Salary Cap: Pens Salary Thread: Pens Ownership "Dubas... that Coca-Cola machine. I want you to shoot the lock off it. There may be some waiver players in there."

[Gurglesons]

The EK trade made sense because it rid the team of some meh/bad players and gave one last homerun swing at things to prove that A. the era's dead, and B. Sully's incompetent. But I'll be damned if this team's capable of learning or acknowledging failures, so buckle up for more dogshit hockey until Sid decides he's gonna allow the era to die and the organization to turn the page.

Wish we would’ve targeted JT Miller over EK in retrospect.

He’s the kind of dickhead that would call Sullivan out in the media.

Also, you know. Gotta run this Hextall is better than Dubas thing into the dirt.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Wish we would’ve targeted JT Miller over EK in retrospect.

He’s the kind of dickhead that would call Sullivan out in the media.

Also, you know. Gotta run this Hextall is better than Dubas thing into the dirt.

I wish this team would've done about two dozen things differently over the past six years tbh. Just laughably stupid decisions made by ownership, multiple FOs, and the coach over and over again. Cool organization.

 

[BusinessGoose]

I wish this team would've done about two dozen things differently over the past six years tbh. Just laughably stupid decisions made by ownership, multiple FOs, and the coach over and over again. Cool organization.

We have ended up with the worst possible outcome of every single decision for the better part of a decade

If i wanted to see that, i would look in the mirror

These f***ers are supposed to let me live vicariously successfully

They just remind me of failing lol

 

[HandshakeLine]

It rules that we only have coaches who work on reducing the strengths of this team, what little as they are.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Even if the team would've landed JT Miller, Sully would've either run him outta town for being outspoken, or he'd have him playing like Rakell by the 30th game of his first season. Just miserable shit.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Wish we would’ve targeted JT Miller over EK in retrospect.

He’s the kind of dickhead that would call Sullivan out in the media.

Also, you know. Gotta run this Hextall is better than Dubas thing into the dirt.

Miller's also someone who could have fixed this Power Play, and would have been a high percentage shooter overall, to aid our incredibly poor finishing.
Plus like you mentioned, that abrasive attitude that would help his teammates play with more guts and swagger. Feel like that's a teammate that could really motivate Malkin.

Perfect type of player for our weaknesses. It's a goddamn shame we failed to secure him.
Not like he would have cured everything, but it would have made this season more entertaining for the fans at least.

 

[Jacob]

How about Guy Boucher for HC? Quirky guy that doesn’t seem to have had a long shelf life in his first 2 stops, but he is familiar with both Sid and Karlsson. I like that he is willing to try unique things like the 1-3-1, and the left wing lock thing he did in Ottawa since they had all physical LD and all mobile RD. That’s some out-of-the-box thinking by NHL coaching standards, he’s not just a guy that tries to hammer 23 squares into 23 round holes.

Currently an assistant in Toronto, runs the PP. It’s like one of the best in the league, but it was before he got there too so who knows.

 

[Rudy Russo]

How about Guy Boucher for HC? Quirky guy that doesn’t seem to have had a long shelf life in his first 2 stops, but he is familiar with both Sid and Karlsson. I like that he is willing to try unique things like the 1-3-1, and the left wing lock thing he did in Ottawa since they had all physical LD and all mobile RD. That’s some out-of-the-box thinking by NHL coaching standards, he’s not just a guy that tries to hammer 23 squares into 23 round holes.

Currently an assistant in Toronto, runs the PP. It’s like one of the best in the league, but it was before he got there too so who knows.

I feel we are stuck with Sullivan for the next two years, but I do like the 1-3-1 style.

 

[66-30-33]

How about Guy Boucher for HC? Quirky guy that doesn’t seem to have had a long shelf life in his first 2 stops, but he is familiar with both Sid and Karlsson. I like that he is willing to try unique things like the 1-3-1, and the left wing lock thing he did in Ottawa since they had all physical LD and all mobile RD. That’s some out-of-the-box thinking by NHL coaching standards, he’s not just a guy that tries to hammer 23 squares into 23 round holes.

Currently an assistant in Toronto, runs the PP. It’s like one of the best in the league, but it was before he got there too so who knows.

Does he come with the "stop playing and just stand on the ice in the D zone wasting time" too?

 

[Gurglesons]

Wonder if we can do Reilly Smith at 50% plus a pick for Nic Hague and the rights to Stephenson this summer.

