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

[Ryder71]

Granlund being better than Crosby isn't surprising, Sid's closer to 45 than he is 25.

 

[Gurglesons]

Sully's player evaluation skills are utter dogshit, and his insistence on running two shutdown 4th lines with zero offensive potential as his bottom-6 is aggravating as all hell.

Even more impressive what Lizotte is doing tbh.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I still think Granlund is a "good player on a bad team" type of player, but the acquisition by the Penguins in the first place was stupid both in what Hextall paid for him and the intended role he was brought in to play. I wouldn't say he definitely would have panned out here, but bringing him in to play RW with Crosby would have been a lot more likely to work than playing as a defensive 3C.

In hindsight, they should have never done the Karlsson trade and just played Granlund in their top-6, especially after the Guentzel deal. I feel like Granlund-Crosby-Rust would have been an effective line, at least in the sense of getting Crosby points.

 

[Pancakes]

Anyone watching Granlund can tell it's not because he's "on a bad team". Dude is a real difference maker out there for the Sharks at all situations.

It's pretty obvious we used him like Nick Bonino because we need a Nick Bonino and a Matt Cullen.

What a difference he's making for the *checks notes* 27th place San Jose Sharks

Only 50 seconds more TOI/G than Sid with more points in fewer games.

In a vacuum, I don't give a shit about Granlund. I wouldn't have re-signed him.

I'm mad that Mike Sullivan doesn't understand lineups, player strengths, player chemistry, potential, matchups, special teams, or the game in general.

He's having a good year. I don't think that changes what he is. He's not going to produce like that on a team where he's not getting 20+ minutes a night with tons of powerplay time.

I still think Granlund is a "good player on a bad team" type of player, but the acquisition by the Penguins in the first place was stupid both in what Hextall paid for him and the intended role he was brought in to play. I wouldn't say he definitely would have panned out here, but bringing him in to play RW with Crosby would have been a lot more likely to work than playing as a defensive 3C.

In hindsight, they should have never done the Karlsson trade and just played Granlund in their top-6, especially after the Guentzel deal. I feel like Granlund-Crosby-Rust would have been an effective line, at least in the sense of getting Crosby points.

It really seemed like Hextall just panicked and traded for him at the last second so that he could say he did something.

As is often the case with such moves he would have been better off (and the Pens would have been better off) had he done nothing at all.

 

[Pancakes]

The Pens are a terrible team.

Did I say otherwise?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Also not as a defense of Sullivan's usage of Granlund, but Granlund was brought in by Hextall to be a 3C. That wasn't Sullivan being some clay-brained idiot and deciding himself to play him there, the Penguins already had Guentzel-Crosby-Rust and Zucker-Malkin-Rakell as their top-6 and Granlund was explicitly being brought in to play 3C. It's totally fair to criticize Sullivan for how he used him, but:

1. The GM brought him in for that role as well.
2. The Penguins didn't have the open spot in the appropriate role for Granlund, meaning his acquisition in the first place was stupid.

 

[Pancakes]

Also not as a defense of Sullivan's usage of Granlund, but Granlund was brought in by Hextall to be a 3C. That wasn't Sullivan being some clay-brained idiot and deciding himself to play him there, the Penguins already had Guentzel-Crosby-Rust and Zucker-Malkin-Rakell as their top-6 and Granlund was explicitly being brought in to play 3C. It's totally fair to criticize Sullivan for how he used him, but:

1. The GM brought him in for that role as well.
2. The Penguins didn't have the open spot in the appropriate role for Granlund, meaning his acquisition in the first place was stupid.

I guess the question with that would be whether or not Sullivan had any input on personnel moves that Hextall made.

Dubas has been pretty clear that he utilizes Sullivan's input/feedback on moves that he makes. Hextall was pretty close mouthed with the media so who knows if he did the same. But most GMs do value their head coaches opinions so I would assume he did. I know Yohe and Rossi wrote hatchet job articles implying otherwise but not sure how much I trust them.

If Sullivan had any say at all on Granlund I would say that absolving him of blame is letting him off the hook too easily.

 

[Peat]

I guess the question with that would be whether or not Sullivan had any input on personnel moves that Hextall made.

Dubas has been pretty clear that he utilizes Sullivan's input/feedback on moves that he makes. Hextall was pretty close mouthed with the media so who knows if he did the same. But most GMs do value their head coaches opinions so I would assume he did. I know Yohe and Rossi wrote hatchet job articles implying otherwise but not sure how much I trust them.

If Sullivan had any say at all on Granlund I would say that absolving him of blame is letting him off the hook too easily.

The scuttlebutt was that Pryor pushed for the move iirc. Take with a suitable amount of salt. The scuttlebutt also had Sullivan going "puck moving dman please" and Hextall going no, which again is suitable amount of salt but the instant rumours about Hanifin and Karlsson once Dubas took me over has me asking for less salt.

In any case, it was blatantly clear before he even got here that Granlund was oil to Texas in terms of strengths and weaknesses and that it was going to be a tough fit. I didn't expect him to prove he still had life like he is in SJ but I still don't wish he was back, only that we'd never got him in the first place as that 2nd could have been maybe used on someone who'd help the top 6 not look like mashed potato.