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.

hfboards.mandatory.com

Click to read more...

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Also I think Malkin enjoys not having to deal with the media as much as Crosby and others do, he likes to come in and work and enjoy the game. He gets to do that in Pittsburgh where he’s called his second home and where he wants to retire. I think that discount would be substantial given what he could get on the market. I just think the Pens brass is prioritizing Letang and leaving him hanging and that part is something I am sort of seeing as subtext in all Pens reported news about the two - You hear about offers of 2, 3, 5yrs for Letang, but nill for Malkin outside of Friedman-Rossi shit.

I mean sure he could go to a team and be their 2nd C and take a bigger discount at a shot at the Cup, hell if the Avs let Kadri walk and create cap, he could go there and be the 2nd C behind Mack.

I couldn't find the original clip, but it's included in this short piece with Sid and Geno. Malkin said a few years ago in an interview with Sportsnet that he's thought about going out on his own at times, but he always comes back to how comfortable it is in Pittsburgh and that it's better teaming up with Sid.

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

New page. Trocheck

 

[jmelm]

You seem the bloke that EA NHL CPU Gms rip off in deals.

And you seem like the kind of guy who overrates Kapanen and underrates DOC (at your own peril, mind you)

Dumba is a substantially better player than John Marino. Pretend this version of Kapanen was on another team and then ask yourself if you would trade Kapanen and a 3rd for Marino and let us know what you come back with lol.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

And you seem like the kind of guy who overrates Kapanen and underrates DOC (at your own peril, mind you)

Dumba is a substantially better player than John Marino. Pretend this version of Kapanen was on another team and then ask yourself if you would trade Kapanen and a 3rd for Marino and let us know what you come back with lol.

Lol, I underrate DOC? Mate, jokes aside, that’s just flat out wrong. I am not overrating either, I am hopeful for both them but I know they won’t be used correctly as neither have been. Trust me mate, I was one of the MOST vocal wankers here about DOC being f***ed over for usage and should have been tried in the top 6 when he was playing well with muppets like Simon for a faint fart in the wind.

As for Kapanen, my disdain is well documented. You have a struggling player, he plays well, you don’t promote or reward it, instead you reward wankers he’s helped score and he sits there and wonders wtf, he’s not used on the PK where he was the 3rd most utilized forward on Toronto for his time there, where he felt comfortable and would have helped him break out a little with his slump.

I think you think Kapanen having a rough season extends beyond this season, when it really doesn’t. Last season Kap played well, this year he struggled, but he’s still young and has solid pedigree that I am sure Guerin also knows. But as for Dumba, he’s also injury prone at times, hasn’t lived up to the 50pt potential he could consistently put up, he’s also a higher cap hit on a team with 2 pretty deep cap hits in BRodin & Spurgeon and they’re high on Addison (like we would have been). Dumba is expendable for that reason, they’re looking to move cap.

Look at what they gave up for Kevin Fiala.

FIala had a massive season and he went for a late 1st and Brock Faber. I think the fact they got Faber is lost on some blokes. He’s a RHD in addition to Addison, Dumba is also a RHD. Faber is also a local lad and a former 2nd round pick playing for University of Minnesota - they already know what they’re getting in him.

Dumba is expendable but also not a cheap get, for sure. I think the Wild have enough to make what they have work, Goose is a PMD, Spurgeon is one, Addison is one, and I think Simon Johansson is going to get an opportunity in camp unless they sign a veteran RD for a year while he comes over as well.

What Kapanen would bring is top 9 offense in a system that is geared towards players like him (speed game and likely slot into Fiala’s spot) at half the cap hit. It’d bring Guerin some savings while also adding some offense back into the line-up in addition to studs like Boldy getting the bigger minutes like they should.

Only thing I would do is maybe make it a conditional 1st for Dumba and I would love to get Firstov while moving Kapanen out of the situation he’s in before his value is literally nothing under Sully. As for Drew O’Connor, lol, again…you should google the name and my username, I’ve been pissed about his usage, he should have been f***ing tried with Geno a long time ago. Also, I am still very pissed at the lack of games Puustinen got for how good and engaged he was in his 1 game.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Mike Sullivan gave Danton Heinen and Evan Rodrigues the chances blokes like Kapanen and O’Connor and even Puustinen should have gotten.

