GDT: PIT at SEA Sat Jan 25 EARLY @4 est

[Gurglesons]

I feel like the absolute ceiling for the Pens if Dubas had nailed every trade and free agent signing would have been contending for 7th or 8th place and then getting ousted in the first or second round.

Which I'd absolutely prefer that over picking 14th overall again but Dubas unfortunately did not prove to be perfect or even close.

But to act like Dubas ruined the Pens future is asinine. They have no future. They never did. They won't have one until Crosby retires and/or they tank their way into elite talent. Until then any future is going to rely on them getting insanely lucky in the draft by finding elite talent outside of the top 5.

 

[Jacob]

The entire Penguin future from 2022 onwards depended on Letang being good and Malkin defying time like Sid. Neither happened, neither was likely I guess. That’s not to absolve blame to anybody who made things worse in the meantime, but the Pens simply are not contenders if Crosby is the only guy in the core who can look like the best player on the ice from time to time. Now that it’s clear even the sentiment of making the playoffs is too far gone because of the other mistakes it’s time to tank.


Sorry man, you’ve been liking my posts for years - I thought we had something

Maybe I’m username blind because I don’t recognize you at all.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

LOL. Some of the Pittsburgh media are pissed at Jesse Marshall right now on X. (Twitter)

Pretty sure it's just DK, who seems to feel slighted for Jesse merely having an opinion about Pickering.

 

[Pancakes]

The Penguins made the playoffs twice and missed them by one point the three years before Dubas.

Dubas lost what could be a franchise defenseman with our 1st and then got a pittance of a return for Guentzel.

The future is bleak until management realizes we’ve got an absolute clown at the mantle.

He’s effectively made two or three good moves since coming here. It’s wild people defend him lol. Especially as one of our rivals completely runs circles around us.

I feel like his moves have been generally fine since he pivoted from trying to contend. Glass and Tomasino were good buy low moves. The Hayes trade was good. The Guentzel trade was fine (I know you'll disagree with that one).

We'll see how he handles the trade deadline and the off season.

 

[Hank Plank]

++++++ Sid scored
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - everything else

 

[Gurglesons]

I feel like his moves have been generally fine since he pivoted from trying to contend. Glass and Tomasino were good buy low moves. The Hayes trade was good. The Guentzel trade was fine (I know you'll disagree with that one).

We'll see how he handles the trade deadline and the off season.

Hayes trade… was good…

…..



5 years of this. Probably gonna hear 5 more.

 

[Turin]

I feel like the absolute ceiling for the Pens if Dubas had nailed every trade and free agent signing would have been contending for 7th or 8th place and then getting ousted in the first or second round.

Which I'd absolutely prefer that over picking 14th overall again but Dubas unfortunately did not prove to be perfect or even close.

But to act like Dubas ruined the Pens future is asinine. They have no future. They never did. They won't have one until Crosby retires and/or they tank their way into elite talent. Until then any future is going to rely on them getting insanely lucky in the draft by finding elite talent outside of the top 5.

Right. I personally would have preferred the team to put on the mirage of contention, and I wanted them to make the playoffs. However, the project of making the Penguins into a real contender if Malkin and Letang are not difference makers anymore and your goaltending is ass is just too big to be done so fast. I do think Dubas absolutely can be criticized for not making them that sort of bottom playoff team though - that was entirely possible through a number of avenues but it seems that for all the lip service he gives to giving Crosby a chance, that clearly takes a back seat to rebuilding since last March. Like, they would have been that mid playoff team last season if they just fired the damn powerplay coach, but then again, the defense has gotten worse without Reirden too. Hard to say, but there's obviously a reason why teams with their main stars over 30 don't win in the NHL.

 

[Pancakes]

View attachment 967180

Does your hypothetical scenario where we become Washington include Letang and Malkin coming down with LTIR-able injuries so that the Pens can use their cap space to become younger in the top six/top 4 d?

