So okay. It’s been a while since I blogged. I’ve been busy and words aren’t forming the way I want them to. Maybe you think it’s because my team lost in the second round of the playoffs. Maybe you think I’m too upset to blog. Maybe that’s a little bit true, but I figured it’s about time I try to figure out what I want to say.
I love our team. Last year I struggled with losing Rob Scuderi. I’m still not over it. Knowing me, I probably never will get over it. I had this post about Kevin Stevens still having a piece of my insides all the while everybody is calling Scuds “The Piece”. Rob Scuderi has a piece of my insides too. I’m not sure how much I can take as a fan, as an emotional person. Free agency is nightmarish.
List of this year’s free agents:
Matt Cooke
Bill Guerin
Ruslan Fedotenko
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Sergei Gonchar
Mark Eaton
Jay McKee
Jordan Leopold
I may die if they let Matt Cooke go. There aren’t a whole lot of things I wouldn’t offer to do to keep him here. He’s important.
I wouldn’t totally hate having Billy G on this team next year at a GREATLY reduced cap hit and a GREATLY reduced TOI. If those two things don’t happen, I don’t want him.
I still feel like Ruslan Fedotenko got a raw deal this season. He was a -17, I know. Bad things sometimes happened when he was on the ice. Can this be a right wing problem though? Or a defense (like, defensemen defense not team defense) problem? If we find somebody to mesh with Malkin and Feds... like Nick Johnson did. So hey, let’s re-sign Feds on the cheap and bring up Nicky. I wouldn’t fear the inability to breathe if we had to let Fedo walk though.
I also feel like Poni wasn’t given a fair shake here. I would imagine it would take some time to change the way you play to fit a new system. If he gets re-signed, I won’t be upset. If he goes elsewhere, I hope he does well. I wish good things for him. Not that I don’t for others, I just feel a little bad for him and how it worked out (or didn’t work out) here.
I don’t expect to see Sergei Gonchar here next year. I think it might hurt a bit for a while but I think we’ll be better for it in the long run. I have complete trust in Kris Letang’s abilities and there is no reason for anybody to think Alex Goligoski isn’t going to be one of the great ones. I’d rather have my Tanger and GoGo than an over-priced Gonchar. I love what he brought to this team when he was bringing it. He stopped bringing it before we stopped paying him, so I don’t see any reason to re-sign him… unless he takes a drastic decrease in salary. And I don’t see that happening.
I adore Mark Eaton. I trust him. I would like to see him in a Penguins uniform for several more years.
I think I’ve made my feelings for Jay McKee known. I think he is an asset to this team. I’d like to know why he got demoted to 7th D in the first place. If he’s not back here next season, I’ll be forced to believe it was for personal reasons unless I hear otherwise. Do I think he’s the greatest ever defenseman? No, of course not. Does he fill the hole that Rob Scuderi left? No, of course not. Do I think he had a mistake-free season? No, of course not. Would I like to see him back? Yes, I would.
I have mixed feelings about Jordan Leopold. I think he’s pretty solid in both ends. I’d just like to see him grittier. I’m pretty meh about him. I think letting him walk is the way to go. I firmly believe that Ben Lovejoy is ready to play with the big boys fulltime. And Deryk Engelland was signed. I like it. I wouldn’t mind seeing him up here next season too. He’s tough (and yummy). Our defense needs some toughness. Jordan Leopold doesn’t bring us toughness.
Free agency is probably the real reason I haven’t been blogging. My mind gets haunted with all the possibilities, with all that might be lost. Our team needs a shake-up. One way to do that is to tear it down and rebuild it. But we don't need that. So all this “trade Malkin” talk is gibberish. I’m tired of reading about it. I can see where it has some validity but it’s insane. Why on Earth would we trade away one of the greatest players in the game? To fill in wingers? Come on. Think any team is willing to give up what it would take to give them Evgeni Malkin? And what, exactly, would it take? What some people are suggesting is crazy talk. I would love to have a number of the mentioned players on our team, but not at Geno’s expense. I've thought long and hard about what I would want in exchange for Geno. I've come to the conclusion that I feel it is in our best interest to keep him. Duh. The only way that should even be considered is if he asks for it. Besides, this idiotic trade talk just makes me paranoid about everybody. NOBODY'S SAFE!!! TRADE MALKIN! TRADE FLEURY! TRADE STAAL! TRADE CROSBY! TRADE THEM ALL BECAUSE WE NEED WINGERS! Fuck. It's enough. Let me enjoy my summer... or at least let me enjoy some of June.
I believe in the management of this team. I think we took some chances this year and I think we let a piece of our team go last year that proved to be too big to overcome. I’m talking about Rob Scuderi here, in case you didn’t guess that. But also Hal Gill. I think if I were given the choice between bringing up wingers or defensemen from WBS, I'd say bring wings and go get one really solid defensive defenseman. But nobody asks me. I'd probably just say, "go get Scudsy back. Shouldn't have let him go in the first place, dumbass," anyway. Maybe I'm crazy to think that our team's holes can be filled from within. Maybe I'm wrong. Hell, maybe I don't even think that. I can talk myself in circles, man.
One thing I know for sure, Matt Cooke is important to this team. He’s important for chemistry. He’s important for leadership. He’s funny and he’s honest and he cares about this team. I have to believe that he cares enough to stay here and that we care enough to want to keep him here and that he will be wearing that #24 for our team next season. I have to believe this until July 1st because it’s really too early for me to start vomiting at random times in random places because somebody says the word “cookie”. ::deep breath::
Let’s talk about Anton Volchenkov.
First of all, if he were to sign... well, first of all, yum. But second of all, if he were to sign with the Penguins, he would need a different number because that #24 belongs to Matt fucking Cooke. ::exhale:: I love the way Anton Volchenkov plays. He’s hard. He’s probably going to get more money than we can give him though. Wheels are already turning about the Caps wanting to give him $5mil. He’s probably not worth that to us but he probably is to them. He could be the piece they are missing. (The Piece *sob*) I’d love to see him here but I don’t expect it. At all.
Maybe I’ll get into some other guys I’d like to see signed with the Pens, but honestly, anybody I’d like to see here is pretty far out of reach (Patrick Sharp). I will trust Ray Shero again. He let me down last year but I have no choice but to believe he knows how to correct his mistakes. For now, until the dust clears, please do not say “cookie” in my presence.
Next post, the Stanley Cup Finals.
Go Hawks Go!!!
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