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

[Dennis Reynolds]

Call me naive all you want but this trade feels like them opening up a spot for Poulin Nieto.

 

[cygnus47]

Wait what? One of the few guys that looks good?

I guess the tank is fully on now.

 

[BillyOcean]

Y'all are going to be mad when the Lemieux statue is torn down for a Sullivan statue of him putting his hand on the back of Jansen Harkins

 

[SomeDude]

Y'all are going to be mad when the Lemieux statue is torn down for a Sullivan statue of him putting his hand on the back of Jansen Harkins

That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Of all the iconic images of Mario, they decide to cast him in metal that will last 2,000 years along side Rich Pilon and Jeff Norton.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Why would they open a spot for a guy they tried giving away for free to 31 teams a month ago?

Because Poulin has played great for WBS and showed that he deserved another shot in the NHL? Not only that, but going on waivers isn't "trying to give away for free".

Man, complaining about trading a rental Eller for a 3rd with the state of this team is absolutely bizarre.

 

[Pancakes]

That seller is slightly less than I was expecting but it’s still not bad. Was thinking he’d get a 2026 2nd from a contender, instead he got a 2027 3rd from a rebuilding team plus a 5th.

Think this also clears a spot for Poulin on the full time roster, which I like.

If Dubas had waited until the deadline maybe he gets a 2nd. Caps aren't gonna do that this early though. They have the leverage in that move as they're already doing well. Dubas asks for a 2nd now they just tell him to f off

 

[Jacob]

Because Poulin has played great for WBS and showed that he deserved another shot in the NHL? Not only that, but going on waivers isn't "trying to give away for free".

Man, complaining about trading a rental Eller for a 3rd with the state of this team is absolutely bizarre.

My only complaint is they didn’t try a different coach first, and that they shouldn’t have risked losing Poulin on waivers to start with.

 

[Empoleon8771]

My only complaint is they didn’t try a different coach first, and that they shouldn’t have risked losing Poulin on waivers to start with.

I made this point earlier, but this team looks so spent that I honestly don't even see a point of the "trying this roster with a new coach" idea. This team is just awful at this point, and even the boost they'd get by firing Sullivan wouldn't be enough for them to be anything better than mediocre.

Like I posted earlier, they should both fire Sullivan and also blow up the roster.

 

[Andy99]

Call me naive all you want but this trade feels like them opening up a spot for Poulin.

They’ve been playing Poulin at RW in Wilkes specifically…I think the experiment with him at center is over

 

[Gurglesons]

I made this point earlier, but this team looks so spent that I honestly don't even see a point of the "trying this roster with a new coach" idea. This team is just awful at this point, and even the boost they'd get by firing Sullivan wouldn't be enough for them to be anything better than mediocre.

Like I posted earlier, they should both fire Sullivan and also blow up the roster.

The roster looks awful because it’s a bunch of Sullivan turds playing poop popsicle ball.

 

[Empoleon8771]

They’ve been playing Poulin at RW in Wilkes specifically…I think the experiment with him at center is over

Think that may be due to who else WBS has at center. I think they view Poulin more of a jack of all trades type of guy that can play any position, but I don't think they've given up on him playing center.

That said, any combination of a 4th line with Hayes, Acciari, Nieto and Poulin is believable to me as something we can see. I think Glass probably slides to the 3C spot to replace Eller and the 4th line is just a mishmash of other guys.

 

[Darren McCord]

Think that may be due to who else WBS has at center. I think they view Poulin more of a jack of all trades type of guy that can play any position, but I don't think they've given up on him playing center.

That said, any combination of a 4th line with Hayes, Acciari, Nieto and Poulin is believable to me as something we can see. I think Glass probably slides to the 3C spot to replace Eller and the 4th line is just a mishmash of other guys.

Glass is broken indefinitely

 

[Empoleon8771]

Glass is broken indefinitely

Yeah I'm talking about when both Glass and Hayes get back. If the team is ever healthy, I figure the 3rd line will be O'Connor-Glass-Puljujarvi/Puustinen and the 4th line will be some mixture of Hayes, Acciari, Nieto, Poulin and Puljujarvi.

Oh wait I forgot about Lizotte, that's another thing to consider as well. He'll definitely be on the 4th line.

 

[Andy99]

Think that may be due to who else WBS has at center. I think they view Poulin more of a jack of all trades type of guy that can play any position, but I don't think they've given up on him playing center.

That said, any combination of a 4th line with Hayes, Acciari, Nieto and Poulin is believable to me as something we can see. I think Glass probably slides to the 3C spot to replace Eller and the 4th line is just a mishmash of other guys.

Who knows when Glass is available with his concussion, but likely something like…
Beau-Glass-PoolParty
Hayes-Lizotte-Acciari and Poulin scratched lol…
While Glass and Hayes are out…knowing Sullivan:
Puusty-Acciari-PoolParty
Beau-Lizotte-Poulin

 

[SomeDude]

Glass is broken indefinitely

To be fair, the sign said in case of emergency, break glass. I think you could qualify this season as an emergency. If only there were more steps after that.

