I usually don't say this, but sinced whitney was playing bad......................he benched taffe to put him at LW, I'm close to entering the Ryan Whitney haters club
You should be more concerned with how Therrien completely botched the power play against the Islanders rather than what he did with or to Ryan Whitney. Therrien the cement head had a golden opportunity to roll two big time power play units, and he completely soiled the bed. After the first PP chance against the Islanders, the Penguins generated nothing. No shots, no chances, nothing. Why? Because that moron of a coach is great at coaching the career bush league player but cannot coach a team stocked with top shelf talent. If the Pens are not successful in the playoffs (i.e. a conference champioinship or berth), Shero should and will fire his stubborn, narrow minded ass.
1. Whitney is better suited to play forward at this point. They can't demote any of the other defensemen, and he is the odd man out in terms of productivity. I would rather see him as a rover, but at this point winger sounds fine to me. He has the offensive ability to score as a defenseman, so maybe he can translate that to goals as a forward. Also, his contract is simply too large to keep him on the bench,
2. I agree that Therian needs to change the PP. I wasn't a fan of seeing Geno out there on the point. He really needs to split up the two groups. IMHO, the PP lines need to be:
&nbs p; &n bsp; 1. Sykora-Geno-Malone, with Gonch and Whitney at the points.
&nbs p; &n bsp; 2. Hossa-Sid-Staal, with Gill and Letang at the points.
With this way, both lines have a playmaker (Geno and Sid), a shooter (Hossa and Sykora), and a big man up front (Malone and Staal). Also, both lines two defensemen who have the ability to score, or at least set up goals.
In that mindset, Letang might be the biggest asset to the powerplay, and definitely needs to get more time. The way that he pinches down, keeping plays alive, is huge. Plus, he has the passing and shooting abilities to rack up some points.
3. I wouldnt be so quick to criticize Therian. He has a team, riddled with injuries to key components, in the hunt for the top seed in the east Moreover, he has transformed the team into a group of underachievers (see Malone, Sykora for examples) into an offensive juggernaut.
If the goaltending holds true, and both the Steel City line and the Sid-Hossa-Dupuis line play as they are capable, few to no teams will be able to match them top to bottom.
I wasn't a fan of seeing Geno out there on the point.
OK, if Therrien is going to put any forward on the point, it should be Sykora. Why? Because Sykora has actually done it ... and rather well, I might add. Putting Geno or any forward at the point at this late stage of the season really doesn't make any sense at all.
But I like the idea of rolling two PP units ... one centered by Crosby and another centered by Geno.
I'm close to entering the Ryan Whitney haters club
This has little to do with your particular post, steelers=rb, but I'm so sick of reading on here about how much everybody hates Whitney, as if every single team problem is his fault. It's almost like people believe that if he were cut, traded, sent down or taken out with a Tonya Harding bat, the team would never lose a game again.
Let's all be realistic here. Ryan is what he is, a decent offensive defenseman who is still young and works well on the power play. Therein has lead the team this far, a team without Crosby that is in position to win the conference... at this point, let's give the man the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he is doing.
On one hand, I almost hope they get rid of Whitney and then watch him do what he is going to do on another team....then I wake up and just realize there will always be fans like that. I remember DC fans happily booing Larry Murphy out of Washington and into 4 Stanley Cups and the Hall Of Fame......
The PP will come around. This was the first time everyone survived the whole game...and Malkin almost didn't....so I'll give them the next few games to work it out.
Therrien has to get some of the credit for all the success this year. It isn't as easy as it's made out to be to just fill out the line-up card and step back. He's made a whole lot more right moves than wrong this season.
I agree with running two power play units (actually I expressed this a few weeks ago). This may sound crazy but we honestly have too many talented players on the ice at one time. Break it up and run two units, other teams won't know how to defend us.
Call me your worst but I like Whitney on the wing for the rest of this season. Maybe there will be room for him on the blueline next season, but we are playing pretty tight right now with him playing O instead of D. He can work on his defensive game in the offseason and hopefully he can tighten up and earn a spot next season. But for now I like the lines and D-pairings. You can't really argued with how they played these last few games.
I think placing Whitney on a wing has pressured him into playing more physical. He had about three nice hits the last game against the Rangers along with clearing Drury and Straka away from the slot area. It looks like (as funny as it sounds) he is working on his defensive game even harder now that he is on offense.
Keep in mind you Whintey haters out there, he is one of the few defenmen in the league who can skate the puck out of his own zone as quickly and smooth as he does, ( of course no body is better than Coffey at that) but his passing is among only the best in the game. as he hits his passes cleanly and on target almonst always and without hesitation. Those two skills in one player is unbelievable. If he can just improve a little bit in front of the net, he can be just like Larry Murphy and undoubtedly better than Gounchar ever will be. Honestly, he has the potential to be even better than that.
Was it me or did you see how bad Skuderi and Sydor are when they are on the ice together. Neither one can get the puck out nor could they keep possession of the puck.
The only thing with Whitney is his split personality.Sometimes he'll play good and sometimes he's downright terrible.You never know which one will show up on game-day.The good Whitney......or the terrible Whitney.At this level and with his large contract,a team simply can't afford this.When you are called up or turn pro,your at least supposed to be a little consistent.Not one extreme to the other.The difference between a good Whitney and a bad Whitney is like night and day! It doesn't get more extreme than that.Thats about the best way to explain his play this year.
whitney has played like a bumb all year after signing a big contract in off season. he isnt physical given his 6'4" 220 lb. frame. he gets lazy on defense and turns the puck over on a consistent basis, plus his scoring numbers are drastically down. hopefully this 3 game penalty of playing left wing will open his eyes a little and make him realize the potential he has when he feels like playing. theres no other explanation than simple effort and he isnt giving it.
