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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[Flying Dego]

With what assets though? The cupboards are pretty empty.

Marino, Poulin, 1st gets ole GMJR sweating IMO.

I think we could pull off a Miller trade, but we'd need to lean fully into a now or never mentality. No kinda save some assets for after Sid.

 

[OnMyOwn]

Which is better than paying 10.5 million for Zucker and Rakell and then 6 million to Trocheck.


We say every year they need to move a d-man and they never do. I'm sorry if I sound cynical, but I do not have any faith in this club actually doing that.

But you’re assuming we’d be the place he would pick. That’s all your eggs in one basket that we probably wouldn’t wind up with anyway.

I like the thought but I just don’t see how realistic it is. Shero tried it and failed with Parise and Suter while Geno and Sid were young and dominating.

 

[Flying Dego]

There is absolutely no indication that this team wants to move any of our 4 gagillion mediocre positional d-men.

Everyday I wish for Pettersson to be swept up by some knight in shining armor that thinks "he's our guy"

 

[HandshakeLine]

But you’re assuming we’d be the place he would pick. That’s all your eggs in one basket that we probably wouldn’t wind up with anyway.

I like the thought but I just don’t see how realistic it is. Shero tried it and failed with Parise and Suter while Geno and Sid were young and dominating.

Oh for sure. I'm not disagreeing it'd be a gamble, nor am I saying it's a sure thing at all. But it's a gamble that has a way higher upside and throws some serious weight behind the idea that we're trying to seriously compete.

Letting Geno walk just to build an expensive, mediocre 2nd line of guys who are also often injured and have way lower ceilings is just frankly speaking dumb.

Or to put it another way: while everyone fantasizes at Rakell on Sid's line, if there's no Geno, there's no way GCR is getting broken up. So it's going to be Rakell - Carter - Kap or Zucker - Carter - Rakell or Zucker - Trocheck - Kap for large chunks of the season.

That's not a very good 2nd line to me.

 

[HandshakeLine]

And we all know that Kap is gonna get that second line RW spot, unless something really drastic happens, right? Like we saw that QO come in and we all knew that is our future. This is our hole, it is made for us.

 

[ColePens]

With what assets though? The cupboards are pretty empty.

Sometimes teams give away good players just to lose the cap space. Sometimes they even give a pick on top lol. We are only missing a round 3 pick next year. We have all of our picks to use. We have guys like Poulin/Legare who may sweeten the pot.

I dont love the trade route. I would rather get Giroux as a temp fix and then move him to wing and let a 2C come in at the deadline if possible.

All i'm saying is IF G walks, we have options. And it's because Hex is actually patient and doesn't waste picks and everything.

 

[HandshakeLine]

f***in' Giroux? Wow, maybe we can also have a promotion night where we drown a kitten on the jumbotron too.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Marino, Poulin, 1st gets ole GMJR sweating IMO.

I think we could pull off a Miller trade, but we'd need to lean fully into a now or never mentality. No kinda save some assets for after Sid.

Who do we replace Marino with?

 

[ColePens]

Everyday I wish for Pettersson to be swept up by some knight in shining armor that thinks "he's our guy"

Only bad thing is Dumo will go to FA, which is fine. Pets is then gone... and we are left needing a LHD again. I'm okay with that. Just saying I think that's why they don't dump Pets.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Sometimes teams give away good players just to lose the cap space. Sometimes they even give a pick on top lol. We are only missing a round 3 pick next year. We have all of our picks to use. We have guys like Poulin/Legare who may sweeten the pot.

I dont love the trade route. I would rather get Giroux as a temp fix and then move him to wing and let a 2C come in at the deadline if possible.

All i'm saying is IF G walks, we have options. And it's because Hex is actually patient and doesn't waste picks and everything.

Giroux? We are playing hardball with Geno and would sign Giroux? A lesser player who is also rather old? Hard pass.

We do have options, but they all are bad ones (when compared to Malkin).

Signing Rakell, Rust and Letang for six years makes no sense to me if you decide to play hardball with Malkin when there are not equivalent options out there.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I agree that there's not a lot of good options for the Pens, but I'm really just mystified that these are the ones they're seemingly going with if they're not going to sign Geno.

