Salary Cap: Penguins Salary Cap Thread: We suck again summer edition

[Josey Wales]

Defenseman Jan Rutta Undergoes Successful Core Muscle Injury Repair | Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jan Rutta underwent a successful core muscle injury repair this week, it was announced.The surgery was performed by Dr. Michael Brunt at the Center for Advanced Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri in collaboration with the Penguins' Head Team Physician Dr. Dharmesh...

www.nhl.com

 

[eXile3]

Would people be open to the top 6 not being as strong if it mean a deeper team and better goaltending?

Might mean Sid and Genos stats take a hit. I think the only way we get considerably better is through trades which means we might need to part with some top 6 wingers.

 

[Pens x]

The Granlund trade had to come from Hextall reading this board pine for him, he just didn’t see that all the posts were from like 5 years ago.

If Hextall hadn’t gotten fired his offseason I know his plan was to trade for Kulemin.

I feel like this board was kind towards idiot sleepy until the Granlund trade. Fans on this site absolutely despised Sully, but weren’t passionate about firing sleeping until the deadline like 2 months ago. The fans seemed to bury their heads in the sand when it came to Hextall and finally came up for a breath two months ago to finally see he sucks, despite all the red flags leading up to the Granlund trade.

I think what happened was sleepy cleared out all of those bottom six players to acquire Miller, but Allvin overruled the deal in the end. Sleepy thought Granlund would be better than no one for a playoff run. He was wrong. However, had he not acquired anyone and they missed the playoffs, he would have been fired for being too patient.

In the end, his lazy ass approach cost him his job. The big pieces were being moved well before dumbass even began to clear our salary, and he got caught with his pants down. It was too late to make a deal.

This is why I hated Mario hiring him from day one. He did the same dumb stuff here as he did in Philly. Fans called his approach patient but it was nothing more than a lack of a plan and being an idiot.

 

[SEALBound]

Would people be open to the top 6 not being as strong if it mean a deeper team and better goaltending?

Might mean Sid and Genos stats take a hit. I think the only way we get considerably better is through trades which means we might need to part with some top 6 wingers.

Well we have Jake, Rust, and Rakell. Rust has a NMC so...who are you getting rid of? I don't see a team that's "better" where you've swapped Guentzel or Rakell for depth pieces.

I think the tasks for the GM is to figure out what to do with Granlund. Best case scenario, I think you send him out for a #4 dman and a pick. Like, stay with me here...Zaitsev for Granlund. Or I wonder if you can send him to Arizona for Bryan Little?

Then:
Sign Zucker for a $4mil x 3yr
Sign Woods at $3mil x 3yr
Sign Athanasiou at $3mil x 3yr
Resign DOC and Poehling at $1mil x 2yrs

Jake-Sid-Rakell
Zucker-Geno-Rust
Woods-Poehling-Athanasiou
Puustinen-DOC-Nylander
Carter

Pettersson-Letang
POJ-Petry
Smith-Rutta
Zaitsev

Still leaves you a bit of cash to sign a new goalie as well.

In doing this, you've beefed up the third line and given it an identity, you infuse youth with the 4th line, and you stay with the tried and true top 6 which by most counts was NOT an issue sans Rust who you hope rebounds. Defense is what we all figured it will be. Eat the 1yr of Zaitsev.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I wouldn't be shocked if Granlund is a like... day one buyout for whoever the new GM is.

And no I would not neuter the top six for the sake of whoever the next airhead goaltender is going to be. And in my experience with Mike Sullivan hockey teams, "depth" just means "expensive plugs I'll be sure to mishandle."

 

[pistolpete11]

Would people be open to the top 6 not being as strong if it mean a deeper team and better goaltending?

Might mean Sid and Genos stats take a hit. I think the only way we get considerably better is through trades which means we might need to part with some top 6 wingers.

First thing is first, they need to decide on Sullivan. Then they need to define what they want out of their bottom 6. If Sullivan is back, using assets and cap space to build a strong bottom 6 just to saddle them with 75% d-zone starts and then wondering why they aren't producing like HBK has shown not to be the best idea. You can build an adequate defensive line without spending millions on players like Carter, Kapanen, and Granlund.

 

[Andy99]

First thing is first, they need to decide on Sullivan. Then they need to define what they want out of their bottom 6. If Sullivan is back, using assets and cap space to build a strong bottom 6 just to saddle them with 75% d-zone starts and then wondering why they aren't producing like HBK has shown not to be the best idea. You can build an adequate defensive line without spending millions on players like Carter, Kapanen, and Granlund.

He’s back unfortunately because ownership loves him like you love your child…our best bet is to forget about the bottom six…stuff it with young cheap players who have something to prove…go all out to get a real good shooter/play driver for the top six who has some speed (like Meier if possible) and who’s a good PP player and fix the goaltending…leads to much greater improvement in the team than focusing on the bottom six

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Sullivan will 100% be back. The best thing the next GM could do owing to this is to spend very little on his depth lines and force Sullivan to use whatever young players are at his disposal. Poehling, DOC, Puus, Hallander (if he's still here... not looking like it), Poulin, Nylander... whatever. Maybe go out and get one steadying presence for L3. But I feel like we should all be super wary at this point about the GM spending 3M here and 3M there on "name" bottom six players. It never seems to work out.

