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!"

[Honour Over Glory]

As for McGroarty...

I mean, if you look at the issues McGroarty has with the Jets, how they poorly handled Perfetti and I mean, if you compare how Sullivan handled Puustinen vs Bones handling Perfetti...you'd think Perfetti had it good.

Zero chance, if McGroarty had an issue with that for the Jets, that he'd bother with the Pens.

What tweaks do you think we are going to make that will make us competitive with New Jersey, Washington, Columbus, Buffalo, NYI and Ottawa for one of the final spots?

If we were making those types of tweaks, I imagine we would've heard our name in the PLD conversation. We weren't. Dubas thinks this team is toast.

Dubas can't fire the coach, can't add anyone that will work because the Coach won't use them in that way, the roster is managed poorly with ice time and the systems that they employ is dated and hasn't worked since Tocchet left and Sullivan was left to his own vices.

"Tweaks that would work" doesn't exist beyond firing the coach as a starting point. As much of a broken record as that sounds. It's worse now that they have an Assistant Coach that has similar issues with his coaching style, now sitting beside Sullivan as his right hand man.

 

[Jdodd]

Did we ever know what Pono’s injury was at the end of the year?
Hope he has a great camp and becomes our 3C next year!

 

[Darren McCord]

Copium.

Man don’t be so depressing you have to poopoo jokes too

 

[HandshakeLine]

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

What tweaks do you think we are going to make that will make us competitive with New Jersey, Washington, Columbus, Buffalo, NYI and Ottawa for one of the final spots?

If we were making those types of tweaks, I imagine we would've heard our name in the PLD conversation. We weren't. Dubas thinks this team is toast.

It's not an especially tall order. We finished above 4 of those teams last year and were within spitting distance of the other two.

Players like Smith or Jarry could be moved. We could add a player like Mangiapane for Sid's wing and Rakell could be healthy and return to his '22-'23 form. That wouldn't be enough to make us contenders, but it could be enough to put us in playoff position.

 

[Gurglesons]

It's not an especially tall order. We finished above 4 of those teams last year and were within spitting distance of the other two.

Players like Smith or Jarry could be moved. We could add a player like Mangiapane for Sid's wing and Rakell could be healthy and return to his '22-'23 form. That wouldn't be enough to make us contenders, but it could be enough to put us in playoff position.

Smith scored more than Mangiapane last season no?

You are also counting on all those teams also not improving.

 

[66-30-33]

any team, no matter how bad is going to tell you "They want to make the playoffs."

Well I aint believing in it. Our coach can't get past round 1, now he can't even get us to the playoffs.

You know what would help? a new coach. It helped us in the past, helped the Oilers, helped the Blues. What wont help? keeping things the same expecting a different outcome.

 

[Empoleon8771]

With a league average powerplay last year, the Penguins would have finished with about an additional 15-20 goals last year. That improvement alone likely gives them about an additional 5 wins over a season, making them a pretty safe playoff team.

The most comparable team to them at 5v5 last year was probably Vegas, who finished with 98 points with a pretty mediocre powerplay (20.2%). Which is coincidentally where I feel the Penguins would have finished last year with a decent powerplay. That seems to be a pretty reasonable expectation for what a Penguins team with a competent powerplay would be over a full season next year.

Without doing anything major, my expectation for the Penguins next year is an upper 90s point WC team that's pretty mediocre in net and defensively, but is good offensively. That's basically them last year but with a good powerplay.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

So Yohe's article of which he was roasted about the Ned bit, went on about moving Smith where he claims the right side depth is just Rust and Rakell.

Is he intentionally this daft? He writes like he's on assignment to cover for a beat writer for the Penguins and has only 20% of the information.

With a league average powerplay last year, the Penguins would have finished with about an additional 15-20 goals last year. That improvement alone likely gives them about an additional 5 wins over a season, making them a pretty safe playoff team.

The most comparable team to them at 5v5 last year was probably Vegas, who finished with 98 points with a pretty mediocre powerplay (20.2%). Which is coincidentally where I feel the Penguins would have finished last year with a decent powerplay. That seems to be a pretty reasonable expectation for what a Penguins team with a competent powerplay would be over a full season next year.

Without doing anything major, my expectation for the Penguins next year is an upper 90s point WC team that's pretty mediocre in net and defensively, but is good offensively. That's basically them last year but with a good powerplay.

The Penguins powerplay since 2018 has been pretty shite. It had a couple of years of being good under two Assistants and then was near the bottom half for the vast majority. I think last season was just the final straw of issues that finally came to a head in drastic fashion but this team has been trending down in that area for a long time.

