GDT: Free Agent Frenzy - Halloween Edition - The next scream you hear may be your own.

[Gurglesons]

Yeah on Perry's goals. Dunno who they came with.

Let's do this a different way...

Minus Pavelski and Seguin, Dallas scored 15 goals - so that's the bottom six on ice target. Although, of course, maybe they don't need to score that many if they don't concede 25...

Minus Cirelli and Point, Tampa scored 23 goals and conceded 17.

Minus Schenn and O'Reilly, St Louis scored 24 goals and conceded 22.

Minus Krejci and Bergeron, Boston scored 25 goals and conceded 19

Minus Kuznetsov and Backstrom, Washington scored 21 goals and conceded 18

Minus Karlsson and Haula, Vegas scored 12 goals and conceded 8.

Minus Crosby and Malkin, we went 24-16 in 15-16, and 18-17 in 16-17.

So Dallas' bottom 6 were kinda weedy and not really to be praised.

And the question for our bottom 6 is "Can we score 20 goals in the playoff with them on the ice". Which in itself isn't all about them, but also about Letang and Matheson and Marino.

I just feel HBK has really blown people's minds about what a 3rd line should do.

 

[mpp9]

That's assuming McCann is the 3rd line and Bleuger isn't in terms of actually usage.

I like the optimism. I'll wait and see for now.

As an aside, LOL, I just saw that Schultz contract. Unless there's some kind of injury that Schultz has fully recovered from, that is hilarious. Dude is worse than JJ IMO.

 

[Gurglesons]

I like the optimism. I'll wait and see for now.

As an aside, LOL, I just saw that Schultz contract. Unless there's some kind of injury that Schultz has fully recovered from, that is hilarious. Dude is worse than JJ IMO.

I'm not really optimistic about this team at this point.

But, I also understand that nearly a fourth of the league is over cap and we could potentially see Rutherford do a ton more work before the start of the season.

The skeleton of the team is pretty impressive compared to what we ran the last two years IMO.

 

[66-30-33]

That would make too much sense for our GM.

Well so far he's done alright, now to just finish.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

You can just cut and paste this comment for a lot of the signings in the Pens' division.

 

[Peat]

I just feel HBK has really blown people's minds about what a 3rd line should do.

You're not wrong, but I'm not referring to HBK, I'm referring to every finalist I can be bothered to look up recently. It's fairly consistent. The bottom six needs to be able to do about a goal a game at 5v5. Less and we're looking to be an outlier. Even the outliers, you're still looking for 3 every 4 or so.

 

[Tom Hanks]

 

[Peat]

You can just cut and paste this comment for a lot of the signings in the Pens' division.

I know this isn't the point but I've had some delicious meals that left me feeling dodgy the next day, and food poisoning is a great way to lose weight quick.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Somewhat different - they're on one-way contracts. They're the depth that stays on the NHL roster, as opposed to the guys they sign primarily to help out WB/S. I don't think Rodrigues or Jankowski are slated to start the season in the AHL...

The one way / 2 way distinction pretty meaningless tbh, unless Burkle has decided that he doesn't want to pay them to be there.

 

[Tom Hanks]

I know this isn't the point but I've had some delicious meals that left me feeling dodgy the next day, and food poisoning is a great way to lose weight quick.

So the Oilers hashtag was really #pukeforMcDavid not #tankforMcDavid

 

[HandshakeLine]

I'm not really optimistic about this team at this point.

But, I also understand that nearly a fourth of the league is over cap and we could potentially see Rutherford do a ton more work before the start of the season.

The skeleton of the team is pretty impressive compared to what we ran the last two years IMO.

I feel this team has a lot more in common with how the 2015-2016 team looked going into camp than any of the following Pens' teams.

I don't think they'll necessarily have that success, but even then, look at how much that roster changed from camp to the eventual Cup victory.

 

[HandshakeLine]

So the Oilers hashtag was really #pukeforMcDavid not #tankforMcDavid

Ours should have been #ShartingForSidney

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

Ryan Wilson on hockeybuzz is saying Penguins going with 2 4rth lines for now...

Ryan Wilson is an idiot. McCann is a quality player for the 3rd line and Poulin could be a nice player for that line also. Also ZAR-Blueger-Tanev played 3rd line duty almost all the games last season and had great underlying numbers and the team had the 7th best record in the NHL with them playing in those spots. So Pens have plenty of good options to play on the 3rd line.

 

[Gurglesons]

Nice deal, but like, why for them?