As far as goaltending... I joke because I kinda hate goaltenders but obviously something has to be done there since the current tandem blows.

 

[Gurglesons]

First thing is first, they need to decide on Sullivan. Then they need to define what they want out of their bottom 6. If Sullivan is back, using assets and cap space to build a strong bottom 6 just to saddle them with 75% d-zone starts and then wondering why they aren't producing like HBK has shown not to be the best idea. You can build an adequate defensive line without spending millions on players like Carter, Kapanen, and Granlund.

They’ve already decided on Sullivan lol

 

[pistolpete11]

He’s back unfortunately because ownership loves him like you love your child…our best bet is to forget about the bottom six…stuff it with young cheap players who have something to prove…go all out to get a real good shooter/play driver for the top six who has some speed (like Meier if possible) and who’s a good PP player and fix the goaltending…leads to much greater improvement in the team than focusing on the bottom six

If they love him like I love my child, then that would be great because I don't have a child

My issue is not even that Sullivan uses his bottom 6 like that. It's the type of players they've tried to square-peg-round-hole into that role all while spending a lot of cap to do so. If he is back (or the next coach has the same philosophy), then I agree force their hand with young, cheap players as much as possible.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

@HandshakeLine know anything about Ales Stezka? I was taking a look at some goalie stats from the Czech league and his profile caught my eye.

 

[HandshakeLine]

@HandshakeLine know anything about Ales Stezka? I was taking a look at some goalie stats from the Czech league and his profile caught my eye.

Plays for Vitkovice Ostrava, which is one of the Extraliga powerhouses this year. Lost in the conference finals to Třinec. He's kind of a late bloomer, 26, and had pretty unimpressive stats playing for really shitty teams the last few years-- dude was posting like .880s in the second tier league a few years ago, but looks pretty decent when he's well supported by teams like Vitkovice or the national team.

I'll be honest, I'm no really a fan of Vitkovice or the other teams he was on, but he looked decent enough in the semis. Positional guy, mostly, nothing strikes me about his play as overly atheltic or anything, but like I said, I don't really follow his clubs.

It's also worth noting that there's a huge leap in the amount of games we play in NA versus here in the Czech Republic, but he looks pretty durable in that regard. Also, keep in mind that the extra ice in the Extraliga gives goalies a bit more time to see shots than in the NHL, plus less crashing the crease.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Also let me be clear, I would totally sign him and give him a shot for like, league minimum. Can't be worse than what we're currently thinking about.

 

[eXile3]

Well we have Jake, Rust, and Rakell. Rust has a NMC so...who are you getting rid of? I don't see a team that's "better" where you've swapped Guentzel or Rakell for depth pieces.

I think the tasks for the GM is to figure out what to do with Granlund. Best case scenario, I think you send him out for a #4 dman and a pick. Like, stay with me here...Zaitsev for Granlund. Or I wonder if you can send him to Arizona for Bryan Little?

Then:
Sign Zucker for a $4mil x 3yr
Sign Woods at $3mil x 3yr
Sign Athanasiou at $3mil x 3yr
Resign DOC and Poehling at $1mil x 2yrs

Jake-Sid-Rakell
Zucker-Geno-Rust
Woods-Poehling-Athanasiou
Puustinen-DOC-Nylander
Carter

Pettersson-Letang
POJ-Petry
Smith-Rutta
Zaitsev

Still leaves you a bit of cash to sign a new goalie as well.

In doing this, you've beefed up the third line and given it an identity, you infuse youth with the 4th line, and you stay with the tried and true top 6 which by most counts was NOT an issue sans Rust who you hope rebounds. Defense is what we all figured it will be. Eat the 1yr of Zaitsev.

I was thinking Rust and Granlund. I don’t think we get any better by handing out more bad contracts for bottom 6 guys.

In terms of goaltending I don’t think you get more than depth through UFA. I would try to get a guy like Markstrom on the cheap.

 

[Gurglesons]

Well we have Jake, Rust, and Rakell. Rust has a NMC so...who are you getting rid of? I don't see a team that's "better" where you've swapped Guentzel or Rakell for depth pieces.

I think the tasks for the GM is to figure out what to do with Granlund. Best case scenario, I think you send him out for a #4 dman and a pick. Like, stay with me here...Zaitsev for Granlund. Or I wonder if you can send him to Arizona for Bryan Little?

Then:
Sign Zucker for a $4mil x 3yr
Sign Woods at $3mil x 3yr
Sign Athanasiou at $3mil x 3yr
Resign DOC and Poehling at $1mil x 2yrs

Jake-Sid-Rakell
Zucker-Geno-Rust
Woods-Poehling-Athanasiou
Puustinen-DOC-Nylander
Carter

Pettersson-Letang
POJ-Petry
Smith-Rutta
Zaitsev

Still leaves you a bit of cash to sign a new goalie as well.

