Hextall: Still Sleepy?

[CrosbyMalkin]

9D is still too many...
Cagg and Archibald can be shuttled to the A.
Kap will be signed bc we have so few righties I believe. Barring trades.
GCR
Zuck-G-Rak
Poehling-Carter-Kap
DOC-Blue-McGinn

That 2LW and bottom 6 is very suspect.

Last year the team played the first half the season without Malkin or Rakell on that second line so going into this season with that is a huge improvement. You don't have to have your playoff lineup at the start of the season. This team will be much more formidable than last year.

Also Zucker is fine in that 2LW spot. He certainly is good enough to play as a 3rd wheel on that line. The problem with Zucker is he can't stay healthy. Also putting Poehling on that 3rd line is pretty presumptuous. Maybe he does get that spot but I certainly wouldn't mind Zohorna, Puustinen, Poulin, O'Connor, and Poehling fighting out for that 3LW spot for the first half of the season. We can always add as the season goes on when we have a better picture if one of those prospects can handle it. As of now I could see a deadline deal or deals that could fix that nicely. The past two seasons we added very nice pieces at the deadline in Carter and Rakell. Pens do the same this season adding someone like a Rakell level player for that 2LW spot then Zucker bumps down and all of a sudden you have a very strong forward group and that is if none of the prospects makes any progress.

Same goes for the defense. Let POJ or Smith get a chance in the first half of the season to see if they can play well. If not you trade for a veteran rental LD. I for one would love to give the prospects a chance then add if needed. This team has plenty to work with now and started last year with Carter as our top center before Crosby was ready to play. Sounds like everyone is healthy this year going in which we knew wasn't the case last year. People on these boards need to relax and let it all play out. If anything it is putting our hopes into Jarry is my biggest concern. He has the talent but I need to see him show he is a playoff goalie.

 

[HandshakeLine]

You don't sign Palat to sign goals, you do sign Palat to do literally everything else. A defensive forward who can slot into your L1 no problem. He's incredibly smart with the puck, that's why he's such a beast in the postseason, he doesn't crack. He's the guy who keeps our team afloat in Game 5 when Trouba takes out Crosby and the team starts to collapse.

If the goal is to bring Rakell back to his 30 goal days on L2 and with Guentzel on L1, there's no need for a shoot-first guy in the top-6 anyway.

Not sure I'd call him injury prone either.

Anyway it's moot since he's a Devil now.

Disregarding his outlier first season, Palat averages about 68 games a season. I don't think he's necessarily a liability or anything but he does miss a lot of regular season games. The difference is Tampa is a juggernaut in the postseason and we are not.

Anyhow, now that he's a Devil, I hope he gets even more cautious about health. Maybe he should try to keep himself even more fresh for the postseason by missing tons more divisional games.

 

[wgknestrick]

After these trades, I wish he was more sleepy. The Marino trade made me puke in my mouth.

Dumo was clearly the D to move to get better, clear salary and get younger, but here we are, a much older team. It's going to be bad bad times when this team is up against the cap and not making the playoffs.

 

[CascadiaPenguin]

After these trades, I wish he was more sleepy. The Marino trade made me puke in my mouth.

Dumo was clearly the D to move to get better, clear salary and get younger, but here we are, a much older team. It's going to be bad bad times when this team is up against the cap and not making the playoffs.

You could be right, I have no functioning crystal ball that can absolutely predict otherwise, but I also think the "bad, bad times" may not be quite that. I believe we make the playoffs this coming season, and I'm willing to put $ where my mouth is.

But then what happens? Sure, we get older, but it isn't like we are Shark-like strapped. In fact, there's reason for optimism, including this being likely Dumo's last season. Based on the cap hit of contracts expiring at the end of the next three seasons, it isn't difficult to imagine opportunities for improvement, irrespective of the impossibility predicting the future impact of non-roster, current ELC players:

'22-23 SEASON: Current contracts expiring @ end of season: $17,700,000 (Zuck- 5.5MM; Jars- 3.5MM Blue- 2.2MM; Dumo- 4.1MM; and 3 other players currently contributing nothing, and not counting Kap(?) or Poehling (RFA). This puts us in a sweet spot to extend Jake who expires the following year and address other needs as they become understood. I won't lose sleep losing any of the $17.7MM players with Jarry being the biggest ? mark. Last year of JJ's dead cap hit of nearly 2.0MM/year.

