Why is it hard for some of us to accept that the Penguins are rebuilding?

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

Oh bro, you don’t know how good you have it now compared to the early 80s. Those were dark years. Hate to tell you, most pro sports are part of corporations.

We were in a super unique situation with Mario owning the team as long as he did. That just doesn’t happen…ever.

 

[edog37]

We were in a super unique situation with Mario owning the team as long as he did. That just doesn’t happen…ever.

Yep, but let’s be honest Ron Burkle was the money guy. FSG can’t make money on a losing team. They’ll do fine rebuilding this team.

 

[LOGiK]

Oh bro, you don’t know how good you have it now compared to the early 80s. Those were dark years. Hate to tell you, most pro sports are part of corporations.

Unless you live out in the woods and disconnected, hate to be the bad news guys, but everything you think, do, watch is from a corporation.

 

[BusinessGoose]

It's all about the money

You just find whatever feeds your dopamine on whatever cost (money, time, soul) you feel is acceptable

Sex, drugs, and sports keep us from rioting

 

[chethejet]

FSG will make money on the RE deal and the Arena brings in some needed cash. FSG makes money here and with a cap that will be lower in actual salary and expenditures, FSG can well afford to rebuild the franchise to be a winner in 2 or 3 years. Pretty sure the plan was to give the core a 2 or 3 year time frame to play. the Dubas knows the purge comes and the rebuild is in full drive.

 

[SEALBound]

FSG will make money on the RE deal and the Arena brings in some needed cash. FSG makes money here and with a cap that will be lower in actual salary and expenditures, FSG can well afford to rebuild the franchise to be a winner in 2 or 3 years. Pretty sure the plan was to give the core a 2 or 3 year time frame to play. the Dubas knows the purge comes and the rebuild is in full drive.

Yeah, I think what is throwing a wrench in the system is obviously just how bad the current roster is performing. This was a team built with playoffs in mind and hopefully making some noise. They didn't. Not only didn't they but there were major issues in nearly every facet the entire year.

With Sid wanting to extend, Geno here for two more and Letang here for 4 more (and EK), it gets tough to talk about wanting to rebuild when those three were willing to come back at lower costs to compete and retire here. They are the ones that will have to make the decision on whether or not they want to be around for a rebuild or even a re-tool.

 

[HandshakeLine]

i don’t think FSG is very good at this whole hockey business.

 

[PaulD]

Even though a Penguins "rebuild" was eventually going to happen, I've noticed that some people seem to have a hard time understanding and accepting that we may not be a contender for "awhile" (until 2030, which is my prediction)

However, sports fans aren't satisfied (during a rebuild) until their team becomes a contender again, which means that we'll just have to deal with it until we return to NHL relevance...

IMO, since the Penguins drafted Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Fleury, etc) our current generation of Penguin fans may have some issues accepting the fact that we may not be good for some time, even though this happens throughout the sports world:

Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, LA Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, etc...

On an extra note, hopefully the Penguins will draft within the Top 5-10 (until they become contenders again) along with possibly winning the draft lottery as well...

As in Montreal, fans were not unacceptable or disappointed at with a necessary rebuild. They were however dead set against Bergevin being in charge of it. Relief set in immediately when Bargain Bergevin was canned and Gorton was brought in. Rebuild welcomed with open arms.
I get the impression Pens fans feel the same way about Dubas and Sullivan leading a rebuild.
Those who don't? should.....
and soon will.

 

[SEALBound]

I mentioned this is a main board thread:

It may benefit us more to finish 11+ this year and give the pick to SJS while keeping the 2025 1st. That would open us up to the possibility of trading the likes of EK, Pettersson, Jarry, Rakell, Smith, etc. We could gain prospects and draft capital, get a high 2025 pick, and then retool for the true last years of Sid/Geno/Letang. Not unlike what Boston did circa 2015 when they sent out Hamilton and Lucic.

Target a top 4 capable dman, a young top 6 wing, and a goalie prospect in the process.

Then in 2025-2026, you can run something like:

Rust-Sid-Yager
DOC-Malkin-Trade
Kouvinen-Pono-Puustinen
xxxxx-Poulin-xxxxx

POJ-Letang
Trade-Trade
Pickering-Ludvig

Blomqvist-Murashev

 

[chethejet]

The next wave here is after next season. I want the top10 pick if there. Get a really good RD and Smith gets moved and have 4 picks in first two rounds. Pens trade Rust next year and Karlsson for picks and prospects. Dubas will transition to the next group which started with the Guentzel trade. Picking up 6 to 8 very good prospects the next 2 years in the draft and trades will allow for the franchise to not be in decline like some have. Plus the cap space will allow for adding a couple key players to elevate the roster. If they extend Sid then as I expect Geno to be gone after next year year 25/26 looks to be:
Bunting Sid RR
FA Yager Puustinen
DOC Poulin Acciari
? ? ?
There are numerous prospects here to fill in those slots. Canes trade pieces, Broz, come to mind but you have the Russian prospects plus who they get back in the Rust and Karlsson trades, But bo question it will take another 2 years of additions to begin to get back to having a competitive team.

