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?"

[Invalid cuz QoC]

Carter was known for being a party guy in his younger days iirc. Not surprised if he was a dick back then to anyone not in his inner circle. Probably a bit of a jock back then.

Now that he has kids and is in his late 30s he seems pretty mellow. Most of his grumpiness now seems directed towards the media being critical of his play and while he absolutely does suck now I don't blame him for having a chip on his shoulder over it and not wanting to talk to the media. Guy is a proud athlete who was once a first line quality player and has won cups. No way he's not acutely aware of his own limitations now and annoyed about them.

Enjoying life, can’t blame him.

 

[Zirakzigil]

I got a fun stat for you all. The most recent Penguins draft pick to score a goal for Pittsburgh was 2016 draftee Kasper Bjorqvist who scored once in 2021.

No one drafted in the last 6 years has scored a goal for the team.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I got a fun stat for you all. The most recent Penguins draft pick to score a goal for Pittsburgh was 2016 draftee Kasper Bjorqvist who scored once in 2021.

No one drafted in the last 6 years has scored a goal for the team.

sad, soul-rending lol

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

sad, soul-rending lol

On top of it's other issues since the B2B... this team's drafting and development has been deplorable. I know they have dished a lot of picks over the years but good god, man.

 

[K Fleur]

On top of it's other issues since the B2B... this team's drafting and development has been deplorable. I know they have dished a lot of picks over the years but good god, man.

Poulin is gonna break out and be a third liner this year.

Obviously I’m talking about in the AHL. Too much depth up in the NHL with whatever guys like DOC and Zohorna and dorks like Nieto.

 

[SEALBound]

I got a fun stat for you all. The most recent Penguins draft pick to score a goal for Pittsburgh was 2016 draftee Kasper Bjorqvist who scored once in 2021.

No one drafted in the last 6 years has scored a goal for the team.

Interesting stat. In the past couple of threads, when we go back and complain about where we are and how we got to where we are, sometimes people say "Well it was JR and Hextall hemorrhaging draft picks from 2016 onward". I went back and looked at every single draft pick and player we had given up. I looked at both who was drafted in that slot and the next 10 or so picks back because you never know who we had where on the lists.

I think all in all, there were only 3-4 instances where I feel like we maybe missed out on something:
K'Andre Miller (taken with the Brassard 1st), Calen Addison (sent away in the Zucker trade), Dawson Mercer went 18th OV in 2020 when we gave up the 15OV for Kapanen, and I think there was one more but I can't recall. Then there was a huge gap where the only thing of significance in all of the players and picks we gave away was a 7th we traded to Ottawa for Kovalev in 2011 that turned into Ryan Dzingle.

So what I came to the conclusion of...it's not so much the draft picks we've given away but rather the quality of the field and fact that we suck with the guys we do take. Pittsburgh Penguins Draft History at hockeydb.com There's A LOT of absolute crap there.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean, say what you will but Zohorna is rapidly closing in on DOC's career totals in like 40 less games.

 

[chethejet]

Dubas will be dealing with the rebuild sooner than next year If the Pens don't make a run here. that is year 3 of the keep the core and other assets here and that will end that, Sid is not under contract and I really think he should walk after next year. Trade Geno, Rust, Karlsson for picks to start the rebuild. I don't think the Pens tank here and no reason to. Letang who knows. If you don't sign Jake, trade him for a nice package at the TDL. Pens have Poulin and eventually Yagar to play center and who they sign or draft the next two years. A rebuild is not ideal but it needs to happen.

 

[Andy99]

DK’s Friday Insider said the team is really happy with Shea and they think he’s been better than Graves lol…

 

[Ryder71]

DK’s Friday said the team is really happy with Shea and they think he’s been better than Graves lol…

I thought Shea and Letang were superb last night! That's the best our bottom pair looked in quite some time. But we need it to continue.

 

[Freeptop]

So... at what point is it valid to start worrying about Rakell?
It's not just that he hasn't been scoring, it's that he's been all but invisible so far.

Not saying I think they should move him, but based on Dubas basically purging as many Hextall acquisitions as he can, I would say that Rakell probably shouldn't feel too comfortable right now.

Which is a shame, because he seemed like a great fit when he first came to the Pens, and even through last season. Hopefully he turns it around soon.

 

[Gurglesons]

So... at what point is it valid to start worrying about Rakell?
It's not just that he hasn't been scoring, it's that he's been all but invisible so far.

Not saying I think they should move him, but based on Dubas basically purging as many Hextall acquisitions as he can, I would say that Rakell probably shouldn't feel too comfortable right now.

Which is a shame, because he seemed like a great fit when he first came to the Pens, and even through last season. Hopefully he turns it around soon.

If we put him with Sid and he is still invisible I’ll worry about it.

