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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[Sidney the Kidney]

Could one really take a step backwards from Jankowski?

I can't remember who it was, but I remember either a fan or one of the local media talking about the addition of Jankowski adding some muscle/physicality. That's like saying signing Sheary adds some size to the wing.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

If the best C option is Domi, then hand Blueger the keys to the second line and go ham on his W support.

I like the idea in theory, but I'm not really comfortable without adding another C when Geno leaves. Need injury insurance for when one of Crosby, Blue and Carter aren't available. Could be for a sizeable portion of the year. We did well in the reg season last year because ERod filled in nicely in those situations. Carter turns 38 in January. We were fortunate that he played 76 games, but I don't expect us to be that lucky again. Sid's quite old too.
Would feel a lot better with a safety net, especially come playoff time.

This is true and I think some people have forgotten it.

But then again, the reason they've forgotten it is he spent a long time being an unbelievably huge disaster. And maybe they remember that his points totals look healthy due to an unbelievable stretch of play his first season here, and don't believe it can be replicated. Which makes it kind of fair to concentrate on the disaster part...

Well if year 1 was strong to the point of it being unsustainable then year 2 was bad to the point of it being unsustainable. He played below his Toronto level. Swings both ways.
I expect him to be better in year 3, on whatever team he plays for.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Put me in, coach.

Alright kid, but make sure you bring absolutely nothing positive to the ice.

 

[SEALBound]

To be fair, the swap is more so Ceci vs Ruhwedel because the other 5 guys are the same. I'd also point out that Matheson took a huge stride forward from where he was in 2020-2021, so I think that's worth mentioning too. I just had Matheson and Marino as a pair instead of bumping Pettersson to the 2nd pair.

There's also upgrading from Carter to Jankowski, which was a pretty massive step upwards.

That's fair on Carter overall, 2022 playoffs notwithstanding.

Matheson taking the next step up has little to do with Hextall though.

This team will really begin to take Hextall's form this season and next. That's when some of the "fat" will fall off and I think bigger trades/signings are likely to happen. I'm hoping for a 2015 to 2016 transformation.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Technically, Sheary did add size to the wing. Just, like, 5'3" and 140lbs worth of it.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Jank was one of those deals where you desperately hope beyond hope he can provide solid cheap depth but just... more or less does what most expect, instead. I still maintain I'd rather largely spend Jank-level money on depth guys as opposed to shitting all over myself to go out and sign another Tanev or whatever. But there are happy mediums besides those two extremes, of course.

 

[IcedCapp]

It’s not the size of the, uh, er, winger, it’s what you do with it.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Matheson taking the next step up has little to do with Hextall though.

Huge credit to Reirden there. Hope he sticks around.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Jank was one of those deals where you desperately hope beyond hope he can provide solid cheap depth but just... more or less does what most expect, instead. I still maintain I'd rather largely spend Jank-level money on depth guys as opposed to shitting all over myself to go out and sign another Tanev or whatever. But there are happy mediums besides those two extremes, of course.

Yeah I was just thinking that it would have been nice to go reclamation project cheap on a guy in McGinn's role after you lost Tanev. Getting out of that contract was a blessing and I would have been totally happy to not spend that money to just replace him with a lesser version.

If McGinn wasn't stapled to the 4th line, I wouldn't mind it, but he's stapled to the 4th line. I would much rather retain both Heinen and Kapanen and not have McGinn than lose one of those two and keep McGinn.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I don't even know if Reiden had that much to do with Matheson's turn around since Mikey Maths was pretty much universally viewed as being misused in Florida.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yeah I was just thinking that it would have been nice to go reclamation project cheap on a guy in McGinn's role after you lost Tanev. Getting out of that contract was a blessing and I would have been totally happy to not spend that money to just replace him with a lesser version.

If McGinn wasn't stapled to the 4th line, I wouldn't mind it, but he's stapled to the 4th line. I would much rather retain both Heinen and Kapanen and not have McGinn than lose one of those two and keep McGinn.

I'm pretty down on Kap but I completely agree.

McGinn isn't a bad player, really. He's just not a game-changer even within his role. And is a bit of an expensive luxury on a roster that has a flabby top six and more work to do on top of that.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

I don't even know if Reiden had that much to do with Matheson's turn around since Mikey Maths was pretty much universally viewed as being misused in Florida.

Matheson's spoken at length about his impact on his game.
Considering what Reirden did for Letang, I believe it 100%.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Matheson's spoken at length about his impact on his game.
Considering what Reirden did for Letang, I believe it 100%.

I stand corrected then. Glad to hear it.

I'm pretty down on Kap but I completely agree.

McGinn isn't a bad player, really. He's just not a game-changer even within his role. And is a bit of an expensive luxury on a roster that has a flabby top six and more work to do on top of that.

Yeah I was just thinking that it would have been nice to go reclamation project cheap on a guy in McGinn's role after you lost Tanev. Getting out of that contract was a blessing and I would have been totally happy to not spend that money to just replace him with a lesser version.

If McGinn wasn't stapled to the 4th line, I wouldn't mind it, but he's stapled to the 4th line. I would much rather retain both Heinen and Kapanen and not have McGinn than lose one of those two and keep McGinn.

I think McGinn is a player this team thinks they need instead of actually needs, if that makes sense? Like the idea of him works on paper but there's just no place to use him effectively and he's not really quite the player we imagine him to be and it just ends up disappointing everyone.

At least with Kap you can see the potential every once in a while.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Yeah, the biggest issue with the Penguins is that they have or on track to have 4 3rd line wingers making $2.5 million or more, when they should only have at most 3 of those.

