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!"

[DesertedPenguin]

I'm not super in love with Puustinen, but moving on from cheap scoring talent like Puustinen is exactly the reason this team's depth sucks right now. It's the same exact dumb thing they did when they moved on from Heinen just to sign guys like Nieto.

Unless they can end up with a top-9 of something like this, moving on from Puustinen does not make sense:

Stephenson-Crosby-Rust
Bunting-Malkin-Bertuzzi
O'Connor-Wennberg-Foegele

And considering that Foegele will make $3.5 million or so on an extension while Puustinen will come in around $1 million, I'm not even sure that there is a justification to do this route anyway.

I think it's more that they like Ponomarev, Koivunen, and even Poulin more, and that they'd make room for them on the roster with the idea of filling in elsewhere.

For example, since they speak highly of Ponomarev, maybe they slot him in at 3C instead of going for Wennberg and then spend Wennberg money on a 3RW.

 

[Andy99]

Lol, @BlindWillieMcHurt

Penguins Grades: Evgeni Malkin and What Comes Next

The season began as if he used a launchpad at Cape Canaveral and ended in a similar streak, but Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin spent most of the games between the first 10 and last 10 apologizing, conceding, and coming to grips with Father Time, who visits like an angry repo-man in the...

pittsburghhockeynow.com

 

[Gurglesons]

Stephenson is also being utiilized as a wing!

You guys gotta watch more teams!

 

[Pancakes]

Stephenson is also being utiilized as a wing!

You guys gotta watch more teams!

Leads Vegas in faceoffs taken and faceoff wins?

Am I missing something or are these guys both being used just on draws?

Like he took 1000 faceoffs this year how is he playing wing


edit: Based on what I'm seeing here it seems like he probably was playing mostly center and then they acquired Hertl and moved him to wing

 

[Gurglesons]

Leads Vegas in faceoffs taken and faceoff wins?

Am I missing something or are these guys both being used just on draws?

Like he took 1000 faceoffs this year how is he playing wing


edit: Based on what I'm seeing here it seems like he probably was playing mostly center and then they acquired Hertl and moved him to wing

He's been used at wing for most of the year.

If he's acquired he'd be playing 1st line LW.

 

[Pancakes]

He's been used at wing for most of the year.

If he's acquired he'd be playing 1st line LW.

He'd probably get moved around the lineup based on injuries/needs.

 

[Ulf5]

Leads Vegas in faceoffs taken and faceoff wins?

Am I missing something or are these guys both being used just on draws?

Like he took 1000 faceoffs this year how is he playing wing


edit: Based on what I'm seeing here it seems like he probably was playing mostly center and then they acquired Hertl and moved him to wing

Stephenson- Sid- Rust
Bunting- Malkin- DeBrusk
DOC- Eller- Rakell
Poulin- Ponomarev- Acciari
Re-sign Ned, bring up Bloom. Dump Jarry for extra cap. Hell dump Acciari if you must.

 

[Turin]

Just deciding Heinen was bad after he was a great player in 2022 because you played him exclusively with Carter the year after was so f***ing stupid

 

[chethejet]

Pens move Smith as he simply wants to play elsewhere. Pens can add a LW for the 3rd line that brings size grit and plays a physical game with Eller and maybe Acciari as Dubas said he was put in a position of not being able to use his skill with his assignments. I do like Stephenson as a UFA and Vegas is still in cap hell. He can play LW with Sid if they want to keep DOC as a third line LW. So wish list is adding Trenin, Stephenson LW. Rakell Rust and RW FA,

 

[MayorofWBS]

Would it be a Penguins season without the Pittsburgh media stating some BS about some player not pulling their weight or not buying in? Always a scapegoat player, never the lead head coach clown show that we apparently want to keep for even more failure.

I don't care what they do in the offseason in terms of the NHL roster. They can make as little or as much change as they want. It doesn't matter because this team will be sucking mud from day one of the upcoming season and it's going anywhere. The leaders of the team don't Mikey Boy around anymore and they will be back to the NHL cellar again this fall as disinterested as ever.

 

[Nakawick]

I thought the idea is to get younger?! Why are we talking about a guy like Henrique?

If he is affordable I’d offer him a contract. Not interested is signing him to something that would be hard to get out of. But there are better options. We should get a good player in free agency and save our trade ammo to evaluate the team around the new year.

 

[chethejet]

Look Dubas knows they have to get younger but not at the expense of competing. Sullivan will be neutered by the roster decisions and Sullivan with 2 playoff misses is not exactly dictating things now. Dubas will fire his coaches and Sid has to buy on here with things. Moving Smith and adding what I hope will change the dynamic of play. Pens have plenty of cap space to add moving Smith to say LA.

 

[SomeDude]

Leads Vegas in faceoffs taken and faceoff wins?

Am I missing something or are these guys both being used just on draws?

