Salary Cap: Pens '24-'25 Salary Thread: The Crosbicles Volume XIX

[66-30-33]

Seeing Flyers do well is not nice, buuuut one can live with it when it is against Edmonton.

Jarry + Acciari to Edmonton for Arvidsson and Skinner.

I mean...ok.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846203350682890717

The league should make a Mike Sullivan expected goals award

For once we're actually scoring as much as we should, based on this chart.
There have been many snipes so far. This is some twilight zone shit.
The problem is that almost all the goal scoring was funnelled into 2 games

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846203350682890717

The league should make a Mike Sullivan expected goals award

Yeah the games definitely aren’t a bore this year

 

[Malkinstheman]

Even if you want Rutger up with the main team, doesn't it make sense to send him to WBS on paper? That way you get some cap space that accrues. Not sure if players being on IR and LTIR plays into that

 

[Pens1566]

Welp ...

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846632046275580047

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Even if you want Rutger up with the main team, doesn't it make sense to send him to WBS on paper? That way you get some cap space that accrues. Not sure if players being on IR and LTIR plays into that

If he was not ready for the NHL, sure. If we was NOT one of the 12 best forwards on this team, OK. Neither of those are true.

Young forwards who are physically mature for the NHL should be in the NHL when they are good enough. AND, it is not like he did not make the team out of training camp. Man, Sullivan was pretty quick to break up that third line. That in and of itself is a big joke.

I mean, if we are going to start sitting him out for weeks, then yeah. Send him down. But WHY are we not playing him? WHO is so invaluable and irreplaceable that you have to send him down?

Yeah, I am looking at you Anthony Beauvillier. You are literally destroying the first line. So, naturally I expect a three-year contract extension any day now.

Mike Sullivan hockey...deal with it.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Welp ...

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846632046275580047

Right call. Half a year will do him good
Get top 6 minutes keep working the offensive zone and perhaps if he shows he's learned he can come up.

 

[SEALBound]

If he was not ready for the NHL, sure. If we was NOT one of the 12 best forwards on this team, OK. Neither of those are true.

Young forwards who are physically mature for the NHL should be in the NHL when they are good enough. AND, it is not like he did not make the team out of training camp. Man, Sullivan was pretty quick to break up that third line. That in and of itself is a big joke.

I mean, if we are going to start sitting him out for weeks, then yeah. Send him down. But WHY are we not playing him? WHO is so invaluable and irreplaceable that you have to send him down?

Yeah, I am looking at you Anthony Beauvillier. You are literally destroying the first line. So, naturally I expect a three-year contract extension any day now.

Mike Sullivan hockey...deal with it.

Beauvillier is not literally destroying the first line. To date, he's the only that has scored on it. You can blame DOC for not being good enough, blame Sid for looking only about 50% engaged, you can blame Rust for being rusty, and that would all be fair. Beauvillier though? I guess you could say that he hasn't cashed in on enough chances that but comes with the blindness to the fact that he's at least getting the chances.

Blaming Beauvillier for the first line because you are mad McGroarty got sent to the AHL from the 3rd line is an interesting leap to say the least.

 

[Andy99]

If he was not ready for the NHL, sure. If we was NOT one of the 12 best forwards on this team, OK. Neither of those are true.

Young forwards who are physically mature for the NHL should be in the NHL when they are good enough. AND, it is not like he did not make the team out of training camp. Man, Sullivan was pretty quick to break up that third line. That in and of itself is a big joke.

I mean, if we are going to start sitting him out for weeks, then yeah. Send him down. But WHY are we not playing him? WHO is so invaluable and irreplaceable that you have to send him down?

Yeah, I am looking at you Anthony Beauvillier. You are literally destroying the first line. So, naturally I expect a three-year contract extension any day now.

Mike Sullivan hockey...deal with it.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846635579984806108

 

[Malkinstheman]

Ideally Rutger would have gotten more rope but in perfectly fine with him being sent to WBS

 

[Turin]

Georgiev is by far the worst goalie in the league so far and the Avs are 0-4. Jarry time

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I hate to even say this out loud, but its just facts at this point but Beauvillier is not even remotely a good as Acciari right now.

It's funny how St Ivany who played well, was taken out as a healthy scratch and so was Jesse Puljujarvi who was also fine in his games.

But Beauvillier, scores a goal and does not much else and this bloke gets top usage somehow. I feel bad for Cody Glass, he's been a trooper on that 4th line as the C and that 4th line has been pretty decent this season, but he keeps getting shafted for minutes. He can PK but they don't seem to want to use him there consistently at all and this is where Sullivan never f***ing gets it with using his bench properly.

If Eller is getting a lot of ice time on the 3rd line, you can cut his PK minutes and spread them to Glass, in this game, Glass had 0mins on the PK, all 8 of his mins this game were 5v5. Meanwhile, should a 35yr old be playing as much as Eller is? It's the same idiocy that Sullivan showed with Carter, as much as he has a hard on for vets, they are also vets for a reason, they've got a lot of mileage so managing their ice time is hugely important.

