Sprong was really impressive and he's NHL ready. He is creating chances on his own and he almost tied the game yesterday. With him scoring a goal, the whole conversation would have been different.
I agree that he's not playing enough minutes to keep him, but that's not because of Sprong, blame the coach.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the Pens coach at all. I would move Hornqvist to LW on Sid's line and bring Sprong up to play a couple games with Shrek and Plotnikov.
The Malkin-Hornqvist combo looks horrible - not sure why the coach messed up the chemistry Crosby and Hornqvist had to begin with. Kessel would be better playing with Malkin anyway IMO.
And the Pens need to load up their PP1 and forget about "spreading it out" - they need PP goals.
PP1 should be...
Kessel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Letang-Malkin
Get enough PP goals and unit 2 won't need to hop over the boards.
8-GM / WK-H2H
Forwards: G=2, A=1, PP/SH= +1, GWG= +2, Shootout G=1, HT= +1
D-Men/Captain: G=3/A=2
Goalies: W=3, OTL=1, SO= +2, SV= .10
Start = 13F, 6D, 2G / Keep 44 (3G)
Captain: Matthews
(F): MacKinnon, Pasta, Marner, Rantanen, Malkin, Barkov, M.Tkachuk, W.Nylander, Pettersson, Gaudreau, Laine, Keller, Miller, B.Tkachuk, Stutzle, DeBrincat, L.Raymond, K.Johnson, Cozens, Quinn, Guenther, Kulich, Cooley
(D): Makar, Dahlin, Q.Hughes, Ekblad, Rielly, Werenski, Letang, Jones, Chychrun, Seider, Edvinsson, Jiricek, Korchinski, Mintyukov, Ceulemans, Hutson
(G): Shesterkin, Demko, Vejmelka
I like his talent a lot but I don't think he stays. There are just too many forwards in Pittsburgh for Sprong to get meaningful minutes so I think they'll send him down and let him play a lot in the minors.
Sprong was impressive on that 3rd line and not only because of his goal. He will make it tough for the Pens to send him down.
He'll make it tough but with Fehr and Dupuis coming back soon, I think they'll send him down
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I think the fact that the Penguins struggle offensively right now helps him. They could give him the chance to play on the top 2 lines.
Points only keeper league
7 teams
28 keepers
Weekly line up: 12 F / 6 D / 2 G
Goalie stats: W=2 / SO=2
He won't stick once the injured players return. You are not paying Dupuis 3.75 mill or Fehr 2 mill to sit in the press box for a kid who isn't getting 10 minutes ATOI per game. His development will be best served going back to Charlottetown after his 9 games are up. There is a whole business side to sports that GMs factor into their decisions that really has already made up their minds. Unless he scores over a point a game in in his next 5, it'll be back to juniors for him.
Yeah but then you're giving Sprong 4th line minutes (like he was given again last night). Doesn't make sense to keep him. He has been OK - to be kept at that age you should be amazing or fill a specific role. If you're talking about who to give 4th line or 3rd line mins to, then Plotnikov is a better option because he's a grinder type.
The counter-argument being is if (when, because it always happens) one (or more than one) of Pittsburgh's top 6 gets hurt, they don't have any talented young scorers to fill that role. Fourth line minutes for Sprong is a mistake. I don't think third line minutes (like last night) are. And I don't actually have any idea if they will or wont keep him. TBH I don't actually care much if they do or don't keep him. But saying they wont because of Fehr and Dupuis returning, and saying that keeping him and playing him third line minutes are wasting him and ruining his development aren't accurate takes. 13-14 minutes per night is just fine for his development. Below 10 isn't.
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