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

[HandshakeLine]

Man I'll be so annoyed. And we'll hear a buncha shit about how it was the best move they could've made and all that--just like when they re-signed Tristan "Best option available, couldn't be helped" Jarry.

This taciturn Scandi with terrible tattoos and monosyllabic answers just screams "vet leader"!

 

[Pancakes]

People want this team to accept being bad. They're already bad, they just refuse to accept it, lean into it, and start benefiting from being bad. Instead they've settled on burying their heads in the sand and seemingly prefer this 15th overall, barely hanging on to be in the WC running bullshit.

What does accept being bad even mean though? They aren't trading Crosby unless he wants out so there's no way for this team to be as bad as people want.

The Penguins have accepted being bad, at least in as much as they're able. They didn't add to the roster much and kept their picks.

Trading everyone and tanking is an unreasonable ask. You don't do that to the second best player in franchise history. No gm or owner would greenlight that ask.

If Sid ever wants out it's a different story but the Pens are doing the right thing by not forcing the issue.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

What does accept being bad even mean though? They aren't trading Crosby unless he wants out so there's no way for this team to be as bad as people want.

The Penguins have accepted being bad, at least in as much as they're able. They didn't add to the roster much and kept their picks.

Trading everyone and tanking is an unreasonable ask. You don't do that to the second best player in franchise history. No gm or owner would greenlight that ask.

If Sid ever wants out it's a different story but the Pens are doing the right thing by not forcing the issue.

It means not re-signing Petts. It means telling the golden boy Bryan Rust to kick rocks when his NTC expires a year from now. It means shopping EK to see if they can recoup some assets if they retain.

I think Jake did them a favor in saving them from themselves tbh. That was the first domino to fall, and I hope it continues.

-edit- Also, the worse this team gets, the more I hope Sullivan's ego makes him jump ship too because he's "too good" to coach a bottom feeder that'll be rebuilding for like half a decade. Also, I don't want him anywhere near the next crop of top-3 picks this team's gonna be landing sooner than later (as soon as Sid retires).

 

[SomeDude]

What does accept being bad even mean though? They aren't trading Crosby unless he wants out so there's no way for this team to be as bad as people want.

The Penguins have accepted being bad, at least in as much as they're able. They didn't add to the roster much and kept their picks.

Trading everyone and tanking is an unreasonable ask. You don't do that to the second best player in franchise history. No gm or owner would greenlight that ask.

If Sid ever wants out it's a different story but the Pens are doing the right thing by not forcing the issue.

I disagree with this. If you know you can’t win and there really isn’t a path to becoming a contender anytime soon just burn it down. Twiddling your thumbs in purgatory is just a waste of time and how a losing culture finds its way into an organization. Rip the bandaid off as early as possible and try to get lucky on timing that you get another superstar or 2.

Have the difficult discussion with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang and tell them what direction the organization needs to go in and ask if they want out. If they do, make it happen to wherever they want. If they don’t, sell them on the idea of finishing their careers by transitioning the winning culture they created to the next generation of Penguins players.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I disagree with this. If you know you can’t win and there really isn’t a path to becoming a contender anytime soon just burn it down. Twiddling your thumbs in purgatory is just a waste of time and how a losing culture finds its way into an organization. Rip the bandaid off as early as possible and try to get lucky on timing that you get another superstar or 2.

Have the difficult discussion with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang and tell them what direction the organization needs to go in and ask if they want out. If they do, make it happen to wherever they want. If they don’t, sell them on the idea of finishing their careers by transitioning the winning culture they created to the next generation of Penguins players.

Right. I was totally down with the idea of bringing the core back and they haven't been the problem, here. I'm still fine with them being around if they choose to be.

But that's only because I thought that... you know... the team would TRY. If they aren't then I don't see the point in this halfassed approach. You guys can bag on pixies all you want and I'll never agree that he was anything other than a bad GM but this is just Hextall's plan with glasses and a like 5M dollar salary increase.

I never wanted to see any of those three be anything other than Penguins but I made the stupid assumption that the team would always pull out the stops for them so long as they were still effective players. But clearly that's too much work and those middling draft picks we might someday turn into Colby Armstrong or Brooks Orpik too precious.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

There's all this hand-wringing over "rushing" into a rebuild too soon as if this team isn't going on seven years removed from a playoff round win, and hasn't missed entirely twice in a row despite Sid playing some of the best hockey a 36 year old ever has. I dunno, at some point you gotta just accept reality. I mean, I know the team refuses to as well and it leads to this, but still. /shrug

 

[SomeDude]

this is just Hextall's plan with glasses and a like 5M dollar salary increase.

