Salary Cap: 2017-18 Roster Building Thread VI | Contract/FA charts in Post #1 | CAP SET at $75M

[Cherpak]

Guy's don't beat me up too bad. I'm a novice at NHL line chemistry and player contacts..

So here goes...
Isn't Guentzel actually LW & C and could he anchor the 3C position in a pinch if they can't pick up a 3C player or re-sign Bonino and move Hagelin or bring back Kunitz for Sid's LW? I'd prefer them to re-sign Bonino, but the $ would have to be reasonable.

Secondly, and this is just my own thinking process here...

BUT, if you were an NHL UFA or even a RFA on the Pittsburgh Penguins, wouldn't a $2.5 million contract with the Penguins, be worth more than $3.25 million on say, the Colorado Avalanche? For me I'd be much more comfortable with the back to back champs, than the last place team even with $750,000 less..

Am I not thinking right here, or don't these guys think like that?

The Old man himself said they see Guentzel as a Wing not center. That idea seems about dead.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

I'm actually disappointed that we didn't draft in the first round Defenseman Nicolas Hague. I pegged him as mid 1st round player.
I didn't think we needed an enforcer since I rarely see enforcer stopping the other team from hitting the star player throughout the game these days. Obviously, JR disagrees.

Please stop with this "Reaves is an enforcer" stuff. It's a false narrative.

Reaves is essentially Kunitz's replacement; at a FRACTION of the cost and a guy who can actually, ya know skate and shoot the puck.

Would you call Kunitz an enforcer? Nope..he was a player you could move up and down the lineup as the opposition dictated

Reaves is not Sestito, so I really wish this comparison/enforcer stuff would die because it's absolutely not true

/end rant

 

[StutzlesTapeJob]

Wouldnt surprise me at all to learn the pens are respectfully trying to convince Cullen of one more year.

I was just thinking about who finding a decent 3rd line center probably isn't vexing the gm squad because of how deep the top 2 is. Then I thought about injuries and how cullen, somehow, always steps up in limited top 6 time. Then thought about the PK.

You add these things up, and with our makeup/injury history Matt Cullen seems pretty darn perfect for the cap hit he comes at.

Crazy how a guy can win you over. At his age, to deep cup runs, and he still didn't look unduely out of gas at the end. Kunitz shows his age far more.

 

[Deport Ogie]

Yeah, I could have sworn Elliotte Friedman broke the trade on Sportsnet before the Blackhawks had even gone up to make their selection.

IIRC, there was buzz about the Pens working on a trade but nothing about StL specifically until after the Hawks picked. There was even some who wondered if it was Pittsburgh and the Hawks talking because JR and Bowman were both on the phone at the same time and "hung up together" or something like that. That kind of speculation is always part of having all GMs and a bunch of reporters in the same place.

Talk of it being specifically about Reaves didn't start on Twitter until after that Chicago ****show of a draft announcement.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

And here I thought this was a thread to discuss the state of the team, and concerns we have that need to be addressed.

At this point, given the information currently on hand, I don't like the idea of trading what we traded to address an area of the team we appear to be strong in. I'd rather have used those assets to address our center depth.

If players are acquired by various means over the summer I'm sure we'll discuss those transactions as well and adjust our level of concern accordingly.

Everything's up for discussion, of course. But you're already labeling the Reaves trade a "problem" because of other holes in the roster before we even hit UFA. It's anything but a problem, presently.

Not everything can or has to be addressed in a specific order. IF JR's targeting UFA centers, obviously he couldn't make St.Louis wait to trade up in the draft until he got his 3C.

Reaves is essentially Kunitz's replacement

This is what we all hope.

 

[Peat]

IIRC, there was buzz about the Pens working on a trade but nothing about StL specifically until after the Hawks picked. There was even some who wondered if it was Pittsburgh and the Hawks talking because JR and Bowman were both on the phone at the same time and "hung up together" or something like that. That kind of speculation is always part of having all GMs and a bunch of reporters in the same place.

