Have We Seen the Last of the Sesame Street Line?

Over the past week or so, there has been a few mentions of line changes already for this up coming season. Unfortunately the ever so famous “Sesame Street Line” seems to be in danger of dismemberment. During Mr. Shero’s press conference on July 1st he stated, “To go out and spend our money for a supposed wingers for a lot of money or term didn’t make sense to us right now. Our chance was to focus on the defense and we wanted to add good players at the right age. I think that’s what we did.” As of the 8th Shero said, “We're just looking around to see if anybody fits, and we're keeping Billy Guerin in mind as well." Since Mr. Shero has yet to find a reasonable fit in a winger, the possibility of moving Staal to Geno’s wing or having Staal center the second line and move Geno to Sid’s wing has risen. Shero said coach Dan Bylsma can use training camp to determine the configuration in that scenario. Staal, who has developed into arguably the top third-line center in the NHL, played some on Malkin's flank on the second line earlier in his career. Malkin occasionally moves to wing on the top line with center Sidney Crosby.

This brings up a lot of questions: Why not put Tangradi on Sid’s wing? Why doesn’t Shero just re-sign Guerin? Why not make a trade? Why not moved Talbot to Geno’s wing (again)? Why split up arguably the best third line in NHL this past season?


1) Why not move Talbot to Geno’s wing (again)? Really, why not? Though we didn’t see the same Max Talbot as we did in 08-09 season. Max has worked well along side Geno. Max has the talent to be a second line winger, we have seen it before. I believe if he really works hard this training camp and get the shoulder going, he could find himself a permanent spot.


2) Why doesn’t Shero just re-sign Guerin? What comes to mind when someone says Billy Guerin? Dad, .4, princess crown? There are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to a veteran guy like Billy. Age, agility, speed. It’s obvious that Bill has taken the “veteran” role very serious on and off the ice, though, Ray Shero’s job is to help this team reach their goal in becoming champions. So maybe the question should be, “Will Bill Guerin help the Pens win another Stanley Cup?”

3) Why not make a trade? Shero hasn’t ruled out a trade this summer, though it seems he would like to turn to our younger talent in Wilkes Barre. “We’ll take a look and maybe we can do somebody on a one-year deal at a low number or just give our players an opportunity and see what training camp brings or later in the summer we can make a trade.”
4) Why not put Tangradi on Sid’s wing? A lot of people have been calling for Tangradi to be Sid’s winger, but is he ready? Dan Bylsma will be able to decide that this coming week while Tangradi participates in Prospect camp. From personally watching the guy play in Wilkes Barre a few times, I’d say he needs a little more work, but that is my opinion. All players are different in their own terms. Who knows maybe one NHL game could have done the trick for him.

"Why split up arguably the best third line in the NHL this past season?" Here is some food for thought on why we shouldn’t: Tyler Kennedy, Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke.

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Our Third Line Will Meet Yours in the School Yard Baby!

By Nicole Tracey

Over the past couple seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins third and forth lines have become more indulged with talent. Recently  in the past two seasons the Pens third line has really made a name for themselves. Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke, centered by Jordan Staal have become “The Sesame Street Line.” The most obvious “Sesame Street” character name is Cookie in “Cookie monster” for Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal has been called “Big Bird” but that hasn’t really stuck with him and Tyler Kennedy has been called, well, Elmo? But I see no resemblance. Just with in the first 5 games, Tyler Kennedy leads the line with 4 goals and 1 assist, Jordan Staal has 3 goals and 1 assist, and Matt Cooke has 1 goal 2 assists. The third line is tied with the KGB line with 12 points, pretty nice from a third line eh? Besides a great physical presence from Cookie and sometimes Jordo and the speed of TK, oh and not to mention the shut down PK unit between Staalzy and Cooke, how good is this third line really?

Well, let’s do a comparison. Right now, according to NHL.com, the top 5 teams in the league (in order from 1-5) are, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, and the Chicago Blackhawks. Out of the five teams, 2 have third lines with over 10 points, the Pens with 12 and the Rangers with 12. Next in line are the Kings with 10, the Flames with 8 and the Hawks with 5; give and take a few player line switches with these. A side from putting up a couple game winning goals or checking someone into next Tuesday, Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke are a part of the Pens top PK unit, as I mentioned before. If a puck is cleared down the ice on the PK, it’s more than likely being cleared by one of these two. Without a well balanced array of talent from the defensive to offensive perspective, a team really has nothing to work with. In the Pens case they have 3 lines that are fully capable of producing just that and with Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy only in their 20s, look for them to only get better.

And despite my sisters killer photoshop above, Damian just had to do a parody of his own... 

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