The irony is if Hextall has been able to pull off bringing in JT Miller when HFboards insisted he was garbage, it might have been a Kessel-esque move that reignited us to at least remain a competitive playoff team for more years.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

The irony is if Hextall has been able to pull off bringing in JT Miller when HFboards insisted he was garbage, it might have been a Kessel-esque move that reignited us to at least remain a competitive playoff team for more years.

Indeed. The slide into shitdom started when the team dumped Kessel and replaced him with like Zucker and a bunch of middling garbage. Miller or something in that neighborhood would have gone a long way to address that vacant role.

But hey at least we have Rikky Raks for like five more years or whatever.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

The irony is if Hextall has been able to pull off bringing in JT Miller when HFboards insisted he was garbage, it might have been a Kessel-esque move that reignited us to at least remain a competitive playoff team for more years.

Yeah, I wasn't sold on Miller but it was worth a shot. But take solace in the fact that Sullivan would've neutered any edge to his game and played him as a shutdown 3C and played him with shitslop like Carter and McGinn or Puljujarvi or something.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Indeed. The slide into shitdom started when the team dumped Kessel and replaced him with like Zucker and a bunch of middling garbage. Miller or something in that neighborhood would have gone a long way to address that vacant role.

But hey at least we have Rikky Raks for like five more years or whatever.

If Phil Kassel didn't want to be traded he shouldn't have made things difficult on Mike Sullivan and just been a "Sullivan player."

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

If Phil Kassel didn't want to be traded he shouldn't have made things difficult on Mike Sullivan and just been a "Sullivan player."

The funny thing is that we were all on board with chasing him out of town at the time. Because I think most of us assumed that he would be competently replaced. Whoops.

To be fair Phil probably did need to go. I love the guy and will always be thankful but he was basically just standing around waiting for the puck his last year+ here. People hilariously get on Malkin for being lazy and not caring... what they are looking for is actually late stage Phil.

 

[Pancakes]

I disagree with this. If you know you can’t win and there really isn’t a path to becoming a contender anytime soon just burn it down. Twiddling your thumbs in purgatory is just a waste of time and how a losing culture finds its way into an organization. Rip the bandaid off as early as possible and try to get lucky on timing that you get another superstar or 2.

Have the difficult discussion with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang and tell them what direction the organization needs to go in and ask if they want out. If they do, make it happen to wherever they want. If they don’t, sell them on the idea of finishing their careers by transitioning the winning culture they created to the next generation of Penguins players.

They pretty much have done this though haven't they? Those guys aren't stupid. They're aware the roster the Pens have this year isn't great and that Dubas didn't try to do much to add to it.

Right. I was totally down with the idea of bringing the core back and they haven't been the problem, here. I'm still fine with them being around if they choose to be.

But that's only because I thought that... you know... the team would TRY. If they aren't then I don't see the point in this halfassed approach. You guys can bag on pixies all you want and I'll never agree that he was anything other than a bad GM but this is just Hextall's plan with glasses and a like 5M dollar salary increase.

I never wanted to see any of those three be anything other than Penguins but I made the stupid assumption that the team would always pull out the stops for them so long as they were still effective players. But clearly that's too much work and those middling draft picks we might someday turn into Colby Armstrong or Brooks Orpik too precious.

That's fair. All I'm saying is I think it's crazy to think that the Pens should be forcing this core to not go out on their own terms.

The tanking will happen when it happens. There's no need to rush into that. If the team looks hopeless then Crosby probably won't play or stay here for much longer anyways.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

That's fair. All I'm saying is I think it's crazy to think that the Pens should be forcing this core to not go out on their own terms.

The tanking will happen when it happens. There's no need to rush into that. If the team looks hopeless then Crosby probably won't play or stay here for much longer anyways.

The idea that you can just snap your fingers and "get rid of" the core was always dumb, anyway. Just as dumb or moreso than thinking this team can still do anything. We made that devil deal years ago and I'm fine with it. It isn't just a legacy thing it's a "they hold all the cards, dummy" thing.

