Salary Cap: Pens Summer Salary Thread: We Hayes Dubas's offseason moves so far

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Kessel was more than that too. He was the QB bringing it up the ice. Too bad he the bed defensively at 5v5 so badly that we had to move on.

The overall effort just wasn't there in the end. I loved what Kessel did for this team... and the powerplay. But he's the kind of guy that would just stand there with his shoulders slumped waiting for the puck while his linemates were getting the shit kicked out of them along the boards battling for the puck. I would say something about the coach doing his job, here but I figure you are unlikely to agree haha

In the end it was right to move on. It was wrong to think they could do so and then skate by from then all the way until now and beyond without more raw ability and firepower in the top six not named Sid or Geno.

 

[Gurglesons]

PP would be fine if they just didn’t use the umbrella and put Bunting and Rakell on there instead of Rust and Eller.

Also if someone took the lead. Hopefully EK spends the summer growing a pair.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

Well, he can't play in the NHL unless he's signed. I would think that they would opt to sign him so he could play pre-season and then up to the max of the 9 games before being sent back. That's usually when they would make such decisions so I'm not sure that's the thing.

Training camp would be a good indicator of when they're going to make such decisions. If they think he might be able to play in the NHL this season, they would make room for him on the roster by trading someone and then sign him. If not, they can sign him during camp and they won't need to make room for him.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Ha... I always appreciate your enthusiasm re: Malkin, HoG. But I just can't agree. No hate... but dude is old and has sustained a ton of injuries. His skating is... um... rough. And it's a skating league. And if people are pinning their hopes on Bunting with a side of Quinn to alleviate things... well... I guess I'm just going to have to say I'm extremely doubtful. Bunting stands a better chance of turning back into a 3rd/4th liner as he does being a top contributor next season IMO. We've seen that fish before.

All that said I find it puzzling that he seems to keep finding his name at the center of the powerplay controversy when, again... the team came to the same conclusion ya'll did and yanked him. It did nothing... improved nothing. Funny dude still catches the blame when he's not even on the ice lol

Malkin is old and has a battle torn body sure. I agree. But shouldn't it also be considered that he's still a solid 2c given his production with the worst winger options for a while? He's produced as a solid 2c without the kind of winger consideration that Crosby gets and you and others feel frustrated with Malkin because he couldn't force himself to work with Smith or Eller or O'Connor or Rakell etc. When Zucker was finally healthy and was with Geno, it looked good. We got a version of that back in Bunting and Geno produced at a better rate - to me that's enough evidence to prove I'm right.

Malkin doesn't need to be on the powerplay at all. There's a lot of very good players that aren't because it's not their bread and butter. Geno could be on the 2nd unit and exploit the second pk unit but this coaching staff has zero idea. I mean Sullivan of course. He doesn't have the sack to not pander to the core. Although by that I mean Crosby. He's shown he's ok doing it to Letang lately which is deserved and to Malkin a lot to the point where Geno wasn't happy with Sullivan and then the rift with Kessel because of Sullivan.

PP would be fine if they just didn’t use the umbrella and put Bunting and Rakell on there instead of Rust and Eller.

Also if someone took the lead. Hopefully EK spends the summer growing a pair.

Rust shouldn't be on the PP at all. Bunting wreaking havoc in the low slot and around the net and even Rakell or Puustinen over Rust. Rust should be the second unit with Malkin and Puustinen rotating between first and second unit with Rakell.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Kessel was more than that too. He was the QB bringing it up the ice. Too bad he the bed defensively at 5v5 so badly that we had to move on.

Kessel's issue was also his dumb iron man streak. His pride in that vs needing to let his body rest tanked his game. He couldn't shoot as well, his game suffered. But defensively - this team keeps rolling out Rust with Sid and think that's been good defensively when it's been absolutely dreadful. Even with Doc on that trio. Raks is what balanced that and Sullivan couldn't even figure that out. Now we have a absolute tosser of a clone and he's not even there to run the pp. Which means Sullivan is running it and the last time he ran it it was absolutely awful.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Training camp would be a good indicator of when they're going to make such decisions. If they think he might be able to play in the NHL this season, they would make room for him on the roster by trading someone and then sign him. If not, they can sign him during camp and they won't need to make room for him.

