The other thing that's been really prevalent in the Toronto media that I've encountered is the idea that Kessel can't play with "great" players, he was supposed to play with Crosby or Malkin but instead he ended up with Bonino and Hagelin on the "third" line. And obviously only performed well there because they could cherry pick against a lesser defensive pairing.
Which I think in addition to everything else sells Hagelin and Bonino really short - they obviously aren't "generational" but it's not like he's dragging boat anchor Tanner Glass around the ice either. And as far as narrative is concerned I'm not sure the Pens win the Cup if they don't have the luxury of spreading their talent across 3 lines the way they did.
Sometimes I think the media in Toronto has just bought so hard into the fat, lazy, locker room cancer angle that they can't pull their heads out of it to see what's actually happening.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Re: Fandom Venting
From: (Anonymous)The other thing that's been really prevalent in the Toronto media that I've encountered is the idea that Kessel can't play with "great" players, he was supposed to play with Crosby or Malkin but instead he ended up with Bonino and Hagelin on the "third" line. And obviously only performed well there because they could cherry pick against a lesser defensive pairing.
Which I think in addition to everything else sells Hagelin and Bonino really short - they obviously aren't "generational" but it's not like he's dragging boat anchor Tanner Glass around the ice either. And as far as narrative is concerned I'm not sure the Pens win the Cup if they don't have the luxury of spreading their talent across 3 lines the way they did.
Sometimes I think the media in Toronto has just bought so hard into the fat, lazy, locker room cancer angle that they can't pull their heads out of it to see what's actually happening.