Salary Cap: 24 25 Salary Thread Crosbicles Volume Mmxxvii Retool over Time to Go for A Cup in 2026

[SEALBound]

Malkin likely retires after next year and I figure Crosby takes it year by year after his current deal is up.

Rushing to make the team better in 2025 is just going to hurt their draft pick for next year and further cripple their ability to create a contending caliber core for after Crosby retires. They're already rushing it to try to be competitive again before Crosby retires. Getting 1 top-10 pick along with the Rangers 1st isn't nearly enough to build up a core for after Crosby retires.

"Sid's last change" should be similar to what Bergeron's was. Sid at 40-41 making $3mil on a 1yr deal as hopefully the 2C on a youthful roster.

McKenna-Frondell-Koivunen
McGroaty-Sid-Rust
Hallander-Broz-XXXX
Poulin-Pono-Howe

Pickering-Brunicke
Pieniniemi-XXXXX
XXXXX-Harding

Murashov-Blomqvist

Something like that, where we fill in with trades and FAs as needed. It might come together like that, it might not. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for a TON of legendary talents. The Ray Bourque cup send-off is excruciatingly rare.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Next years top 10 looks fantastic but who tf knows lol

 

[Ugene Magic]

The problem with retooling is that no roster in the NHL is less equipped to successfully retool than the current Pittsburgh Penguins. Unless Crosby is going to be Gordie Howe 2.0 and be elite into his 40s, they do not have a single player to retool around.

Well, there's this draft, summer trades and UFA's to go along with TDL and then the 2026 draft summer trades and UFA's.

It's not impossible to get guys worthy of retools.

They already have Crosby, Rakell, Rust, Karlsson, Letang and their prospects a year or two further along.

I wouldn't cancel them out.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

IMO, EK should be itching to get moved this summer. He hasn't won yet and he sure as hell won't do it here.

 

[Ugene Magic]

They'd be tanking for McKenna, not the rest of the draft. Just giving up on it because the odds are low makes no sense.

Tanking isn't all there is, but the clear direction should be to tank or try to win a Cup. Anything else is just treading water.

Well, they are telling you they are not tanking. That should pretty much end that argument.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

IMO, EK should be itching to get moved this summer. He hasn't won yet and he sure as hell won't do it here.

I'm sure this will be brought up by his agent, I mean we all know why Sid-Geno and Letang would want to stay and no longer care about winning. EK I'm sure is dying inside to get a last shot at a SC

 

[Ugene Magic]

Malkin likely retires after next year and I figure Crosby takes it year by year after his current deal is up.

Rushing to make the team better in 2025 is just going to hurt their draft pick for next year and further cripple their ability to create a contending caliber core for after Crosby retires. They're already rushing it to try to be competitive again before Crosby retires. Getting 1 top-10 pick along with the Rangers 1st isn't nearly enough to build up a core for after Crosby retires.

But that's their plan. They don't plan on tanking. I mean, what happens, happens.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Well, they are telling you they are not tanking. That should pretty much end that argument.

Nobody tanks in the NHL according to themselves

Dubas has essentially confirmed rebuilding in pressers and radio/pods tho. Without using the word

 

[SEALBound]

Well, they are telling you they are not tanking. That should pretty much end that argument.

Well, right now they are "trying to make the playoffs" and are sitting 25th of 32.

I don't think it would take a ton more to actually "tank".

 

[Jared Grayden]

Well, there's this draft, summer trades and UFA's to go along with TDL and then the 2026 draft summer trades and UFA's.

It's not impossible to get guys worthy of retools.

They already have Crosby, Rakell, Rust, Karlsson, Letang and their prospects a year or two further along.

I wouldn't cancel them out.

Listing Letang as a player worth retooling around instead of the liability he has unfortunately turned into is why skepticism is so strong. Retooling around this team looks completely insane to everybody whose blood type isn't Yellow 87. Unless Crosby is playing past the contract extension, this retool is just going to prolong rebuild. Which is the same thing that happened to Chicago by the way.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

The best way to give 87 a shot to win again is to build a team that could win a Cup without him.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Listing Letang as a player worth retooling around instead of the liability he has unfortunately turned into is why skepticism is so strong. Retooling around this team looks completely insane to everybody whose blood type isn't Yellow 87. Unless Crosby is playing past the contract extension, this retool is just going to prolong rebuild. Which is the same thing that happened to Chicago by the way.

C'mon.... Chicago didn't have generational players and gave their top 2 Toews/Kane 10.5 x 8 years. when they were 26/27.

 

[SEALBound]

The best way to give 87 a shot to win again is to build a team that could win a Cup without him.

Yup. And that ain't happening via FA and trades. That's only going to come from drafting high end talent VERY earlier in a draft.

 

[DesertPenguin]

No retool can make it so that Letang is an adequate NHL player anymore. He is signed for 3 more years, and his decline will make it so he will have to be on LTIR, he absolutely cannot be on the ice for any amount of time if they get back to the playoffs. I am as big of an Acciari hater as there is, on the ice, he seems like a great guy... but whatever. I would hypothetically put Acciari on defense to take Letangs place and still maintain it's a significant upgrade.

and man oh man, they need to overhaul their goalie coaches, Chiodo needs to go, every goalie that has been here since he's showed up and tanked hard. Murray, Jarry, DeSmith, Ned have been absolute dogshit during his tenure, and Blom isn't looking that great now after a good start in the AHL. New coaching staff please.

Tanger is bad right now, no argument, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel on him completely. He needs an offseason to reset, a consistent partner next season that can cover for some of his lapses, and reduced minutes. Letang playing #4 minutes with a strong 2 way D partner can still help us.