Like he took 1000 faceoffs this year how is he playing wing


edit: Based on what I'm seeing here it seems like he probably was playing mostly center and then they acquired Hertl and moved him to wing

I know watching Mike Sullivan coached teams for the last decade may lead you to believe otherwise, however, there is nothing in the rules that says you can’t try players in different positions or lines. You don’t even have to lose 5 games in a row before trying it.

 

[Andy99]

I sometimes secretly watch this because I miss the depth players and coaching we once had….even the corpse of Kunitz and the guy formerly known as Conor Sheary were better than anything we’ve had recently lol

 

[Empoleon8771]

Lol, @BlindWillieMcHurt

Penguins Grades: Evgeni Malkin and What Comes Next

The season began as if he used a launchpad at Cape Canaveral and ended in a similar streak, but Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin spent most of the games between the first 10 and last 10 apologizing, conceding, and coming to grips with Father Time, who visits like an angry repo-man in the...

pittsburghhockeynow.com

I think a B or B- for Malkin is fair. He did end up having a strong year at 5v5, but he only put up 67 points this year and wasn't really that great at 5v5 until Bunting came along. He's obviously not alone with this, but he has a huge responsibility for the failures of the powerplay just as Crosby and Karlsson do.

If he plays like he did this year with Bunting at 5v5 and the powerplay is good next year, he'd firmly be an A grade for me. But his struggles before Bunting and the overall PP's failure knocks him down to a B or B- for me.

For reference, Malkin had a 2.65 5v5 points/60 after Bunting was acquired and a 1.96 5v5 points/60 before Bunting was put on his line.

 

[BusinessGoose]

I sometimes secretly watch this because I miss the depth players and coaching we once had….even the corpse of Kunitz and the guy formerly known as Conor Sheary were better than anything we’ve had recently lol

Andy99Game7WolverinePictureMeme.jpg

 

[Pancakes]

I know watching Mike Sullivan coached teams for the last decade may lead you to believe otherwise, however, there is nothing in the rules that says you can’t try players in different positions or lines. You don’t even have to lose 5 games in a row before trying it.

Listen mate, it's not just Mike Sullivan coached teams. I also had to watch Dan Bylsma stick with the same stubborn line combinations for a long time before that.

The last coach we had who actually did the line blender routine is Iron Mike Therrien.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Look Dubas knows they have to get younger but not at the expense of competing. Sullivan will be neutered by the roster decisions and Sullivan with 2 playoff misses is not exactly dictating things now. Dubas will fire his coaches and Sid has to buy on here with things. Moving Smith and adding what I hope will change the dynamic of play. Pens have plenty of cap space to add moving Smith to say LA.

But we are not competing now? If we were we would be in the playoffs.

 

[TKalltheTime]

I’m still LOLing so hard at how beyond stupid Dubas was at this trade deadline… what a completely botched opportunity to move out players for assets and help and yet he Nieves the only asset that could help in the sort term & long term here. AND yet the entire amazing coaching staff completely intact as well. Yikes,
Just.
f***ing.
YIKES!

 

[cygnus47]

Listen mate, it's not just Mike Sullivan coached teams. I also had to watch Dan Bylsma stick with the same stubborn line combinations for a long time before that.

The last coach we had who actually did the line blender routine is Iron Mike Therrien.

2016 Sully did it.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Stephenson-Crosby-Rust
Bunting-Malkin-Bertuzzi
O'Connor-Wennberg-Foegele

Jesus. This would be a “good” FA too.

Please let Dubas make another EK type trade or blow it up. That lineup is the definition of mid.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Smith was miserable most of the year. How is this even a question? You guys watch the games, right?
Not everything needs to be stated outright. We were born with brains for a reason.

The guy was very clearly unhappy. Like Jesus, how many times do you need to see that sulking expression (even after goals) for it to sink in? His body language was awful all year. Awful.

f*** whatever he said lol. He's lying. Covering his own ass and keeping his stock up, cuz he's not stupid. Not making waves. That's how you secure your next contract...

 

[SomeDude]

2016 Sully did it.

Before he was czar of the organization and the assistants probably had more influence than he did.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Jesus. This would be a “good” FA too.

Please let Dubas make another EK type trade or blow it up. That lineup is the definition of mid.

I mean if that lineup is “mid”, there is realistically no lineup you’d be happy with

Like sure, blow it up if that’s the case. But pretty much nothing would be good enough if that kind of top-9 wouldn’t be good enough.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I mean if that lineup is “mid”, there is realistically no lineup you’d be happy with

Like sure, blow it up if that’s the case. But pretty much nothing would be good enough if that kind of top-9 wouldn’t be good enough.

That’s why I said- blow it up or swing another stupid trade.

If you can’t build a top 9 that can win a Cup, let’s play for another day. Tying up cap and term to middle of the road players pushes us further away from competing IMO. Tired of adding players just because we feel obligated to. That’s how you get guys like Graves and Smith taking up $10M next year.

It’s not too much to ask to play young guys and be patient in adding core-level players rather than just blowing our wad every offseason. We have done things that way for a while and it doesn’t work.

There’s no rule that you have to spend to the cap even if the players in FA aren’t worth it.