I think it's funny that Dan Quinn is there to run the powerplay, it's like breaking your ankle and then deciding that taking a sledgehammer to the foot is a good solution to distract you from the broken ankle pain.

 

[Empoleon8771]

So Yohe's article of which he was roasted about the Ned bit, went on about moving Smith where he claims the right side depth is just Rust and Rakell.

Is he intentionally this daft? He writes like he's on assignment to cover for a beat writer for the Penguins and has only 20% of the information.


The Penguins powerplay since 2018 has been pretty shite. It had a couple of years of being good under two Assistants and then was near the bottom half for the vast majority. I think last season was just the final straw of issues that finally came to a head in drastic fashion but this team has been trending down in that area for a long time.

I think it's funny that Dan Quinn is there to run the powerplay, it's like breaking your ankle and then deciding that taking a sledgehammer to the foot is a good solution to distract you from the broken ankle pain.

Last year was literally the only year since 2018 that the Penguins have had a bad powerplay. They were 14th in 22-23 (21.7%), 19th in 21-22 (20.2%), 4th in 20-21 (23.7%), 16th in 19-20 (19.9%) and 5th in 18-19 (24.6%). They don't need to have some elite powerplay, being completely average alone gets them pretty comfortably in a playoff spot.

Also Quinn is allegedly not in charge of the powerplay, at least based on the wording from the official article from when he was signed.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Last year was literally the only year since 2018 that the Penguins have had a bad powerplay. They were 14th in 22-23 (21.7%), 19th in 21-22 (20.2%), 4th in 20-21 (23.7%), 16th in 19-20 (19.9%) and 5th in 18-19 (24.6%). They don't need to have some elite powerplay, being completely average alone gets them pretty comfortably in a playoff spot.

Also Quinn is allegedly not in charge of the powerplay, at least based on the wording from the official article from when he was signed.

Being 14th, 19th, and 16th isn't great either considering under Bylsma and the scapegoat Reirden, they were consistently better.

If Quinn isn't in charge of the powerplay, then Sullivan is and you might want to go and look at the last time Sullivan ran the powerplay - Hint: The first cup, go take a peek mate. Vellucci has run the PK his entire time there, I get Quinn is there to help the D, which is hilarious since his defensive zone systems were pure shit.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Being 14th, 19th, and 16th isn't great either considering under Bylsma and the scapegoat Reirden, they were consistently better.

If Quinn isn't in charge of the powerplay, then Sullivan is and you might want to go and look at the last time Sullivan ran the powerplay - Hint: The first cup, go take a peek mate. Vellucci has run the PK his entire time there, I get Quinn is there to help the D, which is hilarious since his defensive zone systems were pure shit.

Well yeah, that's the difference of having a 27 year old Crosby/Malkin/Letang vs a 35 year old Crosby/Malkin/Letang.

They don't need to perform at top levels that they were at the past. Purely being average with their 5v5 play is enough to make them a wildcard playoff team.

 

[OnMyOwn]

Get Laine and let him just rip it from the side over and over again. It was stupidly painful watching how easy Tampa ran their PP. Literally just repeated one timers over and over again until one went in with guys that can rifle it.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Well yeah, that's the difference of having a 27 year old Crosby/Malkin/Letang vs a 35 year old Crosby/Malkin/Letang.

They don't need to perform at top levels that they were at the past. Purely being average with their 5v5 play is enough to make them a wildcard playoff team.

Washington Capitals have less talent on their roster and were missing Backstrom and Ovechkin is older than Sid and Geno and they were ranked 18th. Excuses mate, stop justifying the fact that this team should be better and would be with a better coach.

It's more comical to me that they hired Quinn to run the D, you have Vellucci to coach the PK and they're looking into possibly hiring a PP Specialist. At that point, all Sullivan has left to do is see which young players he wants to truly f*** over and sit back and have the rest do the rest of his job for him.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Washington Capitals have less talent on their roster and were missing Backstrom and Ovechkin is older than Sid and Geno and they were ranked 18th. Excuses mate, stop justifying the fact that this team should be better and would be with a better coach.

It's more comical to me that they hired Quinn to run the D, you have Vellucci to coach the PK and they're looking into possibly hiring a PP Specialist. At that point, all Sullivan has left to do is see which young players he wants to truly f*** over and sit back and have the rest do the rest of his job for him.

What? Where did I ever say that PP coaching was somehow not an issue?

I said that the powerplay from 2018-2023 wasn't able to match the peak under Bylsma because Crosby and Malkin are older. I didn't say that their dogshit powerplay last year was dogshit because Crosby and Malkin are older.