Training camp used to be fun. But it's become a "which veteran will Sullivan play a ton more to purposely play over any youth" this time.

I should also add - Kessel was forced on Malkin's line and Sullivan basically kept trying to make HMK a thing when it only worked for spurts. It made Hagelin go off his game until he was pushed to the third line where he was fine again and then used as an examtple to shake things up and Sullivan kept pushing Kessel and Geno together which didn't work and caused a rift because he refused to split them up and we all saw that implode. Then the next season Sully reduced Malkin's ice time for no reason and pissed Geno off again.

Broken record but f*** Sullivan. The single biggest issue this franchise has and has had for almost a decade after the cups.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Training camp would be a good indicator of when they're going to make such decisions. If they think he might be able to play in the NHL this season, they would make room for him on the roster by trading someone and then sign him. If not, they can sign him during camp and they won't need to make room for him.

I hope they use the 9 games to see where Yager is at. Because seeing a fair amount of games, he looked almost on autopilot at times like this is too easy sort of deal. Still busted his ass but him going back is just a massive stat pad year in Juniors. Making room isn't an issue the issue is Sullivan and Co will make room with the wrong players sent down. We should see Acciari put on waivers and have half his cap eaten in the AHL - that's a proper positive on its own. Nieto as well. I still think Eller is best suited on the 4c spot where his ice time is a little more limited to have him be more potent in a checking role.

Hayes, deep sigh there. He's not even as good as Carter at 40. But at 3c with Doc and Puustinen, he could make that work with them doing the creative work.

What would even be the best usage at this stage?
With the 9 game preview:

Rakell, Crosby, Rust
Bunting, Malkin, Yager/Puustinen
O'Connor, Hayes, Puustinen/Yager
Beauvillier, Eller, Lizotte
Puljujarvi

Buttfoam can piss off to wbs with Acciari and Nieto

Defense I'd wager it'll be:

Pettersson, Letang
Grzelcyk, Karlsson
Graves, St Ivany/Shea

I think the battle in camp will be Aho, Shea, and St Ivany. Jack should have zero issues showing competence over those two. Especially over Ludvig aka Mr KO Myself and Hollowell.

Grzelcyk's best was with Sullys son in law, so I figure he could potentially be the right fit there with Karlsson.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I also think Matt Grzelcyk's going to be the one utilized the most for zone entry on the powerplay. He has that smart puck handling and skating out of danger that Goose used to have albeit in a hobbit package.

His speed will help with the eventual turnovers as well.

 

[Gurglesons]

I'd do Gryz and Letang and hopefully cut heavily into Letang's minutes.

Pettersson 22 per night EK65 24 per night
Gryz 18 per night Letang 20 per night
Graves 18 per night St Ivany 16 per night

 

[cygnus47]

I dunno, it seemed like sid was doing his own load managing last year.. He took literal entire games off and coasted on a ton of backchecks.

This year is going to be bad.

Sid has been dropping off for at least 5 years. Short memories around here. Sid used to go 100% every shift all year. I don't think he dogged a single shift in his first 10 years in the league. The fact that he is still so productive when he goes hard for maybe a handful of shifts a week is impressive but in a very different way.

 

[canadianguy77]

PP would be fine if they just didn’t use the umbrella and put Bunting and Rakell on there instead of Rust and Eller.

Also if someone took the lead. Hopefully EK spends the summer growing a pair.

Any PP worth it’s weight today completes the first 3 passes after entering the zone with relative ease and quickness. Our guys get jammed up with the 2nd and 3rd passes. Those passes are usually in the direction of the blue-line so bad things happen when those passes don't connect.

The ultimate guy for our pp is a net front guy who can get to and from the corners quickly and win his fair share of board battles. That could very well be Bunting but I still need to see more.

If we could add a guy after that who has the skill to cut into traffic and shoot or distribute to the open man, we’d have a top pp in the league again lol.

 

[PensandCaps]

Sid has been dropping off for at least 5 years. Short memories around here. Sid used to go 100% every shift all year. I don't think he dogged a single shift in his first 10 years in the league. The fact that he is still so productive when he goes hard for maybe a handful of shifts a week is impressive but in a very different way.

