Rumor: Penguins interested in Jack Johnson

[BillNy]

I'd say Letang is the most obvious if you can get someone to give you a good young player for him. There's been rumblings about Kessel, and I'd suggest maybe Hornqvist also. I think all 3 have the smell of success on them on top of being solid players who aren't obviously declining yet (maybe with the exception of Letang), I'd bet there would be more than a few GMs who would offer up good young players for them.

I'm not saying sell them for some picks or juniors players who may or may not pan out - definitely target young guys who have shown something to suggest they'll more likely than not be quality NHLers or more.

IMO, the Pens win or lose cups based on whether or not Crosby, Malkin and Murray are hot in the playoffs or not. If they're all humming, the team can win whether they have Letang, Kessel and Hornqvist or 3 younger and slightly worse (for now) guys in those spots.

I may be misunderstanding a bit, but I think you're undervaluing Kessel, Letang, and Hornqvist a bit. I don't think they're all that easily replaceable. The bigger deal isn't that those three are replaceable, it's that, with what they have right now, given Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel are all still elite scorers... good teams get eliminated when their superstar runs cold. Great teams are eliminated when two superstars run cold. What are the odds of all of Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel going silent for a whole round, while none of their very strong supporting cast guys has a flukey great week? If you think of every player as a lottery ticket with certain odds to score enough to win you a round, the Penguins' have too many guys with too high a chance of having a great seven games to ever be discounted.

 

[wej20]

I'd say Letang is the most obvious if you can get someone to give you a good young player for him. There's been rumblings about Kessel, and I'd suggest maybe Hornqvist also. I think all 3 have the smell of success on them on top of being solid players who aren't obviously declining yet (maybe with the exception of Letang), I'd bet there would be more than a few GMs who would offer up good young players for them.

I'm not saying sell them for some picks or juniors players who may or may not pan out - definitely target young guys who have shown something to suggest they'll more likely than not be quality NHLers or more.

IMO, the Pens win or lose cups based on whether or not Crosby, Malkin and Murray are hot in the playoffs or not. If they're all humming, the team can win whether they have Letang, Kessel and Hornqvist or 3 younger and slightly worse (for now) guys in those spots.

They just re-signed Hornqvist and Kessel scored 92 points for 6.8 million. Moving either would be a mistake IMO.

 

[BHD]

Daley was fine as long as he wasn't given tough minutes. He played behind Letang in Pittsburgh, where he was able to use his skating and puck-handling against soft competition. Johnson would put up similar numbers to Daley, but man... his defensive game is... yeah.

I just don't want to see Rutherford sign a guy like Johnson, especially after signing Hunwick last summer. Besides, it would be a bunch money spent on a blue line that would be - quite frankly - mediocre.

 

[molon labe]

...I'd think as a Pens fan I'd wonder when or if they're going to move guys like Letting, Kessel and Hornqvist for young talent.

IMO Hornqvist and Letang can be replaced with kids without too huge a drop off if they target the right players. The fact is, if Crosby, Malkin and Murray are hot in the playoffs, they can win without those guys.

- Kessel leaving to make room for young talent is one thing. Letang and Hornqvist? As much abuse as Letang gets, there's only 1 other defenseman in the entire NHL who can move the puck like him when he's on - that's Karlsson. I have no remorse saying that because he's that good. Now, when he's hurt - or bad...WHEN (because that happens), he can be a detriment. But the guy plays a TON every night, what young talent is replacing that? #1 D are few and far between, young one's even more so. His points are also very difficult to replace. For as frustrated as the Pens get with him, you'd see a LOT more trade proposals with his name in them if there were any that made sense.. thing is there really aren't any.

- Moving Hornqvist for 'young talent' or suggesting we win either cup without him suggests you know zero about Penguin hockey. You were on a respectable track with other suggestions, but here you stand out with some ignorance. The guy is the best net front player in the NHL, brings 110% every night/every shift, and represents the culture change alongside Sullivan in Pittsburgh. There is no realistic player in the NHL you can 1 for 1 him with at 5M that makes the Penguins better. With the cap going the way it is, for the next two seasons you can throw his name in for top 5 value contract in the league (ELC's notwithstanding of course..Guentzel at 700k has been blissful).

 

[OCPenguin]

- Kessel leaving to make room for young talent is one thing. Letang and Hornqvist? As much abuse as Letang gets, there's only 1 other defenseman in the entire NHL who can move the puck like him when he's on - that's Karlsson. I have no remorse saying that because he's that good. Now, when he's hurt - or bad...WHEN (because that happens), he can be a detriment. But the guy plays a TON every night, what young talent is replacing that? #1 D are few and far between, young one's even more so. His points are also very difficult to replace. For as frustrated as the Pens get with him, you'd see a LOT more trade proposals with his name in them if there were any that made sense.. thing is there really aren't any.

- Moving Hornqvist for 'young talent' or suggesting we win either cup without him suggests you know zero about Penguin hockey. You were on a respectable track with other suggestions, but here you stand out with some ignorance. The guy is the best net front player in the NHL, brings 110% every night/every shift, and represents the culture change alongside Sullivan in Pittsburgh. There is no realistic player in the NHL you can 1 for 1 him with at 5M that makes the Penguins better. With the cap going the way it is, for the next two seasons you can throw his name in for top 5 value contract in the league (ELC's notwithstanding of course..Guentzel at 700k has been blissful).

