"there's two areas where he's consistently been around or slightly below average over the last five years, cross-slot chances and breakaways"
Mildly scary stuff for a Pens fan although Jarry and Desmith have virtually identical rush chances faced stats to Hellebuyck according to NST so allegedly wouldn't be coming to a worse environment there (I can't help but wonder about those).
I think the cross slot is the big one. Pens tendency to try and overload creates a lot of slot line plays. Jarry and DeSmith move quick. Scramble goalies. Might be wrong, but feels like the Pens either need to change how they play or get a guy who can do that.
Apparently Adin Hill is also bad at slot line chances if up high, but good at good at low slot chances. Swayman also bad at slot line chances (and deflections). Wish I had access to these stats to see what chances the Pens gave up
Worries over whether John Gibson would adjust to having a lesser workload. Good news! We can give him work, just less brutal.
Back to the goalie talk for a bit, the part I'm debating more and more regarding the goalies is whether there is a better way to use #14 overall to improve the team now and going forward over trading it for a goalie. I think you have a lot of options, the main ones being:
1. Trade Pickering and #14 for Hellebuyck
2. Trade #14 for Swayman/Ullmark and likely another cap casualty piece from Boston
3. Trade Pickering and Granlund for Gibson
4. Go the UFA route with goalies (probably something like Jarry-Varlamov, Jarry-Andersen or Andersen-Hill)
There just seems to be a ton of factors here that aren't related to what goalie the Penguins are getting back, but rather the assets they're trading in the deals. For example, if you did #3, you get a goalie that could potential solve all your goaltending woes with Gibson (with risks of course) and get out of Granlund's deal, while still having #14 as either a win-now trade chip or to try to draft the next centerpiece for your next generation Penguins core. That's a great option.
It sounds backwards, but I think the UFA option is the worst because it eliminates the possibility of getting good value in a trade. I think most people would rather get players for free in free agency over spending assets, but the UFA goalie market is so barren that I'd much rather do Pickering and Granlund for Gibson or #14 for Swayman and DeBrusk over signing Jarry and Varlamov for free.
The Hellebuyck trade is the toughest for me to gauge, because he's clearly the best goalie and would be a major difference maker if you got him, but you're literally emptying the bank (both in terms of assets and cap space long term) to get him. You still need to get rid of Granlund and set yourself up for the future, and you have literally nothing to do that. I want Hellebuyck on this team so badly, but is the difference between him and Gibson the equivalent of #14 plus getting out of Granlund's deal?
