Salary Cap: Pens 2024 Summer Thread: "Thus, knocking us out of these superior numbers when we emerge! Mr. President, we must not allow a non-playoff bound gap!"

[SEALBound]

Yeah, I mean all trade suggested here are based on price. If Columbus is wanting a roster player, prospect, pick, etc then obviously it's a no. If they want Smith and maybe someone like Puustinen, I do it. If they are wanting picks or someone like Pickering, let them go elsewhere.

Same thing with Mangiapane. Wahlstrom will get fair value at a 4th or 5th.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Because they just traded Markstrom and don’t have a particularly good goalie prospect in their system.

I believe there is some thought they intend to give Dustin Wolf a longer look.

I think they go after a Talbot for 2 years and split starts. Something like that cheap.

Conroy might say we are going to compete but most GMs say that. I think trading Kadri and then trading Huberdeau with 50% retention for a hull at the deadline. But thats me. Pacific is too good for them right now.

If that is the return for a trade he does not want to make, then we should be encouraged by our GM.

Look, I am probably one false move away from joining everybody else in this pissing party. But so far, I have not seen that move that was so egregious.

In fact, we need a GM to NOT make certain moves right now, which is the only thing that has me hopeful.

If he frees up cap space, it is to fix the power play. If a Jarry deal makes sense, make it.

The only thing I hate right now is that Yager is not signed. He holds a large key to our future plans. I sure hope there are no problems with this prospect, but until he is signed I worry.

Agreed. I think the trade was good and glad he didn't take the first offer given. Maybe he did wait a bit but I mean Bunting played greT and our prospect pool has now a lot more young Guys with small chances to be good unlike before.

Now if we can get BOTH Laine and Mangiapane that's something I can get behind. Move out some cap and you still have room to sign a backup goalie and fill out the D-core.

Mangiapane - Crosby - Rust
Bunting - Malkin - Laine
DOC - Eller - Puusti
x-Ponomaryov-x

@SEALBound read my mind.

Yea I really like that I think POJ to Flames for Mangiapane and working out the details to add makes some sense.

I really think adding Laine as a hail Mary would also be very intriguing. We have to find diamonds in the Rust if we want any chance.

I think my only concern regarding Laine is that Columbus would want actual value for him based on what he was in the past, rather than selling him for dirt cheap based on his disaster 2023-2024 season.

If he costs actual assets, I think it would be a mistake to trade for him. This team isn't in a spot to trade a 1st for Laine, even if you think you could recover that value if Laine bounces back.

I disagree I do not think it will be a 1st unless it's a major cap dump going there way.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

It's Yohe, so take it for what it's worth...

What I'm hearing about Guentzel, Penguins' draft, free agency

The Penguins have lots of needs and only $13 million in salary cap space as a crucial offseason heats up.

www.nytimes.com

Nothing earth shattering. Guentzel a remote possibility but unlikely, Smith absolutely being shopped, Jarry less likely, and Pens quite possibly could be adding a power play specialist to the staff yet.

The most significant takeaway is Yohe believes Dubas is going to focus hard on the forwards this summer.

"Dubas knows the Penguins’ depth scoring is a huge problem and he needs to take some pressure off Crosby and Malkin.
....
In other words, don’t expect much in the way of movement on the Penguins’ blue line. It’s possible — anything’s possible when you don’t make the playoffs — but I suspect the bulk of Dubas’ work will be centered on making his forward unit better and much, much deeper.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I kinda got the impression that they wouldn't do much with the defense based on Dubas saying that he planned on re-signing POJ and Kral would compete with Ludvig for the last D spot in the NHL. Kinda doesn't leave any open spots if you do that, you're pretty much set with:

POJ-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
Graves-St. Ivany
Kral/Ludvig

 

[Tom Hanks]

We were a playoff team last year*

*Except for our bysmal PP which had the 4th highest high danger chances for. Why couldn’t they finish?

Fix that and get some wins on trades/signings and we should be ok. Although the Metro is still rough.

We ain’t going to rebuild for a few years because of Sid/Geno.

 

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

It's Yohe, so take it for what it's worth...

What I'm hearing about Guentzel, Penguins' draft, free agency

The Penguins have lots of needs and only $13 million in salary cap space as a crucial offseason heats up.

www.nytimes.com

Nothing earth shattering. Guentzel a remote possibility but unlikely, Smith absolutely being shopped, Jarry less likely, and Pens quite possibly could be adding a power play specialist to the staff yet.

The most significant takeaway is Yohe believes Dubas is going to focus hard on the forwards this summer.

Also reported nobody on either side is concerned about a Crosby extension and that he’ll get what he wants.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm not a doomer with Dubas obviously, but reading that he wants to once again address their depth to make it "better and much, much deeper" doesn't really instill much confidence in me. That just sounds coded for "we're going to clog up the depth of the roster and not give young players a chance" to me.

