Salary Cap: '24-'25 Salary Thread: Crosbicles Volume MMXXV - Poolman and Poolparty?!?

Poor city for millionaires
Wasteland of empty seats in the stands
Best players set to retire before the contract is 25% through (8 years)
Poor future outlook

An overpayment won't be enough. Especially with the thought of fans dragging on you, because you're expected to be the Pens best player in 2 years. All while you not being able to hit ppg because you're playing with 3rd liners while the team is 20 mill under the cap.
 
If Marner makes it to UFA why isn't he signing with a good team or a desirable market while making 100 million?
It's a friggin hypothetical. He may not even make it to free agency.

All anyone is saying is that if the right players are available, the sharp increase in cap space COULD be a way for the Pens to try to expedite their rebuild process.
 
It's a friggin hypothetical. He may not even make it to free agency.

All anyone is saying is that if the right players are available, the sharp increase in cap space COULD be a way for the Pens to try to expedite their rebuild process.

Neat. I’ll stay over here in reality.

If Marner actually had any interest in playing for a rebuilding team, he would easily choose Chicago instead imo. Bigger city, and can immediately play with Bedard for the next few years.

He also refused to go to Columbus, but suddenly will go to PIT? Seems like a reach.

Using a retention spot on anyone other than EK or TJ would be a huge mistake, IMO. Buring them on contracts that are movable is a really bad idea.

Why? What is the goal of this team the next few years?

Everyone in here has been saying it is to rebuild. How is moving Rakell or any comparable player for a better return restricting that? Especially with the cap going up?
 
They're not going to just throw money around. They're not going to give Dimitri Orlov a $100 million, 7 year contract just because the cap went up.

But if Marner or Rantanen is available in free agency and Dubas wants them, FSG will spend.
Yeah but that’s not really what I’m saying. Orlov isnt getting that deal from anyone so irrelevant.

So sure on Marner or Rantanen but I do think if they were willing to sign here (obv unlikely) when Dubas is like

“hey ownership San Jose just offered Marner his first couple years in frontloaded money- if we want him we gotta match”

I do not think the answer is “ok cool now we’ll be better sooner! Make the deal”

Not gonna be willy nilly and Kyle will need to show why there’s a clear shift in plan and how it ties into future success if he wants big ticket payroll like that greenlit.
 
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I thought we were rebuilding? Why do we care?

Do 32 year olds improve usually?

I have no idea what you are saying then.

You said, put anyone with Sid and they will produce. I said they tried and that wasn't true. What does that have to do with rebuilding?

I am saying your underating Rakell. Not we can't or shouldn't trade him. I just disagree with your proposed trade not the idea of trading him. And also disagree that anyone can replace him.
 
I have no idea what you are saying then.

You said, put anyone with Sid and they will produce. I said they tried and that wasn't true. What does that have to do with rebuilding?

I am saying your underating Rakell. Not we can't or shouldn't trade him. I just disagree with your proposed trade not the idea of trading him. And also disagree that anyone can replace him.

If you put a winger with Sid for 800+ minutes at 5v5 and PP they will produce. We saw DOC do it when we actually gave him time.

Getting a 1st and 2nd for any player on this team is incredible work. That was what we paid for EK65 after a 100 pt season.

If Dubas is serious about a quick rebuild anything besides the core guys should be up for a 1st and the core guys are Sid and Malkin and the prospects.
 
If Marner actually had any interest in playing for a rebuilding team, he would easily choose Chicago instead imo. Bigger city, and can immediately play with Bedard for the next few years.
He may. Or he may prefer to get away from the white hot spotlight of a major city. He may prefer to stay in Canada. Or he may want to play with Sid, who he's been training with.
 
I think the difference between our situation and others like Chicago and Columbus is obvious. Maybe there is no chance in hell that Marner would ever consider Pittsburgh. Maybe there was never any chance in hell. HOWEVER, we connect the dots because of his history with Dubas AND his albeit brief history training with Crosby. NOW, can Jon Cooper help our situation in the 4 Nations tournament? Perhaps.

I assume McDavid, MacKinnon and Crosby will all center their own lines, and I also assume that Reinhart, Marner and Stone will be the RWs. Who plays with who? We will find out soon enough. If Cooper pairs up Crosby and Marner, suddenly this could become Jarome Iginla 2.0.

If Dubas is really serious about an accelerated rebuild, he probably always had Marner on his radar.
 
He may. Or he may prefer to get away from the white hot spotlight of a major city. He may prefer to stay in Canada. Or he may want to play with Sid, who he's been training with.

And Nate MacKinnon may force his way out of Colorado to come to PIT too.

Wouldn’t count on it. Honestly, wouldn’t even count on Marner getting to UFA.
 
Unfortunately I think Marner is a Leaf with the cap news. They can offer the 8th year.

And if he’s not a Leaf why doesn’t he just do a 2 yr deal?
 
Unfortunately I think Marner is a Leaf with the cap news. They can offer the 8th year.

And if he’s not a Leaf why doesn’t he just do a 2 yr deal?

That’s the only way I think you see us get a big fish. If we do something super creative and cool like give Marner 2 x 18 mil similar to what Carolina did with Orlov.

