Salary Cap: Pens Off Season Thread: Pre Free Agency Shenanigans!

[Empoleon8771]

If UFAs end up being super cheap this off-season, I feel like you might be able to make this lineup work with the cap:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rakell
Smith-Malkin-Rust
Wood-Rodrigues-Granlund
O'Connor-Poehling-White
Carter-Nylander

Hanifin-Letang
Pettersson-Dumba
POJ-Rutta
Ruhwedel

Jarry-Talbot

 

[Zbynek]

Summer ruined if Jarry re-ups.

 

[Darren McCord]

They have a goaltender an elite top six and a solid d-core. We are gaping at multiple positions.

Dubas should've been moving pieces at the draft for whatever he could've gotten. We've now locked in those assets and are likely going to have to go dumpster diving in UFA. Which is exactly what Hextall did the last three years.

I agree that things should have moved at the draft but they don't have to dumpster dive yet. Again it all depends on what they do in the next 24hrs. The biggest holes they have are.

Top LD
Starting Goalie

If these aren't solved in the next 24 hrs then ya it looks rough.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

You can make a lot of things work, but it's all up to whether or not this team wants to give it the ol' college try or not. Which, I'll be honest, I've been very skeptical of and continue to be.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Summer ruined if Jarry re-ups.

You gotta be bummin' man.

Went from visions of Hellebuyck's dancing in your head to having to possibly rationalize another year of Jarry falling apart down the stretch.

 

[Empoleon8771]

You can make a lot of things work, but it's all up to whether or not this team wants to give it the ol' college try or not. Which, I'll be honest, I've been very skeptical of and continue to be.

I mean, they've already traded for a Rakell caliber top-6 forward and are allegedly trying to move out their 2nd highest paid player. Dubas is clearly trying to get stuff done.

 

[Zbynek]

You gotta be bummin' man.

Went from visions of Hellebuyck's dancing in your head to having to possibly rationalize another year of Jarry falling apart down the stretch.

Aint over til its over baby

 

[Andy99]

I hate Wheeler and want nothing to do with him

I just think it seems like a Dubas kind of buy-low move. Exactly what he did in the past with guys like Spezza.

Except he had a young team in Toronto then…Wheeler at his age would be a killer for this team and not in a good sense

 

[Peat]

Chris Johnston is saying it looks like 2 x 2.4m for Jesper Fast in Carolina.

So that seems to be the upper end of a useful bottom sixer in UFA this year.

 

[Andy99]

NOOOOOOO! God no!! Might as well destroy our chances of competing in June

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

Jarry is pretty much the best goalie in FA. Maybe the trade route isn’t going well.

I want to move on just as much as the next guy, but you can't make things materialize out of nothing.

If the rumors are true and Dubas is talking to Jarry, I'll reserve judgement until I see numbers/term and see what backup and third goalie he can acquire.

 

[Zbynek]

NOOOOOOO! God no!! Might as well destroy our chances of competing in June

Thankfully, it's Rob Rossi reporting.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Looking at the goalie options, I feel like I've been overlooking Talbot a bit as a 1B option. He didn't have a great year last year, with only having an .898 save%, but his GSAx was only -0.7. Ottawa is just trash defensively, which made his mediocre season look worse than it was.

If you can get him for $2 million a year, I think he'd be a really damn good 1B. You just need to find someone to take DeSmith.

 

[tom_servo]

I don't want Jarry back but then again I do enjoy watching people explode with rage.

 

[Gurglesons]

Looking at the goalie options, I feel like I've been overlooking Talbot a bit as a 1B option. He didn't have a great year last year, with only having an .898 save%, but his GSAx was only -0.7. Ottawa is just trash defensively, which made his mediocre season look worse than it was.

If you can get him for $2 million a year, I think he'd be a really damn good 1B. You just need to find someone to take DeSmith.

Very gross.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Very gross.

Any reason why?

 

[Andy99]

I don't hate Wheeler for the same reason the sensitive types do, but he does suck. He's an older, slower and worse -- but bigger! -- version of Danton Heinen. And I don't want Heinen back for any reason.

So the Dubas Era begins with:

- not buying out Granlund or getting rid of him some other way

- taking a pretty meh player at 14OV instead of trading the pick for immediate help or taking a better available player

- getting ready to bring back the wildly successful Jarry-DeSmith duo

- getting ready (?) to acquire another soft, old player (Wheeler) who is way over the hill

- Reilly Smith was cheap to acquire so that's not terrible but, at his age, is just as likely to turn out as the bad version of Jason Zucker as he is the good (2022-23) version.

We'll see how Jager (in about 4 years) and Smith work out, but so far it's a lot of rearranging the deck chairs. We're all waiting for him to target some Toronto players for the Pens, so I guess we shouldn't complain when it turns out to be ZAR instead of Bunting.

Agree…no better than Hextall so far and nothing to change the team…let’s see what happens in the next couple days

 

[Gurglesons]

Any reason why?

Cam Talbot is trash.

 

[pistolpete11]

I'll pretend that 'leak' that Jarry is close to re-signing is just Dubas putting that out there to show other teams they're willing to go in a different direction if their asking prices don't come down.

Why start off a holiday weekend on a bad note, ya know?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Looking at the goalie options, I feel like I've been overlooking Talbot a bit as a 1B option. He didn't have a great year last year, with only having an .898 save%, but his GSAx was only -0.7. Ottawa is just trash defensively, which made his mediocre season look worse than it was.

If you can get him for $2 million a year, I think he'd be a really damn good 1B. You just need to find someone to take DeSmith.

I think LA is looking for a cheap-ish backup option aren't they?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Cam Talbot is trash.

Based on what?

He seems completely decent. Not anything amazing but a pretty clear 1B goalie.

 

[Lust for Life]

Agree…no better than Hextall so far and nothing to change the team…let’s see what happens in the next couple days

I feel like this take is insanely weird to have today, but to each their own.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I mean, they've already traded for a Rakell caliber top-6 forward and are allegedly trying to move out their 2nd highest paid player. Dubas is clearly trying to get stuff done.

Making calls to gauge interest in Petry, swapping one 40-50pt winger for another, and potentially bringing back Jarry is like the equivalent of moving your mouse so your screen saver doesn't come on when your boss walks by. /shrug

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think LA is looking for a cheap-ish backup option aren't they?

I think they're looking for a cheapish starter. I think they go with Vladar from Calgary.

I could also see them bringing in Talbot as their own starter, that wouldn't surprise me either.

Making calls to gauge interest in Petry, swapping one 40-50pt winger for another, and potentially bringing back Jarry is like the equivalent of moving your mouse so your screen saver doesn't come on when your boss walks by. /shrug

If that is doing nothing then 95% of teams do nothing in the off-season.

 

[tom_servo]

I thought Freddy Andersen might be an option. He'll probably re-sign in Carolina but looked good in the playoffs again. His last three postseason showings have been excellent on paper. I don't remember how his tenure ended in Toronto exactly, other than them being ushered out early.