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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[Peat]

I'm not defending him. He was putrid (at least versus what was assumed predicated on prior season). Only saying that he seemed to be viewed differently and sometimes held to different standards. As previously mentioned much like Cole. Perhaps due to expectations? Sullivan did say he had another "elite" level he could reach, I suppose.

That's my point. I don't think he was held to a different standard and insofar as he was, it was to his favour, so nothing like Cole.

 

[MayorofWBS]

Yikes, that is a ton of money for a buyout. He still has 3 years at $4.75 million left, so that buyout penalty will be 6 years.

I will say that he's exactly the kind of guy I'd talk to about a cheaper reclamation project style contract, I think he falls in that Heinen/Kase group from last year. Signing him and using Kapanen as a trade chip saves you cap space and likely gives you a decent free asset.

I believe due to his younger age, his buyout is at 1/3 of his contract. If they wait another year, they have to buy him out at 2/3 of his remaining contract.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I don't understand the Puljujarvi interest. Swapping Kap for him just sees you move on from one low hockey IQ, flawed player for another low hockey IQ, flawed player.

Is the hope that he's the next Nuke? Or that a change of scenery gets the ideal ceiling out of the guy? I don't know if you can find a better spot than either playing with McDavid or Draisaitl, or playing behind them and getting the opposition's weakest.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

That's my point. I don't think he was held to a different standard and insofar as he was, it was to his favour, so nothing like Cole.

I dunno. It just seemed like even when he would string together a good game or two or show some chemistry with a certain combination he'd get bucked down immediately as soon as it went one game without being terrific. Whereas your ERods and Carters could derp around for like a dozen games straight looking lost and stay right where they were.

Either way I'm not super enthusiastic about even halfheartedly defending the guy. Just making a general observation.

 

[MayorofWBS]

Spoiler: Eklund's Tin Hat Post

I am in the process of updating the Rumor Chart, but start here today..

Per an outstanding source, the Pittsburgh Penguins are aggressively trying to trade with the Seattle Kraken to get th 4th pick overall and draft Logan Cooley. Cooley is a center, and a local kid who already has a great relationship with Crosby.

The Penguins have a history of superstar centers stretching from Mario through Sid, and as Crosby ages there is a belief the team needs to fine their “next one.” That may or may not be Cooley, but in the past the Penguins have had to bottom out to get a top pick. Hextall has been tasked with finding that player without bottoming out.

I will be adding more to this blog today, and soon we will be launching the world famous rumor tracker that will run through the first night of the draft.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah, I don't get the Sullivan blaming for Kapanen's issues. Kapanen's issues were entirely his own making. Kapanen just forgot how to play hockey seemingly out of nowhere in the regular season, and Sullivan had to pull the plug on the Kapanen on L2 experiment because of how bad Kapanen was playing.

The Malkin-Kapanen duo got absolutely killed both on the scoreboard and analytically when Malkin first got back, which is even more damning when you realize that Malkin had a strong year analytically last year.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

FFS I'm not blaming Sullivan for Kap's problems. I'm JUST saying that they obviously had laser focus on him as a player all season for whatever reason. Much of the roster would go unchanged for weeks at a time and he's boppin' around from L1 all the way to the bench in the span of like 4 games. As bad as Kap largely was it was almost entirely warranted. It's tough to build anything with that kind of movement and with the eye of god on you at all times... if I'm saying ANYTHING negative about Sullivan I suppose it's that. But more just as a way of explaining SOME of Kap's wild inconsistency.

 

[Empoleon8771]

What's interesting to me while looking at their game logs together is that Malkin and Kapanen actually played together for a fair amount last year, especially when Malkin first came back. Last year, Malkin and Kapanen had 15 games of what I'd call "full games" of 5v5 usage together (8+ minutes) and 4 games of about half a game of 5v5 usage together (4-6 minutes). All 19 of those games came within the first 24 games when Malkin came back after his injury.

I'm with @Peat here on Kapanen. Sullivan was abnormally lenient towards playing Kapanen with Malkin, because Kapanen was atrocious over this stretch (8 points in 25 games) and the duo itself was pretty awful both on the scoreboard and analytically.

 

[K Fleur]

Kap played his way into the spot he’s in.

I hope next season he’s some other team’s stupid and frustrating player

 

[DeadPuckEra]

I get that as fans - most are always going to look for ways to put a winning team together, theorize different angles. I get that message boards in general would be nothing without discussion.

However, at what point do we, or more importantly the Penguins front office realize that the ride is over? Do we really even need to be this hyper focused on what happens with Letang or Malkin right now?

We keep them - we struggle to make it out fo first round.

We don’t keep them - we struggle to make it out of first round.

Either scenario - we probably aren’t even a play off team in two years.

As far as I’m concerned, retain them all, sign Fleury and let them all deservedly ride off into the sunset together. Hope for a flukey cup in the process.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

The more you think about it, the more it seems this team just has no f***ing idea what they're doing. Not from a competence standpoint, but from a focus standpoint. You can't say "Ah yeah bud, we're still gunning for Cups, 100%!" while bringing back the coach who has been behind the bench for four straight 1st round exits, and largely the exact same roster that's lead the team to that fate as well.

"Best" case scenario is the team is largely unchanged. Worst case scenario is that you're rocking a 2nd line of, like, Zucker-Strome-Kapanen and Petry in place of Letang on the blueline.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I don't understand the Puljujarvi interest. Swapping Kap for him just sees you move on from one low hockey IQ, flawed player for another low hockey IQ, flawed player.

Is the hope that he's the next Nuke? Or that a change of scenery gets the ideal ceiling out of the guy? I don't know if you can find a better spot than either playing with McDavid or Draisaitl, or playing behind them and getting the opposition's weakest.