I'm fine with any 3rd line that has Carter between Zucker, Heinen, Kapanen or McGinn. Zucker-Carter-McGinn is probably the one I like the least and Heinen-Carter-Kapanen is the one I like the most, but all of them are at least fine. The issue is that having 4 of those guys means you have to have one with Malkin, which you shouldn't be that comfortable with. If you keep all of those guys, the best case scenario I see is basically the same forward group they had in game 7 last year:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Rakell-Malkin-Kapanen
Zucker-Carter-Heinen
O'Connor-Blueger-McGinn

And frankly, I don't even know if this works with the cap with just Pettersson being moved out either.

If you didn't have McGinn, you could combine the money between him and say Zucker and get a really nice top-6 forward to bump Kapanen to the 3rd line, or you could even combine him with one of Kapanen or Heinen and get another Rakell caliber player. I just don't know why they decided to pay that much for a 4th liner.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I stand corrected then. Glad to hear it.




I think McGinn is a player this team thinks they need instead of actually needs, if that makes sense? Like the idea of him works on paper but there's just no place to use him effectively and he's not really quite the player we imagine him to be and it just ends up disappointing everyone.

Yeah no that makes total sense to me. He's just one of these guys that this boring-ass, overcoached league gets all hot and bothered about after another team already got his best years/game and fall all over themselves to sign as a "top level PKer and responsible two way player" or whatever the latest canned coach-speak is.

Meanwhile the team he is coming out of has already decided they don't want to pay him to stick around and that's why he's even available. Smart teams CREATE these guys. They don't go chasing after them.

 

[Pens x]

For good reasons. Sullivan is legitimately an elite coach.

The real question is: did he overstay his welcome HERE? Managers, any managers in any industry, have a shelf life. They get promoted, re-assigned or fired at some point. There is a very good reason why some company have a policy to move directors across branches and departments every X years. People are creature of habits and if you want to continue to improve, you need to break out of the bad habits. To be able to do that, you need new eyes/new challenges you will approach with a different perspective. THAT'S the reason why you fire a Sullivan, not because he sucks.

He’s a good coach, but needed to go after 2020.

I do think he’s a bit overrated though. JR should get some credit for putting together a good squad. Unlike our current GM, JR didn’t tread water for 2 years, blaming his predecessor.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I'd rather have E-Rod than Kapanen in a middle-6 role. And I pretty much don't give a shit if I ever see E-Rod in a Pens jersey again. At least E-Rod's got the versatility to play center if/when one of our dinosaurs breaks a hip.

 

[HandshakeLine]

"top level PKer and responsible two way player" or whatever the latest canned coach-speak is.

Another huge pet peeve-- if we are stacked with so many PKers, why are we so f***ing bad at it?

I feel like a big thing with players like Poolparty or Kap too though is that teams are reluctant to let them go just because of the off chance they'll actually put it together-- not because they'll miss out on an asset, mind you, but because it looks embarrassing.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I'd rather have E-Rod than Kapanen in a middle-6 role. And I pretty much don't give a shit if I ever see E-Rod in a Pens jersey again. At least E-Rod's got the versatility to play center if/when one of our dinosaurs breaks a hip.

I'd rather have ERod AND Kap as opposed to Carter.

Sorry sorry... I know we aren't supposed to bag on Carter.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I mean, outside of the big 3 + Jake (which let's be honest, a fair amount of the attachment is nostalgia-based) I don't think I'd like to have anyone on this roster.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I'd rather have ERod AND Kap as opposed to Carter.

Sorry sorry... I know we aren't supposed to bag on Carter.

Heinen-Blueger-Kap
DOC-E-Rod-Zoho/Puustinen

Seems like a fine bottom-6 to me, if you lobotomize yourself and forget Sully won't ever play Blueger at anything but 4C, and forget that NHL execs MUST HAVE their vet presence in the bottom-6, namely on the 4th line.

/shrug

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I mean, outside of the big 3 + Jake (which let's be honest, a fair amount of the attachment is nostalgia-based) I don't think I'd like to have anyone on this roster.

For real. I really don't have any favorites on this roster outside the obvious. It's an extremely boring team. Soon to get even more boring.

Heinen-Blueger-Kap
DOC-E-Rod-Zoho/Puustinen

Seems like a fine bottom-6 to me, if you lobotomize yourself and forget Sully won't ever play Blueger at anything but 4C, and forget that NHL execs MUST HAVE their vet presence in the bottom-6, namely on the 4th line.

/shrug

I have zero qualms with this approach if it gets them a real second line for a change.

 

[HandshakeLine]

For real. I really don't have any favorites on this roster outside the obvious. It's an extremely boring team. Soon to get even more boring.

I think I felt more strongly about Nick Spaling, and Nick Spaling had as much flavah as a packing peanut.

 

[Pens x]

We lost the the last two years largely due to goaltending, but dumb f*** Hextall decides to re-sign the goalie that’s been injured and unable to play?

Can we stop praising our joke of a GM? This is just a lazy signing.

Under no circumstances should we have re-signed him. Never mind the fact that he sucked most of last year.

Hextall is trash

 

[HandshakeLine]

Heinen-Blueger-Kap
DOC-E-Rod-Zoho/Puustinen

Seems like a fine bottom-6 to me, if you lobotomize yourself and forget Sully won't ever play Blueger at anything but 4C, and forget that NHL execs MUST HAVE their vet presence in the bottom-6, namely on the 4th line.

One can argue that Bleuger's a vet at this point. Hell, most of our roster are vets.