Talk of it being specifically about Reaves didn't start on Twitter until after that Chicago ****show of a draft announcement.

Possibly Rutherford was asking Bowman whether he was gonna pick Jokey Hairdo.

Eh. Could be wrong. All academic anyway.

Please stop with this "Reaves is an enforcer" stuff. It's a false narrative.

Reaves is essentially Kunitz's replacement; at a FRACTION of the cost and a guy who can actually, ya know skate and shoot the puck.

Would you call Kunitz an enforcer? Nope..he was a player you could move up and down the lineup as the opposition dictated

Reaves is not Sestito, so I really wish this comparison/enforcer stuff would die because it's absolutely not true

/end rant

If we paid that much to have a career 4th liner as our move up and down the line physical guy, its even worse.

Reaves acts as an enforcer. He's come in after Rutherford said we need need someone doing enforcer duties. He's said his first duty is looking after the boys and changed his logo to a penguins in a sheriff's outfit, so he seems to view himself as an enforcer. I'm struggling to see how he isn't an enforcer here.

Would it make you happier if we said he's an enforcer who can also play hockey?

 

[BustaKapanen]

Wouldnt surprise me at all to learn the pens are respectfully trying to convince Cullen of one more year.

I was just thinking about who finding a decent 3rd line center probably isn't vexing the gm squad because of how deep the top 2 is. Then I thought about injuries and how cullen, somehow, always steps up in limited top 6 time. Then thought about the PK.

You add these things up, and with our makeup/injury history Matt Cullen seems pretty darn perfect for the cap hit he comes at.

Crazy how a guy can win you over. At his age, to deep cup runs, and he still didn't look unduely out of gas at the end. Kunitz shows his age far more.

I tend to agree with this. I forget who was doing the interview with JR, I want to say it was Mackey. He said something along the lines assuming Cullen retires. And JR fired back almost matter of factly. Well nothings for certain yet. Idk I'm probably reading too much into it, but I found it odd he barely let Mackey get the sentence out before responding.

 

[ThatGuy]

Please stop with this "Reaves is an enforcer" stuff. It's a false narrative.

Reaves is essentially Kunitz's replacement; at a FRACTION of the cost and a guy who can actually, ya know skate and shoot the puck.

Would you call Kunitz an enforcer? Nope..he was a player you could move up and down the lineup as the opposition dictated

Reaves is not Sestito, so I really wish this comparison/enforcer stuff would die because it's absolutely not true

/end rant

I wouldn't call Kunitz an enforcer because he sucked at fighting and didn't do it much. Reaves is one of the best fighters in the league and fights fairly often (although his number of fights have been declining)

It makes a lot more sense to me to classify Reaves as an enforcer than as a Kunitz-type player when you compare their stat lines and fighting ability...

 

[Saints11]

There was an NHL.com article on free agent Centers...they listed the Penguins as a possible landing spot for Hanzel, Thornton, Boyle, Bonino, Gagner, and Moore. So they think we have a shot at landing pretty much every FA C out there.

I'm glad we're getting love somewhere.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

The Reaves rumor was on the main board about halfway through the first round on Friday night. JR was working on this for some time, imo.

 

[Harvey Birdman]

I want to know what the Schultz deal is so damn bad... What did he call down money wise? You have to think the deal is anywhere from 3-5 years. But what is the dollar amount?

5M? 5.5M?? 6M??? 6.5M+????

 

[Cherpak]

Wouldnt surprise me at all to learn the pens are respectfully trying to convince Cullen of one more year.

I was just thinking about who finding a decent 3rd line center probably isn't vexing the gm squad because of how deep the top 2 is. Then I thought about injuries and how cullen, somehow, always steps up in limited top 6 time. Then thought about the PK.

You add these things up, and with our makeup/injury history Matt Cullen seems pretty darn perfect for the cap hit he comes at.

Crazy how a guy can win you over. At his age, to deep cup runs, and he still didn't look unduely out of gas at the end. Kunitz shows his age far more.

