Salary Cap: Pens Summer Salary Thread: Dull days of August... Oooo! A trade!

[AuroraBorealis]

Between the two, Simon actually has the best goal scoring season in the AHL. Simon's best year was 25 goals in 68 games, while Puustinen's best year was 24 goals in 72 games.

AHL stats never meant much to me, in terms of projecting what will happen.
There's too many cases of good AHL scoring not carrying over or meh AHL scoring suddenly turning into good NHL scoring outta nowhere.
I just wait for the NHL sample size.
I don't have big expectations from Puustinen but I think he'll be a better point producer than Simon in the end. The bar is low.

 

[Rudy Russo]

One of Eller or Acciari has gotta go, right? Having a hard time figuring out the bottom six if McGroarty is making the team.

How about shipping out both prior to opening night?

 

[SEALBound]

I mean center over LW, ESPECIALLY top six center, and Yager is a finisher with a great shot and mcGroaty is not…skating also favors Yager…so they traded for a slower, less good scorer who’s more physical and plays a less premium position…it doesn’t make sense unless they believe that Yager is not top six material, even if he hasn’t put on the requisite muscle yet…again, seems to come down to the fact that they don’t think Yager will be all that good …I hope they’re right, but it’s the only way to rationalize this trade

I wouldn't say Rutger is a "less good scorer" at all. We don't have many good comparables between the NCAA and WHL. But both went the WJC last year. Yager - 2g in 5gp. McGroarty - 5g in 7gp.

I think you're giving up a tough of skating/speed for added physicality. Which, at the moment, is an overall net win for us. We now have McGroarty, Bunting, DOC, and then the likes of Lizotte, Hayes, Accairi, Puljujarvi, etc helping us with gritty forechecking. We now have three guys not scared to get their noses dirty in front of the net. At the end of the day, I think I take that over adding another smoother-skating guy.

 

[Ryder71]

I mean center over LW, ESPECIALLY top six center, and Yager is a finisher with a great shot and mcGroaty is not…skating also favors Yager…so they traded for a slower, less good scorer who’s more physical and plays a less premium position…it doesn’t make sense unless they believe that Yager is not top six material, even if he hasn’t put on the requisite muscle yet…again, seems to come down to the fact that they don’t think Yager will be all that good …I hope they’re right, but it’s the only way to rationalize this trade

Very good post!

I agree with your premise, Center is undoubtedly the premium position. And Skating is important as well. McGroaty is likely more NHL ready and could garner top six minutes sooner. I'd say McGroaty's offensive acumen is superior to Yagers, but all around play likely goes to Yager. I always prefer Centers to wingers all things being equal.

For me it's a slight upgrade, but I would have been fine to not do this deal.

 

[TimmyD]

From everything I've read about McGroaty, he seems to be a perfect fit with Crosby. I think what I'd actually advocate for is O'Connor-Crosby-McGroaty and Bunting-Malkin-Rust in the top-6, but I think we all know it will be McGroaty-Crosby-Rust and Bunting-Malkin-Rakell.

I think the best lineup they could go with right now is:

McGroaty-Crosby-Rakell
Bunting-Malkin-Rust
O'Connor-Eller-Puustinen
Lizotte-Glass-Beauvillier
Hayes-Acciari

Then we aren’t going to see the best possible lineup because no way is Hayes getting scratched

 

[Turin]

Looking at his highlights he plays a pro game but his skating is kinda shit. If he can improve it he could make a decent enough impact in the NHL right off the bat with how he plays and thinks. If he can't.. idk, might be quite the adjustment.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Puus has a much better shot in basically all categories over Simon. The problem to me is at least at the NHL level he doesn't quite have the skating/IQ to be in the best spots to use it. Plus he's a little slow getting it off IMO.

He will start to shoot more and more dangerously when he grows in confidence at this level.
A good start would be to give him PP1 left wall and let him tee off. If he learns to get aggressive with it on the PP, that'll carry over to 5v5.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Then we aren’t going to see the best possible lineup because no way is Hayes getting scratched

Well yeah, they're not going to scratch Hayes. They just should scratch him.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Honestly it would make some sense to have Sid's line play with pace and put McG on Malkin's line to play a more measured game that doesn't require top tier skating since he's not going to be breaking any speed records anytime soon, anyway. A playmaking wing that goes hard to the net and plays a more physical game actually profiles well to Malkin's game both in the past and present.

But we're about as likely to get eaten by a shark being ridden around by a unicorn while simultaneously getting struck by lightening. So...

 

[TimmyD]

My best guess at a lineup is

McGroarty Sid Rust
Bunting Malkin Rakell
DOC Hayes Glass
Lizotte Eller Beauvillier

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

But we're about as likely to get eaten by a shark being ridden around by a unicorn while simultaneously getting struck by lightening. So...

So, you're telling me to play the lottery.

 

[Ulf5]

I don't care about that, I care about accruing picks and prospects to help further the long term viability of the team.