Washington got extremely bailed out by Backstrom and Oshie clearing out huge amounts of cap space that they then used to bring in younger and better players.

Hayes trade… was good…

Yeah a 2nd round pick for free for a team that has next to zero chance to make the playoffs anyways? Is this really something you want to argue?

 

[ZorkEnchanter]

I think Jarry mentally broke starting in the 2021 Isles series, and now the scar tissue is too much to overcome.
Jarry and Murray were very different style goalies, but in the end their fates are the same - they don't have it between the ears.

That said, as you point out with your images the Penguins team defense gives up staggeringly bad chances against and odd-man breaks galore. So most any goalie would struggle here.

Yup. Most goalies would struggle here... just being real. Our Defense is minimum +2 GA on their good nights. (and there are very few of those with this team)

 

[Turin]

Maybe I’m username blind because I don’t recognize you at all.

 

[SomeDude]

Hayes trade was good. Sitting back and watching your clown shoe coach keep giving him a jersey instead of any other forward that has shred of upside is bad.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Hayes trade… was good…

…..



5 years of this. Probably gonna hear 5 more.

 

[Gurglesons]

Does your hypothetical scenario where we become Washington include Letang and Malkin coming down with LTIR-able injuries so that the Pens can use their cap space to become younger in the top six/top 4 d?

Washington got extremely bailed out by Backstrom and Oshie clearing out huge amounts of cap space that they then used to bring in younger and better players.

This is the lamest loser take of all time.

The Capitals didn’t get bailed out. Backstrom was an effective player until last year. So was Oshie.

The Capitals are better than the Penguins because their management is and always has been better than the Penguins.

That is why they are having success and we are not. They have made tough decisions and smart moves while we’ve been loyal to losers like Jeff Carter, Mike Sullivan, etc.

Hextall and Dubas have destroyed this team, but the idea that Dubas couldn’t have pivoted in his first year while having 20+ mil to play with and allocating it to Reilly Smith, Ryan Graves, Tristan Jarry and Erik Karlsson because he had Letang Crosby and Malkin is the biggest joke ever.

 

[Love the Penguins]

Letang has been borderline unplayable in this game…he should have been sent down over Pickering lol

There's the famous Gordie Howe Hat Trick, and then there's the Kris Letang Hat Trick:

- egregious turnover leading to a goal against -- check
- stupid penalty with the team already a man down, leading to a goal against -- check
- ill-timed pinch leading to a goal against -- check

Please retire Kris, pretty please with sugar on top.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Sad how we went from being such a likeable franchise with interesting players on any line, to this sorry group of unlikeably overpaid losers.

 

[Turin]

This is the lamest loser take of all time.

The Capitals didn’t get bailed out. Backstrom was an effective player until last year. So was Oshie.

The Capitals are better than the Penguins because their management is and always has been better than the Penguins.

That is why they are having success and we are not. They have made tough decisions and smart moves while we’ve been loyal to losers like Jeff Carter, Mike Sullivan, etc.

Hextall and Dubas have destroyed this team, but the idea that Dubas couldn’t have pivoted in his first year while having 20+ mil to play with and allocating it to Reilly Smith, Ryan Graves, Tristan Jarry and Erik Karlsson because he had Letang Crosby and Malkin is the biggest joke ever.

Caps also won 1 Cup and went to 1 Final vs the Pens 3 Cups and 4 Final appearances, so they've been a lot more conservative over the years with dealing picks. But I will give them credit, they did have a very good offseason and brought up some really good finds in the draft.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

I don't understand how and why we beat LA Monday night. What a waste of 2 pts

 

[vodeni]

Pens credited for 15 high danger chances, Seattle with one

 

[Gurglesons]

Sad how we went from being such a likeable franchise with interesting players on any line, to this sorry group of unlikeably overpaid losers.