 

[Andy99]

I don’t think Rakell has been invisible. More like snakebit…but I approve moving him to L1

 

[SEALBound]

DK’s Friday Insider said the team is really happy with Shea and they think he’s been better than Graves lol…

The kid is making it really hard to not like him. I thought he was great last night. I would never have thought that was his third NHL game. He was showing a level of poise that was well beyond his experience. I thought he was very responsible on both ends of the ice, made several quality passes in all three zones, and he showed a "jack of all trades" skillset.

I just wish he was 22 and not 26. If he was a RD, we'd be able to launch Rudwedel into the sun.

I do tend to think that if Shea plays the way he's been playing, it would make sense for POJ to become a trade chip for a similar-level forward. POJ has Pettersson and Graves in front of him and now possibly Shea. That said, it's easy to get bottom pairing guys. Given the struggles of the bottom 6, this may be the best overall early-season move to make.

Find the team that needs that 2nd/3rd pairing LD and get a similar aged wing coming back. I think if you can find a Taylor Raddysh-type wing, you could role:

Zohorna-Eller-Raddysh
Nieto-Accari-DOC

And provided the 3rd line gets on a level of reliable offensive abilities (relative to the expectations of the 3rd line of course), we could start to see a turn around. I don't think you're losing anything with DOC on the 4th line and you're certainly not losing anything with Carter out. Moreover, if there's an injury, you can take DOC or Accari and move them up. Both play wing and center (with DOC being meh at center but would be a fine 4C if there were already sheltered minutes).

Some names to consider even though some are more unrealistic than others:
Zetterlund - SJS
Tippett - PHI
Raddysh - CHI
Wahlstrom - NYI
Tolvanen - SEA
Jones - ANA

One guy I'd really like to try to get - Toropchenko from St Louis. I think he could be another breakout talent here pretty quick. I would even entertain the idea of sending out both DOC and POJ and getting back a wing and dman, even if we waive the dman to the AHL.

So... at what point is it valid to start worrying about Rakell?
It's not just that he hasn't been scoring, it's that he's been all but invisible so far.

Not saying I think they should move him, but based on Dubas basically purging as many Hextall acquisitions as he can, I would say that Rakell probably shouldn't feel too comfortable right now.

Which is a shame, because he seemed like a great fit when he first came to the Pens, and even through last season. Hopefully he turns it around soon.

You don't. Not everything he's been doing to help drive the play ends up on the scoresheet. He's snakebit for sure but worrying about Rakell = statwatching and not game-watching.

I like what he's doing with the 2nd line. It's not just the Malkin and Smith show there.

 

[pistolpete11]

The other thing I'd like to point about Z taking the 3rd line from a negative to a positive....even a seemingly 'insignificant' change can have very significant effects on a line.

Clearly the powers that be didn't see Z having this big of an impact or else they wouldn't have waived him. To be fair, Z has to keep this up to declare them completely wrong, but here we are. He's having massive impact so far.

Point being.....TRY THINGS!!!!....especially when something isn't working....and even if you don't think it will have an impact....you might be wrong. You won't know until you try.

For example, I'm not a big believer in DOC, but would I like to see him tried on L1? Damn right. Especially since that line still isn't really looking very good. Might get Crosby and Guentzel going and being able to bump a former 30 goal scorer like Rakell to L3 makes them even that much more dangerous.

Sullivan's....whatever you want to call it....lack of creativity / lack of trust in young players / fear of stepping on veteran's toes / arrogance....whatever it is....has been a real detriment to the team over the last several years.

 

[Fordy]

The other thing I'd like to point about Z taking the 3rd line from a negative to a positive....even a seemingly 'insignificant' change can have very significant effects on a line.

Clearly the powers that be didn't see Z having this big of an impact or else they wouldn't have waived him. To be fair, Z has to keep this up to declare them completely wrong, but here we are. He's having massive impact so far.

Point being.....TRY THINGS!!!!....especially when something isn't working....and even if you don't think it will have an impact....you might be wrong. You won't know until you try.

For example, I'm not a big believer in DOC, but would I like to see him tried on L1? Damn right. Especially since that line still isn't really looking very good. Might get Crosby and Guentzel going and being able to bump a former 30 goal scorer like Rakell to L3 makes them even that more dangerous.

Sullivan's....whatever you want to call it....lack of creativity / lack of trust in young players / fear of stepping on veteran's toes / arrogance....whatever it is....has been a real detriment to the team over the last several years.

this is the normal impact z has had on a line for years now. he doesn't strike me as having gotten particularly better all of a sudden this year

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

So... at what point is it valid to start worrying about Rakell?
It's not just that he hasn't been scoring, it's that he's been all but invisible so far.