 

[SomeDude]

Dubas to Sid:

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

Gritty defensive 3rd line center open? WELCOME BACK MIKAEL GRANLUND

 

[Empoleon8771]

Moving this from the Eller thread.

This point has already been made, but the biggest criticism you can throw at Dubas regarding his "retool" is why he took a lesser quantity return for Guentzel only to start targeting picks way down the line right after that. Why target more NHL ready prospects in Ponomarev and Koivunen over getting more picks? I would imagine that most teams would rather give up a future 2nd over a recently drafted 2nd that has been playing pretty well.

I think you can rationalize it based on "you want a decent supporting cast for your next superstars and Koivunen and Ponomarev can be that", but like why are you using Guentzel as a trade chip to get that "decent supporting cast"? It's not that the value they got for Guentzel was necessarily bad, it's just that it doesn't align with all of the other rebuilding trades Dubas has made.

I think Dubas probably could have gotten a 1st and 2 2nds for Guentzel if he distributed those picks in future years, and I'm not sure I would agree with his decision to target Ponomarev and Koivunen if he could have gotten say a 2024 2nd, 2025 1st and 2026 2nd or something like that. I still really like Koivunen personally and would have been fine with him replacing one of the 2nds, but Koivunen, a 2025 1st and a 2026 2nd fits a lot better with the other moves Dubas has made.

 

[Jacob]

I made this point earlier, but this team looks so spent that I honestly don't even see a point of the "trying this roster with a new coach" idea. This team is just awful at this point, and even the boost they'd get by firing Sullivan wouldn't be enough for them to be anything better than mediocre.

Like I posted earlier, they should both fire Sullivan and also blow up the roster.

You never know. We looked pretty cooked under Johnston & Therrien, too.

This team has issues that seem like a different staff could fix. We bleed chances not because we’re lacking in skill or talent, but because our whole system sucks. Worse teams give up fewer chances.

I think the only logical answer at this point is Sullivan has immunity from ownership.

 

[canadianguy77]

You never know. We looked pretty cooked under Johnston & Therrien, too.

This team has issues that seem like a different staff could fix. We bleed chances not because we’re lacking in skill or talent, but because our whole system sucks. Worse teams give up fewer chances.

I think the only logical answer at this point is Sullivan has immunity from ownership.

It’s mostly been sloppy/risky F to D passes in the O-zone that get picked off in the soft spots and go the other way with odd-mans, or lack of urgency exiting our defensive zone. (usually sloppy forward line changes contribute to those).

Those are the 2 main culprits but nothing has been done to remedy them.

 

[Gurglesons]

Moving this from the Eller thread.

This point has already been made, but the biggest criticism you can throw at Dubas regarding his "retool" is why he took a lesser quantity return for Guentzel only to start targeting picks way down the line right after that. Why target more NHL ready prospects in Ponomarev and Koivunen over getting more picks? I would imagine that most teams would rather give up a future 2nd over a recently drafted 2nd that has been playing pretty well.

I think you can rationalize it based on "you want a decent supporting cast for your next superstars and Koivunen and Ponomarev can be that", but like why are you using Guentzel as a trade chip to get that "decent supporting cast"? It's not that the value they got for Guentzel was necessarily bad, it's just that it doesn't align with all of the other rebuilding trades Dubas has made.

I think Dubas probably could have gotten a 1st and 2 2nds for Guentzel if he distributed those picks in future years, and I'm not sure I would agree with his decision to target Ponomarev and Koivunen if he could have gotten say a 2024 2nd, 2025 1st and 2026 2nd or something like that. I still really like Koivunen personally and would have been fine with him replacing one of the 2nds, but Koivunen, a 2025 1st and a 2026 2nd fits a lot better with the other moves Dubas has made.

Here’s the rational. Dubas sucks and has no idea what he’s doing.

 

[MayorofWBS]

Because Poulin has played great for WBS and showed that he deserved another shot in the NHL? Not only that, but going on waivers isn't "trying to give away for free".

Man, complaining about trading a rental Eller for a 3rd with the state of this team is absolutely bizarre.

Kindergarten Kyle got dunked on again. Who cares that he traded Eller...He traded a player to our biggest rival and he couldn't extract value. He got a 3rd round pick three draft from now. He's shitty at his job.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Kindergarten Kyle got dunked on again. Who cares that he traded Eller...He traded a player to our biggest rival and he couldn't extract value. He got a 3rd round pick three draft from now. He's shitty at his job.

Lmao literally who in the f*** cares about this

He could trade anyone not named Crosby, Malkin or Letang to the Flyers and I wouldn't give a shit if he was getting value for them.

 

[Sideline]

Lmao literally who in the f*** cares about this

He could trade anyone not named Crosby, Malkin or Letang to the Flyers and I wouldn't give a shit if he was getting value for them.

Exactly. The Penguins aren't making the playoffs. They suck. Playoffs in 2027 is a longshot.

 

[MayorofWBS]

Lmao literally who in the f*** cares about this

He could trade anyone not named Crosby, Malkin or Letang to the Flyers and I wouldn't give a shit if he was getting value for them.

Anyone who wants competence from the front office

Riding Kindergarten's jock so much