Rodrigues was “GodRigues” for about 34 games before he turned straight to shit and cost the team games in the playoffs. Danton Heinen got prime f***ing minutes and put up mediocre numbers, he barely out produced Kapanen, a player that struggled mightily. Also, boring as f*** on a roster that needs more dynamic abilities on the roster like - Puustinen for one, or f***, even DOC used in the top 6.

But nah, we saw Zucker get f***ed over so Danton could get top 6 minutes, Rodrigues was a joke in the last 45+ games and was still getting top PP minutes and top 6 time.

I half expect these wankbuckets to do something really f***ing stupid like sign Mitch Miller at which point I am permanently done with this team.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Kapanen's been having rough seasons for his entire career. Dude's just not very good, and is nothing more than a streaky as hell 3rd liner with a squirrel's brain. I don't think Sullivan did him any favors in terms of usage, but Kap didn't give Sullivan any reasons to cater to him either. Kap being trash isn't on Sully, imo.

Just end the experiment and move on. Shouldn't be on the team in October, but I imagine he will be since the FO seems intent on switching out as few parts as possible and going with the same roster, more or less, for yet another go.

 

[Ryder71]

Adding Klingberg would not make us a "Stud" defense.

He is not very good defensively and as I said more of the same as a Letang/Math cloth but would be a disappointment as he's going to get paid and I dont think the production will live up to the contract.

We would be much better off getting a defensive "stud" with some sandpaper to his game



Except that Trochek is an extremely big dropoff in skill and production from Geno even at Geno's age

Geno's production will only go down over the years, and his injury woes we'll likely only worsen as well. Besides Trocheck is a better player away from the puck than Geno. Its not just about points. VT fits Sullys style much better.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I couldn't find the original clip, but it's included in this short piece with Sid and Geno. Malkin said a few years ago in an interview with Sportsnet that he's thought about going out on his own at times, but he always comes back to how comfortable it is in Pittsburgh and that it's better teaming up with Sid.

Yeah I remember this one, he thought about it before his current contract that just expired, was signed. That he thought about going out and what not, but then he wouldn’t have the success he’s had and he loves being in Pittsburgh. I mean I am sure every single player thinks it.

Not everyone is all butt hurt about being traded for a 3rd time and acting shocked like Ryan McDonut. Most blokes run through “Hmm…I wonder if I signed there or was drafted by them…”

I bet Sid, every time he plays the Habs, thinks about “I wonder if my childhood fav team drafted me, would I win cups there?” Normal. I love the vids with Sid & Geno though.

My faves…

Kapanen's been having rough seasons for his entire career. Dude's just not very good, and is nothing more than a streaky as hell 3rd liner with a squirrel's brain. I don't think Sullivan did him any favors in terms of usage, but Kap didn't give Sullivan any reasons to cater to him either. Kap being trash isn't on Sully, imo.

Just end the experiment and move on. Shouldn't be on the team in October, but I imagine he will be since the FO seems intent on switching out as few parts as possible and going with the same roster, more or less, for yet another go.

His entire career?

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Yeah I remember this one, he thought about it before his current contract that just expired, was signed. That he thought about going out and what not, but then he wouldn’t have the success he’s had and he loves being in Pittsburgh. I mean I am sure every single player thinks it.

Not everyone is all butt hurt about being traded for a 3rd time and acting shocked like Ryan McDonut. Most blokes run through “Hmm…I wonder if I signed there or was drafted by them…”

I bet Sid, every time he plays the Habs, thinks about “I wonder if my childhood fav team drafted me, would I win cups there?” Normal. I love the vids with Sid & Geno though.

My faves…







His entire career?

Yeah. Toronto was set to give him away to clear cap because their idiot GM handed a PPG guy $11 million AAV because he wore Leafs pj's as a kid. Our previous GM was a schmuck and paid pretty much the same price LA just paid for Fiala--a 25 year old C coming off of an 85pt season--for a 3rd liner/dollar store Grabner. If Sully's done anything to hamper Kap's usefulness, it's refuse to use him as a threat to score SH while on the PK. To that, I agree, but Kap sucks all on his own.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

"I hope we play our whole lives here," Malkin said. "I don't want to move to a different city. I'd like to play here. I like to play with Sid. With this team, this young group, I just do my best and I know Sid works hard too. We're just trying to win again and get as many Cups as we can.

