Salary Cap: Pens Salary Cap: Free Agency, everyone panic!!! Geno talk to the Geno thread only please

[Zirakzigil]

Off season time. New thread time apparently cause @Ugene Magic doesn’t like high page counts.

So how about them Malkin and Letang UFAs? Maybe we should sign one or both.

Geno thread. Keep Geno talk here:

Rumor: - Geno where art thou?

With all the Geno rumors and news, time for its own thread. Keep the Geno talk here please.

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[Pens x]

I was giving this a lot of thoughts over the weekend. Hextall is in a really tough position. Ideally I bet he’d prefer to rebuild, since that comes with inherent job security. The situation doesn’t really allow for that, so his entire future (not only in pittsburgh, but perhaps the league) depends on a decent amount of success over the next few years. That’s a lot of pressure for a guy inheriting some great players, but a frankly poorly constructed roster (from the nhl down into the farm).

if the dude is trying to thread the needle on some deals, I can’t blame him

Oh I agree. I think Mario and co thought it was finally time to rebuild when JR quit - Hextall fit that mold. However, the team played well after JR left, which changed the plans moving forward.

Instead of rebuilding, the team wanted a retool on the fly, something Hextall has never done in his limited time as the head GM.

You needed someone in between JR and Hextall - one is a gunslinger, oftentimes irresponsible while the other is overly patient, too passive to a fault. We went from one extreme to the other.

 

[K Fleur]

Palat is my dream scenario addition.

 

[Coastal Kev]

He's a solid player, but this reminds me of the Zucker acquisition. I want players that bring different qualities to the lineup. Size, Grit, Freakish Speed........ Trocheck is just more of the same, maybe slightly better.

Nichushkin sounds like he's off of the table, I would look to M. Marchment.

 

[Deport Ogie]

But it's not that Rossi gets things wrong that irks me. He makes shit up, or sensationalizes what he does hear for effect.

Someone like Friedman might say "My sources say the negotiations between Letang and Hextall have stalled" and Rossi might hear the same thing and he'll jump right to "Kris Letang is not going to sign" and he does that just to get clicks.

And he's emo as **** about it. Like....most of us fans can get over-invested and attached to sports personalities and we either just keep it to ourselves or consider it acceptable because we're fans. Professionals aren't supposed to pull that stuff and Rossi leans WAY into it.

Besides, he's a huge Rolling Stones fan and that just makes him more intolerable.

 

[HandshakeLine]

TBF Rossi only likes the post-Exile Stones and not the early stuff. I've heard he thinks Voodoo Lounge is their best.

 

[Andy P]

View attachment 567261

Kappy is qualified

 

[DesertedPenguin]

I have always viewed Trocheck as a complementary player, so I have been lukewarm on him as a Malkin replacement.

But if the idea is to bring Trocheck in to play with Malkin as @IcedCapp is suggesting, then I'm much more in favor. Malkin with Trocheck and Rakell or Trocheck and Palat could be a very effective line that allows Malkin to be more of a scorer.

 

[K Fleur]

We’re going to bring in ZAR to play with Malkin.

 

[HandshakeLine]

We’re going to bring in ZAR to play with Malkin.

Lol, no.

We're going to bring in ZAR to be 2C and trade Malkin.

 

[BigVegas17]

I was giving this a lot of thoughts over the weekend. Hextall is in a really tough position. Ideally I bet he’d prefer to rebuild, since that comes with inherent job security. The situation doesn’t really allow for that, so his entire future (not only in pittsburgh, but perhaps the league) depends on a decent amount of success over the next few years. That’s a lot of pressure for a guy inheriting some great players, but a frankly poorly constructed roster (from the nhl down into the farm).

if the dude is trying to thread the needle on some deals, I can’t blame him

Had to read this twice to make sure I wasn't imagining it. A balanced, thoughtful, consideration-for-the-bigger-picture take? That can't be... Not on HFB....

I guess I'm just used to reading the same tired recursive cycle of the Pens are trash->the GM is "asleep"->the GM should change everything...->...but the GM should also re-sign the same guys->the players are garbage->I am a whiny baby->the Pens are trash, etc.

Thank God for my recent pivot to embracing the Ignore button...

 

[dogthateats]

Plus Trocheck has some familiarity with the intricacies of McGinn’s game

 

[IcedCapp]

Yeah, I get frustrated with Hextall a lot, but I also recognize that this is a legitimately uneven/occasionally bad roster that's overachieving primarily because of Sid, and when healthy, Geno. And it's not really Hextall's fault that JR destroyed it and then left in a petulant fit either.

There's no really good answer for it, but sometimes bad things happen to an organization and there's no way to fix it.