The kid is only 20. Same difference except he's ready to ball now. If we ever get that franchise altering pick(s), he can be moved for picks or prospects that fit that cornerstone's time-line.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Honestly it would make some sense to have Sid's line play with pace and put McG on Malkin's line to play a more measured game that doesn't require top tier skating since he's not going to be breaking any speed records anytime soon, anyway. A playmaking wing that goes hard to the net and plays a more physical game actually profiles well to Malkin's game both in the past and present.

But we're about as likely to get eaten by a shark being ridden around by a unicorn while simultaneously getting struck by lightening. So...

I hope Dubas consulted with Sullivan about usage for McGroarty before making the deal. Because if Dubas is envisioning adding a young top six player to play with either Sid or Geno and Sullivan is envisioning his usual "he can learn to PK/play like ZAR in the bottom six first", then we have problems.

 

[SEALBound]

Very good post!

I agree with your premise, Center is undoubtedly the premium position. And Skating is important as well. McGroaty is likely more NHL ready and could garner top six minutes sooner. I'd say McGroaty's offensive acumen is superior to Yagers, but all around play likely goes to Yager. I always prefer Centers to wingers all things being equal.

For me it's a slight upgrade, but I would have been fine to not do this deal.

McGroaty plays both wing and center. Yager has primarily been a center but it's not uncommon for guy to convert to wing when coming in.

So what makes Yager any more likely or not to be a center in say 5 years compared to McGroarty?

 

[Ryder71]

The kid is only 20. Same difference except he's ready to ball now. If we ever get that franchise altering pick(s), he can be moved for picks or prospects that fit that cornerstone's time-line.

He doesn't need to be moved, he can be a piece for the future. However being strong at Center is far more important than being good now at Wing to play with Sid. To me the current team needs to lose. That's my point. RM will be a nice piece for the future. But now we don't have any high end Centers in the system.

McGroaty plays both wing and center. Yager has primarily been a center but it's not uncommon for guy to convert to wing when coming in.

So what makes Yager any more likely or not to be a center in say 5 years compared to McGroarty?

I Thought RM was primarily a winger.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I hope Dubas consulted with Sullivan about usage for McGroarty before making the deal. Because if Dubas is envisioning adding a young top six player to play with either Sid or Geno and Sullivan is envisioning his usual "he can learn to PK/play like ZAR in the bottom six first", then we have problems.

Well everyone seems to think he's a "Sullivan player" so... get excited?

I think?

Wait that's not good.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Officially signed. He's not going to back to college.

 

[SEALBound]

He doesn't need to be moved, he can be a piece for the future. However being strong at Center is far more important than being good now at Wing to play with Sid. To me the current team needs to lose. That's my point. RM will be a nice piece for the future. But now we don't have any high end Centers in the system.


I Thought RM was primarily a winger.

He's played both. He's listed as LW/C by EP and nearly everywhere else.

Officially signed. He's not going to back to college.

Someone is going to see those arms and insist he's needs to pack on 20lbs of raw, lean muscle in the next year in order to make it in the NHL.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Officially signed. He's not going to back to college.

"Pittsburgh looks a lot like Michigan."

 

[Ryder71]

He's played both. He's listed as LW/C by EP and nearly everywhere else.

Who the hell is this guy? And what's his real name? Not his nickname, his real name?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Well everyone seems to think he's a "Sullivan player" so... get excited?

I think?

Wait that's not good.

That's ... interesting. Not really sure what that's based on, considering he's a skilled guy who (as far as I know) isn't a whizz defensively. If anything, we probably gave up the "better" defensive player of the two (at this stage of their careers).

From the sounds of it, he's similar to a JVR. I don't know if prime JVR would be considered a Sullivan player.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

That's ... interesting. Not really sure what that's based on, considering he's a skilled guy who (as far as I know) isn't a whizz defensively. If anything, we probably gave up the "better" defensive player of the two (at this stage of their careers).

From the sounds of it, he's similar to a JVR. I don't know if prime JVR would be considered a Sullivan player.

To be fair, a prime Jeff Carter wouldn't have been a Sullivan player.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

That's ... interesting. Not really sure what that's based on, considering he's a skilled guy who (as far as I know) isn't a whizz defensively. If anything, we probably gave up the "better" defensive player of the two (at this stage of their careers).

From the sounds of it, he's similar to a JVR. I don't know if prime JVR would be considered a Sullivan player.

I honestly know next to nothing about him outside of the usual hype the last year-ish. I just have to figure that Dubas cleared this with his boss before he pulled the trigger so that bodes well for McG. But I mean... yeah... as it stands there is a pretty significant logjam at forward so we'll see I guess.

 

[SEALBound]

Who the hell is this guy? And what's his real name? Not his nickname, his real name?

EP? Eliteprospects.com

Rutger McGroarty - Stats, Contract, Salary & More

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Rutger McGroarty, 2004-03-30 Lincoln, NE, USA USA. Most recently in the undefined with Univ. of Michigan. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Turin]

That's ... interesting. Not really sure what that's based on, considering he's a skilled guy who (as far as I know) isn't a whizz defensively. If anything, we probably gave up the "better" defensive player of the two (at this stage of their careers).

From the sounds of it, he's similar to a JVR. I don't know if prime JVR would be considered a Sullivan player.

He's way more physical than JVR. He's comparable to JVR like Hornqvist is comparable to JVR.