"It's not easy because sometimes there's injury, sometimes there's just not luck. But we will try to of course win more. It's not easy, but we've played 10 years together already. We won two Cups, but maybe we'll play 10 more years together and we'll win a couple more. Why not?"

Pens superstars share special bond | Pittsburgh Penguins

When Evgeni Malkin was a teenager, he had a conversation with his agent, who was telling him all about another one of his young clients. The agent told Malkin this other kid was incredibly special, a generational talent."I said what's his name? He said Sidney Crosby," Malkin recalled. "I said

www.nhl.com

Yeah. Toronto was set to give him away to clear cap because their idiot GM handed a PPG guy $11 million AAV because he wore Leafs pj's as a kid. Our previous GM was a schmuck and paid pretty much the same price LA just paid for Fiala--a 25 year old C coming off of an 85pt season--for a 3rd liner/dollar store Grabner. If Sully's done anything to hamper Kap's usefulness, it's refuse to use him as a threat to score SH while on the PK. To that, I agree, but Kap sucks all on his own.

Mate, are you trying to live up to your username right now?

Please don’t.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Pens superstars share special bond | Pittsburgh Penguins

When Evgeni Malkin was a teenager, he had a conversation with his agent, who was telling him all about another one of his young clients. The agent told Malkin this other kid was incredibly special, a generational talent."I said what's his name? He said Sidney Crosby," Malkin recalled. "I said

www.nhl.com

Mate, are you trying to live up to your username right now?

Please don’t.

I mean, it's true though. I get that you're fiercely attached to Kap and absolutely loathe any and all things Sullivan, so you think Sully's turned this gem of a player into a schlub, but Kap's nothing. He's a 35-40pt, 3rd liner/middle-6 player with the brains of a squirrel. He's good off the rush and at getting breakaways, but that's all the tools in his toolbox.

If this team needed bottom-6 talent badly enough, they would be fine to keep him, but he's no different than E-Rod and Heinen. A streaky 3rd liner who looks good when he's playing well and awful when he's not. /shrug

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I mean, it's true though. I get that you're fiercely attached to Kap and absolutely loathe any and all things Sullivan, so you think Sully's turned this gem of a player into a schlub, but Kap's nothing. He's a 35-40pt, 3rd liner/middle-6 player with the brains of a squirrel. He's good off the rush and at getting breakaways, but that's all the tools in his toolbox.

If this team needed bottom-6 talent badly enough, they would be fine to keep him, but he's no different than E-Rod and Heinen. A streaky 3rd liner who looks good when he's playing well and awful when he's not. /shrug

I think more of you have convinced themselves he’s nothing without really stepping outside of that bias and looking at the usage that paints a picture of a coach that really didn’t understand the player he got and has used him incorrectly ever since.

In Toronto he worked on his 2-way game and was a solid top 9 forward that played a bigger role on the PK on a team deep in top 6 talent. In Pittsburgh, he’s played less than 30 seconds total on the PK, utilized in weird ways after a season in which he had covid, came to the Pens finally and had a solid shortened season to run into every problem possible for his young career. To suddenly write him off just for that is ridiculous imo.

Reminds me of so many times this fan base lost their shit on players after 1 bad year without understanding any sort of context or anything.

To go from a player that a team heavily relied upon to penalty kill to a team that flat out refused to use him there, that’s bizarre and the fact that more don’t see that, shows the bias and just general dislike for the sake of dislike.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Mike Sullivan gave Danton Heinen and Evan Rodrigues the chances blokes like Kapanen and O’Connor and even Puustinen should have gotten.

Rodrigues was “GodRigues” for about 34 games before he turned straight to shit and cost the team games in the playoffs. Danton Heinen got prime f***ing minutes and put up mediocre numbers, he barely out produced Kapanen, a player that struggled mightily. Also, boring as f*** on a roster that needs more dynamic abilities on the roster like - Puustinen for one, or f***, even DOC used in the top 6.