Right now, their bottom-6 is sitting with something like:

O'Connor-XXXXX-Puustinen
XXXXX-Eller-Acciari
Poulin-Puljujarvi

If you want to make this "much deeper", it's just going to result in guys like Ponomarev, Poulin and Koivunen being pushed further down the lineup. The way they should be making the bottom-6 better is by moving out some of their current players for better players, not just adding a bunch more Hinostroza type guys that will clog up the bottom of the roster. And yes, I firmly believe "making the team much deeper" will just be signing a bunch of Hinostroza type of guys.

If they actually wanted a "good" bottom-6, you need an entire new 3rd line with O'Connor-Eller-Puustinen as your 4th line and Acciari as your 13th forward.

 

[Malkinstheman]

I'm LOL'ing at the idea of Laine being used properly on a Sullivan-coached team.

I can't believe people are seriously entertaining the idea. Laine on this team would end up worse than Kapanen did. Guaranteed he's a healthy scratch within months. Sullivan has no ability to handle any one with an attitude/effort problem.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Mikheyev cannot score. Full-stop. Yeah there is a connection to Dubas (and to Malkin, I believe), but he cannot score.

If the Canucks really want to dump him, it should cost a first-rounder and nothing less.

We have no use for a guy who cannot score. The guy(s) we bring in will be taking ice time away from our younger players.

We have to make it count.

 

[Gurglesons]

It's Yohe, so take it for what it's worth...

What I'm hearing about Guentzel, Penguins' draft, free agency

The Penguins have lots of needs and only $13 million in salary cap space as a crucial offseason heats up.

www.nytimes.com

Nothing earth shattering. Guentzel a remote possibility but unlikely, Smith absolutely being shopped, Jarry less likely, and Pens quite possibly could be adding a power play specialist to the staff yet.

The most significant takeaway is Yohe believes Dubas is going to focus hard on the forwards this summer.

Man, can't wait to see the guy who brought in a 33 year old Reilly Smith, Acciari, Eller, and Nieto do significant work on helping out our depth forwards.

@BlindWillyMcHurt is having an aneurysm somewhere that isn't related to the fact he wakes up with a bottle of jack in his bed.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Also reported nobody on either side is concerned about a Crosby extension and that he’ll get what he wants.

Yeah, but that's been known for a long time. Anyone trying to create drama about Crosby is either doing it for attention or is just completely out of their mind.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I'm not a doomer with Dubas obviously, but reading that he wants to once again address their depth to make it "better and much, much deeper" doesn't really instill much confidence in me. That just sounds coded for "we're going to clog up the depth of the roster and not give young players a chance" to me.

Right now, their bottom-6 is sitting with something like:

O'Connor-XXXXX-Puustinen
XXXXX-Eller-Acciari
Poulin-Puljujarvi

If you want to make this "much deeper", it's just going to result in guys like Ponomarev, Poulin and Koivunen being pushed further down the lineup. The way they should be making the bottom-6 better is by moving out some of their current players for better players, not just adding a bunch more Hinostroza type guys that will clog up the bottom of the roster. And yes, I firmly believe "making the team much deeper" will just be signing a bunch of Hinostroza type of guys.

If they actually wanted a "good" bottom-6, you need an entire new 3rd line with O'Connor-Eller-Puustinen as your 4th line.

I tend to agree. For me, getting much, much deeper means adding a legit top-six winger to push a Rakell (my preference) or O'Connor (the de facto option) to the third line. It also means letting the young centers compete for the third-line job behind the legends. As long as Lars Eller is on this team, that will not happen. Dubas should know this by now.

O'Connor-Crosby-Rust
Bunting-Malkin-top-six RW addition
youth-youth-Rakell
Puljujarvi-youth-Puustinen

This would be a good start to getting deeper.

 

[Gurglesons]

I'm not a doomer with Dubas obviously, but reading that he wants to once again address their depth to make it "better and much, much deeper" doesn't really instill much confidence in me. That just sounds coded for "we're going to clog up the depth of the roster and not give young players a chance" to me.

Right now, their bottom-6 is sitting with something like:

O'Connor-XXXXX-Puustinen
XXXXX-Eller-Acciari
Poulin-Puljujarvi

If you want to make this "much deeper", it's just going to result in guys like Ponomarev, Poulin and Koivunen being pushed further down the lineup. The way they should be making the bottom-6 better is by moving out some of their current players for better players, not just adding a bunch more Hinostroza type guys that will clog up the bottom of the roster. And yes, I firmly believe "making the team much deeper" will just be signing a bunch of Hinostroza type of guys.

If they actually wanted a "good" bottom-6, you need an entire new 3rd line with O'Connor-Eller-Puustinen as your 4th line and Acciari as your 13th forward.

