With the 14th overall selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, the Pittsburgh Penguins select…

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yeah, he's never been on shitshow teams before, and he isn't on one now. Good call!

I'm not under the impression they're gonna blow this sad piece of shit up and start the rebuild. I'm just saying they gotta start keeping these picks sooner than later because the cupboard's barren and the guy you're getting for a mid-1st probably ain't doing shit for a team pathetically trying to scratch and claw their way to being a wild card team anymore.

Um... you mean one team his rookie year when they were coached by the guy in the booth and this season when they missed by a point? Again... you are dodging. I don't blame you. The answer is obvious and the "blow the team up" crowd just wants to avoid looking at it. While Crosby is around these glass the deserts and boil the seas scenarios are fantasy. That was set in stone the minute he signed that huge deal.

You don't have to like it. Only just wait a couple more seasons. Their posture will no doubt change, then. I don't understand why this is thought of as so crazy. It's the way it was always gonna go. The only mistake they've made is going all flaccid the last couple of seasons by trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

EDIT: "The only mistake" as in rebuilding versus competing and how to approach that. They've made PLENTY of other mistakes to be sure. Like holding on to a coach who hasn't sniffed a second round in half a decade like grim death just as one example.

 

[Gurglesons]

just using the scouting report posted in this thread earlier, out of all the forwards ranked in the top 14 only one of then doesn't project to be a top3 player. and while I might not agree with all his rankings, there is nothing mediocre about it.

Top 3 player? Lol

 

[Goalie_Bob]

We missed the playoffs by one point.

I wish we were closer to doormat territory, because it would've been a lot easier to blow up the team last year instead of resigning the core.

Last year they made the playoffs and if they had even decent goaltending would have beaten the Rangers.

I'm also very confused why people want to be a doormat so badly. There isn't a Crosby and Malkin just sitting out there year after year.....Let's start the MIchael Dal Colle rebuild, wooooooo!

 

[Gurglesons]

Last year they made the playoffs and if they had even decent goaltending would have beaten the Rangers.

I'm also very confused why people want to be a doormat so badly. There isn't a Crosby and Malkin just sitting out there year after year.....Let's start the MIchael Dal Colle rebuild, wooooooo!

Yager is a potential top six guy, but like every one with a brain is saying.. getting a player who is going to be good to go in 3 years or so makes no sense especially one in terms of the talent available when we will pick.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Maybe they can use the 14th overall to land one of those overpriced 3rd liners they covet and we'll get to watch another week of playoff hockey before they're golfing again. Sick.

 

[vikingGoalie]

14th OA pick, we should use that to get the team better now. hint go get a goalie and use that as part of the package.

A good goalie will help us now and for the next several years. Now that we haven't landed a top 5 pick shop it! Only way you keep this pick is you are blowing the team up imo...

 

[Allie Kitsune]

Failing any Russians to make Sullivan cry, whoever has the most Scandinavian Name Possible.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

So who's the big target for this super valuable 14th overall? Cuz the consensus seems to be "it's the 14th overall, who gives a shit, it's worthless" while also pretending it's gonna be a centerpiece asset that gets this team into the conversation for Saros or Hellebuyck, which seems, uh, incorrect to me.

Vejmelka? I don't think you have to deal the 1st for him, nor am I entirely convinced he'd be a dramatic upgrade. Again, Saros and Hellebuyck are two of the best in the world at what they do, I doubt two teams staring down their own rebuilds are gonna want the 14th as a starter.

The pick holds far more value to this team than it does as a trade asset, imo. That's the crux of my opinion on keeping it.

 

[Pancakes]

I'm not saying hold on to it at all costs. I'm saying the guy you're probably getting back ain't shit, and I'd *personally* like to see them start the long and arduous process of restocking the organization. Though I don't think this team's scouting group is worth a damn, pro or amateur, so who gives a shit.

I don't think we're far off in opinion here. You move it if you can get someone good. You don't move it for someone who won't move the needle.

I gave examples of what I think moves the needle for this team. A good 3c, top 4 LD, goalie, or top six winger.

If you can't get one of those for the pick, I'm not interested in moving it. And yes I know the pick alone maybe doesn't get you those things. May require a package

 

[Goalie_Bob]

Yager is a potential top six guy, but like every one with a brain is saying.. getting a player who is going to be good to go in 3 years or so makes no sense especially one in terms of the talent available when we will pick.

I personally don't have a problem with them keeping the 14th pick and not going scorched earth. I understand what this team is and I still highly enjoy watching Sid, Geno and Letang.

But if they are to use the 14th pick then they must use it to get a player that is a difference maker. It can't be used for another Kapanen or Zucker or Brassard style deal. IMO, that means it needs to be used to get a legit goaltender (Hellebyuk with extension, Saros), if they can't get one, then keep the pick.

 

[Gurglesons]

Maybe they can use the 14th overall to land one of those overpriced 3rd liners they covet and we'll get to watch another week of playoff hockey before they're golfing again. Sick.

Oh man. Or we could get....

Dylan Holloway
Cam York
Joel Farabee
Cal Foote
Jake Debrusk
Julius Honka
Alex Wennberg
Zegmus Girgensons

or maybe randomly pull a McAvoy.

Imagine how much one of those players would help shape absolutely nothing.

The reality is you are likely getting a shitty player if you take the pick or trade the pick.

I'd rather take one of the above NOW versus having one in three years.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I don't think we're far off in opinion here. You move it if you can get someone good. You don't move it for someone who won't move the needle.

I gave examples of what I think moves the needle for this team. A good 3c, top 4 LD, goalie, or top six winger.