'23-24 SEASON: $14,300,000 expires (Jake- 6.0MM; Carter- 3.125MM; Ruh & Fried 1,575MM; DeSmith 1.8MM). Jake is the the only essential keeper in this, likely new deal or one extended in prior year harmonizing with Crosby's exit plan. Thanks for the help Carts, Ruh and Mark. DeSmith, who cares? Year 1 of three remaining with JJ's dead cap hit of 917MM.

'24-25 SEASON: $30,725,000 expires (Sid- 8.7MM; McGinn- 2.75MM; Petry- 6.25MM; Petts- 4.025MM; Rutta 2.75MM). This is easy. Plenty of room to either try to keep window open or begin rebuild in earnest. Next to last year of JJ's dead cap hit.

With GMJR, I had no doubt we were mortgaging the future for the present. Hexy is different. We're not pissing away 1st round picks nor buying out contracts. Yeah, he has some long terms out there, Geno and Rakell being the most worrisome (Letang is superhuman), but I think he actually has a plan of continued relevance. We shall see...

 

[Turin]

After these trades, I wish he was more sleepy. The Marino trade made me puke in my mouth.

Dumo was clearly the D to move to get better, clear salary and get younger, but here we are, a much older team. It's going to be bad bad times when this team is up against the cap and not making the playoffs.

What? Pens have cap space right now and a shit load of cap space next offseason.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Eh, Marino's overrated. He's a RD version of Petts.

I hope it's bad, bad times and not any bullshit, half-assed attempt at retooling on the fly. When the old dudes are done, blow it up and collect your top-5 picks for half a decade and hope you get lucky with a few becoming franchise cornerstone players.

 

[HandshakeLine]

People seriously love falling in love with imagined versions of players. Like "Letang Replacement John Marino" which existed for a hot minute before reality smacked us all in the face.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

 

[Night Shift]

Hextall sings it better after some coaching from Randy

 

[The Old Master]

i'll wake him up and ask.

 

[Pens x]

People seriously love falling in love with imagined versions of players. Like "Letang Replacement John Marino" which existed for a hot minute before reality smacked us all in the face.

People also love to turn on players the second they are traded from here.

The overwhelming majority of posters praised Matheson UNTIL the trade to the Habs. It happens every off season - it’s very annoying.

 

[Factorial]

People also love to turn on players the second they are traded from here.

The overwhelming majority of posters praised Matheson UNTIL the trade to the Habs. It happens every off season - it’s very annoying.

That's simply not true. Most people said he had a good year last season but Petry is more of what the Pens need.

 

[Turin]

So far of any consequence in two seasons Sleepy has:

Petry, Rakell, Carter, Rutta, Smith, McGinn, Friedman, Hallander, Poehling, 3rd

for

Marino, Matheson, McCann, ZAR, Simon, Clang, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th

Players brought in but not re-signed after one year: Rodrigues, Heinen, Boyle

I’d say he’s pretty wired at this point.

 

[Night Shift]

People also love to turn on players the second they are traded from here.

The overwhelming majority of posters praised Matheson UNTIL the trade to the Habs. It happens every off season - it’s very annoying.

LOL You're just pretty much making **** up at this point.

You try your hardest to find reasons to **** on the trade because you have an agenda against Hextall. It's very annoying!

 

[Pens x]

LOL You're just pretty much making **** up at this point.

You try your hardest to find reasons to **** on the trade because you have an agenda against Hextall. It's very annoying!

I give him credit for at least trying to change up the D.

 

[Fixxer]

Same issue in Philly. Fans and owners thought Ron Hextall wasn’t doing his job.

In the end, his handling of Carter Hart was best and we see how the new management burned Hart to the ground. Ron knows that building a team takes time and patience, but most people don’t get it and now the Pens have a great GM thanks to Philly’s impatience.

 

[ronduguayshair]

Same issue in Philly. Fans and owners thought Ron Hextall wasn’t doing his job.

In the end, his handling of Carter Hart was best and we see how the new management burned Hart to the ground. Ron knows that building a team takes time and patience, but most people don’t get it and now the Pens have a great GM thanks to Philly’s impatience.

Great post. Again from a non chronic poster.

Again, this isn’t a video game no matter how hard the keyboard experts want to be.

 

[jmelm]

Hexy is



and dreaming of

 

[LOGiK]

Never cared either way.
Just here for the laffs...

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

After these trades, I wish he was more sleepy. The Marino trade made me puke in my mouth.

Dumo was clearly the D to move to get better, clear salary and get younger, but here we are, a much older team. It's going to be bad bad times when this team is up against the cap and not making the playoffs.