 

[ColePens]

Giroux? We are playing hardball with Geno and would sign Giroux? A lesser player who is also rather old? Hard pass.

We do have options, but they all are bad ones (when compared to Malkin).

Signing Rakell, Rust and Letang for six years makes no sense to me if you decide to play hardball with Malkin when there are not equivalent options out there.

Scan... that is not what I said. Come on now. Don't treat me like I'm out here calling Hex sleepy.

I've stated it a trillion times. I wanted G re-signed. But if he walks, that's his decision and I respect it. So i turn to a guy who can play wing/center. Giroux as a tiny band-aid to get us to the TDL as he did show he can be decent. Then he moves to wing and we get a 2C at the DL if necessary.

That's not my #1 plan. It's a plan. I actually feel I could put 5-6 options out there w/ our cap space. I think Hex has positioned us well. Now he just needs to execute.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Signing Rakell, Rust and Letang for six years makes no sense to me if you decide to play hardball with Malkin when there are not equivalent options out there.

Yeah this is where I'm at too-- if you are going to let Geno go, why bother signing half measures like Rust and Rakell? It's just the worst of both all worlds.

In the end, I still think Geno stays, just that this is a really dumb way of playing a crucial off-season if he doesn't.

 

[Flying Dego]

Only bad thing is Dumo will go to FA, which is fine. Pets is then gone... and we are left needing a LHD again. I'm okay with that. Just saying I think that's why they don't dump Pets.

I'm fully aware Dumo is a shell at this point and gone next year. But Pettersson has driven me nuts for years. I don't want him with an important role here.

He's average to below average in almost every category. He's very weak. He's good positionally and can somewhat pass the puck. He's also got a muffin shot and that's a huge no no for a dman for me.

He just bothers me more than he probably should but I'm too stubborn to change.

 

[ColePens]

Yeah this is where I'm at too-- if you are going to let Geno go, why bother signing half measures like Rust and Rakell? It's just the worst of both all worlds.

In the end, I still think Geno stays, just that this is a really dumb way of playing a crucial off-season if he doesn't.

Why is G a guarantee need to stay? They lost 4 years in a row in the first round. I think we share reasons why we want G to stay and I think we saw some positives last playoff, but four first round exits.

If anything happens I'm like "Meh cool... it can't get worse than 4 first round exits. I'd rather not make the playoffs if it's going to be a first round exit with ease."

I guess an easier question - why are we not just okay with anything happening since the results have been shit?

 

[HandshakeLine]

Why is G a guarantee need to stay? They lost 4 years in a row in the first round. I think we share reasons why we want G to stay and I think we saw some positives last playoff, but four first round exits.

If anything happens I'm like "Meh cool... it can't get worse than 4 first round exits. I'd rather not make the playoffs if it's going to be a first round exit with ease."

I don't think he's a need to stay. Just that he's the best realistic option for 2C right now at a reasonable price. The other options are far lesser, or too expensive to get (and certainly now that we're down to 10 million or so in cap space).

It's more that it's a lack of vision. Signing Rakell and Letang and Rust were all seemingly pointing at bringing Geno back, but if he wasn't going to come back or seriously in the plans (as it appears at this point anyway), why settle for half-measures? Why not swing for the fences with that 25+ million in cap space and do a more serious overhaul?

 

[orby]

If the Flyers are buying out Lindblom, Hextall might try to snag him cheap. He'd be a good replacement for Heinen.

 

[Flying Dego]

Yeah this is where I'm at too-- if you are going to let Geno go, why bother signing half measures like Rust and Rakell? It's just the worst of both all worlds.

In the end, I still think Geno stays, just that this is a really dumb way of playing a crucial off-season if he doesn't.

The only way we could potentially improve by letting Geno walk is going ALL in and getting JT Miller. I don't think Hextall has that river boat gambler inside him.

He's a whitey tighty guy. Geno walks, he gives the downgraded option, Trocheck, the 6M contract and says "I did my best, I like this team"...in reality you're right the 6 year signings should be the green light for spend the assets and bolster around Sid TODAY.

Dump the suspects Zucker, Petts, Kap. Get Miller, sign Trocheck and Manson.