 

[DearDiary]

Bylsma took a team that had Crosby/Malkin/Staal missing 40+ games each to 106 points. Then took them to game 7 against Tampa with Crosby/Malkin missing every single game. All with a significantly worse roster than Sullivan has ever iced.

Sullivans biggest issue is he can't motivate his players, they don't play hard for him. They've had games where they've completely given up on him, notably the last 2 games of last season. Even when the Pens lost under Bylsma, it was never from lack of effort from anyone on the roster. It was either poor goaltending, other teams shutting down Crosby/Malkin because they lacked playmaking wingers or a bottom 6 full of grinders. Shero also never gave the team any kind of identity, it was a mashup of all kinds of players that wasn't suited for any 1 system.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Figured pixies would enjoy those tweets.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Bylsma took a team that had Crosby/Malkin/Staal missing 40+ games each to 106 points. Then took them to game 7 against Tampa with Crosby/Malkin missing every single game. All with a significantly worse roster than Sullivan has ever iced.

Sullivans biggest issue is he can't motivate his players, they don't play hard for him. They've had games where they've completely given up on him, notably the last 2 games of last season. Even when the Pens lost under Bylsma, it was never from lack of effort from anyone on the roster. It was either poor goaltending, other teams shutting down Crosby/Malkin because they lacked playmaking wingers or a bottom 6 full of grinders. Shero also never gave the team any kind of identity, it was a mashup of all kinds of players that wasn't suited for any 1 system.

The year without Crosby & Malkin is still so wild to me how they did so well.

Figured pixies would enjoy those tweets.

When most of the roster is in place before you start your job can make this difficult.

Smith - guy sulked here and this aquasition failed.
Eller - Paid to stop goals from going in as a bottom 6 C. I think this was good.
Accairi - bad contract failed
Graves - failing and some of this has gotta be the defensive system Sully has in place
Ned - back up goalie that played well.
Karlsson - Sully coached Magic out of him

Bunting - still has whatever Cane magic he had. Soon Sully will beat it out of him.

I'm on the let's see what happens this off season before I sour on Dubas. I do wish Sully would be let go. A team would take him on.

I just don't think

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Yeah, I basically don't give a shit about the present day and am mostly gonna judge Dubas on his work in the teardown/rebuild chapter. But this first summer and season have been about as shitty as Hextall imo. I get that he just bent the knee to Sully on a lot of stuff, but still. If EK didn't fall into his lap, his work so far would've been pretty miserable.

But again, none of this shit really matters. Just tapping my foot and waiting impatiently for the next chapter, then we'll see what Dubas can do. Not super optimistic though based on the guys this team has keyed in on for years thanks to the shitty pro and amateur scouts. Yager might be a sneaky good pick though.

 

[HandshakeLine]

My big beef with how he's handled the year is that he hasn't really shown any vision. He's shown he can execute Sully's vision, and we saw how well that worked out, but I am terrified of the idea of him and Sully overseeing the rebuild.

I thought he was going to come in and at least impose a bit of his vision for the club, but we didn't get anything but rubber stamping.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Figured pixies would enjoy those tweets.

Also funny how the local media always pins the blame on the GM but NEVER the guy in charge of actually getting that roster to perform on the ice.

It's Dubas' fault this season, just like it's Hextall's fault for the previous 2 or 3 seasons, just like it was Rutherford's fault prior to that.

Gee, maybe look at the guy who's been around for all three GMs?

f*** off with this stupid ass media who does nothing but lick Sullivan's asshole.

 

[ZorkEnchanter]

My big beef with how he's handled the year is that he hasn't really shown any vision. He's shown he can execute Sully's vision, and we saw how well that worked out, but I am terrified of the idea of him and Sully overseeing the rebuild.

I thought he was going to come in and at least impose a bit of his vision for the club, but we didn't get anything but rubber stamping.

Yup.

If he bends the knee again to Sully after the shit show this year, we are in for a long rebuild. And there is no way in hell Sullivan should lead a rebuild with young players.... he's awful at coaching up.

1. Dubas came in.
2. Sully wanted his 2 line system.
3. Dubas filled the Penguins with Sully grinders. Come on you know who f***ing blew a nut over Nieto/Acciari
4. The PP literally just stays the same. "Just keep swimming..."

Sully doesn't f***ing have a clue on what/how to coach hockey 2024. He's just lost the room and it happens when you have been the same place for so long (especially in hockey)

We'll see what happens in the off season.