If you are trying to build "more depth" why are you trading Reilly Smith who was just a 3rd liner on a cup winner a year ago. As per usual, Yohe makes no sense and sounds like a clown.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I tend to agree. For me, getting much, much deeper means adding a legit top-six winger to push a Rakell (my preference) or O'Connor (the de facto option) to the third line. It also means letting the young centers compete for the third-line job behind the legends. As long as Lars Eller is on this team, that will not happen. Dubas should know this by now.

O'Connor-Crosby-Rust
Bunting-Malkin-top-six RW addition
youth-youth-Rakell
Puljujarvi-youth-Puustinen

This would be a good start to getting deeper.

I don't think going all youth in the bottom-6 is the correct decision either.

They need like 3 or 4 clearly good bottom-6 guys and leaving 2 or so spots open for young guys to claim. IMO what they should be shooting for is something like:

O'Connor-Good 3C addition-Rakell
Ponomarev-Eller-Puustinen
Acciari-Puljujarvi

Beyond needing to leave spots open for young guys, Puustinen shouldn't be a full-time 3rd liner and Acciari and Puljujarvi shouldn't be a full time player without their play warranting it.

 

[Empoleon8771]

If you are trying to build "more depth" why are you trading Reilly Smith who was just a 3rd liner on a cup winner a year ago. As per usual, Yohe makes no sense and sounds like a clown.

If they'd run with O'Connor and Smith as the 3rd line winger duo, with Smith moved to RW, I'd feel pretty comfortable with the 3rd line wingers.

At minimum, the forward group I'd be shooting for next year is something like:

Mangiapane-Crosby-Rakell
Bunting-Malkin-Rust
O'Connor-Colton-Smith
Ponomarev-Eller-Puustinen
Acciari-Puljujarvi

Not specifically Colton or Mangiapane but just someone of that ability for those roles.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

@BlindWillyMcHurt is having an aneurysm somewhere that isn't related to the fact he wakes up with a bottle of jack in his bed.

So, a weekday?

 

[Zbynek]

We could use an impact goal scorer to be "the guy" on the PP. The problem is Dubas probably thinks Mangiapane is "the guy". I can already see it now: Dubas press conference where he gloats about his under the radar move to trade for Mangiapane. Then it blows up in his face worse than Reilly Smith did.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

If you are trying to build "more depth" why are you trading Reilly Smith who was just a 3rd liner on a cup winner a year ago. As per usual, Yohe makes no sense and sounds like a clown.

Because either he does not want to be here, or played like it. Take your pick.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I don't think going all youth in the bottom-6 is the correct decision either.

They need like 3 or 4 clearly good bottom-6 guys and leaving 2 or so spots open for young guys to claim. IMO what they should be shooting for is something like:

O'Connor-Good 3C addition-Rakell
Ponomarev-Eller-Puustinen
Acciari-Puljujarvi

Beyond needing to leave spots open for young guys, Puustinen shouldn't be a full-time 3rd liner and Acciari and Puljujarvi shouldn't be a full time player without their play warranting it.

The youth I am talking about does not have to be the guys we already have. It could be an RFA not qualified, or an RFA we acquire for one of our vets. Players aged 24-26.

The top-six addition could be any age, so long as he is a righty who can score and help revive the PP.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The youth I am talking about does not have to be the guys we already have. It could be an RFA not qualified, or an RFA we acquire for one of our vets. Players aged 24-26.

The top-six addition could be any age, so long as he is a righty who can score and help revive the PP.

Oh yeah then I agree entirely, I thought you meant like putting Poulin or Ponomarev in that 3C spot right now.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

Man, I was so thrilled to get Smith for just a third. What happened?

 

[Gurglesons]

Man, I was so thrilled to get Smith for just a third. What happened?

Mike Sullivan is our coach and Smith has always been hot or cold.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Man, can't wait to see the guy who brought in a 33 year old Reilly Smith, Acciari, Eller, and Nieto do significant work on helping out our depth forwards.

@BlindWillyMcHurt is having an aneurysm somewhere that isn't related to the fact he wakes up with a bottle of jack in his bed.

Oh come on that's ridiculous. I'd never stoop so low.

It's Four Roses, OK?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

...also it's funny that I evidently present as a lush... I barely even drink anymore.

Probably illustrative of the quality of my posting content lol

"Well CLEARLY he's always drunk. Look at these takes."

 

[KrisLetAngry]

I can't believe people are seriously entertaining the idea. Laine on this team would end up worse than Kapanen did. Guaranteed he's a healthy scratch within months. Sullivan has no ability to handle any one with an attitude/effort problem.

Gambler. We missed playoffs twice why not take a chance on a 2 year deal of a player who can score goals. Especially on the PP.

Mikheyev cannot score. Full-stop. Yeah there is a connection to Dubas (and to Malkin, I believe), but he cannot score.

If the Canucks really want to dump him, it should cost a first-rounder and nothing less.

We have no use for a guy who cannot score. The guy(s) we bring in will be taking ice time away from our younger players.

We have to make it count.

I do not want him unless he came with a 1st rounder. High pass