I would go for it. Who gives a flip about 5 years from now. It'll be bad regardless.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Like I said, the team will spin it as competing no matter who they sign for 2C, but a 2nd line of Rakell - Geno - Rust is way better than a line of Rakell - Trocheck - Rust or godforbid, Rakell - Carter - Rust/Kap.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Why is G a guarantee need to stay? They lost 4 years in a row in the first round. I think we share reasons why we want G to stay and I think we saw some positives last playoff, but four first round exits.

If anything happens I'm like "Meh cool... it can't get worse than 4 first round exits. I'd rather not make the playoffs if it's going to be a first round exit with ease."

I guess an easier question - why are we not just okay with anything happening since the results have been shit?

Bedard is from my backyard.
Would look good in black and gold.

Just sayin...

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Scan... that is not what I said. Come on now. Don't treat me like I'm out here calling Hex sleepy.

I've stated it a trillion times. I wanted G re-signed. But if he walks, that's his decision and I respect it. So i turn to a guy who can play wing/center. Giroux as a tiny band-aid to get us to the TDL as he did show he can be decent. Then he moves to wing and we get a 2C at the DL if necessary.

That's not my #1 plan. It's a plan. I actually feel I could put 5-6 options out there w/ our cap space. I think Hex has positioned us well. Now he just needs to execute.

Giroux can barely play center at this point.

It is a bad option. Might as well play Carter at 2C, elevate Blueger at 3C and keep the money to make a bigger splash at the deadline.

My point is that, sure, there are options (there always are), but they are all pretty "meh". I just do not get the hesitation of going 4 years with Malkin when you just commited 6 years to 3 guys. Sure, Geno has been hurt a lot, but he is still a PPG player and a MUCH MUCH better player than anyone we could realistically get this offseason.

And there is also the business/marketing side. We are not going to be a top team for much longer, we must make sure we maintain good brand engagement. We could easily end up in the same state of fan apathy as the Buccos if we are not careful. Letting a legend walk will make people cynical, especially if the results are not there.

 

[ColePens]

I don't think he's a need to stay. Just that he's the best realistic option for 2C right now at a reasonable price. The other options are far lesser, or too expensive to get (and certainly now that we're down to 10 million or so in cap space).

It's more that it's a lack of vision. Signing Rakell and Letang and Rust were all seemingly pointing at bringing Geno back, but if he wasn't going to come back or seriously in the plans (as it appears at this point anyway), why settle for half-measures? Why not swing for the fences with that 25+ million in cap space and do a more serious overhaul?

I'm with you. I figured we shared a mindset. I totally get what you are saying. I'm just very open minded to anything and everything.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean, I'm already hella cynical and these moves aren't doing anything to make that go away.

Rakell for market value is fine, but it's not like he's Jake or anything.

And lord knows if this team is going to dick Geno over, just think of the f***ery that Jake's gonna get.

 

[ColePens]

Giroux can barely play center at this point.

It is a bad option. Might as well play Carter at 2C, elevate Blueger at 3C and keep the money to make a bigger splash at the deadline.

My point is that, sure, there are options (there always are), but they are all pretty "meh". I just do not get the hesitation of going 4 years with Malkin when you just commited 6 years to 3 guys. Sure, Geno has been hurt a lot, but he is still a PPG player and a MUCH MUCH better player than anyone we could realistically get this offseason.

And there is also the business/marketing side. We are not going to be a top team for much longer, we must make sure we maintain good brand engagement. We could easily end up in the same state of fan apathy as the Buccos if we are not careful. Letting a legend walk will make people cynical, especially if the results are not there.

Bro.. I literally said that as an option

 

[ChaosAgent]

I'm fully aware Dumo is a shell at this point and gone next year. But Pettersson has driven me nuts for years. I don't want him with an important role here.

He's average to below average in almost every category. He's very weak. He's good positionally and can somewhat pass the puck. He's also got a muffin shot and that's a huge no no for a dman for me.

He just bothers me more than he probably should but I'm too stubborn to change.

TBH I'm pretty relieved with the team's recent comments on Dumoulin.

I wanted him out for a while because I was worried that the team was going to throw silly money at him when this current contract ran out. Now it's clear that they see the regression but still like him with Letang. If that's the case I'm more inclined to just bring him back and play it out. Therefore Petts gotta go.