Where the Capitals were at last year is where my expectations are for their powerplay going forward: around league average.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

So Yohe's article of which he was roasted about the Ned bit, went on about moving Smith where he claims the right side depth is just Rust and Rakell.

Is he intentionally this daft? He writes like he's on assignment to cover for a beat writer for the Penguins and has only 20% of the information.


The Penguins powerplay since 2018 has been pretty shite. It had a couple of years of being good under two Assistants and then was near the bottom half for the vast majority. I think last season was just the final straw of issues that finally came to a head in drastic fashion but this team has been trending down in that area for a long time.

I think it's funny that Dan Quinn is there to run the powerplay, it's like breaking your ankle and then deciding that taking a sledgehammer to the foot is a good solution to distract you from the broken ankle pain.

I'd rather have Dan Quinn, tbh.

 

[Jacob]

There’s no way McGroarty even knows who Puustinen is, let alone considers himself comparable as a player.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

What? Where did I ever say that PP coaching was somehow not an issue?

I said that the powerplay from 2018-2023 wasn't able to match the peak under Bylsma because Crosby and Malkin are older. I didn't say that their dogshit powerplay last year was dogshit because Crosby and Malkin are older.

Where the Capitals were at last year is where my expectations are for their powerplay going forward: around league average.

In 2011-12 - Crosby played 22 games, the powerplay was ranked 5th.

To aim for below league average while having productive Crosby and Malkin is not really a great bar to aim for.

There’s no way McGroarty even knows who Puustinen is, let alone considers himself comparable as a player.

More or less just seeing the lack of youth in the line-up would be enough to figure that out, names be damned.

 

[Tom Hanks]

In 2011-12 - Crosby played 22 games, the powerplay was ranked 5th.

To aim for below league average while having productive Crosby and Malkin is not really a great bar to aim for.

More or less just seeing the lack of youth in the line-up would be enough to figure that out, names be damned.

We were 4th in HD scoring chances and 5th in scoring chances on the PP this past season.

Statistically we should have scored a lot more but seems our PP was the drunk guy who couldn’t finish

 

[Honour Over Glory]

We were 4th in HD scoring chances and 5th in scoring chances on the PP this past season.

Statistically we should have scored a lot more but seems our PP was the drunk guy who couldn’t finish

Lack of net front presence, there was a moment when Puustinen was put on the powerplay where it was converting at their best rate because there was movement and Puustinen would go to the slot area, Jake used to but seemed to stay out of that area consistently, so you have a bunch of Pens casuals on the PP just doing their pass pass, shoot an unscreened goalie shtick and they finally add a lad that just rips it when he sees a chance or he will make a quick pass and quickly get into another scoring area which forces the PK to move.

Whereas before, the PK knew where the Pens shots were coming from and would just collapse on it the moment they shot the puck because they knew no one was going to give them issues in front.

So I mean of course, Sullivan later abandoned it to put Rust and Rakell back on it the moment they were healthy.


Look at how it jumped up for PP% per month:

October - Ranked 21st
November - Ranked 29th
December (Puustinen is called up Dec 8-31st) - Ranked 14th
January (Rust is back) - Ranked 25th.

The next time they rose above 20th was in February, at 18th.

 

[Gurglesons]

@Honour Over Glory, I think you could potentially get a 1st for MP28 at the deadline if you retain 50%.

At the draft, I don't see it.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Get Laine and let him just rip it from the side over and over again. It was stupidly painful watching how easy Tampa ran their PP. Literally just repeated one timers over and over again until one went in with guys that can rifle it.

The guy who made it look easy in Tampa is actually potentially available on July 1...and far cheaper to acquire than Laine.

Just saying.

Re: Jarry, Steve Yzerman apparently mentioned recently that he would like to upgrade from Husso with a guy with more term. They mentioned Ullmark with a signed extension after July 1 and they mentioned John Gibson.

It seems to me that Jarry checks that box, as well.

 

[Turin]

Pens are gonna try to move Jarry? Hell yea.

 

[chethejet]

The PP simply didn;t have the most important aspect to a successful PP, a net front presence. Bunting did add the slot guy and helped for sure. But unless DOC or someone Dubas brings in is the hard ass make the goalie uncomfortable, PP just will be average. Get that right and improved play from Jarry, Graves, with ST Ivany deeps improving as a physical nice sized RD, Pens are better for sure.

 

[Ulf5]

Pens are gonna try to move Jarry? Hell yea.

That's what main boards posted was said on Chris Johnston's podcast.
Detroit supposedly looking for a goalie, Toronto. Who else needs one? Seattle? Philly? Avs (cap might be an issue)?