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

[Ulf5]

Gryz actually is what one poster was telling us Ty Smith is.

But Smith was signed by CAROLINA and is on their TOP power play. Dubas is such an idiot. Oh wait, he was waived again lol.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Honestly, despite a crappy starts, he's rounded into form decently well. I don't have the hatred for him I once did. If you're lacking a 3rd pairing puck mover and need a 2PPQB, there are much worse options out there. A 3rd for him would be a very standard TDL addition for playoff teams.

Yeah, the Pens paid a 4th for nearly retired Streit once upon a time so Grz for a 3rd seems more than fair

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah Ceci brought back a 4th that could turn into a 3rd if the Stars win, and Grzelcyk is having a better season than Ceci. I think retaining 50% on Grzelcyk guarantees you can get a 3rd for him, and you still probably get a 3rd (maybe a future year 3rd) if you don't retain.

 

[orby]

If the Pens can get a 1st for Rakell...they should do it. Potentially going into this draft with multiple first round picks could be huge for the franchise moving forward.

 

[SEALBound]

If the Pens can get a 1st for Rakell...they should do it. Potentially going into this draft with multiple first round picks could be huge for the franchise moving forward.

The Boston Bruins said the same thing in 2015. Course it WOULD have been if they took Barzel, Conner, and Chabot!

Lol, drafts are such crapshoots. Barzel, Conner, Chabot vs Zboril, DeBrusk, and Senyshyn. Just like MAF, Ovi, Sid vs Hall, RNH, and Yakupov.

There's a voice that says you 100% take the first for Rakell if you can get it. But there's another that asks - well how late is the first? Do we have to take someone on? And what about Sid? I'd be sad taking Sid's only legit top 6 wing away...again. BUT if Sid was okay with a mini tank to get the likes of Misa and McKenna, then YES!

If we finish 5-6ov and have say 28th ov, as Emp pointed out, that might be enough to get us up to 3-4ov and have a chance at Misa or even Martone. I think you 100% do it for either. I would rather have Misa but I gush at the thought of Martone and McKenna together, IF we luck into such. Imagine Tkachuk with McDavid.

 

[orby]

The Boston Bruins said the same thing in 2015. Course it WOULD have been if they took Barzel, Conner, and Chabot!

Lol, drafts are such crapshoots. Barzel, Conner, Chabot vs Zboril, DeBrusk, and Senyshyn. Just like MAF, Ovi, Sid vs Hall, RNH, and Yakupov.

There's a voice that says you 100% take the first for Rakell if you can get it. But there's another that asks - well how late is the first? Do we have to take someone on? And what about Sid? I'd be sad taking Sid's only legit top 6 wing away...again. BUT if Sid was okay with a mini tank to get the likes of Misa and McKenna, then YES!

If we finish 5-6ov and have say 28th ov, as Emp pointed out, that might be enough to get us up to 3-4ov and have a chance at Misa or even Martone. I think you 100% do it for either.

The keyword is "could..." You almost never know how a draft pick is gonna work out, but it's nice to have a bunch of them when you're staring down an impending rebuild.

 

[Empoleon8771]

This is going to sound like a weird comment to make, but I think you want to stagger your draft picks and not overload them in 1 year just so you can have a consistent flow of young prospects breaking into the AHL. You don't want a situation where you have too many prospects and not enough AHL minutes to give them once they turn pro. Look at WBS right now, they added only 3 first year pros this year at F (Koivunen, McGroarty and Broz) and they're running into issues with forcing AHL caliber guys to the ECHL.

I'd probably want a 2026 or 2027 1st for Rakell and Karlsson if they're trading them. And at that point, it kinda makes rushing to trade them not necessary.

 

[cygnus47]

The keyword is "could..." You almost never know how a draft pick is gonna work out, but it's nice to have a bunch of them when you're staring down an impending rebuild.

That’s one case where they just overthought it though. They could’ve just taken the next 3 top ranked guys. Similar to us taking Pouliot over Forsberg. There’s taking one guy at 25 and having an opportunity at multiple top 10 ranked guys. Chabot yeah they weren’t taking him, but they went off the board for no reason.

 

[SEALBound]

This is going to sound like a weird comment to make, but I think you want to stagger your draft picks and not overload them in 1 year just so you can have a consistent flow of young prospects breaking into the AHL. You don't want a situation where you have too many prospects and not enough AHL minutes to give them once they turn pro. Look at WBS right now, they added only 3 first year pros this year at F (Koivunen, McGroarty and Broz) and they're running into issues with forcing AHL caliber guys to the ECHL.

I'd probably want a 2026 or 2027 1st for Rakell and Karlsson if they're trading them. And at that point, it kinda makes rushing to trade them not necessary.

I'd definitely target a 26 or 27 1st for Karlsson as every team he gets on seems to tank in 2 years.

The other side of that coin is NOT signing (and trading for) plugs like Acciari, Nieto, Heinen, etc that take the roster spots away from guys like McGroarty or Koivunen. Granted, they could have called up either one instead of f***ing Imama but still. We overloaded ourselves with NHL players last year and this year and didn't really allow for the organic development and transition to the NHL for our AHL guys. I don't know what the TDL brings but there's a distinct possibility that Koiv, McG, and Broz won't even get an NHL game this year because you have Heinen, Nieto, Acciari, Hayes, and whoever we take back with other TDL deals. That, in and of itself, is a problem. Perhaps the biggest problem because going into next year, you're not really sure what you have in those three. McGroarty can probably be a safe assumption but not the other two necessarily which makes me think Dubas would go on the hunt for the next Nieto as a stop gap which recreates the entire issue for another year.