Not saying I think they should move him, but based on Dubas basically purging as many Hextall acquisitions as he can, I would say that Rakell probably shouldn't feel too comfortable right now.

Which is a shame, because he seemed like a great fit when he first came to the Pens, and even through last season. Hopefully he turns it around soon.

Part of me wonders if that concussion he got in the Rags series isn't impacting him.

 

[Freeptop]

You don't. Not everything he's been doing to help drive the play ends up on the scoresheet. He's snakebit for sure but worrying about Rakell = statwatching and not game-watching.

I like what he's doing with the 2nd line. It's not just the Malkin and Smith show there.

More like a flaw in my ability to focus on games, more likely (children can have that effect ).
One flaw with the eye test is that if you aren't focusing on something, you can end up with all sorts of bias, and I felt like I hadn't noticed Rakell doing much of anything. But if it's just a matter of my not being able to pay full attention to games lately, I'm happy to find that out!

 

[AuroraBorealis]

this is the normal impact z has had on a line for years now. he doesn't strike me as having gotten particularly better all of a sudden this year

He was always very good at the NHL level outside of 64 mins TOI in Calgary. It's that simple.

 

[Victor Z]

I do tend to think that if Shea plays the way he's been playing, it would make sense for POJ to become a trade chip for a similar-level forward. POJ has Pettersson and Graves in front of him and now possibly Shea. That said, it's easy to get bottom pairing guys. Given the struggles of the bottom 6, this may be the best overall early-season move to make.

Find the team that needs that 2nd/3rd pairing LD and get a similar aged wing coming back.

If our GM can find a trade partner which thinks POJ could be a SECOND-pair D-man (as opposed to 3rd-pair/AHL level), they're probably also dumb enough to give the Pens a #1 pick for him too. Make it happen, Dubas!!!

We all know that Philly would never trade with us, but their defensive depth is lousy and now that they're healthy up front for the first time in 2 or 3 years they have a surplus of forwards to the extent that there's a lot of wailing over mean old Tortorella scratching butter-soft Morgan Frost.

But they're not going to give up Frost for a bargain basement return; the best we could probably get is someone along the lines of Nik Deslauriers (not that Sully would want him in a million years, and not that Philly is looking to move him). But I would gladly take Hathaway; that dirty bastard would make a nice 4th liner here -- if Sully or the refs would allow him to play his usual way (fat chance of either one happening).

 

[PensFutures]

I do tend to think that if Shea plays the way he's been playing, it would make sense for POJ to become a trade chip for a similar-level forward. POJ has Pettersson and Graves in front of him and now possibly Shea. That said, it's easy to get bottom pairing guys. Given the struggles of the bottom 6, this may be the best overall early-season move to make.

I wonder if OTT would have any interest with them losing both Brannstrom and Chabot in 1 night.

 

[pistolpete11]

this is the normal impact z has had on a line for years now. he doesn't strike me as having gotten particularly better all of a sudden this year

That's why I put 'insignificant' in quotes.

It was only insignificant to those who have yet to see the light....like Sullivan...and maybe Dubas.

 

[Andy99]

If our GM can find a trade partner which thinks POJ could be a SECOND-pair D-man (as opposed to 3rd-pair/AHL level), they're probably also dumb enough to give the Pens a #1 pick for him too. Make it happen, Dubas!!!

We all know that Philly would never trade with us, but their defensive depth is lousy and now that they're healthy up front for the first time in 2 or 3 years they have a surplus of forwards to the extent that there's a lot of wailing over mean old Tortorella scratching butter-soft Morgan Frost.

But they're not going to give up Frost for a bargain basement return; the best we could probably get is someone along the lines of Nik Deslauriers (not that Sully would want him in a million years, and not that Philly is looking to move him). But I would gladly take Hathaway; that dirty bastard would make a nice 4th liner here -- if Sully or the refs would allow him to play his usual way (fat chance of either one happening).

 

[Empoleon8771]

I don't think Vancouver would do that though, they don't need another LD. They currently have Hughes, Cole and Soucy on RD, there just isn't a spot for POJ there.

They should be trying to do that with POJ, though. With what the Penguins need out of their bottom pair, the guys I want on that bottom pair are Ludvig and Shea.

 

[SEALBound]

I wonder if OTT would have any interest with them losing both Brannstrom and Chabot in 1 night.

If only Ottawa had a young bottom 6 center/wing that was on the outs...

I did look at their roster last night. The logical target would be Kubalik as he's pretty much what we need right now but there's just no cap room. And Ottawa wants to move him to help sign Pinto when he's back. Parker Kelly would be an interesting option though.

I almost put him on my list but he has 4pts in 5gp so I'm not sure he would be who they are looking to send out. Vancouver trades would involve major salary moves otherwise I'm not sure they have the incentive. Now if they want to give up a pick for him, sure we can talk about that.