Salary Cap: Pens Salary Cap Thread: If we score 6 we win, its science!

[Pens x]

If the Bruins can terminate Mitchell Miller’s contract, maybe we can terminate DeSmith’s contract?

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I think Matheson was pretty overrated here. He skated really well and that was about it. He was a shitshow defensively, and didn't really provide offense to the degree you're really looking for as a second layer behind Letang.

Marino was pretty shit here outside of his first 50-60 games in his rookie year, but it's becoming pretty apparent that it was likely due to coaching influence rather than Marino just being a flat-out turd. Seems like the FO moved him because they needed to clear a bit of cap and the asking price to take on Petts wasn't palatable and Dumo was never even considered to be on the table despite a steady decline in play in recent years.

I've never been a fan of Petry's, and would cringe whenever he was brought up as a potential Letang replacement if he'd left this past summer. I think he's way too wild in the pendulum swings of his game. He's a bit of a lazy dipshit, he's prone to dumb penalties, and is just as much a clownfest in his own zone as Matheson was. He's not as good of a skater or in transition, but he provides a bit more physicality and he's historically been better at directly producing from the blueline and I think that was the main goal--to try and get somebody to reliably be a threat from the backend when Letang wasn't on the ice. Just hasn't worked out thus far.

I'm still interested in seeing how Smith develops. A Smith-Rutta bottom pairing seems pretty promising because it'd get sheltered minutes and Rutta is a fine partner for a dude who is way more offensively capable and focused like Smith. It's just gonna be a bit of an issue to sort out the rest of the blueline to fit that bottom pairing in. You're gonna need somebody more defensive-minded to handle being Petry's babysitter, and I'm not sure POJ is that guy. If anything, I think you have to look to dump Dumo and promote POJ to play with Letang full-time in a sink or swim move. He certainly can't be as bad as Dumo's been. I just don't think the FO or coaching staff see Dumo as the problem he very clearly is. I don't know that Dumo would be super sought after with his play recently, but GMs do love a resume and Dumo's has "2x Cup winner, defensive-minded vet, top pairing minutes" so I'm sure some doofus out there would be willing to take a chance on him, if not give something decently valuable in return. I hate to bring up Scuderi-Daley because that was such a wildly anomalous situation that I don't think it'll happen again, but if end of career Scuderi can be dealt, and dealt for a good return, then anything's possible I guess.

 

[pistolpete11]

Its a mix of players coaching staff and the Management.

I believe we traded away our 2nd and 3rd best defenseman for a player who Is playing in the AHL and in my opinion a player who I do believe is slightly better however I feel Matheson was coming out of his shell.

I just don't get it.

The special teams are a disaster. Is that all on the players? It seems certain things they do on the PK is out of wack.

Power Play I'd put more blame on the players though.

I do not know what we do but mediocrity should not be the goal with this roster.

They also got a 3rd and about $3M in space which they were able to use on Rutta who has been great and, along with Petry, added much needed size to the blueline.

Smith is in the AHL now, but we'll see what type of impact he makes from here on out.

 

[Zbynek]

Its a mix of players coaching staff and the Management.

I believe we traded away our 2nd and 3rd best defenseman for a player who Is playing in the AHL and in my opinion a player who I do believe is slightly better however I feel Matheson was coming out of his shell.

I just don't get it.

The special teams are a disaster. Is that all on the players? It seems certain things they do on the PK is out of wack.

Power Play I'd put more blame on the players though.

I do not know what we do but mediocrity should not be the goal with this roster.

It is hilarious that Ty Smith will never even play with the big club.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

It is hilarious that Ty Smith will never even play with the big club.

I don't think that's the case. Injuries will likely hit and he'd be the first callup.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I don't miss Matheson even remotely. He's not a fit in the Penguins top-4 at all, he's too expensive for the bottom pair and you always had the worry about "Bad Matheson" if you overplayed him in too high of a role. I really liked Matheson when he was here, but Hextall was a genius for getting out of his contract (and frankly getting terrific value for him) when he did.

People forget that Matheson greatly fell off when he was moved up in the lineup last year. His excellent performance was when he was playing with Ruhwedel on the 3rd pair. He was awful with Letang and Marino compared to how he was with Ruhwedel, especially if you focus specifically on the end of the year.

They had to make changes to the defense that involved trading 2 of Marino, Pettersson and Matheson. I think the reasonable argument to make is that they should have kept Marino and tried to move Pettersson and Matheson instead, but I think that just opens up a can of worms of "how exactly are you going to do that?". But overall, I can agree with the thought. I don't think there is any way to argue they shouldn't have moved on from Matheson, I think it was the obvious decision considering the construction of the rest of the defense.

I'm curious if you could have pulled off Smith for Matheson from New Jersey in the off-season instead of Smith for Marino.

 

[Jobeycool]

Nope the opposing team scores 7...

 

[Gurglesons]

If people are going to prop up Marino’s performance they better be giving Pettersson his flowers.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

If people are going to prop up Marino’s performance they better be giving Pettersson his flowers.

For sure. I've been extremely anti-Petts for a couple years but credit where it's due, man, he's been our best defenseman thus far. Particularly considering he's been paired with Petry and his pretty rocky start.