Sids always been a floater, id say even more so in his younger days defensively. In 2015 he clearly took shifts off because he was tired of MJ. The season he had last year wasn't any worse than his 2020 season, if anything he was better this past year.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'd do Gryz and Letang and hopefully cut heavily into Letang's minutes.

Pettersson 22 per night EK65 24 per night
Gryz 18 per night Letang 20 per night
Graves 18 per night St Ivany 16 per night

Letang needs a stronger babysitter with how last season went. I think they'll end up putting Pettersson back with him. Grzelcyk having very good chemistry with McAvoy shows he can play well with a smarter offensive partner - ala Karlsson.

Pettersson had better numbers with Letang last season as well, they were better together defensively, just a little better over the MP-EK pairing.

But that's not saying much. It's like asking which dented rim looked best on a ride with a seized engine. A shutdown left handed defender - what these idiots thought Graves was, is what Letang needs. I mean if Shea was better or Jack was a lefty, we'd have this solved.

I only mention Shea because I mean, it's obvious he's a Masshole and Sullyquinn get moist for them. We have more Massholes on this team than Boston does.

Boston - 1
Penguins - 4 players 2 coaches (Acciari counts)

Remember last season when they gave Colin White a shot, only because his ass was from Massachusetts. He was f***ing awful and didn't deserve a spot at all let alone the moment we had him and Harkins. Neither f***ing scored a goal.

 

[Andy99]

Hopefully we parlay our suckitude into a top two pick and 1OA in 2025 and 2026 respectively lol..

Penguins vs. the Changing Metro: Uh Oh, the Devils are Back

The Metropolitan Division has long been the best or at least produced some of the best teams in the NHL. However, the salary cap and age are catching up with the lions of the Eastern Conference, and change is coming, and it might be coming in the form of the New Jersey Devils. As president […]

pittsburghhockeynow.com

 

[Kiith Nabaal]

Sids always been a floater, id say even more so in his younger days defensively. In 2015 he clearly took shifts off because he was tired of MJ. The season he had last year wasn't any worse than his 2020 season, if anything he was better this past year.

I remember there were times when he would be invisible (or nearly so) on the score sheets for like an entire month and it would drive people crazy.

 

[Fordy]

the powerplay needs a triggerman. last year it needed a triggerman and someone to stand in front of the net. we begged for months for them to pick out somebody, a warm body, and tell them to stand in front of the net and not move. it never happened, they had to trade for somebody that already played that way to do it, because they weren't willing to stick a warm body in front because it would be mean to guentzel

so i don't have much hope of us putting anyone in a triggerman position. maybe they'll trade for someone that already does it that won't be disrespecting rust by being younger than him

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

the powerplay needs a triggerman. last year it needed a triggerman and someone to stand in front of the net. we begged for months for them to pick out somebody, a warm body, and tell them to stand in front of the net and not move. it never happened, they had to trade for somebody that already played that way to do it, because they weren't willing to stick a warm body in front because it would be mean to guentzel

so i don't have much hope of us putting anyone in a triggerman position. maybe they'll trade for someone that already does it that won't be disrespecting rust by being younger than him

We've lacked a guy who can fire a dangerous one-timer for years. A big part of the issue with our PP is no one really has a dangerous shot that the opposition has to respect. You look at the top PP teams (Oilers, Tampa, etc.) and they all have that one timer threat that opposing PKs have to worry about.

I think that's a big part of why our PP just passes the puck around the perimeter looking for the perfect tap in. Even they know that they can't just zing it around to set up a shot, because no one has the type of distance shot that will beat a goalie without a screen.

Ironically enough, that's the one area Laine would be a huge addition. I don't think he'd be utilized right at ES and I'm sure him and Sully will get along like Sully and Kessel did in his latter years, but what Laine adds is exactly what the PP lacks.

 

[Andy99]

We've lacked a guy who can fire a dangerous one-timer for years. A big part of the issue with our PP is no one really has a dangerous shot that the opposition has to respect. You look at the top PP teams (Oilers, Tampa, etc.) and they all have that one timer threat that opposing PKs have to worry about.

I think that's a big part of why our PP just passes the puck around the perimeter looking for the perfect tap in. Even they know that they can't just zing it around to set up a shot, because no one has the type of distance shot that will beat a goalie without a screen.

