Salary Cap: Pens '23-'24 Salary Cap Thread: "But if you don't get the President of the Pittsburgh Penguins on that phone, you know what's gonna happen to you?"

[pistolpete11]

Lindy Ruff is not a quality coach in the modern NHL.

He built up a lot of good will in Buffo by having immediate success in his first few years, so the Sabres kept him longer than they should have.

He won one playoff series in four years in Dallas and he was on the hot seat until the Devils put it together last year. Hell, the fans were chanting Fire Lindy early last season, only to chant Sorry Lindy a couple months later.

If there is unrest in Newark, Lindy will have the sword come down on him, not the players.

As it should be. The coach's job is to get the best out of the players he has. If he's not doing that, he's not doing his job.

 

[66-30-33]

The disrespect he’s received through out his career is insane.

I guess he will just have to keep winning cups.

 

[Gurglesons]

Lindy Ruff is not a quality coach in the modern NHL.

He built up a lot of good will in Buffo by having immediate success in his first few years, so the Sabres kept him longer than they should have.

He won one playoff series in four years in Dallas and he was on the hot seat until the Devils put it together last year. Hell, the fans were chanting Fire Lindy early last season, only to chant Sorry Lindy a couple months later.

If there is unrest in Newark, Lindy will have the sword come down on him, not the players.

It’s sad that a coach as bad as Lindy Ruff has more dedication to accountability in his craft than the mayor of the winter classic.

 

[Andy99]

As it should be. The coach's job is to get the best out of the players he has. If he's not doing that, he's not doing his job.

And? What’s the Mike Sullivan excuse Lol…

he’s on this list but everyone knows it’s a joke:

“The Penguins’ ownership group loves him, as does president of hockey ops Kyle Dubas. Sullivan’s presence on the list at all, let alone at these odds, should be an argument against its existence, but there are always folks willing to waste their money.”

Which NHL coaches are on the hot seat entering the 2023-24 season?

Here are the coaches who could be in trouble, with our attempts at deciphering the rationale and making a case in the opposite direction.

theathletic.com

Dubas follows what Sullivan wants. Ergo, Sullivan wants to play Carter or there at least would have been a 13th forward on the roster instead of two D men…on DK’s morning podcast, he believes the bottom six should be DOC-Eller-Acciari, Nieto-White-Harkins/replacement…it’s hard to justify Carter playing…Ruff would have scratched him after that stupid penalty he took the other game

 

[pistolpete11]

And? What’s the Mike Sullivan excuse Lol…

Beats me, man.

 

[Ryder71]

And? What’s the Mike Sullivan excuse Lol…

he’s on this list but everyone knows it’s a joke:

“The Penguins’ ownership group loves him, as does president of hockey ops Kyle Dubas. Sullivan’s presence on the list at all, let alone at these odds, should be an argument against its existence, but there are always folks willing to waste their money.”

Which NHL coaches are on the hot seat entering the 2023-24 season?

Here are the coaches who could be in trouble, with our attempts at deciphering the rationale and making a case in the opposite direction.

theathletic.com

Dubas follows what Sullivan wants. Ergo, Sullivan wants to play Carter or there at least would have been a 13th forward on the roster instead of two D men…on DK’s morning podcast, he believes the bottom six should be DOC-Eller-Acciari, Nieto-White-Harkins/replacement…it’s hard to justify Carter playing…Ruff would have scratched him after that stupid penalty he took the other game

I want to get REAL ok my friend? I've watched the bottom six since TC as well as the 1st three RS games. And Carter has been as good or better of a threat than any of the other guys since the RS started. He's historically good on face offs had a couple scoring chances and easily has better offensive acumen than any of the other bottom six guys. Now, that in and of itself isn't saying much but to this point he hasn't been a problem. I know we've only played three RS games so still a long way to go. And I'll predict a bottom six guy scores in DET.

TBH I'm more concerned about the other five who have barely sniffed much of anything offensively. Carter is what 79 years old? What's their excuse?

 

[Andy99]

I want to get REAL ok my friend? I've watched the bottom six since TC as well as the 1st three RS games. And Carter has been as good or better of a threat than any of the other guys since the RS started. He's historically good on face offs had a couple scoring chances and easily has better offensive acumen than any of the other bottom six guys. Now, that in and of itself isn't saying much but to this point he hasn't been a problem. I know we've only played three RS games so still a long way to go. And I'll predict a bottom six guy scores in DET.

TBH I'm more concerned about the other five who have barely sniffed much of anything offensively. Carter is what 79 years old? What's their excuse?

Sorry buddy…I’m not justifying the other players in the bottom six but Carter has been the worst of the bunch for these last three games and should be eating nachos…

 

[The Old Master]

The jolt the EK acquisition gave the team is way bigger than anything EK himself will do on the ice.
Morale was bad last year. Now there's belief, excitement, ambition, hunger...

sully will fix that. give him a little time.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Are we hating on Carter because of his play or his contract because I am unsure if he was our worse forward over the 3 games.

Does his contract suck and we wish he was paid 1 million? Yes.

Unfortunately that is not the case.

 

[The Old Master]

stay away from esp, it's bad for your health.

 

[Ryder71]

Sorry buddy…I’m not justifying the other players in the bottom six but Carter has been the worst of the bunch for these last three games and should be eating nachos…

If he should, they all should. Other than that one remarkable shift NONE of them have done much. At least Carter had a nice chance coming down the slot. I strongly disagree here, none of those other guys have done anything. And to be clear I'm not a huge Carter supporter. But he definitely has better offensive instincts than the other guys.