 

[Pancakes]

The idea that you can just snap your fingers and "get rid of" the core was always dumb, anyway. Just as dumb or moreso than thinking this team can still do anything. We made that devil deal years ago and I'm fine with it. It isn't just a legacy thing it's a "they hold all the cards, dummy" thing.

Yeah exactly. It seems like people desperately want to avoid the bed we've made and it's like....we got three cups and so many memories and scoring titles etc. If we have to pay a price for that for a few years before the core retires I'm perfectly fine with that.

 

[Darren McCord]

Yeah exactly. It seems like people desperately want to avoid the bed we've made and it's like....we got three cups and so many memories and scoring titles etc. If we have to pay a price for that for a few years before the core retires I'm perfectly fine with that.

Ya and its going to be along time before this team has a player like crosby or geno again. If ever. I just want to enjoy them hitting more milestones for a couple years and not try to chase them off.

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

The funny thing is that we were all on board with chasing him out of town at the time. Because I think most of us assumed that he would be competently replaced. Whoops.

To be fair Phil probably did need to go. I love the guy and will always be thankful but he was basically just standing around waiting for the puck his last year+ here. People hilariously get on Malkin for being lazy and not caring... what they are looking for is actually late stage Phil.

The American dream, tbh.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

For the record, nobody's forcing Sid or Geno out the door. They're welcome to retire Penguins if they want to.

I'm sayin' you start shifting approach (or continue to do so, I suppose) by nor re-signing a relative nobody in Petts. By accepting that Sullivan's golden boy Bryan Rust should be moved when he loses trade protection. etc.

Dropping from barely in the WC convo to picking top-10 until Sid retires ain't much different. This team's got zero shot anymore either way with their supporting cast, coaching, and goaltending situation.

 

[SomeDude]

They pretty much have done this though haven't they? Those guys aren't stupid. They're aware the roster the Pens have this year isn't great and that Dubas didn't try to do much to add to it.

I’m talking scorched earth. Anything of value that isn’t bolted down and isn’t a franchise legend that wants to stay is gone. Not bringing a guy like Ned back because he might help win a few games.

Being open with the fan base and saying we had a good long run but it’s time to reset. Instead we get told they’re still trying to compete which makes people with eyes think they’re either lying or very bad at their jobs.

 

[Dennis Reynolds]

I don't care what anyone here says. This might be pre-training camp, but having Hayes stapled to Malkin for EVERYTHING so far is something to be concerned about. It is absolutely plausible that Sully talked to Carter, as well as Malkin and Hayes, and told them he wants them together to begin "building chemistry."

 

[SomeDude]

I don't care what anyone here says. This might be pre-training camp, but having Hayes stapled to Malkin for EVERYTHING so far is something to be concerned about. It is absolutely plausible that Sully talked to Carter, as well as Malkin and Hayes, and told them he wants them together to begin "building chemistry."

To be fair, there’s a lot of chemistry that ends in violent explosions.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Not sure if it was talked about already but Friedman had a small update on Sids contract.

Friedman thinks Sid will go for a shorter contract as he doesn't want to have a large drop off in his play and then still have term remaining. Friedman was told this past week that Sid doesn't want to leave the team hanging with his cap hit if he retires. Sid is very mindful of the Pens situation and doesn't want to mess up their cap situation in the future.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I don't care what anyone here says. This might be pre-training camp, but having Hayes stapled to Malkin for EVERYTHING so far is something to be concerned about. It is absolutely plausible that Sully talked to Carter, as well as Malkin and Hayes, and told them he wants them together to begin "building chemistry."

lol people are more than welcome to call me whatever names they want but it's like they haven't been paying attention or something. If I'm wrong I'm wrong and will admit as much. I'll be here in a few weeks and they can apologize to me, then. And be very gracious and accommodating about it, even!

 

[SEALBound]

I don't care what anyone here says. This might be pre-training camp, but having Hayes stapled to Malkin for EVERYTHING so far is something to be concerned about. It is absolutely plausible that Sully talked to Carter, as well as Malkin and Hayes, and told them he wants them together to begin "building chemistry."

I think it is physically impossible to roll my eyes hard enough at this post.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I wonder what the the common factor is to all of our playoff misses?

Geno Malkin.

 

[SEALBound]

Geno Malkin.

Lack of Phil Kessel.