I think it's about play style. Puljujarvi can be a guy who wins board battles and is tough for defensemen to battle against along the wall, things Kapanen isn't.

I don't mind the swap, but more so because I don't see Kapanen ever amounting to anything under Sullivan. So might as well swap a guy who can't score but does other things for a guy who doesn't score and doesn't do other things.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Meh. 1.8M is not a lot, but CDS sucks.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I was expecting $1.75 million so that's right about what I was expecting.

Can't really complain there.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

They very, very clearly value and prioritize CDS over Malkin and Letang.

Wild.

 

[Jobeycool]

nothing big is going to happen until July 13 it appears that way....So maybe expect anything to happen with Letang and Malkin ?

 

[orby]

I take DeSmith at 1.8 mil over a Fleury type at 3 mil+ all day.

 

[SEALBound]

Kap for Pool party?

Yes. I think that's an appropriate trade. I was reading an article about other possible swaps with other teams and it was surprising on how the level of guys they think they will get. JP is more or less a reclamation project at this point. The article mentioned Dach from Chicago which I thought was a joke.

Spoiler: Eklund's Tin Hat Post

I am in the process of updating the Rumor Chart, but start here today..

Per an outstanding source, the Pittsburgh Penguins are aggressively trying to trade with the Seattle Kraken to get th 4th pick overall and draft Logan Cooley. Cooley is a center, and a local kid who already has a great relationship with Crosby.

The Penguins have a history of superstar centers stretching from Mario through Sid, and as Crosby ages there is a belief the team needs to fine their “next one.” That may or may not be Cooley, but in the past the Penguins have had to bottom out to get a top pick. Hextall has been tasked with finding that player without bottoming out.

I will be adding more to this blog today, and soon we will be launching the world famous rumor tracker that will run through the first night of the draft.

This is the exact thing I needed to hold me over until the draft. True or not.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I think it's about play style. Puljujarvi can be a guy who wins board battles and is tough for defensemen to battle against along the wall, things Kapanen isn't.

I don't mind the swap, but more so because I don't see Kapanen ever amounting to anything under Sullivan. So might as well swap a guy who can't score but does other things for a guy who doesn't score and doesn't do other things.

Yeah, Kap was one of the absolute worst guys on the boards we've had in a while and clearly the coaches don't like his defensive play. Kid has tons of tools and when he uses them he looks great, but when he doesn't he's awful. So, honestly, I'll take Puljujarvi and the possibility of him not putting together an offensive game over Kap.

Meh. 1.8M is not a lot, but CDS sucks.

Yeah, do not get the love for CDS here at all. Woof.

Also annoyed that Hextall and co are working on this instead of Letang & Malkin.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Yeah, Kap was one of the absolute worst guys on the boards we've had in a while .

Have you forgot about that Ron guy?

Oh, those boards.

 

[Deport Ogie]

I suppose in the grand scheme bringing CDS back for under 2 mil is probably as "okay then sure why not" as it gets. Not sure what he did to warrant a raise other than get older but the UFA keeper market is probably going to be looney tunes this offseason.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I suppose in the grand scheme bringing CDS back for under 2 mil is probably as "okay then sure why not" as it gets. Not sure what he did to warrant a raise other than get older but the UFA keeper market is probably going to be looney tunes this offseason.

Yeah, maybe. I just think it's weird that people are so invested in a guy that had exactly one good streak in his career just because he's not MAF and MAF-stans annoy them.

But then again people seriously post on this dumb board about how much they miss mediocre never-was Johan Hedberg, so yinzers gonna wild over dumb trashy goalies, I suppose.

 

[Empoleon8771]

They very, very clearly value and prioritize CDS over Malkin and Letang.

Wild.

What's funny is that you know people will unironically believe this

Yeah, do not get the love for CDS here at all. Woof.

Also annoyed that Hextall and co are working on this instead of Letang & Malkin.

Because he's given above average results in every season in his career and has shown to be capable of handling 1B usage.

The only reason I'm iffy on DeSmith is because he's been unavailable in the playoffs in each of the last 2 years. But this deal is pretty much a standard "reliable backup who can play regularly" contract.

 

[DeadPuckEra]

The more you think about it, the more it seems this team just has no f***ing idea what they're doing. Not from a competence standpoint, but from a focus standpoint. You can't say "Ah yeah bud, we're still gunning for Cups, 100%!" while bringing back the coach who has been behind the bench for four straight 1st round exits, and largely the exact same roster that's lead the team to that fate as well.

"Best" case scenario is the team is largely unchanged. Worst case scenario is that you're rocking a 2nd line of, like, Zucker-Strome-Kapanen and Petry in place of Letang on the blueline.

I just don’t get why the Penguins doing what they’re currently (and have been) doing is not more a point of contention for most fans. The longer this “compete for Crosby” mindset rules all in that front office - the harder and longer the wheels are going to fall off when it’s time to start building.

I just don’t understand why that’s not pissing people off. We all love Sid, but I personally don’t love Sid at the expense of potential 5+ years of bad hockey. He was given everything he could have wanted and more, neither side really owes anything to the other at this point.

This team should be soft targeting a rebuild, not pissing and moaning about contracts with 35 year olds.

This current iteration of Pens success is over. It’s done. It’s honorable to acknowledge and accept that, in my opinion. Debts are all settled, jerseys will eventually hang in rafters - but why aren’t we looking to the future?

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I suppose in the grand scheme bringing CDS back for under 2 mil is probably as "okay then sure why not" as it gets. Not sure what he did to warrant a raise other than get older but the UFA keeper market is probably going to be looney tunes this offseason.

Inflation