DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: Top six … or top nine?

DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: Top six … or top nine?

[Music] You know, sometimes the only way to solve a hockey problem or to even begin to solve a hockey problem is to draw some hockey lines. Good morning to you. Good Tuesday morning. I’m Dan Kage of DK Pittsburgh Sports. This is Daily Shot of Penguins. It comes your way bright and early every weekday. If you’re into football andor baseball, I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Pirates where you found this. There is an assumption and I I think it’s a reasonable assumption that both Billy Quinnan and Ruter McGroy are going to be in the NHL lineup on the 7th of October when the puck is dropped at Madison Square Garden. In fact, taking that a little further, I don’t know how you could fancy yourself in any sort of rebuilding, reloading, or any kind of mode. If they aren’t now, if they were to come in, you know, 20 lbs overweight and smoking and drinking or whatever, we can have another discussion. But as it is, and as they’re going to be, presuming their health and all else, they’re going to be in the lineup. And as such, and we already got a glimpse of this in the final 10 games, at least accounting for those before McGroy got hurt, you could see an edict from on high, meaning Kyle Dupus, that they’re on the top two lines. I’m completely convinced that’s what occurred over those final 10 games. There were too many things that were too unmike Sullivan over that stretch there. And it doesn’t mean there wasn’t a conversation. It doesn’t mean that Sully didn’t go along with it and, you know, be a good professional and all that other stuff. But that’s one that comes from Dubis. I’m bringing these guys up. You’re going to play them. You’re going to play them on the top two lines. You’re going to play them on the top power play. You’re going to play them in the third period just like you played them in the first period. So, okay, let’s make the lines. Sydney Crosby’s going to have one thing that he asks of Dan Muse and that’s get me Brian Rust and Ricard Raquel. Beyond that, I’ll do anything that you ask, coach. And I’m going to, you know, go along with that. It was one of the better five on five lines in terms of scoring in the entire NHL. Could they have been better defensively? Yes. Could a lot of things around them and specifically behind them have been better defensively and in goal also? Yes. I think they’re going to stay together, which as befits franchise history will leave Yenni Malcin with whoever’s left. So if there is an edict that says, well, Kvenan and McGroy have to be top six guys, then they would be Gino’s two wingers, and that’s just not going to make sense. Gino really seemed to enjoy being with Kovenan, but I could also see out of all the various remaining wingers, Anthony Mantha being a fine fit up there. He’s been a top six guy. Gino’s always liked having at least one big body flanking him. The whole left right thing would have to be figured out, but it’s not impossible. Mantha, for the record, for those of you who don’t know, shoots left, but he’s principally a right winger. But here’s where it gets well blurry, for lack of a better word. And by here, I mean specifically the third line. Now, for those of you who’ve been in love with this beautiful sport as long as I have, you’ll remember that the third line used to be automatic. It’s just where you put your checking guys. It was the old Bobby Holique feel to your team. If the other team had a really good first line, you had the counter with your third line. Well, that really doesn’t dovetail with the talent at hand. And it also and definitely doesn’t dovetail with the development concept because you’re not really in the business of teaching grinders to be grinders. You’re trying to develop real life prospects. When you’re talking about forwards, your top priority is always going to be scoring skill and speed and all that stuff. So, while you can and arguably should have someone like Philip Hollander on that line, he’s known as a two-way guy, although his offensive game blossomed over the past couple of winters in Sweden. To me, I think you want three of those lines. You want three lines that are scoring, which alters your conversation from a top six to a top nine. So from here you can say that it’s Hollander uh Tommy Novak who’s a natural center and who’s going to get a real chance and McGroy depending again on the edict and this is where you start having to prioritize different things than just winning the game that’s being played that night. For instance, Phil Thomasino would probably be a more appropriate fit in the scenario that I just laid out. Why? Well, he’s mostly an offense first guy. He’s got the speed and skill to help facilitate a lot of that. And he’s not anybody’s vision of a defensive forward, but what’s more important? Making that third line make sense or getting McGroy into a spot where he can continue to grow. And by the way, if you’re curious about what my fourth line might look like, it’s just going to be a storage house for penalty killers. It’s going to be Connor Ter, Kevin Hayes, Blake Lazot, and if he’s still around, and I don’t think that he will be, Nola Achari. But you know what else you can detect from this mini exercise of mine here today? Those kids are legitimately going to have to push the older dudes off the figurative ledge when we come back. J1Q. [Music] This episode is brought to you by Bet Online, your number one source for all your summer sports needs this season from Major League Baseball, golf, NHL, NBA playoffs. Get the latest odds and lines, including all team matchups, player props, odds on just about everything that’s out there. Head to the website today or use your mobile device to get in on the action. Bet online, where the game starts. [Music] And today’s J1 Cube comes from AJ who says, “DK, I like how Kyle Dubis is approaching all this. At least from his public statements, he’s open to trades for Brian Rustin and Ricard Raquel, but he wants significant assets back. In the abstract, trading them can make sense. But what realistically would those assets be? Boy, I love this question coming up. The prospects that would come back would not be elite. The draft picks from a contender would also not be elite. Those can become necessary pieces. Even solid prospects would make the Penguins younger, but I don’t have super high expectations for either of these possibilities. AJ, this is this is wording something that I’ve been preaching for a while way better than I’ve worded it. And I’m not embarrassed to admit that to you. This idea that you’re going to get something that you really need in exchange for either of these players has no basis in fact and precious little precedent. And that’s in large part because the teams with which you’d need to make this trade, meaning the teams that would most need immediate help in the form of a rust or a Raquel, don’t have what it is that you want. And if they did, they’re probably not going to give it to you. You don’t see truly top tier prospects changing hands very often. That’s something that we’ve actually talked about quite a bit on this show, that specific thing, because there’s also an impression, at least among some, that because the Penguins have accumulated five zillion draft picks, that they can trade some of those picks for existing prospects or prospects that are a little bit further along. Okay, who does that? Where has it occurred anywhere in the National Hockey League in recent years? The only times that you see young and gifted prospects change hands is when they have some sort of issue with that team like the cutter goier stuff in Philadelphia or actually for that matter Ruter McGory in Winnipeg. Those are very much the exceptions. And even then, look what the Penguins had to send to Winnipeg to get McGory right. It was Braden Joerger, their own top prospect. Plain and simple, go with the team you’ve got. Keep making the roster younger. Keep creating atmospheres in which youth can succeed both through quality and quantity. And let it all play out. Let it all play out. I appreciate the question, AJ. I appreciate everybody listening to Daily Shot of Penguins. We’re going to do another one of these tomorrow. [Music]

Why force a top six when a top nine expands development?

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