www.nytimes.com
What has you leaning Martone over Misa? Misa's numbers have been bananas
Also, bigger picture item from The Athletic's Mark Lazerus that's about Chicago but could be about the Penguins' path, too.
Lazerus notes that Chicago is currently on the classic tear it down completely, rebuild exclusively through the draft route that many GMs prefer. Only it hasn't worked in the Cap era, as most notably seen by Buffalo and Edmonton.
The new model is Florida.
Lazerus: Bill Zito’s Panthers, Kyle Davidson’s Blackhawks and the road not taken
It's long past time for Davidson to get aggressive, to start trying to win for real.
How does this relate to the Pens? I think Dubas is positioning the Penguins to do something similar to Florida, with a mix of the Kings thrown in.
I think Dubas wants to build through the draft more than Florida did, but not as extreme as what Chicago is doing. If you can replicate what the Kings did by landing a Byfield and Clarke with a Top 10 and a Top 3 pick in back-to-back years and supplement that with prospects who you hit on in with an abundance of 2nd and 3rd round picks, then that gives you room to be aggressive in free agency and on the trade market like Florida.
The Kings also have vets like Doughty and Kopitar finishing out their careers, lending their knowledge to the younger players.
Florida, meanwhile, built a very specific culture and identity. It was aggressive in the pursuit of players who fit that mold, and hired a staff who could manage players within that framework. That'll be the other key for Dubas. It's one thing to identify good players and acquire them. It's another to put the pieces together and utilize them properly.
We'll see if he can pull it off.
Thanks
Florida already had a lot of the foundations for a contender in place thanks to many years of high draft picks. Zito did a great job, of course but the situation of the Penguins is rather different to that of the Panthers in 2020 when Zito took over.
The Pens and the majority of teams don’t have Barkov (2OA), Huberdeau (3OA), Ekblad (1OA) in their primes to play around with.
IF. Once again I think people will be disappointed when they aren’t moved.
I don't even think I'd want to use a 10th overall on McQueen tbh man.
I'd say throw a flier on him at like 20th but I also think he's the exact type of guy to end up surprising by going top 5. I think if it all works out for the guy, you're maybe looking at a Bjugstad situation where the guy's a rangy bottom 6 fixture but not a physical presence whatsoever. At worst, you've got a tall kid who can't skate for shit and maybe doesn't even carve out an AHL career for himself. You can move up by teams falling or by moving up incrementally, and iirc you can be the team that finishes 32nd and end up being the 1st overall (no change in your order), but you can only move up to 1st by winning the lottery twice.
He can’t do it unless he fires Sullivan…he needs to grow a pair lolAlso, bigger picture item from The Athletic's Mark Lazerus that's about Chicago but could be about the Penguins' path, too.
Lazerus notes that Chicago is currently on the classic tear it down completely, rebuild exclusively through the draft route that many GMs prefer. Only it hasn't worked in the Cap era, as most notably seen by Buffalo and Edmonton.
The new model is Florida.
Lazerus: Bill Zito’s Panthers, Kyle Davidson’s Blackhawks and the road not taken
It's long past time for Davidson to get aggressive, to start trying to win for real.
How does this relate to the Pens? I think Dubas is positioning the Penguins to do something similar to Florida, with a mix of the Kings thrown in.
I think Dubas wants to build through the draft more than Florida did, but not as extreme as what Chicago is doing. If you can replicate what the Kings did by landing a Byfield and Clarke with a Top 10 and a Top 3 pick in back-to-back years and supplement that with prospects who you hit on in with an abundance of 2nd and 3rd round picks, then that gives you room to be aggressive in free agency and on the trade market like Florida.
The Kings also have vets like Doughty and Kopitar finishing out their careers, lending their knowledge to the younger players.
Florida, meanwhile, built a very specific culture and identity. It was aggressive in the pursuit of players who fit that mold, and hired a staff who could manage players within that framework. That'll be the other key for Dubas. It's one thing to identify good players and acquire them. It's another to put the pieces together and utilize them properly.
We'll see if he can pull it off.