If you can't get one of those for the pick, I'm not interested in moving it. And yes I know the pick alone maybe doesn't get you those things. May require a package

I understand and appreciate that. It just smacks of Detroit's attempt to keep making the playoffs even though their window was slammed closed, which ended up extending their rebuild by a bunch of years.

Goalie is pretty easily the biggest single player they can bring in to move the needle, imo. Like I said above, I don't think their pick is valuable enough to get in the conversation for the elite goalies available, I don't think Vejmelka is worth it though I like him as an option, and I want the team to stay away from Gibson.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Hey I'll certainly take a McAvoy if that's on the table!

*indicates towards this team's scouting department and general disarray the team is in*

But THOSE guys are at the levers? Nahhhhh...

 

[Gurglesons]

Hey I'll certainly take a McAvoy if that's on the table!

*indicates towards this team's scouting department and general disarray the team is in*

But THOSE guys are at the levers? Nahhhhh...

Realistically McAvoy isn't changing a team's trajectory and likely just a trade piece for us in 5 years.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Realistically McAvoy isn't changing a team's trajectory and likely just a trade piece for us in 5 years.

Probably.

And again regardless of the team's lack of top picks over the years the best thing they've pulled in forever is like 100 games of Dom Simon. Yikes. That braintrust ain't finding the diamonds in the rough, man.

 

[Pancakes]

I understand and appreciate that. It just smacks of Detroit's attempt to keep making the playoffs even though their window was slammed closed, which ended up extending their rebuild by a bunch of years.

Goalie is pretty easily the biggest single player they can bring in to move the needle, imo. Like I said above, I don't think their pick is valuable enough to get in the conversation for the elite goalies available, I don't think Vejmelka is worth it though I like him as an option, and I want the team to stay away from Gibson.

See, I don't think it extended their rebuild at all.

We're going to stink in a few years. That's gonna be the case whether we draft Joel Farabee 2.0 this year or trade the pick for Rickard Rakell 2.0.

The only way that keeping picks forestalls or otherwise quickens the rebuild is if we hit grand slams and get like Claude Giroux/Jeff Carter/Getzlaf type mid/late round firsts. If we can do that, that'd be awesome. We probably won't do that, even if we keep the picks. It happens rarely.

But like I said, keep it if there's nothing that helps. If there is something, move it.

 

[Gurglesons]

See, I don't think it extended their rebuild at all.

We're going to stink in a few years. That's gonna be the case whether we draft Joel Farabee 2.0 this year or trade the pick for Rickard Rakell 2.0.

The only way that keeping picks forestalls or otherwise quickens the rebuild is if we hit grand slams and get like Claude Giroux/Jeff Carter/Getzlaf type mid/late round firsts. If we can do that, that'd be awesome. We probably won't do that, even if we keep the picks. It happens rarely.

But like I said, keep it if there's nothing that helps. If there is something, move it.

Yeah. Getting another "star player" will actually prolong the rebuild more than trading it tbh.

Probably.

And again regardless of the team's lack of top picks over the years the best thing they've pulled in forever is like 100 games of Dom Simon. Yikes. That braintrust ain't finding the diamonds in the rough, man.

I assume we will likely have a new group of individuals leading the draft, but yeah agree.

 

[Gurglesons]

The reason the Red Wings had a prolonged rebuild was because they kept on building around a group of players after Datsyuk, Z and Lidstrom retired that included a player like Larkin who was drafted 15th overall.

Nothing in our current make-up as a team leads me to believe that is going to happen. Every contract is set to blow up this team in 3-5 years.

 

[K Fleur]

Can’t trade first round picks, we might miss out on the next Sam Poulin.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Can’t trade first round picks, we might miss out on the next Sam Poulin.

Hey now. Be nice,

If this team's prospects keep jumping ship then Sam Poulin might be all we have left.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

We all agree the scouting dept sucks. So what's the play? Let them target another phenomenal trade acquisition like the last half dozen guys they've brought in, or let them target another phenomenal draft pick along the lines of the dorks they've drafted for the past half dozen drafts?

It's a matter of opinion. I don't think the pick holds more value as a trade asset than it does to this team, in the position they're in now. They already suck. They haven't gotten out of the 1st round since 2018 and they missed entirely because they couldn't beat two teams actively mid-tank.

I don't think for a second the kinda package this team can put together gets Nashville or Winnipeg listening on Saros or Hellebuyck. If it does, and they agree to it, by all means--make the trade *immediately*. I just think people's opinion of the kind of value the 14th overall holds is out of whack. Like others have said, it's probably not gonna land you a franchise cornerstone, but it's also not insignificant enough to be an afterthought like the 21st overall or whatever.

Can’t trade first round picks, we might miss out on the next Sam Poulin.

True, gotta move it for the next Granlund or Kapanen.

 

[Gurglesons]

Hey now. Be nice,

If this team's prospects keep jumping ship then Sam Poulin might be all we have left.

Don't worry. Sam Poulin is going to learn how to PK next season.

True, gotta move it for the next Granlund or Kapanen.

Honestly would rather move the 1st for Kapanen.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Don't worry. Sam Poulin is going to learn how to PK next season.

Oh boy!

Is he finally gonna make the big jump to the most important aspect of hockey?!?

Be still my heart!

 

[K Fleur]

Yeah who is the next boring ass 30-40 point winger we can trade assets for? Are there even any left in the league that we don’t already have?

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yeah who is the next boring ass 30-40 point winger we can trade assets for? Are there even any left that we don’t have?

*pushes glasses up nose*

Well AKSHULLY Fleur 40 points is REALLY QUITE GOOD for a top six guy who doesn't get top powerplay time and really it's more Malkin's fault than anything, Here let me show you some heatmaps...