 

[Andy99]

Are we hating on Carter because of his play or his contract because I am unsure if he was our worse forward over the 3 games.

Does his contract suck and we wish he was paid 1 million? Yes.

Unfortunately that is not the case.

He was the worst forward, nothing to do with his contract…ask anyone who knows anything about the game…pretty universal among the analysts

If he should, they all should. Other than that one remarkable shift NONE of them have done much. At least Carter had a nice chance coming down the slot. I strongly disagree here, none of those other guys have done anything. And to be clear I'm not a huge Carter supporter. But he definitely has better offensive instincts than the other guys.

He had a breakaway and he shot it three miles above the net…it was not good lol

 

[Empoleon8771]

Are we hating on Carter because of his play or his contract because I am unsure if he was our worse forward over the 3 games.

Does his contract suck and we wish he was paid 1 million? Yes.

Unfortunately that is not the case.

He really hasn't been bad. To me, O'Connor has been the worst forward in the bottom-6, and his "bad" is just being invisible.

Carter has been fine.

 

[Ryder71]

stay away from esp, it's bad for your health.

Absolutely, it's complete absurdity!

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

I guess he’s back to being #101 then lol…sad, but there are worse players and players equal to Malkin (like Kopitar) who are on this list over him…I hope he proves the doubters wrong…

NHL Rank: Counting down the top 100 players for 2023-24

Is Connor McDavid still No. 1? Where does rookie phenom Connor Bedard land? We predict the league's best for this season.

www.espn.com

Malkin is just perennially neglected/underrated/disrespected, even by members of the Pens fanbase. Every offseason a segment of Pittsburgh fans laments that they would rather have 50-60 point two-way center "X" over Geno, who regularly has to polish turds on his wing and puts up a P/G annually regardless. Shameful.

I'm sure he uses it as fuel.

 

[Ryder71]

He was the worst forward, nothing to do with his contract…ask anyone who knows anything about the game…pretty universal among the analysts


He had a breakaway and he shot it three miles above the net…it was not good lol

And what did the other guys do? Hell do they know where the opposing teams goal is, have they ever tickled the twine? To this point they've been awful.

Regarding Geno talk: Geno is a far better all around player than Ovechkin. I remember that draft oh so well, wasn't very disappointed at all as to how things turned out.

 

[Andy99]

And what did the other guys do? Hell do they know where the opposing teams goal is, have they ever tickled the twine? To this point they've been awful.

Regarding Geno talk: Geno is a far better all around player than Ovechkin. I remember that draft oh so well, wasn't very disappointed at all as to how things turned out.

No one is doing much except for a few shifts here and there, but Carter stands out to me in a negative way….also stood out to these guys as well if you want to queue up at about 17:15 min lol

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I feel like leaving Malkin off lists is just tongue-in-cheek absurdity at this point after the Mr. 101 stuff years ago because surely nobody could be this stupid.

I mean... Ryan O-Friggin-Reily is on that list and Malkin isn't. That's just comedy.

 

[SEALBound]

I feel like leaving Malkin off lists is just tongue-in-cheek absurdity at this point after the Mr. 101 stuff years ago because surely nobody could be this stupid.

I mean... Ryan O-Friggin-Reily is on that list and Malkin isn't. That's just comedy.

While it's a good list, the omission of Malkin invalidates any credibility it has.

 

[SomeDude]

It’s sad that a coach as bad as Lindy Ruff has more dedication to accountability in his craft than the mayor of the winter classic.

Leave Regis out of this.

 

[Pancakes]

Dubas may love Sullivan but if the Penguins continue to miss the playoffs or fall short of his expectations Sullivan is going to face some heat eventually.

 

[Ugene Magic]

No one is doing much except for a few shifts here and there, but Carter stands out to me in a negative way….also stood out to these guys as well if you want to queue up at about 17:15 min lol

The entire bottom six is doing 4th line minutes. Save Eller to a minor extent.

Like them talking about sitting Carter who is on the 4th line isn't going to move the needle when even replacements will have the same metrics playing 12:00 and under. There's no flow to their game.

So sitting anyone or even moving someone up, will not change the metric if they are mostly the same kind of players and getting the same kind of ice time. There's simply no help or time and better zone differential to have success. I sometimes wonder if this org. is actively tanking this team.

Carter is the best offensive weapon in the bottom six. Hands down. I've stated in another thread where and how Acciari got his offensive flow, and that was playing with teams better players and depth which the Pens don't have any of that in the bottom six.. So interchanging anything in the bottom six is moot.

The best you can hope is 38 year old Carter can manufacture something with O'Connor and Eller going by him being the best offensive talent in the bottom six and use him at 3RW. From there, this team is screwed. The only other way to pull offense out of the bottom six is to double shift top six talent down.

 

[Pancakes]

He really hasn't been bad. To me, O'Connor has been the worst forward in the bottom-6, and his "bad" is just being invisible.

Carter has been fine.

He has been statistically pretty good through three games but man he still gives off a horrid eye test vibe.

Sullivan isn't using him much though. Only 12 mins/gp so far this season which is even less than last year. If that continues maybe he can remain a steady 4th line presence.

 

[Jesse]

stay away from esp, it's bad for your health.

Broke my rule of not complaining about lists, but Patrik Laine? Come on, man.

 

[Andy99]

Dubas may love Sullivan but if the Penguins continue to miss the playoffs or fall short of his expectations Sullivan is going to face some heat eventually.

I doubt it…they’ll just chalk it up to old roster, injuries or what have you…unless he does something egregious like fail to make any adjustments, especially those recommended by Dubas, they’re just going to sail through Sid’s remaining years with him because Sid likes him lol