Would be cool to see Rutta given more time, though he's been getting more in recent games. I think he's been pretty strong as well, right up there with Petts.

 

[Trade]

If people are going to prop up Marino’s performance they better be giving Pettersson his flowers.

Come on, you know this place isn’t that levelheaded! Maybe if Petts had a nicer head of hair.

Petts also looked a lot better in the postseason than Marino last year. Won’t stop the typical talking heads here from saying that trading Marino was the worst move in franchise history.

 

[Gurglesons]

Come on, you know this place isn’t that levelheaded! Maybe if Petts had a nicer head of hair.

Petts also looked a lot better in the postseason than Marino last year. Won’t stop the typical talking heads here from saying that trading Marino was the worst move in franchise history.

When we have a bunch of 6’2 defensive defenders that actually have weight on their bodies we can talk about how Marino would succeed here.

Petts - Petry has been way better than any Marino pairing in Jersey. Solid win.

Send Dumo to the moon and this team wins the next game immediately IMO.

 

[K Fleur]

Everything went to shit after they traded ZAR and Simon.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Everything went to shit after they traded ZAR and Simon.

*Sprong

 

[Trade]

When we have a bunch of 6’2 defensive defenders that actually have weight on their bodies we can talk about how Marino would succeed here.

Petts - Petry has been way better than any Marino pairing in Jersey. Solid win.

Send Dumo to the moon and this team wins the next game immediately IMO.

I’d even settle for Sully realizing Dumo is nothing more than a #5/#6. Simply playing Dumo for 13-15 minutes a night instead of 20+ would a massive step in the right direction.

Disburse those minutes between Petts, Rutta and POJ. What’s the worst that can happen, we lose 8 in a row? Boo hoo.

 

[K Fleur]

I’m all for trading Dumo as long as we bring in a veteran player.

 

[Zbynek]

I don't think that's the case. Injuries will likely hit and he'd be the first callup.

Ruh and Friedman are ahead of him in line.

And even if he does get a callup no chance Sullivan lets him play more than a game or two with the big club.

 

[Andy99]

The East has been steadily improving. Detroit, Buffalo and New Jersey have been accumulating top picks for a decade now. It’s not surprising that they are finally becoming more competitive.

That being said, the best team in the East right now is the Bruins. The Islanders are also comfortably in a playoff team and they are in the same age group as us. They also had the balls to fire their coaches who were viewed as “some of the best in the league”. Weird huh?

The roster is controlling games. The core top six is producing. And then they fall apart and lose games or their special teams are a disaster. That is on coaching.

Think by the end of the season the playoff teams in the Metro will be Carolina, NYR, NYI and NJD…

 

[KrisLetAngry]

They also got a 3rd and about $3M in space which they were able to use on Rutta who has been great and, along with Petry, added much needed size to the blueline.

Smith is in the AHL now, but we'll see what type of impact he makes from here on out.

Smith for sure is an NHL er and I hope Blossoms into a top 4 D.

Thing is we are in cup mode atleast to start this season.

A top 4 defensemen for a player In the AHL goes backwards.


I just think we could have done better. We took on cap with the Petry deal when maybe we could have done something different.

Unfortunately we are stuck and gotta deal with. My only suggestion is Dumo 3rd pair stat.

 

[BusinessGoose]

I’m all for trading Dumo as long as we bring in a veteran player.

Shit. I dont think you could even get a hotdog from Wawa for Dumo.

Dude costs millions and is so overcooked Gordan Ramsey just threw a hockey puck at your face.

 

[eXile3]

I wish the false narrative that Marino & MM stunk would die. It would be one thing if you had evidence but people just point to a few plays during the course of the season when nothing else seems to indicate as much.

Do people really think other teams second pairings don’t make mistakes? At least the two of them could drive possession and skate the puck out of the zone.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Ruh and Friedman are ahead of him in line.

And even if he does get a callup no chance Sullivan lets him play more than a game or two with the big club.

Ruh maybe, but I think Smith is next in line after that

 

[Empoleon8771]

I wish the false narrative that Marino & MM stunk would die. It would be one thing if you had evidence but people just point to a few plays during the course of the season when nothing else seems to indicate as much.

Do people really think other teams second pairings don’t make mistakes? At least the two of them could drive possession and skate the puck out of the zone.

I don't know about Marino, but Matheson's analytics cratered to end the year as he was playing with Letang and Marino. His results were notably better with Ruhwedel than they were with Marino and Letang.

The playoffs were even worse, Matheson-Letang got scored on 9 times in 7 games at 5v5 and they had bad analytics as well.

 

[66-30-33]

*Sprong

*Despres

 

[Andy99]

Ok for a moment of levity among the troops? Lol…what’s wrong with this team‘s PP is encapsulated in Sid dressing up as Ted Lasso and Geno as Phoebe Bridgers…



Also, I thought I was negative and then I read Zeise…the apocalypse is nigh…

Paul Zeise: Nobody should be surprised by Penguins' struggles

The Penguins are mired in a seven-game losing streak. They still have the same flaws they had a year ago, they still have the same inconsistency in goal,...

www.post-gazette.com

 

[BusinessGoose]

Can they dress as superstars that can score a damn powerplay goal, instead?

f***ing hell.. They're just gonna mail it in and shuffle to the sunset, huh?