 

[Turin]

Unless the team is tanking they cannot have Letang, Karlsson and Grz on the same team again. Two of them, max. If they are tanking then they will guarantee another lottery finish

 

[DesertPenguin]

I wouldn't even bring back that much of this defense. Timmins is fine as a 3rd pair RD, Kolyachonok is just an 7th defenseman and Karlsson is a fine 2nd pair RD if you give him a reliable defensive partner.

Probably the best this team can reasonably do in the near term is:

XXXX-XXXX
Pickering-Karlsson
XXXX-Timmins
Kolyachonok

You need an Ian Cole type of reliable 3rd pair LD to play with Timmins and you need a legit top pair. With Karlsson having only 2 years left on his deal, how realistic is it that you can build up this defense before he leaves? I just don't see it.

Provorov - Karlsson
Hague - Letang
Pickering - Timmins
Kolyachonok - Shea

If Timmins keeps performing, bump him up and put Tanger on the 3rd pair. This is going to cost us 13M and a decent asset to Vegas for Hague's rights, but we have the cap space and the assets to do it. It's way more necessary than Marner or someone like him up front.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The best way to give 87 a shot to win again is to build a team that could win a Cup without him.

Yeah and this is why I'm hoping Yohe's claim of "they're going to aggressively shift towards contending in the 2026 off-season" ends up wrong. This team needs more than 2 high draft picks to build up a contending caliber core for after Crosby retires.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Well, they are telling you they are not tanking. That should pretty much end that argument.

lol, like a team hasn't lied to their fans before. Everything Dubi's done since the last TDL says they're tanking.

Also, like I mentioned before, they tried this summer too and are 3 points from 4th last in the league.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Well, right now they are "trying to make the playoffs" and are sitting 25th of 32.

I don't think it would take a ton more to actually "tank".

The sad thing is, with the East the way it is, it wouldn't take that much more to actually be sitting in the playoffs too. It's the hockey equivalent of purgatory.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Yeah and this is why I'm hoping Yohe's claim of "they're going to aggressively shift towards contending in the 2026 off-season" ends up wrong. This team needs more than 2 high draft picks to build up a contending caliber core for after Crosby retires.

Pens will add 7-8 legit prospects (top 3 round picks or traded for) in ‘25 and ‘26 in addition to their 3 1sts.

And will have 9 more picks in the top 3 rounds in ‘27 and ‘28, if not more.

That’s 15-20 assets not counting their 3 first rounders in 2025/2026 and current prospects.

It’s not smart to burn the boats for a cup in July 2026 but I am fully onboard with “aggressive shift” if it means moving some of that massive volume for players that can play with the high picks and help them develop.

You can do that and retain your high 1st rounder.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

 

[BrookswasHere44]

Do I want the Rangers to make the playoffs this year or not? I feel like that hasn't been clear to me

 

[Andy99]

Yohe giving a premature obituary for Geno … sure he’s not what he was but come on…embarrassing…Sullivan probably encouraged him to write it…I think these last few games shows how much the team does miss Geno on the ice including Rakell as 2C lol

While Crosby and Ovechkin still shine, Evgeni Malkin is quietly fading away

With new players arriving in Pittsburgh, we are reminded that the Malkin era is coming to an end.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Empoleon8771]

Pens will add 7-8 legit prospects (top 3 round picks or traded for) in ‘25 and ‘26 in addition to their 3 1sts.

And will have 9 more picks in the top 3 rounds in ‘27 and ‘28, if not more.

That’s 15-20 assets not counting their 3 first rounders in 2025/2026 and current prospects.

It’s not smart to burn the boats for a cup in July 2026 but I am fully onboard with “aggressive shift” if it means moving some of that massive volume for players that can play with the high picks and help them develop.

You can do that and retain your high 1st rounder.

What are the changes those prospects have core upside, though? The issue isn't that they won't have prospects, it's that they're not giving themselves enough time to actually develop a championship caliber core.

I know people have mentioned Washington a bunch, but I think Dallas is a better example of a team that built a championship caliber contender quickly and without a ton of high picks. But even with doing that, it took them from 3 drafts to get Hintz (2015), Heiskanen (2017), Oettinger (2017) and Robertson (2017), and that's basically the best example I can see for a team doing that quickly.

Yohe giving a premature obituary for Geno … sure he’s not what he was but come on…embarrassing…Sullivan probably encouraged him to write it…I think these last few games shows how much the team does miss Geno on the ice including Rakell as 2C lol

While Crosby and Ovechkin still shine, Evgeni Malkin is quietly fading away

With new players arriving in Pittsburgh, we are reminded that the Malkin era is coming to an end.

www.nytimes.com

Rakell looks like a better 2C than Malkin at this point tbh

 

[SEALBound]

Yeah and this is why I'm hoping Yohe's claim of "they're going to aggressively shift towards contending in the 2026 off-season" ends up wrong. This team needs more than 2 high draft picks to build up a contending caliber core for after Crosby retires.

Depends on who you get though. In some parallel universe, we get Misa this year and McKenna next year. I think that would be enough to want to re-kick-start the hopes of contention. The obvious missing piece is a young top pairing dman but I think enough of them come available where you could fill the gaps via trade, FA, or get lucky in the draft. Maybe not be a Letang or EK quality guy could certainly be in the Orlov-tier, which might be fine so long as you are creating 3 solid pairings and have a bonafide 1PPQB (which doesn't necessarily have to be a top pairing guy).

The sad thing is, with the East the way it is, it wouldn't take that much more to actually be sitting in the playoffs too. It's the hockey equivalent of purgatory.

Again, if you had just league average goaltending to start the year, I think we'd be in the WC2 slot at the very least. Maybe higher.