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!"

[Gurglesons]

Lmao how are Reinhart and Tkachuk "taking risks"

Ah. I see we are a Monday Morning Quarterbacking on a Thursday.

Everyone on this board including you said Calgary absolutely destroyed Florida in that trade.

 

[Darren McCord]

He also had 12 points in 38 games in the year he was traded and 12 points in 52 games the year before. I absolutely think what they traded for him was taking a risk.

Meh he was being miscast and had multiple almost 30 pts season.

It was a minimal risk. And I would love for pens to make a move like that. These arent comparable to taking bad contracts.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Ah. I see we are a Monday Morning Quarterbacking on a Thursday.

Everyone on this board including you said Calgary absolutely destroyed Florida in that trade.

That has literally zero relevance for whether trading for Reinhart and Tkachuk were risks. Tkachuk had 104 points in 82 games the year before he was traded. Literally on what planet is trading for him a "risk"?

Trading a 1st and Levi for Reinhart is also not a risk, because Reinhart has always been a good player.

 

[Darren McCord]

Isn't the Karlsson trade the same type of risk? But since it didn't work out it doesn't count?

 

[Gurglesons]

Isn't the Karlsson trade the same type of risk? But since it didn't work out it doesn't count?

EK65 and Pulju, yes.

Dubas needs to try those hail marys more often.

That has literally zero relevance for whether trading for Reinhart and Tkachuk were risks. Tkachuk had 104 points in 82 games the year before he was traded. Literally on what planet is trading for him a "risk"?

Trading a 1st and Levi for Reinhart is also not a risk, because Reinhart has always been a good player.

Trading your franchise forward, a top pairing defenseman and a 1st was 100% a risk. Everyone panned Florida for making that trade.

I swear some of you just argue to argue.

 

[SEALBound]

The EK trade didn’t happen until August. Just saying.

No no no no, we'll be cooked by then.

 

[Turin]

Holy shit… NO

You mean like.. this?

Can you read the chart besides just noticing that it’s blue? His avg TOI is 4th line minutes, his competition is mid. His salary is 1 mil less than Malkin. That’s not good.

 

[Gurglesons]

No no no no, we'll be cooked by then.

We're already cooked.

Total cope if you think Dubas is pulling off an EK65 type deal this season.

Can you read the chart besides just noticing that it’s blue? His avg TOI is 4th line minutes, his competition is mid. His salary is 1 mil less than Malkin. That’s not good.

Which is why you acquire a 2nd to take him on.

Smart move. Also weird how a 4th liner was Elias Pettersson's most common linemate.

 

[Turin]

We're already cooked.

Total cope if you think Dubas is pulling off an EK65 type deal this season.



Which is why you acquire a 2nd to take him on.

Smart move.

Smart move for a team with 30 mil cap space. Stop being dense. It’s one thing to have a little pet contrary opinion it’s another to waste full 3 pages on the salary cap thread complaining that the Pens didn’t take Vans cap dump against all logic.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

dammit someone already made the denny's joke.

 

[Gurglesons]

Smart move for a team with 30 mil cap space. Stop being dense. It’s one thing to have a little pet contrary opinion it’s another to waste full 3 pages on the salary cap thread complaining that the Pens didn’t take Vans cap dump against all logic.

It's about the conceptual thought process with regards to our off season.

The plan is the plan, and the moves are in complete opposite of the plan.

Would've been a smart move for us. Adding a middle six winger while getting paid to do so.

 

[Pancakes]

Honestly at this point I wonder if Dubas is trying to do stuff and it's just that nobody wants our garbage. I doubt teams are chomping at the bit to add Reilly Smith or Lars Eller.

@Gurglesons is gonna say I'm sipping from the copium straw. Maybe he's right.

Tbh though like I said earlier we have until July 2nd to see what the plan is. Not much is likely to happen after that. So I'm saving my vitriol (or praise in the off chance Dubas has a good off season) for then.

 

[Tom Hanks]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1806357785933980049

 

[Gurglesons]

Honestly at this point I wonder if Dubas is trying to do stuff and it's just that nobody wants our garbage. I doubt teams are chomping at the bit to add Reilly Smith or Lars Eller.