The team can't keeping asking him to keep coming back and put a hold on his life to cover their failures of adequately replacing him.

 

[Malkinstheman]

Anything interesting in Yohe's Q and A?

 

[Riptide]

Cap Hit: $73,625,833
Cap Space: $1,374,167

Assumes a couple of things - one that Rudwedel and Pouliot can be the 6/7 we need them to be and two that Jarry or a similar vet in the 600-1mil mark is signed. Still leaves us with about a mil in space.

I think my RFA and UFA price tags are pretty accurate too to be honest.

Other than Schultz at 4m, they're probably pretty close.

 

[SEALBound]

Isn't Guentzel actually LW & C and could he anchor the 3C position in a pinch if they can't pick up a 3C player or re-sign Bonino and move Hagelin or bring back Kunitz for Sid's LW? I'd prefer them to re-sign Bonino, but the $ would have to be reasonable.

Absolutely 100% no.

Yeah well if he was that good why did 26 other teams pass on the top rated European prospect? There appears to be a few details that prevented him from being picked prior to that. There's no guarantees he'll amount to anything....but as you eluded to we DO have an enforcer. Enjoy!

Where was Kucherov drafted? Kuznetsov? Kapanen? Top ranked Euro skated "drop" all the time.

Sad. I was excited when Percy was willing to come here. Didn't amount to anything in WBS though. Oh well.

 

[The Gobfather*]

Anything interesting in Yohe's Q and A?

Hasn't responded yet

 

[Saints11]

The Reaves rumor was on the main board about halfway through the first round on Friday night. JR was working on this for some time, imo.

My only question about Friday night revolve around the Pens discussions with the Ducks. Based on what has transpired since and the rumor the Pens were looking to move a contract, I wonder if there were talks about Ducks d-men?

 

[Jag68Sid87]

What is the rumor about the Penguins wanting to move a contract? This is the first I hear of this.

 

[Saints11]

What is the rumor about the Penguins wanting to move a contract? This is the first I hear of this.

Insider on Pittsburgh Sports, take it for what it's worth.

 

[BuppY]

Would JR be interested in Nail Yakupov?

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

I wouldn't call Kunitz an enforcer because he sucked at fighting and didn't do it much. Reaves is one of the best fighters in the league and fights fairly often (although his number of fights have been declining)

It makes a lot more sense to me to classify Reaves as an enforcer than as a Kunitz-type player when you compare their stat lines and fighting ability...

Do you mean the same Kunitz who hadn't potted an ES goal in some 30+ games all while playing next to the best C's in the game?

Pray tell, how many goals do you think Kuntiz would've potted while playing next to Scottie Upshall and god knows who else is on Stl's 4th line?

Forget the "fighting" part of Reaves' skillset (because that's all everyone seems to be focused on).

Reaves is just as equal in terms of hands, a superior skater and probably equal in terms of hitting vs Kunitz at this point in their respective careers

And I'm not some Reaves fanboy as I thought the payment for OS was too much. But people are calling this player a 1 trick pony, something he's proven he is truly NOT

 

[Asuna]

Insider on Pittsburgh Sports, take it for what it's worth.

also from there, chicago is interested in kunitz.

his wife is from there and they live there during the summer.

kunitz-toews-saad

do it, chicago

 

[SprootsMasterFlex]

Would JR be interested in Nail Yakupov?

Why not? Its a risk worth gambling though I could imagine Montreal signing him if they intend on keeping Galchenyuk

 

[The Gobfather*]

also from there, chicago is interested in kunitz.

his wife is from there and they live there during the summer.

kunitz-toews-saad

do it, chicago

Would be funny if he sucked the life out of their top line for a season

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Would JR be interested in Nail Yakupov?

I'd be surprised if he was. Kesslel, Hornqvist, Sheary, Reaves, Rust, Kuhnhackl, and Sprong all play RW or RW/LW. I think Guentzel and Wilson can as well.