Ruslan Fedotenko?

In no-way-shape-or-form should Godard be given a jersey in the playoffs. Every forward and even two defenseman on the taxi squad gets a jersey before he does. Godard knows his role and he also knows whether the Pens make the playoffs or not his season ends when the regular season does. At least he makes .75 million dollars a year to do it.

I COMPLETELY agree that the Tenks experiment needs to come to an end. I thought it was real classy for Disco Dan to give Tenks the nod when the Montreal series started. It was like he said, “The Ottawa series was the Ottawa series, lets start fresh and watch you play Fedotenko hockey”, which means kicking ass come playoff time. Up 2-0 I think you keep him in there, but with home-ice lost the Pens can’t play around with the known commodity that is a struggling Tenks.

As you said though, what is the alternative? I heard Billy G. took the morning skate off but with his experience I reckon this was strictly a maintenance thing so a newly dressed forward will be playing 4th line minutes with the chance to get a shift or two with Sid or Geno. So who should it be?

The two schools of thought are 1, do you dress the smaller forward who can skate with Montreal’s smaller line-up or 2, do you dress the bigger body to be the front of the net presence?

For the Pens to not repeat the mistakes of the Caps I think they need to go big, get it deep, win corner and board battles, and out muscle the Habs in front of the net. As such, my vote is for the other Tanger, Eric Tangredi. If he is only playing 5-7 minutes, 4th line forward time, how can he be worse than Tenks? At least Tanger 2 will hit and will have that energy that comes from called up for such a game. It may not be a long term solution for that adrenaline runs out, but why not try?

Fedotenko is safe. He won’t make mistakes. He’ll almost always be in the right position. He’ll clear the zone when he gets the puck. And with Staal out he’s a reliable body on the PK, if you need it.

Is that enough for a jersey? For now, I’d say so.

Fedotenko may not be playing his best, but I still believe the level he’s sure to give is worth playing. Conner, Letestu or Tangradi could definitely have a higher ceiling, but they have exactly 0 NHL playoff games. Too much unknown, too many chances for mistakes. Remember Conner’s 2 bad turnovers that both ended up in the wrong net 1 game against NJ earlier this year? That’s what I’m thinking of.

Ideally Fedotenko can hit more and do better in the offensive zone, but overall he’s just a better, more reliable option at this point.