Its weird. Almost an identical trajectory to what happened in Toronto…

Caps also won 1 Cup and went to 1 Final vs the Pens 3 Cups and 4 Final appearances, so they've been a lot more conservative over the years with dealing picks. But I will give them credit, they did have a very good offseason and brought up some really good finds in the draft.

This logic makes no sense. The Caps have the most recent cup and have made the playoffs the same amount of times as us since then while making plenty of huge trades.

 

[Pancakes]

This is the lamest loser take of all time.

The Capitals didn’t get bailed out. Backstrom was an effective player until last year. So was Oshie.

The Capitals are better than the Penguins because their management is and always has been better than the Penguins.

That is why they are having success and we are not. They have made tough decisions and smart moves while we’ve been loyal to losers like Jeff Carter, Mike Sullivan, etc.

Hextall and Dubas have destroyed this team, but the idea that Dubas couldn’t have pivoted in his first year while having 20+ mil to play with and allocating it to Reilly Smith, Ryan Graves, Tristan Jarry and Erik Karlsson because he had Letang Crosby and Malkin is the biggest joke ever.

There was nothing to destroy for either Hextall or Dubas. All they did was take a team that should have been making the playoffs as the 7th or 8th seed and made them just barely miss instead.

Hextall wanted to pivot to rebuild and management wouldn't let him. Dubas is being given the chance now that Hextall wanted. We'll see what he does with it.

As for Dubas' first year of signings:

Jarry: Sucked. Bad signing. But the other goalies that year also sucked and were largely bad signings. The only route I see here for Dubas doing better is to sign a short term veteran stopgap and hope for the best. It probably wouldn't have worked out much better than TJ did except that at least the Pens wouldn't have been stuck with that contract. Maybe something could have been done on the trade block, but the Pens had precious few assets back then and good goalies don't really get traded too often. Maybe we get like Gibson instead of TJ if Dubas tries for a trade. Are the Pens really that much better off with Gibson? I doubt it.

Graves: Sucked but 4 million in better spent cap space isn't making or breaking the Pens right now or then. Maybe spending that money better lets them squeeze out a first round exit. Whoopdie do.

Smith: Sucked

EK: Was good. Trade was good. The reason it looks less good is that Dubas failed to improve in the other areas he needed to. Nobody is complaining about this trade now if the Pens make the playoffs with him even if they are an early exit.


Anyways this is all dancing on the graves of the past. Ever since Dubas finally pivoted towards rebuilding he's made generally favorable moves. We can relitigate the past all we want but at least Dubas finally seems to be trying to do the right thing.

 

[SEALBound]

Its weird. Almost an identical trajectory to what happened in Toronto…



This logic makes no sense. The Caps have the most recent cup and have made the playoffs the same amount of times as us since then while making plenty of huge trades.

Then go be a Caps fan. If they are doing so much better, leave here and go there. You know where their board is.

 

[Turin]

Its weird. Almost an identical trajectory to what happened in Toronto…



This logic makes no sense. The Caps have the most recent cup and have made the playoffs the same amount of times as us since then while making plenty of huge trades.

Sure it does. The Caps haven’t been an aggressive contender outside of a handful of years, the year they won was basically a fluke that took the GM and coach by surprise. The GM said in 2017 that it was their last year of their window. The Caps weren’t real contenders after that until maybe now, and everybody knew it. The Pens for spent and tried to be true contenders until 2023.

 

[Pancakes]

Hayes trade was good. Sitting back and watching your clown shoe coach keep giving him a jersey instead of any other forward that has shred of upside is bad.

Meh. Acciari and Nieto are way worse and are the ones who should be out of the lineup first in favor of young players.

 

[sovietsanta87]

I don’t think dubas is as terrible as I guess most people on here seem to think. He’s not perfect but he’s trying to build the prospect pool without starting the season with a bottom 5 roster. Sully isn’t spoiled milk. He’s cottage cheese at this point.

 

[Ugene Magic]

The team should have been about getting younger, and, well.... Dubas went the other way.

I knew when all that shit took place they were done.