Salary Cap: 24-25 Salary Thread Crosbicles Volume MXVI: Sad Penguins, no Ploffs, got tariffed instead

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A thrilling answer that reveals, as always, absolutely nothing about what this team is planning on doing.

FWIW I still firmly believe the "Washington model" is going to crash and burn when the Caps lose in round 2 and then go back to being a 92 point team next season.
It doesn’t change the fact that they won the regular season after nearly missing the playoffs last year…they hit on a number of draft picks playing key roles ( we don’t know if we’ve done that yet), they hit on goaltending ( we haven’t so far and have a problem with Jarry), they lucked out on key older players being LTIRetired ( we can only hope on Letang and Graves isn’t old enough lol), and they made key trades for young players that worked out, all of them, especially on defense…let’s face it…almost no one is going to be able to replicate the Caps and hit on all these fronts …1% chance…most important, the Caps were also willing to fire their coach…so as I said, no chance here lol
 
A thrilling answer that reveals, as always, absolutely nothing about what this team is planning on doing.

FWIW I still firmly believe the "Washington model" is going to crash and burn when the Caps lose in round 2 and then go back to being a 92 point team next season.

I still find it strange nobody is using the "Tampa model" yet lol.

They've completely rebuilt their team by letting Stamkos walk and getting value for Sergachev.
 
It doesn’t change the fact that they won the regular season after nearly missing the playoffs last year…they hit on a number of draft picks playing key roles ( we don’t know if we’ve done that yet), they hit on goaltending ( we haven’t so far and have a problem with Jarry), they lucked out on key older players being LTIRetired ( we can only hope on Letang and Graves isn’t old enough lol), and they made key trades for young players that worked out, all of them, especially on defense…let’s face it…almost no one is going to be able to replicate the Caps and hit on all these fronts …1% chance…most important, the Caps were also willing to fire their coach…so as I said, no chance here lol
No doubt they had a great regular season, but like I said... are we having this conversation if they don't get the best finishing + top 10 goaltending in the NHL this season? Data from SportLogiq (a private source, not public xG) suggests they'd be a 95 point team with average goaltending and finishing, which is what they got the previous years. There's no "Washington model" if they scrape into the playoffs.

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No doubt they've made shrewd trades - exactly the type that Hextall should have been making in 2021 and 2022 instead of making us older. But while they've drafted solid players I still think their upside is extremely limited moving forward by not having drafted any elite talent. Unless Ryan Leonard is more Matthew Tkachuk than TJ Oshie, that roster will look closer to mid in two years than Cup contending.
 
I still find it strange nobody is using the "Tampa model" yet lol.

They've completely rebuilt their team by letting Stamkos walk and getting value for Sergachev.
Tampa has one of the 20 best players of all time and an elite #1 centre still in their primes. The Tampa model isn't a rebuilding strategy, it's a window-extending one.
 
No doubt they had a great regular season, but like I said... are we having this conversation if they don't get the best finishing + top 10 goaltending in the NHL this season? Data from SportLogiq (a private source, not public xG) suggests they'd be a 95 point team with average goaltending and finishing, which is what they got the previous years. There's no "Washington model" if they scrape into the playoffs.

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No doubt they've made shrewd trades - exactly the type that Hextall should have been making in 2021 and 2022 instead of making us older. But while they've drafted solid players I still think their upside is extremely limited moving forward by not having drafted any elite talent. Unless Ryan Leonard is more Matthew Tkachuk than TJ Oshie, that roster will look closer to mid in two years than Cup contending.
Possibly…they don’t have elite young talent for sure at forward…they might be way worse than MTL in a couple years for example…but it still remains true that they did a great job retooling on the fly for an aging superstar…if the Pens want to do that for Sid, I can see why they’d look at the Caps but it’s a false option…it was a shot in the dark and it worked out perfectly for them…but it’s not a lasting solution the same way getting young top three draft picks is…that’s why it pisses me off that this team would rather win meaningless games and not tank hard like the Bruins did lol
 
But while they've drafted solid players I still think their upside is extremely limited moving forward by not having drafted any elite talent. Unless Ryan Leonard is more Matthew Tkachuk than TJ Oshie, that roster will look closer to mid in two years than Cup contending.
Well, there's not only Leonard, there's Hutson, the other Protas, Cristall...

The two Protas alone might sustain them.
 
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Well, there's not only Leonard, there's Hutson, the other Protas, Cristall...

The two Protas alone might sustain them.
Aliaksei Protas isn't shooting 21% again. He'll be back in the 40-45 point range next season, maybe 50-55 with powerplay time. A good two-way second line winger. Ilya Protas projects as a bottom sixer with middle six upside. My EliteProspects colleagues still rate Cristall as boom-or-bust. Hutson should be good but could be Sandin-level.

It's a good prospect pool but it's not an elite one. And Ovechkin and Carlson won't be there forever.
 
Then Dubas and Sullivan will reference the Kings model again lol.
The Kings core at the start of the retool was way younger than the Penguins core so already a problem. Also the King's drafted 5th, 2nd, and 8th in three consecutive years. Penguins haven't drafted nearly that high yet and might not even draft 8th this year. So even if you wanted to follow that template, you need to tank the next 2 years like they did to copycat it.
 
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The Kings core at the start of the retool was way younger than the Penguins core so already a problem. Also the King's drafted 5th, 2nd, and 8th in three consecutive years. Penguins haven't drafted nearly that high yet and might not even draft 8th this year. So even if you wanted to follow that template, you need to tank the next 2 years like they did to copycat it.