In doing this, you've beefed up the third line and given it an identity, you infuse youth with the 4th line, and you stay with the tried and true top 6 which by most counts was NOT an issue sans Rust who you hope rebounds. Defense is what we all figured it will be. Eat the 1yr of Zaitsev.

That 3rd line is somehow worse than what we were running last year.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Also let me be clear, I would totally sign him and give him a shot for like, league minimum. Can't be worse than what we're currently thinking about.

Same.

And it looks like those teams from 17/18 to 18/19 were mediocre to outright bad.

The dude turned 26 at the start of this year and is 6'4". I read something where his lateral movement needed to be worked on, but that was from all the way back in 2015. I've got to assume he has worked on it since then. Also:



edit: there's a rumor that Seattle will be signing him.

https://isport.blesk.cz/clanek/hokej-tipsport-extraliga/430459/stezka-o-nhl-a-seattlu-jones-ma-taky-cislo-30-jak-to-udelate-ptal-se-syn.html

 

[HandshakeLine]

Same.

And it looks like those teams from 17/18 to 18/19 were mediocre to outright bad.

The dude turned 26 at the start of this year and is 6'4". I read something where his lateral movement needed to be worked on, but that was from all the way back in 2015. I've got to assume he has worked on it since then. Also:



edit: there's a rumor that Seattle will be signing him.

https://isport.blesk.cz/clanek/hokej-tipsport-extraliga/430459/stezka-o-nhl-a-seattlu-jones-ma-taky-cislo-30-jak-to-udelate-ptal-se-syn.html

yeah he’s definitely worth a shot, but I don’t know if we can really convince Czech or other Euro UFAs to sign here.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I dont think Granlund will need to be bought it. Its pretty much the exact same situation as Tatar and Vegas. Vegas traded a bunch for Tatar, he ended up being a bad fit and had 5.5 x 2 remaining on his contract. The next year they dumped him in the trade for Pacioretty. 20 games where he was bad shouldnt leave buyout as the only option.

 

[vodeni]

I dont think Granlund will need to be bought it. Its pretty much the exact same situation as Tatar and Vegas. Vegas traded a bunch for Tatar, he ended up being a bad fit and had 5.5 x 2 remaining on his contract. The next year they dumped him in the trade for Pacioretty. 20 games where he was bad shouldnt leave buyout as the only option.

I kind of agree with that, we are stuck with him for a while, is he really that bad or was he just as bad as the team was, could he have a role as a second line winger, there must be something there that people were paying him big money, I am not saying no to trade him immediately if you get a good chance, but you have a long season, maybe do something new and actually try some combos during the season, maybe different approach and different roles, not get stuck on same lines as your life depends on it

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Granlund makes Dom Simon look like a sniper. You need to score goals if you are making 5M+ in this league and bring nothing to the table physically or defensively. And while he is known as a slick playmaker you better be like... prime Jumbo Joe if the rest of your game is that ass.

To be clear a buyout is not preferred but I just wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Gurglesons]

I dont think Granlund will need to be bought it. Its pretty much the exact same situation as Tatar and Vegas. Vegas traded a bunch for Tatar, he ended up being a bad fit and had 5.5 x 2 remaining on his contract. The next year they dumped him in the trade for Pacioretty. 20 games where he was bad shouldnt leave buyout as the only option.

So when are we getting a Nick Suzuki?

 

[SEALBound]

I would bet on them trying him out at various positions before they buy him out, then comes a trade, or waive. I think a buy-out is a next year option. The GM will have plenty to deal with.

That said, if you want John Gibson, send Granlund as salary to Anaheim.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I kind of agree with that, we are stuck with him for a while, is he really that bad or was he just as bad as the team was, could he have a role as a second line winger, there must be something there that people were paying him big money, I am not saying no to trade him immediately if you get a good chance, but you have a long season, maybe do something new and actually try some combos during the season, maybe different approach and different roles, not get stuck on same lines as your life depends on it

Yeah and the Pens have 21m in cap space with Granlund and FA is pretty shit so I doubt they'll need the money right now anyways.

 

[Gurglesons]

I would bet on them trying him out at various positions before they buy him out, then comes a trade, or waive. I think a buy-out is a next year option. The GM will have plenty to deal with.

That said, if you want John Gibson, send Granlund as salary to Anaheim.

Anaheim ain't taking on cap for Gibson if they move him unless it's another goaltender.

Yeah and the Pens have 21m in cap space with Granlund and FA is pretty shit so I doubt they'll need the money right now anyways.

That money will go very fast if we add a starting goaltender, middle left pairing D and top six LW.

 

[SEALBound]

Anaheim ain't taking on cap for Gibson if they move him unless it's another goaltender.



That money will go very fast if we add a starting goaltender, middle left pairing D and top six LW.

I think they have to - there aren't many teams that can take on $6.4mil for the next 4 years without sending something back.

Granlund+CDS+2nd+Hallander for Gibson+RFA rights to Comtois would be a trade structure I could see.