Here's the other players that are similar age (37-39):

Crosby: 20:21 (ES 16:42)
Kopitar: 19:30 (ES 12:50)
Malkin: 18:41 (ES 15:05)
Ovechkin: 18:20 (ES 14:26)
Giroux: 17:03 (ES 12:43)

In the case of Ovy and Kopitar, they play 2-4mins ES less than Sid & Geno. Kopitar plays almost 2mins a game on the PK while also playing over 4mins on the PP. Kopitar and Giroux are the only ones out of that group of top 6 players that does that (Giroux plays half as many on the PP as Anze though). Sid & Geno are still elite at this age, but I would hope for better management of their minutes, as desperate as Sullivan is to win, you need to spread those minutes out, it's not like the other players on that list who have more youth on their teams, the Pens are literally all veterans except for St Ivany and Blomqvist.

And of course, Rust is the Pens leader on forwards for TOI/G at 20:31 and ES he plays as much as Sid with 16:45 and of course Rust has as many points as Noel Acciari while getting that usage right after being back from an injury no less. Geno producing like he is, is absolutely incredible right now when you consider how little Bunting and Rakell have produced as his wingers so far. Bunting has 1 assist in 5 games and Rakell has 3 goals, all 3 are ES goals. Yet somehow Rust who is useless offensively right now, is getting a f***ton of PP minutes doing jack shit.

They should be trying this in the next game imo:

Bunting, Crosby, Rakell
O'Connor, Malkin, Puljujarvi
Hayes, Eller, Rust
Acciari, Glass, Puustinen - of course, if Lizotte is healthy, he'll just go Lizotte-Glass-Acciari.

Not sure why Puustinen hasn't been traded or waived yet, Sullivan has no intention to use him at all, just keep praying Beauvillier becomes useful again like that one game for a few shifts.

I still get a laugh out of Puljujarvi being benched, has incredible underlying numbers, even his P/60 is incredible for a player like him bouncing back, he's put up pts in all but 1 of his games and is actually deserving of top 6 minutes right now and some PP time over Rust.

I mean if we are to understand how accountability works and not the version Sullivan implements.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I dunno how they fix Bunting's issues. Dude sucks shit at everything so far this season. Sucks defensively, can't accept passes, can't pass for shit, and doesn't have the shot to score unless he's tipping in pucks or cleaning up rebounds.

If accountability were a thing, he'd be scratched for a game or two. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll keep getting tons of leash because, like Graves and Jarry, these are big time signings/trades by Dubas.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Georgiev is by far the worst goalie in the league so far and the Avs are 0-4. Jarry time

There's a lot of goalies that are just not playing well right now and Husso just got waived.

Georgiev
Jarry
Husso
Rittich
Pickard
Silovs
Saros
Korpisalo
Skinner
Kuemper

I honestly think the best thing for Jarry is to waive him like Husso. He could either get claimed (doubtful) or he goes to WBS and plays in a bunch of games and finds his groove again, but if he doesn't then he just stays there and he's a buyout candidate in the next off season and can do a cheap contract and battle it out for a job for another team - which is not ideal for the cap space he will take up but also in the end, this is not a team that is a contender with this coach so you can maybe take that hit with the cap space and HOPEFULLY a new coach uses more youth and utilizes those cheaper contracts better.

His cap hit will hurt for 2yrs in a buyout but after that it's around 200k a season which isn't bad at all when you consider it'd be around 200k and in 2026-27 his cap hit is 3.9m which if the team does a bridge deal with Joel, it'd be fine after that 1 season where they'd be taking that 3.9m cap penalty for the buyout.

But that's if he doesn't rebound. Ideally you're better off sending him to WBS to get some games in and rebound, then if he rebounds the rest of the way, you can either move him at the TDL or in the off season if he continues to maintain strong play the rest of the season after being back up. Otherwise it's the buyout route which means you don't give up assets to move Jarry, but lose 4.4m and 3.9m in cap space for 2 seasons.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I dunno how they fix Bunting's issues. Dude sucks shit at everything so far this season. Sucks defensively, can't accept passes, can't pass for shit, and doesn't have the shot to score unless he's tipping in pucks or cleaning up rebounds.

If accountability were a thing, he'd be scratched for a game or two. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll keep getting tons of leash because, like Graves and Jarry, these are big time signings/trades by Dubas.

By giving him the same opportunities Jake had. Apparently that'll turn him into a 40+ goal, 85+ point winger.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I dunno how they fix Bunting's issues. Dude sucks shit at everything so far this season. Sucks defensively, can't accept passes, can't pass for shit, and doesn't have the shot to score unless he's tipping in pucks or cleaning up rebounds.

If accountability were a thing, he'd be scratched for a game or two. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that he'll keep getting tons of leash because, like Graves and Jarry, these are big time signings/trades by Dubas.

If accountability was a thing - Bunting, Rust, and Beauvillier would be scratched right now.

But since it's not and Rust will never get healthy scratched and Dubas would be pissed of Bunting was, the best fix is just putting them with players that might help them simplify their game a little and maybe spark something.

