Now, do they stash him the AHL another year or bring him up to learn behind someone who’s been to the Finals? Roster Management leans one way, but developing Murashov now may be better, even if you have to pay him big bucks. Especially if they keep rotating goalies, which seems to be working well.

It does feel like they just pushed snooze on Murashov for a year as well. Though if he is gonna be the future, it might be good to bring him up and have him behind a guy who has been to the Stanley Cup finals. That’ll be an interesting wrinkle.

All in all, I feel…fine?

I will always be more of a sports fan. But my wife is essentially the platonic ideal of a hater and it absolutely rocks seeing her turn to sports of her own accord as an outlet for that.

I have watched old, lifelong massholes discuss Alex Rodriguez slapping the ball out of Bronson Aroyo’s glove.

That’s approximately the level of bile that my wife feels when Lafrenière scores a goal. Not against the Pens, or against her childhood team. Like, just as a result of him experiencing joy.

And I’m going Blomquist over Murashov here only because he did well but not blindingly amazing. I can see them keeping him down for another year of development.

In all seriousness, for the discussion on the page…I don’t know if I’d “trade” anything for a perfect season, as a fan. If I were a player? In a heartbeat, almost certainly?

As a fan? Man, that was a crazy ride. It would have been incredible. But man, the fan base would have been so, so much worse.

Can I interest either of you in a gently-used Tristan Jarry?

Pens very much needed this game. The vibes weren’t rancid, but they were definitely trending towards funk.

Penguins special teams have been lights out tonight. Tommy Novak and Blake Lizotte are incredibly noticeable out there tonight. Heck of a game all around.

Say what you will about Mike Sullivan’s later years, but there’s no way this game is called the same way by the refs with him behind the bench. What is that…six Flyers power plays?

That said, I think Dan Muse has identified an interesting strategy with Jarry by managing his workload so aggressively.

I still think they have Jarry way too big of a contract. Felt like bidding against nobody. But one thing Jarry does have is a high ceiling. It’s about how often you can expect it.

How much we see Silovs vs Jarry/Murashov may be the single biggest sign of how hard the Pens are trying to win.

My wife and I started renting a cabin in the woods that we disappear to rather than doing some weird tradition that adds stress for minimal rewards. No drama, no fights, and if you pick the right place you can still catch football.