But nah, we saw Zucker get f***ed over so Danton could get top 6 minutes, Rodrigues was a joke in the last 45+ games and was still getting top PP minutes and top 6 time.

I half expect these wankbuckets to do something really f***ing stupid like sign Mitch Miller at which point I am permanently done with this team.

Kapanen had every opportunity in the world this season. He was a fixture on the top power play unit for the first half of the season and had top six minutes every night. He shat the bed.

We can argue about DOC, Puustinen, Zohorna and others. But Kasperi Kapanen had a starring role handed to him for half of the season and he choked. And then he got additional chances later in the season, even after his healthy scratches.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Kap's like 120 games deep as a Penguin. He scored 2 goals in the final 39 games of the season to close out 2021-22, that's not on Sully for refusing to use him on the PK. Dude's just nothing special. If he wasn't drafted by the Pens and JR didn't pay an asinine price to reacquire him, nobody would give a shit about him at all.

 

[Andy99]

For those of you who hate the thought of Geno resigning with the Pens, here you go…enjoy…

HockeyBuzz.com - Brian Sickles - Evgeni Malkin and the Capitals

www.hockeybuzz.com

 

[3ladesof5teel]

Geno's production will only go down over the years, and his injury woes we'll likely only worsen as well. Besides Trocheck is a better player away from the puck than Geno. Its not just about points. VT fits Sullys style much better.

Even if they go down he's still at a PPG player, still better than Trochek. Sure bring in Trocheck as a linemate to Geno but you gotta move Zucker or free up come cap somehow. But heading your 2C is not getting it done. He will have worse linemates and less PP time than he had in Carolina.

If your looking at him as your 2C you mys well just blow it up

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Kap's like 120 games deep as a Penguin. He scored 2 goals in the final 39 games of the season to close out 2021-22, that's not on Sully for refusing to use him on the PK. Dude's just nothing special. If he wasn't drafted by the Pens and JR didn't pay an asinine price to reacquire him, nobody would give a shit about him at all.

Cool and in Rodrigues’ last 49 games while getting a ton of top 6 time and first unit powerplay time, he put up 4 goals.

DOC was getting used as a 2-way forward when he’s a forward that should be tried in the top 6. Kapanen is a 2-way winger that was used like a one dimensional forward and utilized as such. But yeah, you go wank to the numbers, I got them too.

Kapanen was playing, in those 39 games, mostly on the 3rd line, very little powerplay time in comparison to Rodrigues who was getting insane minutes for how f***ing awful he really was. With the usage, minutes, opportunity, you’d expect someone to put up more than 49pts vs the forward that was struggling hard getting punished for it and put up 32pts in 79.

Imagine literally seeing the coach trying to turn a forward that should be used in the top 6, into a ZAR type, while he has a player that can play a 2-way game that he refuses to utilize as such and the player is the problem.

LOL

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Even if they go down he's still at a PPG player, still better than Trochek. Sure bring in Trocheck as a linemate to Geno but you gotta move Zucker or free up come cap somehow. But heading your 2C is not getting it done. He will have worse linemates and less PP time than he had in Carolina.

If your looking at him as your 2C you mys well just blow it up

Ok I’ll play with this scenario….

The issue is keeping the correct wingers for Geno.

What we know: Zucker and Kapanen don’t work with Malkin.
What we also know: Rickard Rakell works well with not only Geno, but with Sid as well, bringing flexibility to his usage and he plays LW/RW

That right there should be something the team should be looking at, you aren’t going to find another Rakell, this team has tried to balance Rust up and down at times, Kapanen isn’t being used correctly and neither is Zucker so why keep either at this point? Create the cap to sign Rakell, pass on Heinen and Rodrigues, leave a spot for Puustinen to fight for, he seems idiot Sully proof.

So if they’re going to keep Malkin, but then let Rakell walk, keep Zucker, do more damage to Kapanen before his value is worse, then what’s the f***ing point for Malkin to even say yes?

”Hey guys, you will totally f*** me yet again for line-mates, but boy oh boy, I really love getting f***ed over in these jersey colors more than any other one!”