Too bad Dubas has demonstrated he has no creative juice.
 
The difference between Marner's and Rantanen's situations is the trade protection. Marner would probably reject most (if not all of the) trades proposed. However, their contractual situations are similar. Colorado did not want to pay Rantanen more than MacKinnon, and the Leafs do not want to pay Marner more than Matthews.

Nothing that has happened since the last off-season has changed. Marner is having arguably his best regular season, so I seriously doubt he is now more open to taking less than the rumored $14 million. And the Leafs still need to see playoff success.

I think the Leafs will only cave if they do go a couple of rounds deep in these playoffs. And Marner probably only caves if he is either injured down the stretch or if he struggles badly in the playoffs.

IF he hits the market, it will probably be because the Leafs' new regime wants to restructure their roster and reallocate resources differently. And if he hits the market, we are in decent position to be in the running IMHO.

As for him wanting 2 years...I think if Mitch Marner has interest in the Penguins, we should pretty much be willing to give him whatever he wants. He would be the perfect bridge to a new era and help the younger guys immensely in a post-legends Penguins era.
 
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Poor city for millionaires
Wasteland of empty seats in the stands
Best players set to retire before the contract is 25% through (8 years)
Poor future outlook

An overpayment won't be enough. Especially with the thought of fans dragging on you, because you're expected to be the Pens best player in 2 years. All while you not being able to hit ppg because you're playing with 3rd liners while the team is 20 mill under the cap.
Gonna play devil’s advocate.

Relatively low income taxes compared to New York, California and Canada. Also our fans are saints compared to those markets. People generally leave athletes alone here compared to New York and canada. Just depends on what you want to do for fun. The nightlife scene is pretty poor. However it’s a great area to raise a family if you have money. If they stick on a line with Crosby, it means probably half the contract will be without him.

If Rantanen cared about future outlook of a team, he wouldn’t negotiate his way out of playing for the ideal team.

With all that said, I’d probably choose Chicago over pittsburgh lol but there aren’t a lot of teams, with cap space, that I would choose if my focus was money related
 
If you put a winger with Sid for 800+ minutes at 5v5 and PP they will produce. We saw DOC do it when we actually gave him time.

Getting a 1st and 2nd for any player on this team is incredible work. That was what we paid for EK65 after a 100 pt season.

If Dubas is serious about a quick rebuild anything besides the core guys should be up for a 1st and the core guys are Sid and Malkin and the prospects.
Gotcha. I agree, I just would try to squeeze more especially taking Sheary back.

Also F tampa, I don't want to help them lol. Trade Rakell west for that
 
Gonna play devil’s advocate.

Relatively low income taxes compared to New York, California and Canada. Also our fans are saints compared to those markets. People generally leave athletes alone here compared to New York and canada. Just depends on what you want to do for fun. The nightlife scene is pretty poor. However it’s a great area to raise a family if you have money. If they stick on a line with Crosby, it means probably half the contract will be without him.

If Rantanen cared about future outlook of a team, he wouldn’t negotiate his way out of playing for the ideal team.

With all that said, I’d probably choose Chicago over pittsburgh lol but there aren’t a lot of teams, with cap space, that I would choose if my focus was money related

Avs are the ideal team?
 
Pittsburgh isn't an attractive city for millionaire athletes, but the relative mild media (especially when the team is living in the Steelers shadow), being close to home and low tax rates are all benefits for why I could see Marner signing here.

But the #1 reason that he'd sign here is that the Penguins are offering him the most money.
 
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Pittsburgh isn't an attractive city for millionaire athletes, but the relative mild media (especially when the team is living in the Steelers shadow), being close to home and low tax rates are all benefits for why I could see Marner signing here.

But the #1 reason that he'd sign here is that the Penguins are offering him the most money.
I do find it interesting that while Pittsburgh isn’t a big, attractive free agent landing spot, players absolutely do love playing here. Lemieux, Crosby, Malkin, Letang are lifers and other guys throughout the years talk about how much they love playing in Pittsburgh. Can even tell how fond Jagr was of playing here.
 
Even setting aside the Marner talk for a second, the Penguins are in a position in the next couple of years where they'll likely have to be handing out significant contracts in UFA, just because they won't have any more highly paid players. Even next year, they're sitting at $65 million without making and moves and $15 million under the cap floor. With cheap guys like McGroarty and Koivunen looking to play notable roles next year and veterans that will be moved, they may have to hand out big bucks in open positions.

I think the idea I like the most is splurging on defense, specifically giving Fabbro and Chychrun long-term deals. The Penguins D prospect pool is pretty limited beyond Brunicke, Pickering and Pieniniemi, and you'll need guys capable of eating minutes to insulate the young guys. Fabbro and Chychrun are both barely UFA ages, where they'll only be 27 when they're signing their deals. I'd easily give Chychrun like a 6x7 deal and Fabbro a 6x4 deal and just keep that as a pair for as long as I can. I'd personally trade Karlsson for futures and go with:

Pickering-Letang
Chychrun-Fabbro
Graves-POJ

Eventually Brunicke comes up and replaces Letang once he retires.
 
i gotta say…professional sports is still a job. go nuts in a cool city during the offseason seems pretty doable
 

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