GDT: Caps @ Pens 3pm . Honoring the great Mike Lange!

[Gurglesons]

And the rangers get blown out too, we're gonna get their 2026 pick. This is good. A bit of pain for the next year or two but with a high pick this year, and two high picks next year, by the end of 25-26 pens could have a good chunk of their next core set.

Rangers can still elect to give us their 2025 pick even if it's high.

 

[Pancakes]

Rangers can still elect to give us their 2025 pick even if it's high.

I wonder if they would. Seems more likely they'd just gamble to keep their pick and go all in on contending next year to make sure their 2026 pick isn't high

But who knows

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Just keep losing. Bring up Jarry, trade Ned, trade Rakell, trade Grz. Then this summer, trade Rust and EK as well.

Don't really give a shit about Sullivan anymore, man. I don't want him to be a part of the development of the next crop of building block guys the team drafts, but the team's hellbent on keeping him around as long as Sid imo, so I can't even be bothered to give a shit anymore. /shrug

I bet they could draft an absolute stud in the top 5 and Sullivan can misuse him in camp and preseason and they'd still blame the prospect for not playing how Sullivan wants him to.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

All good, I just wanted to add the full context bc I misread your post at first, and wanted to make sure I was clear that he wasn’t lumping EK in with the “core” guys that he felt were owed something.


Personally, I think Dubas’ roster IS an issue, but it’s not the biggest one. And there have been good moments mixed in with the bad. But that it’s far from a binary issue. Because Sullivan has been killing this team with his one note mediocrity for a lot longer than Dubas could ever dream

Sullivan’s weird emeritus status in this league really bothers me. It’s like once he won the B2Bs he was impervious to all criticism forever in the hockey world. The only silver lining I saw with a US victory on Thursday was that some dumbass team like the rangers would pull out all the stops to hire him and get his shitty, undeserved contract the hell out of Pittsburgh.

I don't think it was.

Sullivan literally had the little good things from last year he could have kept together and decided to abandon everything and just focus on Sid. That's literally all he does. Analytics, stats, f***ing eye test or even basic IQ told you Doc with Sid and Rust was a defensive nightmare. But Sullivan kept trying it anyway and then put Beau there and it was still trash. Like everyone here f***ing saw it right away, he ignores it.

He destroyed Eller's game entirely, same for Drew, didn't play skill wingers in positions to succeed and kept over playing grinders.

You want to blame Dubas? Remember when we had Jankowski and Gaudreau was better and he still refused to use him properly until it was so blatantly obvious if he didn't? His tenure is filled with absolutely moronic decisions like that.

Colin f***ing White
Harkins? Who the f*** gives him as long a rope as Sully? No one.

How he used ZAR was the best indicator of how absolutely idiotic he is with development and utilization of his roster. He kept trying to make ZAR a top 6 winger until they finally got rid of him. That's what blokes don't get.

He doesn't care if you have skill. Doesn't care about any of that. His mark of excellence is quite literally how well you played like he did. In his mind.

Acciari
Nieto
ZAR
Jank

Etc. He loves shit like that and then blokes wonder oh did the GM give him the right players? If you see how he had a hard on for Beauvillier with his usage, you see the garbage he wants and the Gms keep giving it to him and getting the blame for forcing them on Sullivan.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Also, even Harkins did better away from Sullivan. He literally didn't score a goal for 45 games. He has 2 in Anaheim in 39 games. He still sucks but even away from Sullivan he sucked less.

 

[Gurglesons]

I wonder if they would. Seems more likely they'd just gamble to keep their pick and go all in on contending next year to make sure their 2026 pick isn't high

But who knows

This draft sucks and it gives them the flexibility to move their 1st in 2026 to improve the team.

Unless it's top 5, I think we get it.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Unless the pens actually pick top 3 with all three draft picks coming up... It's really not going to build much of a core

I mean, it's how it goes... But i don't think that five years from now we have a powerhouse again just because we have a couple first round picks for once

 

[EliteGoaltending]

I went to sleep when the score was 3-2, didn't expect this outcome..

But I have to laugh, the Pens are so amusingly bad and so boring to watch (and have been for several years), yet Mike Sullivan is blameless by the general public. Just lol.

 

[Pancakes]

This draft sucks and it gives them the flexibility to move their 1st in 2026 to improve the team.

Unless it's top 5, I think we get it.

I dunno if only because I've noticed that teams seem to value the picks they get in their current year far more than future picks even if a draft is considered weaker in one year compared to the other.

But it would be nice if we get two picks this year.

Honestly my biggest worry with the Ranger's pick is that Dubas trades it for some good but not great young player and then the pick ends up being something more valuable down the line.