Marino not only stagnated from his rookie season but regressed. I think Marino is what he is at this point which is still a decent 2nd pairing RD but Petry is a big upgrade. Getting a young 22 year old defenseman that had a very good rookie season at 20 when most defenseman prospects are in college or AHL is not a bad get. Yes Smith had a sophomore slump and if not you are not getting him for Marino. We traded Marino for an upside prospect with 2 years of NHL experience and a 3rd. That is certainly not a bad futures package that could even pay off this year if Smith beats out POJ.

Bottom line is the Pens brought in two veteran defenseman with size in Petry and Rutta that definitely makes our 2nd and 3rd pairings better. I have been saying that we needed to trade one of Dumoulin, Matheson, or Pettersson to make room for POJ in the lineup. It really didn't matter which one for me. You could make a case for any to stay or go. Dumoulin because of health and regression but for me he still is the best fit on the top pairing with Letang. Matheson I don't want any part of top pairing duty but I like him as a 2nd or 3rd pairing offensive option but is the biggest cap hit of the 3. Pettersson is nothing flashy but also proved he can play on the 2nd pairing and not hurt you. I knew POJ could take a LD spot and any of those 3 could go but I rather have kept Dumoulin because he was the only one I felt ok with pairing with Letang.

Once Petry was available to the Pens it made it an easy choice for the LD traded to be Matheson. Pettersson's game fits playing with Petry better than Matheson. POJ/Smith will fight for the 3rd pairing spot next to Rutta and can give that offensive transition game for the 3rd pairing without having an almost $5 million cap hit player playing with him which would happened if he was still on the team. Whoever wins the battle between POJ and Smith can handle that transition game on the 3rd pairing for more than $4 million less than Matheson. As of now you have a defensive defenseman and an offensive defenseman on every pairing. I think the Pens made the right moves. If the team needs an upgrade at LD they can add a veteran rental LD at the deadline. We would be looking for a purely defensive defenseman which lowers the acquisition cost. As of now let the young prospects fight it out and see how the winner of POJ and Smith turns out. Heck maybe they both excell and bumps Pettersson out by the midpoint. I certainly and willing to let it play out.

 

[Pens x]

Marino not only stagnated from his rookie season but regressed. I think Marino is what he is at this point which is still a decent 2nd pairing RD but Petry is a big upgrade. Getting a young 22 year old defenseman that had a very good rookie season at 20 when most defenseman prospects are in college or AHL is not a bad get. Yes Smith had a sophomore slump and if not you are not getting him for Marino. We traded Marino for an upside prospect with 2 years of NHL experience and a 3rd. That is certainly not a bad futures package that could even pay off this year if Smith beats out POJ.

Bottom line is the Pens brought in two veteran defenseman with size in Petry and Rutta that definitely makes our 2nd and 3rd pairings better. I have been saying that we needed to trade one of Dumoulin, Matheson, or Pettersson to make room for POJ in the lineup. It really didn't matter which one for me. You could make a case for any to stay or go. Dumoulin because of health and regression but for me he still is the best fit on the top pairing with Letang. Matheson I don't want any part of top pairing duty but I like him as a 2nd or 3rd pairing offensive option but is the biggest cap hit of the 3. Pettersson is nothing flashy but also proved he can play on the 2nd pairing and not hurt you. I knew POJ could take a LD spot and any of those 3 could go but I rather have kept Dumoulin because he was the only one I felt ok with pairing with Letang.

Once Petry was available to the Pens it made it an easy choice for the LD traded to be Matheson. Pettersson's game fits playing with Petry better than Matheson. POJ/Smith will fight for the 3rd pairing spot next to Rutta and can give that offensive transition game for the 3rd pairing without having an almost $5 million cap hit player playing with him which would happened if he was still on the team. Whoever wins the battle between POJ and Smith can handle that transition game on the 3rd pairing for more than $4 million less than Matheson. As of now you have a defensive defenseman and an offensive defenseman on every pairing. I think the Pens made the right moves. If the team needs an upgrade at LD they can add a veteran rental LD at the deadline. We would be looking for a purely defensive defenseman which lowers the acquisition cost. As of now let the young prospects fight it out and see how the winner of POJ and Smith turns out. Heck maybe they both excell and bumps Pettersson out by the midpoint. I certainly and willing to let it play out.

Now, we need a second pairing d man after trading Matheson and donating Marino.