Unless there's a distinct effort to move guys like Hayes, Heinen, and Acciari by whatever means necessary. Honestly, any one of them out for FC isn't the worst deal for two teams to make.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

He's going to trade that first rounder isn't he...

"We want to operate as urgently as we can to return the team (to contender status). We don’t want to buy patience or say it’s an X amount of years plan,” said Dubas.
I think previously, and even this season, it’s been tough to get into those conversations because we haven’t had that level of assets when a really good young player comes available,” said Dubas. “Now, having multiple first-round picks and seeing these younger players start to develop gets us more and more into that mix. And so we just have to keep moving down that path.”

Dubas Says Trade Calls Have Increased, Willing to Spend Assets Dubas Says Trade Calls Have Increased, Willing to Spend Assets

 

[eXile3]

He's going to trade that first rounder isn't he...

"We want to operate as urgently as we can to return the team (to contender status). We don’t want to buy patience or say it’s an X amount of years plan,” said Dubas.
I think previously, and even this season, it’s been tough to get into those conversations because we haven’t had that level of assets when a really good young player comes available,” said Dubas. “Now, having multiple first-round picks and seeing these younger players start to develop gets us more and more into that mix. And so we just have to keep moving down that path.”

Dubas Says Trade Calls Have Increased, Willing to Spend Assets Dubas Says Trade Calls Have Increased, Willing to Spend Assets

This sounds like it’s going to end badly.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'd obviously rather use the pick but I'm not going to say no to using it to acquire a good young player instead. It's just a question of who that "good young player" is.

I don't see a huge difference long-term between drafting an 18 year old with that pick versus trading it for a 22 year old player. That said, it largely depends on who that young guy is.

 

[The Old Master]

I'd obviously rather use the pick but I'm not going to say no to using it to acquire a good young player instead. It's just a question of who that "good young player" is.

I don't see a huge difference long-term between drafting an 18 year old with that pick versus trading it for a 22 year old player. That said, it largely depends on who that young guy is.

Yeah, but you need to make sure it's not a lotto pick first

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah, but you need to make sure it's not a lotto pick first

I'm assuming that the "traded pick" is referring to the Rangers pick, not the Penguins pick.

 

[The Old Master]

I'm assuming that the "traded pick" is referring to the Rangers pick, not the Penguins pick.

even that one is in question

 

[Ulf5]

He's going to trade that first rounder isn't he...

"We want to operate as urgently as we can to return the team (to contender status). We don’t want to buy patience or say it’s an X amount of years plan,” said Dubas.
I think previously, and even this season, it’s been tough to get into those conversations because we haven’t had that level of assets when a really good young player comes available,” said Dubas. “Now, having multiple first-round picks and seeing these younger players start to develop gets us more and more into that mix. And so we just have to keep moving down that path.”

Dubas Says Trade Calls Have Increased, Willing to Spend Assets Dubas Says Trade Calls Have Increased, Willing to Spend Assets

Better be a damn legit prospect. Not a stalled out/regressed flunky.

 

[Gurglesons]

I'd obviously rather use the pick but I'm not going to say no to using it to acquire a good young player instead. It's just a question of who that "good young player" is.

I don't see a huge difference long-term between drafting an 18 year old with that pick versus trading it for a 22 year old player. That said, it largely depends on who that young guy is.

The thing people ignore is if he trades that 1st for an effective player you potentially set yourself up with further assets to part with when Sid retires.

This is why I advocated for Chychrun. You pay for him in 2023 and then you could’ve dealt him in a trade.

 

[Epic Neal Time]

There aren't a ton of rumors around young guys that are on the block. Some names to keep in mind that I've seen at least mentioned:

Simon Nemec
Seamus Casey
Trevor Zegras
Dylan Cozens
Bowen Byram
Jack Quinn
JJ Peterka
Mavrik Bourque
Alex Newhook
Matthew Savoie

 

[Empoleon8771]

There aren't a ton of rumors around young guys that are on the block. Some names to keep in mind that I've seen at least mentioned:

Simon Nemec
Seamus Casey
Trevor Zegras
Dylan Cozens
Bowen Byram
Jack Quinn
JJ Peterka
Mavrik Bourque
Alex Newhook
Matthew Savoie

Nemec was a guy that jumped to mind that I'd be good with trading a 1st for. Same situation as Jiricek, but the difference now is that the Penguins won't have to use their own 1st for it.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Nemec's development has stagnated to the point that he's probably too f***ed up for this team to make anything of him tbh. But if he comes in relatively cheap, sure, f*** it.

Those two Slovaks going 1st and 2nd in the 2022 draft have had a really hard time justifying their draft position since. The fact that the draft seems to be pretty dogshit overall probably takes a lot of the sting out of it though. If you're gonna do a redraft, I guess Hutson goes 1st overall followed by Cooley?

Whatever, rambling. I think Nemec's development's probably ratf***ed and a Sullivan-led team isn't gonna fix it, basically. I'll take him if he's cheap as shit but I'd probably rather just keep the 1st you'd likely have to trade to get him. Especially if it's the Penguins' own.

 

[cygnus47]

Dubas has talked a lot of shit about contending but his actions have all been standard tank business. Probably FSG doesn’t want him to drive down attendance by admitting we’re tanking.