The Playoffs are now over. In a time where Trump and Hillary are running for President, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup. One element the Penguins adopted was unusual--at least for them: their decision to increase their strong points before the Playoffs. Usually they would trade their strengths to bolster their weaknesses (usually skill for muscle and aggression) but this year they enhanced their strengths and gave up on their weaknesses; they didn't go out and find support for Simon Dupres, they traded him for more speed.
Here are some stories, one-liners and comments from the Internet. Toronto is especially bitter:
Even if Fleury is given the chance to compete for his old job in training camp, it’s possible the Penguins would lose him in an expansion draft in 2017. Consequently, it’s conceivable that he will ask to be sent elsewhere, despite having a limited no-trade clause in his contract.
“I don’t know,” Fleury said after Game 6. “We’ll talk to management before I leave town, I guess. That’s it.”
And a picture of Dupuis with the caption: "Pascal Dupuis skating off the ice for the last time in a Penguins uniform."
When he was just 19 years old, and starting with the Boston Bruins, Kessel was diagnosed with testicular cancer. But he made it through that and won the 2007 Masterston Trophy for dedication and perseverance in the face adversity.
Then came his time in Toronto, where, and there’s really no nice way to put this, he became a punching bag and a joke, a scapegoat for a team that had too many problems and no easy answers.
People made fun of his conditioning, they mocked his weight and they ridiculed him for being shy and less than polished with the media.
Now, he’s a Stanley Cup champion that probably should have won the Conn Smythe Trophy. (A Toronto blog, I think)
"It's a long year, but it's the best year I ever had," an emotional and fully bearded Kessel said on the ice at SAP Center as the Penguins celebrated the Cup on Sunday night.
Since 1996, only 13 players have produced more points per game in the post-season (minimum 40 games) than Kessel (0.94). The Wisconsin native sits a touch below Alex Ovechkin (0.98), but ahead of similar scorers, past and present, like Dany Heatley, Corey Perry, Paul Kariya and Brett Hull, albeit in significantly fewer games.
With 30 points, Couture became the fourth player in the last 20 years to reach that many in a single playoff run. Letang assisted on all three game-winning goals in the Final. He finished with 15 points in 23 games, second among defensemen.
A trade summary
Kessel was acquired on July 1, 2015 in a massive trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Less than a month later, the Penguins robbed the Vancouver Canucks by grabbing Bonino in a trade that featured Internet whipping-boy Brandon Sutter.
After realizing that the David Perron trade wasn’t really working out, the Penguins and Ducks concocted an “everyone wins” move as Hagelin became a Penguin in January.
Justin Schultz has been worth the look for a third-round pick.
The Penguins also acquired two blueline fixtures on March 2, 2015: Ian Cole and Ben Lovejoy.
And replacing Mike Johnston with Mike Sullivan was a “trade” of sorts
Here are some stories, one-liners and comments from the Internet. Toronto is especially bitter:
I made a *minor* mistake of scrolling through a couple pages of Sid-related comments and it was a cesspool green with envy. Sid cements his legacy as one of hockey greats. [Globe & Mail]
As Phil Kessel lifted the Cup in triumph, his many loud critics were conspicuously silent. [CBS Sports]
The decisions on who gets the Cup first after the captain are often emotional ones and some of them linger for a long time in the fans' memories. There was a sad reason Sidney Crosby handed off the Cup to Trevor Daley first. His mom is battling cancer and not doing well, and it meant a lot for her to be able to see this. Sending love to the Daleys. [AP]
City of Pittsburgh has now renamed Murray Avenue, Matt Murray Avenue for a day to honor the goaltender.
Underachiever was never a label that should have been attached to Sid and Geno, but the Pens stars took it all the same. [CBS Sports]
Letang joins Gretzky, Beliveau and Milt Schmidt as players with points on winning goals in all 4 games of a Stanley Cup final.
Letang joins Gretzky, Beliveau and Milt Schmidt as players with points on winning goals in all 4 games of a Stanley Cup final.