I saw a discussion on the main boards about “best franchise of the cap era” between pens hawks and bolts, the pens, I think, had 16 playoff appearances while the hawks and bolts were 11/10, I think. Anyhow, the point is, the penguins never had a refresh year, while those two teams had 5. Every GM we’ve had in this era has thrown futures for help in the present. Even a year where we lost both Sid and Geno we made the playoffs. No one f***ed up IMO. It’s not bad luck. We’ve just kicked the can down the road and now we’re at a dead end and there’s no more kicking to be done but our feet refuse to stop moving. If all 3 retired RIGHT NOW, you could trade guentzel and Marino and Jarry for good returns. You could sell cap space. You could rebuild this in 3-5 years, easily IMO. but they aren’t retiring so Hextall has to find some place to shove this can

 

[K Fleur]

I want to know who watches McGinn play and thinks “oh yeah give me 4 years of that”.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I want to know who watches McGinn play and thinks “oh yeah give me 4 years of that”.

Slightly uptown Wynn Duffy, that's who.

 

[Peat]

Palat is my dream scenario addition.

I mean the dude's a gamer and has been an ideal add in my book for a while, but the thought of winning the bidding war on him at 31 leaves me a bit "oh gods no". Very high risk contract.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Would have Aube-Kubel on the bottom 6

I really like this idea if you can get him for under $1.5 million. You could bump McGinn up to the 3rd line and put Aube-Kubel on the 4th line.

You could run with something like:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Rakell-Malkin-Trocheck
Zucker-Carter-McGinn
O'Connor-Blueger-NAK

 

[jmelm]

Me too, but it's a lot harder to move McGinn + sign Heinen than to just not qualify Heinen.

I don't give a f**k about signing Heinen, I care about signing Rakell. We can't do both.

 

[Pens x]

I want to know who watches McGinn play and thinks “oh yeah give me 4 years of that”.

Hextall

 

[IcedCapp]

Had to read this twice to make sure I wasn't imagining it. A balanced, thoughtful, consideration-for-the-bigger-picture take? That can't be... Not on HFB....

I guess I'm just used to reading the same tired recursive cycle of the Pens are trash->the GM is "asleep"->the GM should change everything...->...but the GM should also re-sign the same guys->the players are garbage->I am a whiny baby->the Pens are trash, etc.

Thank God for my recent pivot to embracing the Ignore button...

Dang. Gonna frame this message. Don’t think anyone will ever say something like this about me again

 

[jmelm]

Kadri feels like the type of player who won't hit 60 again. Got nothing to back that up with, but I'd rather not pay him for his 87 point season

WAY more confidence in Kadri than Trochek.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I really like this idea if you can get him for under $1.5 million. You could bump McGinn up to the 3rd line and put Aube-Kubel on the 4th line.

You could run with something like:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Rakell-Malkin-Trocheck
Zucker-Carter-McGinn
O'Connor-Blueger-NAK

I'm not opposed to it, but we did just qualify Kap, so where do we put him? That's sort of the problem with McGinn-- he's fine for the money, but we either have him as a luxury on the 4th line, or we put him on the 3rd and force Kap into the top 6.

 

[Pens x]

Slightly uptown Wynn Duffy, that's who.

He looks like a weatherman in some god forsaken town in Kansas.

 

[Peat]

I saw a discussion on the main boards about “best franchise of the cap era” between pens hawks and bolts, the pens, I think, had 16 playoff appearances while the hawks and bolts were 11/10, I think. Anyhow, the point is, the penguins never had a refresh year, while those two teams had 5. Every GM we’ve had in this era has thrown futures for help in the present. Even a year where we lost both Sid and Geno we made the playoffs. No one f***ed up IMO. It’s not bad luck. We’ve just kicked the can down the road and now we’re at a dead end and there’s no more kicking to be done but our feet refuse to stop moving. If all 3 retired RIGHT NOW, you could trade guentzel and Marino and Jarry for good returns. You could sell cap space. You could rebuild this in 3-5 years, easily IMO. but they aren’t retiring so Hextall has to find some place to shove this can

This many many times over. I don't think Rutherford did great after the cups but he'd have had to be a genius to avoid this.

I want to know who watches McGinn play and thinks “oh yeah give me 4 years of that”.

*puts hand up*

 

[Empoleon8771]

I'm not opposed to it, but we did just qualify Kap, so where do we put him?

I'd just trade his rights for a draft pick, or possibly even use his rights to try and convince a team to take on Pettersson.

 

[Peat]

I'm not opposed to it, but we did just qualify Kap, so where do we put him?

2RD when we trade Marino.