Deadline Wishes

Well the trade deadline is less than a few weeks away, we all have our deadline wishes. So here are my deadline wishes for the Penguins (no particular order).

1) Veteran defenseman
The Pens still need help on the blueline. Scuderi or Melichar playing regular minutes isn’t going to win you a cup, so someone like Aaron Miller would be great. I think the Pens can go with the offensive defensemen they have right now, its their own end that needs work. Preferably get a veteran defenseman that hits too.

2) Tough Guy
The Pens need a tough guy. Thorburn, Ruutu, these a guys aren’t heavyweights and cant keep other teams from going after Crosby. The Pens should still have Roy to do this (who can actually play nonetheless), but Therrien’s inability to use him got him picked off waivers. Now they are right back where they started. I’m not really jumping on the bandwagon, I’ve felt this way for years. Every year Craig Patrick, noticing we were getting the crap beat out of us, would get a bunch of tougher, but crappy guys at the deadline only to let them go in the summer. I’m sick to death of this team always getting pushed around.

3) Oullet, Scuderi and Melichar gone
I’m not afraid to say it: these three have been costing us all year with their terrible play. Scuderi and Melichar lack anything resembling offensive production, and terrible defensive play have made both liabilities. You can get a decent game from Scuderi every once in a while, but Melichar once every few weeks. Oullet I explained in a previous post. Basically this is addition by subtraction.

You know, that’s really all I have on my wish list. Amazing that after all years of wanting just about everything at the deadline, I have so few wishes. Shero has created depth on the lower lines, so I don’t find myself wanted gritty guys. Having Crosby, Malkin and Staal has bumped up the scoring significantly, so we aren’t clamoring for goal scorers. Our defense has improved much with the addition of Eaton, Orpik now adjusted to the rules and the emergence of Whitney.

Sadly, of those on my wish list I really want the three said players gone the most. Of those three, I would say Oullet gone would be the most wanted because he continually drags down whatever line he is on. Melichar you can at elast bench, but Therrient refuses to bench Oullet.

-Jordan