Ironically enough, that's the one area Laine would be a huge addition. I don't think he'd be utilized right at ES and I'm sure him and Sully will get along like Sully and Kessel did in his latter years, but what Laine adds is exactly what the PP lacks.

Unfortunately I’m hearing CLB wants draft pick and prospects for Laine…if they won’t take like Jarry or Graves without top prospects and picks, we ain’t landing him lol

 

[GilbertSeinfeld]

Unfortunately I’m hearing CLB wants draft pick and prospects for Laine…if they won’t take like Jarry or Graves without top prospects and picks, we ain’t landing him lol

They won't take Jarry when they can't get rid of their own albatross of a goalie.

Honestly, I'd welcome Merzlikins in a trade since he's a potentially great change of scenery player, and he's only signed for one more season after this upcoming season.

 

[The Old Master]

I hope they use the 9 games to see where Yager is at. Because seeing a fair amount of games, he looked almost on autopilot at times like this is too easy sort of deal. Still busted his ass but him going back is just a massive stat pad year in Juniors. Making room isn't an issue the issue is Sullivan and Co will make room with the wrong players sent down. We should see Acciari put on waivers and have half his cap eaten in the AHL - that's a proper positive on its own. Nieto as well. I still think Eller is best suited on the 4c spot where his ice time is a little more limited to have him be more potent in a checking role.

Hayes, deep sigh there. He's not even as good as Carter at 40. But at 3c with Doc and Puustinen, he could make that work with them doing the creative work.

What would even be the best usage at this stage?
With the 9 game preview:

Rakell, Crosby, Rust
Bunting, Malkin, Yager/Puustinen
O'Connor, Hayes, Puustinen/Yager
Beauvillier, Eller, Lizotte
Puljujarvi

Buttfoam can piss off to wbs with Acciari and Nieto

Defense I'd wager it'll be:

Pettersson, Letang
Grzelcyk, Karlsson
Graves, St Ivany/Shea

I think the battle in camp will be Aho, Shea, and St Ivany. Jack should have zero issues showing competence over those two. Especially over Ludvig aka Mr KO Myself and Hollowell.

Grzelcyk's best was with Sullys son in law, so I figure he could potentially be the right fit there with Karlsson.

if we are going to give yager a "fair try" he needs to be at center between bunting and Geno. while I think he can play wing, he is NEEDED AT CENTER.

 

[Andy99]

if we are going to give yager a "fair try" he needs to be at center between bunting and Geno. while I think he can play wing, he is NEEDED AT CENTER.

At the moment, he’d be playing RW next to Geno because of his speed. Sullivan doesn’t want Geno at wing because of lack of footspeed…same w Hayes…unless Sullivan changes his system completely….we also need Yager’s shot on the PP…if Yager can get on the forecheck and get open in the offensive zone, he should make this team…I said “should” because Sullivan is a doofus and if Yager doesn’t PK or play defense well enough, Sullivan will send him back to juniors regardless of how much he helps this weak-ass finishing team lol

 

[BusinessGoose]

I'll be shocked if Yager is anywhere on our second line

 

[Pancakes]

I hope they use the 9 games to see where Yager is at.

I'm fine with that as long as he looks ready for it. There's no point in forcing it though if he has a mediocre camp.

 

[Tom Hanks]

We've lacked a guy who can fire a dangerous one-timer for years. A big part of the issue with our PP is no one really has a dangerous shot that the opposition has to respect. You look at the top PP teams (Oilers, Tampa, etc.) and they all have that one timer threat that opposing PKs have to worry about.

I think that's a big part of why our PP just passes the puck around the perimeter looking for the perfect tap in. Even they know that they can't just zing it around to set up a shot, because no one has the type of distance shot that will beat a goalie without a screen.

Ironically enough, that's the one area Laine would be a huge addition. I don't think he'd be utilized right at ES and I'm sure him and Sully will get along like Sully and Kessel did in his latter years, but what Laine adds is exactly what the PP lacks.

Laine is going to be a Brown

https://x.com/i/web/status/1814722755599737042

 

[Pancakes]

Laine is going to be a Brown

https://x.com/i/web/status/1814722755599737042

He somehow found a franchise worse than Columbus to go to?