 

[AjaxTelamon]

Though Rakell and Smith have certainly had off years, and in Rakell's case some bad injury luck, I can't help but wonder how many of their issues can we reasonably pin on Geno being really bad at ES. I am wondering when they are finally going to give up on Geno at center. Though he's certainly never been great at wing, that has to be where we end up sometime soon. Could it be next year? Would he tolerate this, and who would he tolerate being his centerman aside from Sid?

 

[Pens1566]

The longer this goes on, the more it should be laid at Sully's feet. He's the only commonality (aside from the core) across 3 different FO regimes. Each year gets measurably worse than the last, all while we just need to keep sticking to it more and things will just work out.

I don't know how anyone can look at this and see otherwise.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

My big beef with how he's handled the year is that he hasn't really shown any vision. He's shown he can execute Sully's vision, and we saw how well that worked out, but I am terrified of the idea of him and Sully overseeing the rebuild.

I thought he was going to come in and at least impose a bit of his vision for the club, but we didn't get anything but rubber stamping.

This is my biggest issue with Dubas.

His hallmark in Toronto was constructing a team of offensive players throughout the lineup, so I was intrigued about him doing that in Pittsburgh. But instead, he just cowtowed to Sullivan and built a roster that Sullivan creams his pants over.

 

[Fordy]

i'm not saying x
i'm not giving up on y

these guys get paid to write or what

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Also funny how the local media always pins the blame on the GM but NEVER the guy in charge of actually getting that roster to perform on the ice.

It's Dubas' fault this season, just like it's Hextall's fault for the previous 2 or 3 seasons, just like it was Rutherford's fault prior to that.

Gee, maybe look at the guy who's been around for all three GMs?

f*** off with this stupid ass media who does nothing but lick Sullivan's asshole.

It's cool that ownership, the FO, scouting depts, and Sullivan have just ratf***ed the final like 8 years of this era. Mario shrugged and didn't care enough to fire anybody after the Habs play-in loss. JR, from 2017 until he was fired, was a maniac. Hextall was a f***ing buffoon. Jury's still out on Dubas but it hasn't been a good start. Sullivan's been a menace the entire time. Scouting's sucked as far as trades, signings and draft picks for years.

Just a total shitshow from top to bottom, and nearly every decision made for years has blown up in their faces.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

It's cool that ownership, the FO, scouting depts, and Sullivan have just ratf***ed the final like 8 years of this era. Mario shrugged and didn't care enough to fire anybody after the Habs play-in loss. JR, from 2017 until he was fired, was a maniac. Hextall was a f***ing buffoon. Sullivan's been a menace the entire time. Scouting's sucked as far as trades, signings and draft picks for years.

Just a total shitshow from top to bottom, and nearly every decision made for years has blown up in their faces.

The lack of blame for Sullivan just irks me beyond measure. Everyone else associated with this shitshow has received their share of the blame (and rightfully so), except pressure Mikey "The Coaching GOD" Sullivan. It's beyond stupid.

Remember how for years Crosby and Malkin were able to do "more with less" and that's what made them franchise talents? Well, the way the media and the organization talk about Sullivan, he's this "generational coach". So if he's so great as a coach, shouldn't he be able to do "more with less"? Isn't that the hallmark of a great coach? So even IF we want to assume all three GMs put together mediocre rosters, shouldn't a generational coach showcase what makes him so good by over-performing the roster?

So annoying.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

The lack of blame for Sullivan just irks me beyond measure. Everyone else associated with this shitshow has received their share of the blame (and rightfully so), except pressure Mikey "The Coaching GOD" Sullivan. It's beyond stupid.

Remember how for years Crosby and Malkin were able to do "more with less" and that's what made them franchise talents? Well, the way the media and the organization talk about Sullivan, he's this "generational coach". So if he's so great as a coach, shouldn't he be able to do "more with less"? Isn't that the hallmark of a great coach? So even IF we want to assume all three GMs put together mediocre rosters, shouldn't a generational coach showcase what makes him so good by over-performing the roster?

So annoying.

Eagerly awaiting the day Yohe begins to openly criticize Sullivan in articles, because that's when you'll know he's on his way out.

Also still hoping for a mutual parting of ways this summer between Sully and the organization, but that is probably too hopeful considering how dysfunctional and incompetent this org's become.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Eagerly awaiting the day Yohe begins to openly criticize Sullivan in articles, because that's when you'll know he's on his way out.

Also still hoping for a mutual parting of ways this summer between Sully and the organization, but that is probably too hopeful considering how dysfunctional and incompetent this org's become.

Did he ever openly criticize Bylsma?

DK crticized Sullivan today on his Daily Shot podcast, which shocked me, and again on his website, so maybe there is hope.