 

[Extra Texture]

So far of any consequence in two seasons Sleepy has:

Petry, Rakell, Carter, Rutta, Smith, McGinn, Friedman, Hallander, Poehling, 3rd

for

Marino, Matheson, McCann, ZAR, Simon, Clang, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th

Players brought in but not re-signed after one year: Rodrigues, Heinen, Boyle

I’d say he’s pretty wired at this point.

Its really impressive, and all done without giving up a single 1st rounder. Probably because they’re sneaky good or undervalued targets like Rakell, who people seemed to forget about, Petry, who had a down year, or Carter who people thought was done. To say nothing of guys like ERod, McCann and Heinen who all hit career bests here.

By contrast under JR we parted with the 2017 first (Reaves), the 2018 (Addison) and 2021 firsts for Zucker, the 2019 first for Brassard (which turned into KAndre Miller*), and the 2020 first for Kapanen. I know hindsight is perfect and all, but rutherford’s “gotta get my guy at all costs” mentality screwed us bigtime with Brass, Zucker and Reaves. And his inability to leverage a situation where Toronto HAD to move KK, and still paying a premium for him, is kind of like the antithesis of Hextall


*jesus christ, I would love to have that pick and the 2015 first rounder back. Having Miller and Matt Barzal would make us cup threats for the next decade to come.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

Its really impressive, and all done without giving up a single 1st rounder. Probably because they’re sneaky good or undervalued targets like Rakell, who people seemed to forget about, Petry, who had a down year, or Carter who people thought was done. To say nothing of guys like ERod, McCann and Heinen who all hit career bests here.

By contrast under JR we parted with the 2017 first (Reaves), the 2018 (Addison) and 2021 firsts for Zucker, the 2019 first for Brassard (which turned into KAndre Miller*), and the 2020 first for Kapanen. I know hindsight is perfect and all, but rutherford’s “gotta get my guy at all costs” mentality screwed us bigtime with Brass, Zucker and Reaves. And his inability to leverage a situation where Toronto HAD to move KK, and still paying a premium for him, is kind of like the antithesis of Hextall


*jesus christ, I would love to have that pick and the 2015 first rounder back. Having Miller and Matt Barzal would make us cup threats for the next decade to come.

You are leaving out the fact that he had several moves that helped us win 2 Cups! So I would not want that 2015 1st round pick back. I will take the Cups thank you very much. By the way that was for Perron who went on to have several great seasons but unfortunately not with us. We did turn it into Hagelin who was a big part of helping us win those Cups. Hextall has done a nice job with his moves but at the end of the day it has been two first round exits.

At the end of the day you are judged on winning championships and JR did that when many experts thought our window had closed. Took a team that was old and slow around the core and turned it into the fastest team in the league in a year and a half. JR always made bold moves to go for Cups and sometimes you hit and more times than not you miss. Only 1 team wins a Cup and I am not going to sit here and debate every good and bad move he made. I will say he had many more good moves than bad and many of the bad was a good gamble. Going for Big Game Brass was one of them. Reaves 1st is just an all out lie because it was dropping down 20 picks to get Reaves. I hate the scenario that people act like we just said take a 1st for Reaves. It is so disingenuous but I know we get that on message boards and have to live with it. Teams in the NFL trade back or up all the time. This narrative is old and sadly still gets brought up as fact. By the way Reaves did go to the Cup Finals that year so he certainly wouldn't of hurt our chances. Nice having someone that can keep the game from getting out of hand. Trouba won that series for the Rangers with a couple of strategically placed elbows. We have a garage league that unfortunately likes that kind of play so you better have someone that can do the same to their star players as a deterrent.

Hextall has done a fine job but let's see if he can make the moves necessary to give this team one last shot at a Cup. Crosby and Letang are just as good as they had been in our last Cup wins. In fact we won that 2017 Cup without Letang. Malkin has something to prove if he still is at that level. I will give him a pass for last season because he was coming of knee surgery and didn't have the normal off-season to train. The point is the core is good enough to win and it is Hextall's job to make sure they have the pieces around them. I think he has built a strong team to start the year but will see if he adds the right pieces at the deadline.

Personally I would of liked a different goalie than bringing both back. Definitely wanted a very good veteran proven playoff goaltender. I think the team the past two seasons was good enough to fight for a Cup but in both seasons the goaltending let us down. So if we flame out again this playoffs and goaltending is still the weak link then I will definitely blame Hextall.

 

[Rakell67]

I think he's taking a nap.

 

[Zbynek]

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