 

[Gurglesons]

You're not wrong, but I'm not referring to HBK, I'm referring to every finalist I can be bothered to look up recently. It's fairly consistent. The bottom six needs to be able to do about a goal a game at 5v5. Less and we're looking to be an outlier. Even the outliers, you're still looking for 3 every 4 or so.

And the question is does bumping one of Kapanen, Zucker, or Rust out of the top six achieve that goal because that is probably what we will logically see them do if they add another piece up front whether prior or during the season.

I'm way ore worried about our goaltending than our forwards. I wonder if they target Howard.

 

[HandshakeLine]

In a lot of ways, I see this as JR throwing a last lifeline to the coach, because pretty much all of the roster is now Sully Approved (tm) hardworking speedsters. If Sully can't get them to play the way he wants them, it's squarely on his shoulders.

 

[mpp9]

I'm not really optimistic about this team at this point.

But, I also understand that nearly a fourth of the league is over cap and we could potentially see Rutherford do a ton more work before the start of the season.

The skeleton of the team is pretty impressive compared to what we ran the last two years IMO.

We've improved by losing dead weight and adding some players who potentially fill needs. Overall, I think JR's had a good summer. I just don't want us to miss out on quality players who'd normally be getting 4-5 mil in past free agency classes.

Hell, Brodie just signed for a few hundred k more than we're paying Matheson.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Nice deal, but like, why for them?

They had 8 forwards before signing him

 

[Gurglesons]

We've improved by losing dead weight and adding some players who potentially fill needs. Overall, I think JR's had a good summer. I just don't want us to miss out on quality players who'd normally be getting 4-5 mil in past free agency classes.

Hell, Brodie just signed for a few hundred k more than we're paying Matheson.

But, we don't need a Brodie in our line-up. We need a Matheson.

Realistically is this team any better..

bottom six of

Rodrigues - McCann - Hornqvist
ZAR - Bleuger - Tanev

bottom two pairings of

Dumoulin - Letang
Pettersson - Marino
Riikola - Ruhwedel

To me that team is worse. Also Toronto is generously over the cap now.

 

[HandshakeLine]

They had 8 forwards before signing him

I'd be happy to send them ZAR for a king's ransom. Or maybe Bobby Bare record, any condition. I'm not picky.

 

[Gurglesons]

They had 8 forwards before signing him

It's funny how far Nashville and Winnipeg have fallen compared to us.

 

[Tom Hanks]

In a lot of ways, I see this as JR throwing a last lifeline to the coach, because pretty much all of the roster is now Sully Approved (tm) hardworking speedsters. If Sully can't get them to play the way he wants them, it's squarely on his shoulders.

I wouldnt put it that way unless Sully really wanted to change things. He’s wanted L3 to be able to score. Right now it looks slightly below average.

Not saying it has to be a pure scoring line. Although if that’s what we got that’s what we got and it becomes more so about possession and the top 6 has to capitalize on a worn down opponent

 

[Tom Hanks]

It's funny how far Nashville and Winnipeg have fallen compared to us.

Even though a team game is more important these days than ever we still have this........

 

[HandshakeLine]

It's funny how far Nashville and Winnipeg have fallen compared to us.

Something to be said about signing cheap depth early in UFA-- you'll have to overpay for it when it's not there. On the other hand, I don't think too many of the remaining higher-profile UFAs are going to see their prices skyrocket over the next few days-- they're probably just evaluating their options. Plus, there's the inevitable trades to get cap compliant.

So, I don't think it was a bad idea at all to scoop up the cheap players for 700k that we might have to pay 800k-1 mill+ for in a few weeks, especially if these were gambles pushed by the analytics kids.

 

[mpp9]

But, we don't need a Brodie in our line-up. We need a Matheson.

Realistically is this team any better..

bottom six of

Rodrigues - McCann - Hornqvist
ZAR - Bleuger - Tanev

bottom two pairings of

Dumoulin - Letang
Pettersson - Marino
Riikola - Ruhwedel

To me that team is worse.

I'm not saying the team is worse. I've stated we've gotten better. But it's important to keep in mind we were not f***ing close to being a contender the past couple years. Back to back embarrassing playoffs where we lost to a team that got taken out in the next round or swept. We need to get quite a bit better.

And I get what you're saying that Matheson has the scoring upside we lack on defense. I've been on that train for awhile. But it's not like Brodie can't score and he's an excellent skater/transition player who isn't coming off being healthy scratched.