If the current Pens ownership is in place in two years, no question Sids buddy would give some thought to playing with Sid. But hard to see how the Av's don't pay up to keep him. Malkin could go either way here. Pens extend believing his play is still really good or they use that money for a UFA or a player in his last year of his contract to play center. I just don't see the Pens tanking with the talent they have. But then again, they could trade for picks and begin the rebuild with a boatload of picks ala the Sens. But that scenario is unlikely unless they sell the franchise and new ownership cuts costs and begins the 5 year Russian plan.
If the current Pens ownership is in place in two years, no question Sids buddy would give some thought to playing with Sid. But hard to see how the Av's don't pay up to keep him. Malkin could go either way here. Pens extend believing his play is still really good or they use that money for a UFA or a player in his last year of his contract to play center. I just don't see the Pens tanking with the talent they have. But then again, they could trade for picks and begin the rebuild with a boatload of picks ala the Sens. But that scenario is unlikely unless they sell the franchise and new ownership cuts costs and begins the 5 year Russian plan.
He's so beautiful.
My model has Malkin winning the scoring race.
I really hope he does, with him and Sid healthy and Geno having Zucker on his line, I really really want that to happen. Then JR & Sully can go f*** themselves with the whole Jake & Sid thing.My model has Malkin winning the scoring race.
Pens will make moves here to stay relevant. But no question the Sid Geno Letang era is coming to a close. When exactly does the bell ring I don't know. But Pens have a nice corp of late teens to mid 20's guys to build around. What they don't have are centers of quality in the system and that has to be addressed to compete for playoff wins. Who knows the financial landscape will be in the contracts expirations of Geno and Letang.
My model has Malkin winning the scoring race.
Sid and Geno will go downhill, sure, but as long as you surround them with good players, the Pens will be a good team for a number of years here. Whether they can make another cup run is a longshot just due to increasing likelihood of injury to Sid and Geno as they age.
But if you have them both taking primarily O zone faceoffs and playing on PP1, they will still be effective and put up points for quite some time. Even an empty jersey like Brassard was scoring at a decent clip when given cherry opportunities. As soon as he had to play a more defensive and two-way game, he fell apart.
The job of 3C and 4C will get even worse in Pittsburgh in the coming few years though. And it was always a crap job no one really wanted to begin with. They should ink Blueger to as cheap a mid-term deal they can right now, as I see there is already belly aching about getting a "bigger role" from him, and there has been no contract extension talk.
That will be the next big mistake. Thinking they can attract any kind of quality 3C here in FA, and not locking up Blueger to do the dirty work.
that should work just fine.Dumo-Letang, Matheson-Marino, Petts-Riikola please and thank you.
Dumo-Letang, Matheson-Marino, Petts-Riikola please and thank you.
On the bright side, Ceci was cheaper and we kept that extra 1.3M for some solid JR moves since he signed.
Okay, okay. That's the last time I joke about the Ceci deal. But seriously, its not about Vatanen signing now because its doubtful he was going to be some kind of one year messiah...though alot better than Ceci will likely be for us. The whole thing is worthy of plenty of at JR getting him so early. Like he was some massively coveted name on the FA market we couldnt WAIT to jump all over.
My guess is if he hadnt signed that deal with us, Cody Ceci would still be out there as a UFA today, and would've happily accept a PTO in Pitt to salvage his career. Meanwhile, the 2.5 million wouldve been a nice little cushion to throw at any unexpected names who were still out there.
Yeah, but is Vatanen REALLY 750K better than Ceci?
EDIT: Joke aside, IF the Pens could've grabbed Vatanen for 2M, imagine what THAT defense would've looked like. I'd have gone Dumo-Tang, Matheson-Marino, and Pets-Vatanen. Nothing like having a GM who keeps prematurely shooting . . . er, never mind.
Honestly, I'd question that if he's not getting major PP time. I don't want Ceci but didn't really want Vatanen either.
I don’t want either, but I take Vatanen as a fit systematically over Ceci.
Mate, I'd take you as a fit systematically over Ceci, and I don't even know whether you can skate.
Yeah, played up until I was 18. I handle the puck like Ceci and skate like Gumby.