Kings didn't tank. They took advantage of years where they could stumble.

That's the whole issue with what Dubas is doing. He's non-commital. He could've made far more damaging moves to the team this year and we'd be on our way to a top 5 pick.
 
Kings didn't tank. They took advantage of years where they could stumble.

That's the whole issue with what Dubas is doing. He's non-commital. He could've made far more damaging moves to the team this year and we'd be on our way to a top 5 pick.
Fully agreed there. Cannot serve two masters or you end up a slave to both and that's exactly what this organization is doing. They're going to be looking a lot like the cross state rivals in Philadelphia sooner than later because that's how they're operating. Zero organizational cohesion.
 
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Fully agreed there. Cannot serve two masters or you end up a slave to both and that's exactly what this organization is doing. They're going to be looking a lot like the cross state rivals in Philadelphia sooner than later because that's how they're operating. Zero organizational cohesion.

I don't think you need to do it for a long time span. You take advantage of the years you have.

This is why Dubas should have blown it up this deadline. His failure was not moving on from Rakell. If he does it this summer it's fine, but then you are going into the season expecting to lose and there is no real guarantee of that.

Kings only missed the playoffs for 3 years. Penguins hit that already. The last three seasons should've been building us to return to contention.
 
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Ok, let's rebuild on the fly, like Washington. They had Protas and McMichael ready to go for this year, after 4 years of development. They handled 2C and 3C (when they chose). Who is gonna fill those roles for us?
Will Malkin will be a +40 Center with 65 non-PP points next year, at age 39? Cuz he got 34 this year.
Or maybe Novak will be our salvation?
Btw Protas and McMichael combined costed 500k less than Malkin this season, and have 122 points between them.

What is our answer to Dylan Strome, who had 81 points at a 5M price tag?
What about Chychrun at 4.6M, with 20g, 27a and a +20?

How are we off-loading Karlsson and Letang, and then replacing them with guys who actually defend?
That would seem to be a requirement, given the importance of the roles.
From everything Dubas has said, he doesn't seem to wanna move those guys at all.

Who is our .910+ goalie next year making less than 1M, like Logan Thompson? Lindgren also had a 1.1M AAV.

And when is Sullivan and Quinn leaving Pittsburgh?
 
Ok, let's rebuild on the fly, like Washington. They had Protas and McMichael ready to go for this year, after 4 years of development. They handled 2C and 3C (when they chose). Who is gonna fill those roles for us?
Will Malkin will be a +40 Center with 65 non-PP points next year, at age 39? Cuz he got 34 this year.
Or maybe Novak will be our salvation?
Btw Protas and McMichael combined costed 500k less than Malkin this season, and have 122 points between them.

What is our answer to Dylan Strome, who had 81 points at a 5M price tag?
What about Chychrun at 4.6M, with 20g, 27a and a +20?

How are we off-loading Karlsson and Letang, and then replacing them with guys who actually defend?
That would seem to be a requirement, given the importance of the roles.
From everything Dubas has said, he doesn't seem to wanna move those guys at all.

Who is our .910+ goalie next year making less than 1M, like Logan Thompson? Lindgren also had a 1.1M AAV.

And when is Sullivan and Quinn leaving Pittsburgh?

If this is Dubas' method he needs to target players that have high upside.

There have been players available like Strome and Chychrun since Dubas has taken over and he's settled for familiar pieces.

Timmins, Novak, Tomasino. These are decent moves in the right direction. Building your depth out of young cast offs that can either play a part here or up value is essential.

Instead of the Kevin Hayes of the world he should be targeting useful utility guys he can flip. Mikheyev was someone I said we should have been all over last year. He put up 20 goals this year. Dubas did well with Cody Glass.

Continue those methods. Invest your 1sts and hope you hit some wins.
 
What Washington did happens so rarely for a reason. The stars have to align on so many fronts for that kinda turnaround. It's not a sustainable model at all. They had like no bad contracts this year.

Even if Dubas does a masterful job with trades next year, you're crazy if you expect anything more than a Wild card entry, and then a 1st round exit to a juggernaut.

What a waste of time, when McKenna and co. are available.
Look at how bad the cap situation is...at the number of guys playing below their AAV's... Just look.

How the Hell is he gonna make a contender out of this 12 months from now?
 
What Washington did happens so rarely for a reason. The stars have to align on so many fronts for that kinda turnaround. It's not a sustainable model at all. They had like no bad contracts this year.

Even if Dubas does a masterful job with trades next year, you're crazy if you expect anything more than a Wild card entry, and then a 1st round exit to a juggernaut.

What a waste of time, when McKenna and co. are available.
Look at how bad the cap situation is...at the number of guys playing below their AAV's... Just look.

How the Hell is he gonna make a contender out of this 12 months from now?

What juggernaut is there in the East?

The reason the Capitals are succeeding is because the East is terrible.

5 of the last 20 1st overall draft picks have a cup and only 6 of them have played in a cup final.

The "rebuild" method that worked for PIT, LA, and CHI is no longer valid.
 
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Penguins were a 100 point team for 2 of the 3 years with Hextall.

Inheriting a core of superstars is helpful.
Then Hextall enacted his grand plan that was only available "in his head" and it was downhill from there. We know.

Ya know what would be GREAT this upcoming draft? An early 2nd round pick. But we don't have it because that was the price to move the rotting corpse of Jeff Petry off this team.

Not having a moron for a GM is also helpful.
 
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