Marc-Andre Fleury, Pascal Dupuis and Matt Cullen are much-loved members of the Penguins family. One of them knows his future, but what does it hold for the other two? [PPG]
Our happy tide came at the expense of two stars who've waited forever for a chance at the Cup. For Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton, losing the Cup was devastating and you could see it on their faces last night. [SJ Mercury News]
San Jose only had 6 shots on goal in 32 minutes after Kris Letang scored to give the Penguins the lead.
But where to begin with these Penguins? The head coach who assumed control on Dec. 12, summoned from the minors to rescue a team facing its nadir, now toppling the franchise with which his NHL career started? The captain who added the Conn Smythe trophy to his overflowing arsenal, seven years to the day after leading Pittsburgh to the title at age 21? The first teammate who took the grail from him, the one with the broken ankle and ailing mother, or the second, the one whose career ended due to blood clots? The rookie goaltender? The redeemed sniper? The general manager who took so much heat last season, now remembering how he wound up here?(SI)
Of the 20 players on the roster when the Pens clinched the Cup with that 3–1 win over the Sharks in Game 6 Monday night, just six were holdovers from the group that Rutherford inherited in the summer of 2014.
Of the 20 players on the roster when the Pens clinched the Cup with that 3–1 win over the Sharks in Game 6 Monday night, just six were holdovers from the group that Rutherford inherited in the summer of 2014.
Former Capitals defenseman Sergei Gonchar also had an opportunity to raise the cup as a member of the Penguins coaching staff, as well as former Capitals defenseman Steve Oleksy..
“Pretty much everyone said since the beginning of the year, ‘Oh wow they got Phil Kessel, their forwards are great, but man their defense is a huge question mark,’” Ian Cole said. “‘Their defense will be their downfall. Their defense is terrible.’ I think you saw this series, especially this series but obviously the whole entirety of the playoffs, going through teams like Washington and Tampa Bay and a team out here that had the most goals per game, the most shots per game, was unstoppable. I think we did a fantastic job shutting them down.”
And then Daley handing it to Pascal Dupuis, who thought he was going to cry but held back. "This is as good as we could have done without him playing," Crosby said. "That was special."(SI)
San Jose had allowed 40 shots in a game only twice all season; the Penguins got 40 three times in these six games.
A funny article form Edmonton:
The Sharks defense pair that, by all accounts, got exposed the most by Pittsburgh was the slower pairing of Brenden Dillon and Roman Polak.
In one first-period sequence, Jones stopped Crosby, Conor Sheary, and Kessel from point-blank range, keeping his desperate teammates within a goal of tying it.
“I don’t know,” Fleury said after Game 6. “We’ll talk to management before I leave town, I guess. That’s it.”
And a picture of Dupuis with the caption: "Pascal Dupuis skating off the ice for the last time in a Penguins uniform."
When he was just 19 years old, and starting with the Boston Bruins, Kessel was diagnosed with testicular cancer. But he made it through that and won the 2007 Masterston Trophy for dedication and perseverance in the face adversity.
Then came his time in Toronto, where, and there’s really no nice way to put this, he became a punching bag and a joke, a scapegoat for a team that had too many problems and no easy answers.
People made fun of his conditioning, they mocked his weight and they ridiculed him for being shy and less than polished with the media.
Now, he’s a Stanley Cup champion that probably should have won the Conn Smythe Trophy. (A Toronto blog, I think)
"It's a long year, but it's the best year I ever had," an emotional and fully bearded Kessel said on the ice at SAP Center as the Penguins celebrated the Cup on Sunday night.
Since 1996, only 13 players have produced more points per game in the post-season (minimum 40 games) than Kessel (0.94). The Wisconsin native sits a touch below Alex Ovechkin (0.98), but ahead of similar scorers, past and present, like Dany Heatley, Corey Perry, Paul Kariya and Brett Hull, albeit in significantly fewer games.
With 30 points, Couture became the fourth player in the last 20 years to reach that many in a single playoff run. Letang assisted on all three game-winning goals in the Final. He finished with 15 points in 23 games, second among defensemen.
A trade summary
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