sarge is out. The second is Dan Bylsma. No explanation needed here. The third is Lord Stanley. This is a team of winners. This is a team with confidence; you can see it in their game. Flower is on fire, Gologoski and Letang are looking sharp, our third line is making its presence felt, and even a bruiser like Rupp is chipping in on offence. I think a lot of that has to do with confidence as a team. The Pens know they can win and how to do it. The loss of any one player (with the possible exception of Fleury, although maybe even then) is not going to change that. This is bad, but we can take it in stride. The interesting part, as others have pointed out, will be seeing how Bylsma mixes up the D pairings.
Oh, and congrats to Orpik on getting the ‘A.’ If I’m not mistaken, he’s been a Penguin longer than anyone else on the team and nobody’s more willing to sacrifice the body for the team in a big hit or a shot block. He’s earned it.

Since Sarge is one of 3 offensive defensemen on the team who do you see as the next best offensive D-man in the system… Skoula, Lovejoy, Guenin, Engelland, Lee… all seem too defensive minded… how about Bortuzzo? do you figure he gets a shot?