@Gurglesons is gonna say I'm sipping from the copium straw. Maybe he's right.

Tbh though like I said earlier we have until July 2nd to see what the plan is. Not much is likely to happen after that. So I'm saving my vitriol (or praise in the off chance Dubas has a good off season) for then.

I just think it's funny how many people are unwilling to take on bad contracts for returns.

I remember how many people skewered me for proposing us taking Bob's contract if we could get Luostrainen as benefit.

Hm.

Lots of group think in here.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

It can be both.

I think the Penguins have a lot of mediocre to flat-out bad contracts that will be a challenge to move without putting themselves in either roughly the same or even a worse spot. And I ALSO think Dubas is just kinda shrugging his way through these last Sid years because they are trying to take a "compromise" path that is frankly moronic and won't bear enough fruit in either direction they are waffling on.

Plus he doesn't actually run this team until I see otherwise. And his boss clearly doesn't like change or flexibility in thinking.

 

[Gurglesons]

It can be both.

I think the Penguins have a lot of mediocre to flat-out bad contracts that will be a challenge to move without putting themselves in either roughly the same or even a worse spot. And I ALSO think Dubas is just kinda shrugging his way through these last Sid years because they are trying to take a "compromise" path that is frankly moronic and won't bear enough fruit in either direction they are waffling on.

Plus he doesn't actually run this team until I see otherwise. And his boss clearly doesn't like change or flexibility in thinking.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing "how hard it is to make moves" in the NHL.

GMs don't want to make moves. Look at Dubas' summer last year. He made a ton of UFA signings and then had EK fall in his lap and people acted like he was a god.

 

[Empoleon8771]

It can be both.

I think the Penguins have a lot of mediocre to flat-out bad contracts that will be a challenge to move without putting themselves in either roughly the same or even a worse spot. And I ALSO think Dubas is just kinda shrugging his way through these last Sid years because they are trying to take a "compromise" path that is frankly moronic and won't bear enough fruit in either direction they are waffling on.

Plus he doesn't actually run this team until I see otherwise. And his boss clearly doesn't like change or flexibility in thinking.

I think it is both, the Penguins trade assets are very unattractive and Dubas doesn't feel the pressure to make something out of nothing.

 

[Pancakes]

I just think it's funny how many people are unwilling to take on bad contracts for returns.

I remember how many people skewered me for proposing us taking Bob's contract if we could get Luostrainen as benefit.

Hm.

Lots of group think in here.

What's funny is that Dubas made all these grand proclamations when he came on board about how he'd look at every avenue to improve the team and yeah I haven't seen him do much of taking on bad contracts to add picks or grabbing young players with warts (PLD etc) just to take a home run shot at contending again.

Outside of the EK trade which was his one swing Dubas has been every bit as conservative a GM as Ron Hextall was.

And that sucks.

This org needs a Paul Holmgren type whose gonna do some lunatic shit. That's the only way they're getting out of the mess they're in. And even that might not work but hey at least you tried if you do that type of stuff.

But Kyle is playing it as safe as anyone.

 

[Empoleon8771]

What's funny is that Dubas made all these grand proclamations when he came on board about how he'd look at every avenue to improve the team and yeah I haven't seen him do much of taking on bad contracts to add picks or grabbing young players with warts (PLD etc) just to take a home run shot at contending again.

Outside of the EK trade which was his one swing Dubas has been every bit as conservative a GM as Ron Hextall was.

And that sucks.

This org needs a Paul Holmgren type whose gonna do some lunatic shit. That's the only way they're getting out of the mess they're in. And even that might not work but hey at least you tried if you do that type of stuff.

But Kyle is playing it as safe as anyone.

Conservatism wasn't Ron Hextall's problem. Hextall's problem was that he made a bunch of mind boggling bad moves.

I think it's abundantly clear that the direction that the owners (both Mario pre-sale and MSG post-sale) are "remain competitive while building for the future".