 

[LOGiK]

i don’t think FSG is very good at this whole hockey business.

Nope... but they do like football in europe... buying another team (i think in france).
Gotta be big time profits for them compared to hockey.

 

[BusinessGoose]

Nope... but they do like football in europe... buying another team (i think in france).
Gotta be big time profits for them compared to hockey.

I'm pretty certain at this point, that all futbol teams are 100% ways to launder money.

 

[PaulD]

Not hard to except rebuilding Pens.

Hard to except who's doing it.

 

[pokey10]

R. Francis looks better than R. Smith

Fixed

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

i don’t think FSG is very good at this whole hockey business.

FSG probably thought that buying this team would be another guaranteed easy, minimal effort way for them to essentially print more money.

Once the “ooooh!! Shiny thing!!!” novelty factor wore off, they stopped giving a shit.

 

[ChaosAgent]

I don't hate FSG aside from the weird, excessive love affair with Sullivan.
Realistically the end of this era was always going to be ugly. And any ownership group may have hired a charlatan like Dubas.

 

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

I don't hate FSG aside from the weird, excessive love affair with Sullivan.
Realistically the end of this era was always going to be ugly. And any ownership group may have hired a charlatan like Dubas.

I’m not really convinced they’d be in a better spot if Lemieux/Burkle were still owners.

 

[Ryder71]

I mentioned this is a main board thread:

It may benefit us more to finish 11+ this year and give the pick to SJS while keeping the 2025 1st. That would open us up to the possibility of trading the likes of EK, Pettersson, Jarry, Rakell, Smith, etc. We could gain prospects and draft capital, get a high 2025 pick, and then retool for the true last years of Sid/Geno/Letang. Not unlike what Boston did circa 2015 when they sent out Hamilton and Lucic.

Target a top 4 capable dman, a young top 6 wing, and a goalie prospect in the process.

Then in 2025-2026, you can run something like:

Rust-Sid-Yager
DOC-Malkin-Trade
Kouvinen-Pono-Puustinen
xxxxx-Poulin-xxxxx

POJ-Letang
Trade-Trade
Pickering-Ludvig

Blomqvist-Murashev

Koivunen should be in the top six, IF he pans out. He's a skilled guy. DOC, all 26 points of him, should be on the 3rd line.

 

[SEALBound]

Koivunen should be in the top six, IF he pans out. He's a skilled guy. DOC, all 26 points of him, should be on the 3rd line.

Agreed. I just had him on there to "start off". He could very well develop into a top 6 guy.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't hate FSG aside from the weird, excessive love affair with Sullivan.
Realistically the end of this era was always going to be ugly. And any ownership group may have hired a charlatan like Dubas.

I'm not a fan of Dubas, but I'll give FSG credit for doing a big dick move like getting him to come to Pittsburgh. Say what you will, but don't think I've ever seen the Penguins go out there and pay a dude a blank check to come here like that.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

The thing I will never understand about FSG is this supposed "ruthless" attitude they had toward winning that we heard about when they first bought the Penguins. All we heard was how they'd fire/trade anyone and had no loyalty to anyone if the results weren't there.

And yet here we are.

 

[SEALBound]

I'm not a fan of Dubas, but I'll give FSG credit for doing a big dick move like getting him to come to Pittsburgh. Say what you will, but don't think I've ever seen the Penguins go out there and pay a dude a blank check to come here like that.

They learned their lesson with Hextall and Burke that you probably can't be THAT hands-off. I imagine when they brought in Dubas, there was a sense of "okay, this is our guy and we like what he says and we are comfortable putting the team in his hands with limited oversight". I mean, after they canned Burkstall, they assigned or "promoted" an executive in FSG to oversee the team operations. So paying a guy they liked to come in and run the team has the added bonus of allowing other FSG executives to focus on other things. I know this because I've done this (on a much smaller scale but still).

Burkle had Mario to be that oversight. That was a level of oversight that I'm not sure can really ever be matched.

 

[PaulD]

Dubas and Sullivan leading the rebuild.

That's what Pens fans must find unacceptable.

 

[IcedCapp]

Leaf fan here. I just wanted to thank the Penguin management for taking the Boy Genius, Dubas, off our hands.

Penguins fan here. Thanks for continuously and mindlessly supporting a bad franchise so that your team can share your hard-earned money with the rest of the league so we can all win the Cup while you guys go to other boards and act like you're at all relevant.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

I’m not really convinced they’d be in a better spot if Lemieux/Burkle were still owners.

Probably right here. I mean Hextall was hired under their tenure.

They ultimately sold high, which you knew they would, and took themselves away from the risk of what's coming in the future. Lower ticket sales, and lower revenue, until they rebuild into something decent, and even that depends on HOW decent.

Has it been proven that Pittsburgh can adequately support a mediocre (superstarless) Penguins team financially?

I mean last time (between Mario/Crosby) the team nearly went bankrupt. I don't know about pre-Mario days, but the landscape has changed considerably since then.