Rust and Bunting turning the puck over so much this game, Rust was a third star over Blomqvist which to me is just f***ing wrong. The Beauvillier on Sid's wing experiment should be put to an end already. He scored 2 goals against an absolutely dreadful Red Wings and then nothing for 3 straight games while getting some very good usage, you can't keep getting that while producing that poorly.

Out of neccessity, I'd put Rakell on his off wing as LW with Sid and Rust at this point and do this just to bump up 2 wingers that deserve more ice time with someone like Geno:

Rakell, Crosby, Rust
O'Connor, Malkin, Puljujarvi
Bunting, Eller, Puustinen
Hayes, Glass, Acciari

Healthy Scratch - Beauvillier.

 

[Gurglesons]

If accountability was a thing - Bunting, Rust, and Beauvillier would be scratched right now.

But since it's not and Rust will never get healthy scratched and Dubas would be pissed of Bunting was, the best fix is just putting them with players that might help them simplify their game a little and maybe spark something.

Rust and Bunting turning the puck over so much this game, Rust was a third star over Blomqvist which to me is just f***ing wrong. The Beauvillier on Sid's wing experiment should be put to an end already. He scored 2 goals against an absolutely dreadful Red Wings and then nothing for 3 straight games while getting some very good usage, you can't keep getting that while producing that poorly.

Out of neccessity, I'd put Rakell on his off wing as LW with Sid and Rust at this point and do this just to bump up 2 wingers that deserve more ice time with someone like Geno:

Rakell, Crosby, Rust
O'Connor, Malkin, Puljujarvi
Bunting, Eller, Puustinen
Hayes, Glass, Acciari

Healthy Scratch - Beauvillier.

Seems weird to mess with Malkin's line when he's literally leading the league in scoring.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

To reply to this here where it belongs...

I think both could benefit from a change of scenery. But Georgiev's contract expires after this year. Pens probably have to add.

Avs could just try Husso for Georgiev and probably get a pick out of Detroit for doing it given the cap hit they'd take on. Husso isn't much better, actually a lot worse than any goalie mentioned.

Penguins allow the 3rd most shots against per game in the league (33 shots against, Habs allow 33.3 and Sharks 36, no shock to anyone that all 3 are absolute ass Defensively), Avs allow 26.5 shots against (8th best) in the league, if Georgiev is ass behind that Defense, there's no fixing him. But Jarry could do better there facing less shots, also you never know how a change of scenery might work out and if Georgiev bounces back on the Pens, they can flip him at the TDL.

I mean I would definitely work that angle if I am Dubas. You might have to give up some picks but if you can get Georgiev to play well enough you can get at least a couple of lower picks back.

Something like:

To Colorado:
Tristan Jarry
Penguins 2nd in 2026
Penguins 3rd in 2025
Valtteri Puustinen

To Pittsburgh:
Alexander Georgiev
Joel Kiviranta (or Oliver Kylington higher cap hit to balance out as much as they can for taking on Jarry or the Pens just take both, they can waive both or keep them as extra's etc)

 

[Gurglesons]

Paying a 2nd and a 3rd to get out of Jarry’s contract is insanity. Just waive him.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Yeah, I don't think you pay to get outta Jarry's deal. Either someone takes him or they gotta waive him and talk about a mutual termination this summer or something (if they even can, don't know the rules).

Not at this stage of the era imo. Dead cap and keeping assets is fine if that's what it's gotta be.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Yeah, I don't think you pay to get outta Jarry's deal. Either someone takes him or they gotta waive him and talk about a mutual termination this summer or something (if they even can, don't know the rules).

Not at this stage of the era imo. Dead cap and keeping assets is fine if that's what it's gotta be.

The compliance buyout would be the only way to do the "mutual termination" sort of thing, which I think at this point both sides would 100% be on the same page for if nothing changes from now until July 1st.

But if Dubas was desperate to get the cap space back, he'd have to pay up and I don't think this team is in that spot, they can honestly (and should mind you) send him to WBS and get 1m and some change in cap relief. He has a Modified NTC not a NMC, so it shouldn't be any issue and there's a good goalie in there somewhere, but he's most definitely lost and this team can't afford to play him right now and lose games, also when a better goalie is right there ready to play and hell even calling up Larsson to back him up. Jarry isn't fit to be back-up right now either which is also painfully obvious, should be in WBS figuring his shit out with Tsai to see if maybe his guidance helps over Chiodo.

I mean at this point, why not? You either see Jarry continue to struggle in WBS and that Compliance buyout is 100% the option or he bounces back with Kain Tsai's help and they might be able to move him instead.

Either way, my preference right now would be to go:

Blomqvist
Larsson/Nedeljkovic


Also I kind of want to see what Kain Tsai can do with someone like Jarry, because sometimes a new goalie coach or approach from a different one (when being traded) could make all the difference, we've quite literally seen it on this team before, but at this stage it wouldn't be to keep Jarry, it'd be to get him back to being good enough to trade. Ideally, Avs keep sucking with Georgiev for a month or so, Jarry plays better in WBS, gets called up and plays well for a couple of weeks and the Avs are keen on him, lol...yay us?