 

[Gurglesons]

What's funny is that Dubas made all these grand proclamations when he came on board about how he'd look at every avenue to improve the team and yeah I haven't seen him do much of taking on bad contracts to add picks or grabbing young players with warts (PLD etc) just to take a home run shot at contending again.

Outside of the EK trade which was his one swing Dubas has been every bit as conservative a GM as Ron Hextall was.

And that sucks.

This org needs a Paul Holmgren type whose gonna do some lunatic shit. That's the only way they're getting out of the mess they're in. And even that might not work but hey at least you tried if you do that type of stuff.

But Kyle is playing it as safe as anyone.

Yep. That's my frustration with him.

He's not doing anything creative. He's basically taking the lamest, easiet route in terms of every move he's made.

Even the Guentzel move is that. If you were going to try and acquire a "win now" player, do something cool like move him for Kappo or Ehlers. Instead we got another mid middle six guy who can't produce on his own. But he produced 17 points in 19 games so he's an amazing fit according to people.

Conservatism wasn't Ron Hextall's problem. Hextall's problem was that he made a bunch of mind boggling bad moves.

Hextall never made a move as bad as Ryan Graves / potentially opening up to having a 1st that was not lottery protected.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Hextall never made a move as bad as Ryan Graves / potentially opening up to having a 1st that was not lottery protected.

I swear some of you just argue to argue.

 

[Pancakes]

Conservatism wasn't Ron Hextall's problem. Hextall's problem was that he made a bunch of mind boggling bad moves.

Well even Hextall's "big moves" were half-in shit. Petry is a whatever move. So is Granlund. Hextall never wanted to make a truly big swing because he really didn't want to move first round picks or top prospects. And I can't really blame him for that but at the same time if all he was gonna trade for was mid ass players he shoulda just said f*** it and kept all of his picks and prospects and let the team fall where they may.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Let's wait and see till July 2nd. It's possible a guy like Smith gets moved after teams miss on the players.

A lot of teams have not done anything yet.

We saw Markstrom get moved after 2 years of being in rumors to be traded.

PLD cap dump swap with Washington

Ilya Michaeyev dump - let me tell ye I want nothing to do with that at all. Vancouver is my 2nd most watched team. No THANKYOU.

Ullmark moved to Ottawa for a decent price.

The things that upset me most last season from Dubas was Accairi got signed for 3 years and not 2.

Mid season was Graves sucking.

He hasn't made any major errors yet and the EK deal went from the best thing ever to being Sullyd



We have a few days. Let's see if Dubas can work some magic

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I'm so sick and tired of hearing "how hard it is to make moves" in the NHL.

GMs don't want to make moves. Look at Dubas' summer last year. He made a ton of UFA signings and then had EK fall in his lap and people acted like he was a god.

I don't disagree. I find most NHL GMs to be crusty, old-school semi-cowards for the most part.

I'm just saying that Dubas hasn't shown himself to be the type to wheel and deal and take some risks. So he won't be flipping Graves or Jarry for some prayer or whatever. And with Coach Dingledorf at the helm what would be the point in bringing on some damaged good player that has a potentially high upside, anyway? You think this goofbag is gonna tease that out?

Like Pancakes said this team needed a bold mover and shaker if they had any chance at turning things around quickly. But we got a lame duck whose biggest daily responsibilities as far as ownership is concerned is bringing Sullivan his coffee.

 

[Gurglesons]

I mean it's true. Ryan Graves contract was awful from day one. Trading a 1st for EK65 and then watching this team circle the drain without even doing something as stupid as just firing Todd was embarassingly incompetent.

Well even Hextall's "big moves" were half-in shit. Petry is a whatever move. So is Granlund. Hextall never wanted to make a truly big swing because he really didn't want to move first round picks or top prospects. And I can't really blame him for that but at the same time if all he was gonna trade for was mid ass players he shoulda just said f*** it and kept all of his picks and prospects and let the team fall where they may.

I think that is the piece that I at least appreciated about Hextall. His concept was assets in and assets out.

He moved pieces like Matheson and Marino, but targeted youth in those deals in Smith and Poehling. Also got several pieces back. He moved a 2nd + 3rd for Granlund to get out of McGinn, but also moved out Blueger.