The sad part is we could have known what we had in Puustinen if we saw more than 1 game on the 3rd line with Carter, what we did see was that he was smart at both ends, created a lot of chances of which ended up being an assist to a goal. We also could have found out how DOC played with Geno, but Sullivan really wanted him to learn how to suck with Boyle and Simon/ZAR for most of his call-up, so that was wasted.

Instead we saw that Heinen got a ton of opportunities that he whiffed on more than he capitalized, same for Rodrigues. That can’t be the options.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Malkin at 4 years at $6M per works structured like: $7.5M, 6.5, 5.5, 4.5.

I’m curious what the discount would be still.

He was a 9.5m cap hit. A discount would be even at 7.5m. The thing to consider is that Malkin stated he wanted to take care of his parents, his family, and he wanted to make sure it was reasonable, in a sense. What’s reasonable?

The haters will say “Oh he should take a discount at 5m! Hurr durr”…

But is a discount at 8m/yr? 8.5? 7.5? 7?

Joe Thornton is…well, AN example…
Ends 3yr deal at 7m/yr - 193pts in 212 games (Age 32-34)
Takes another 3yr deal at 6.75m/yr - 197pts in 239 games
Takes 1yr deal at 8m - 36pts in 47 games
Takes 1yr deal at 5m - 51pts in 73 games
Takes 1yr deal at 2m - 31pts in 70 games
Leaves Sharks

Hard to gauge just off that.

 

[Jobeycool]

I had 5' mortar shells and about 10 or 11 500 gram cakes for da 4rth of July and it was Fun........ Thought I would let you guys know.. Now we need Fireworks to happen at the Free Agent deadline for the Pens to have more fun ... : ) haha.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Ok I’ll play with this scenario….

The issue is keeping the correct wingers for Geno.

What we know: Zucker and Kapanen don’t work with Malkin.
What we also know: Rickard Rakell works well with not only Geno, but with Sid as well, bringing flexibility to his usage and he plays LW/RW

That right there should be something the team should be looking at, you aren’t going to find another Rakell, this team has tried to balance Rust up and down at times, Kapanen isn’t being used correctly and neither is Zucker so why keep either at this point? Create the cap to sign Rakell, pass on Heinen and Rodrigues, leave a spot for Puustinen to fight for, he seems idiot Sully proof.

So if they’re going to keep Malkin, but then let Rakell walk, keep Zucker, do more damage to Kapanen before his value is worse, then what’s the f***ing point for Malkin to even say yes?

”Hey guys, you will totally f*** me yet again for line-mates, but boy oh boy, I really love getting f***ed over in these jersey colors more than any other one!”

The sad part is we could have known what we had in Puustinen if we saw more than 1 game on the 3rd line with Carter, what we did see was that he was smart at both ends, created a lot of chances of which ended up being an assist to a goal. We also could have found out how DOC played with Geno, but Sullivan really wanted him to learn how to suck with Boyle and Simon/ZAR for most of his call-up, so that was wasted.

Instead we saw that Heinen got a ton of opportunities that he whiffed on more than he capitalized, same for Rodrigues. That can’t be the options.

If we're looking at Kap's whole time collectively as a Penguin, it hasn't been as much of a disaster as some people make it out to be. He's 2 points behind Rust at 5v5 after 2 seasons, averaging 1:55 less TOI per game.
He's played with worse players on average too.

 

[Power Surge]

Is the draft televised on ESPN plus this year?

 

[Headshot77]

Honestly I think the fact that the Oilers are aggressively shopping him, despite the fact that he seems to be a perfect fit for what you'd want out of a defensive puck retriever for McDavid, should raise some red flags with him.

I seriously question the idea of acquiring Puljujarvi to put next to Malkin if Edmonton is moving on from putting Puljujarvi with McDavid.

The red flag is that Edmonton's management are dinosaurs

 

[Turin]

yea Edmonton wanting to deal Puljujarvi isn’t a red flag, they are cap strapped amd he’s a tweener. I’d like the Pens to investigate that.

 

[reino]

Puljujärvi can't score with Mcd that's the red flag. Look what Kane has done with that opportunity