I wish people would stop overrating Letang. I would gladly drive him to the place he is traded myself. That is a lot of change to pay for a guy that is careless with the puck and makes poor defensive decisions. Cool, he can skate and move the puck. He is a flawed player that GMs still would pay a ton for. I would move him quickly.

 

[molon labe]

I wish people would stop overrating Letang. I would gladly drive him to the place he is traded myself. That is a lot of change to pay for a guy that is careless with the puck and makes poor defensive decisions. Cool, he can skate and move the puck. He is a flawed player that GMs still would pay a ton for. I would move him quickly.

For who? There's no overrating in his ability to move the puck up ice...

The Pens rely heavily on puck transition - sooo he sorta fits here no? We won the cup without him because we converted chances, do you forget how gritty the team looked in the process? The team went from buzz-saw in 2016 to workhorse and unity in 2017. Next...Who are we moving him for? Sure I'd love his cap to come off the books, but what other #1D are we getting? If he's involved for Karlsson by some magic JR can pull of, yeah that's great - but there's just about zero other #1D's in the entire NHL who are available right now. Like it or not Letang is a great asset to a contending team - but his value depends on his health. If we shave about 4 minutes or more of his ice time off then I believe you see a different 58 entirely. I'm not opposed to moving him - you quoted me and commented out of context. The response was to a person who believed we should move him for futures - that's horrible thinking for a win-now Penguins.

 

[Pens x]

He is buddies with Sid so this isn’t a surprise. However, our defense is very overpaid for a mediocre bunch.

 

[haveandare]

- Kessel leaving to make room for young talent is one thing. Letang and Hornqvist? As much abuse as Letang gets, there's only 1 other defenseman in the entire NHL who can move the puck like him when he's on - that's Karlsson. I have no remorse saying that because he's that good. Now, when he's hurt - or bad...WHEN (because that happens), he can be a detriment. But the guy plays a TON every night, what young talent is replacing that? #1 D are few and far between, young one's even more so. His points are also very difficult to replace. For as frustrated as the Pens get with him, you'd see a LOT more trade proposals with his name in them if there were any that made sense.. thing is there really aren't any.

- Moving Hornqvist for 'young talent' or suggesting we win either cup without him suggests you know zero about Penguin hockey. You were on a respectable track with other suggestions, but here you stand out with some ignorance. The guy is the best net front player in the NHL, brings 110% every night/every shift, and represents the culture change alongside Sullivan in Pittsburgh. There is no realistic player in the NHL you can 1 for 1 him with at 5M that makes the Penguins better. With the cap going the way it is, for the next two seasons you can throw his name in for top 5 value contract in the league (ELC's notwithstanding of course..Guentzel at 700k has been blissful).

Letang playing a ton isn't great a lot of the time though, he's an excellent puck mover but he's an abomination in his own zone a lot of the time. He got walked routinely all throughout the playoffs. Dumolin was as on as I've ever seen him but it still wasn't enough to cover Letang.

For Hornqvist, yes he's very good, especially in front of the net, but at the end of the day, he's a 50 point player. He's not young and his production isn't irreplaceable by any means - the league doesn't have a shortage of 50 point players, there were over 100 last year.

I'm not saying there's a trade they can make for either guy that will return a young player who is better than them today, but my whole point is that today is almost over for the vast majority of talent the Pens have and it might be time to start wondering what tomorrow is going to look like. I can understand being sentimental about some of these guys but if management is sentimental about too many of them they're going to have a lot of guys past their prime soon and nobody to replace them.

 

[Sam Spade]

Healthy scratch in the playoffs I mean what can you really ask for?

Could be a good rehab project for Conchar ala Schultz.

 

[3074326]

It depends on the price, but I think Jack Johnson is fairly underrated on HFBoards. He's a solid player. CBJ had an excellent group of D last year, so his TOI was down. Look at his playoff numbers.

But all that depends on the price. I assume Jack is looking to make as much as possible given the unfortunate circumstances with his family, and I would do the same. Pittsburgh doesn't seem like a fit in that sense. But if they can get him relatively cheap? Absolutely.

 

[WannabeFinn]

I would love nothing more than to see Pittsburgh of all teams be the ones to give Jack an awful contract. He's a capable 3rd pairing guy who can fill in on the top 4 in a pinch, but if you're relying on him to be anything more than that you're going to be disappointed. And he's going to be chasing the big bucks this free agency. He can't afford not to.

 

[Crede777]

It depends on the price, but I think Jack Johnson is fairly underrated on HFBoards. He's a solid player. CBJ had an excellent group of D last year, so his TOI was down. Look at his playoff numbers.

But all that depends on the price. I assume Jack is looking to make as much as possible given the unfortunate circumstances with his family, and I would do the same. Pittsburgh doesn't seem like a fit in that sense. But if they can get him relatively cheap? Absolutely.

I agree with this fully. I think Jack Johnson is just a shade under where Ian Cole is in terms of quality, so a decent #5 guy who can log a lot of minutes if needed. He also turns his game up in the playoffs which is a plus.

 

[TheAngryHank]

I like it. Except our top 4 is set so seems like a lot of money for a 5/6 D man. Maybe Maatta gets traded for a forward or a 1st?

I would like to explore one of Johnson, CDH, or Moore in free agency.

Maatta for a 1st

 

[DictatorTots427]

They need help on LD right? Signing him on a 1 year deal seems like a good low-risk move for them to make.

 

[Chili Goal]

another scenario here is Pens (Sid behind the scenes) are helping boost JJ's market demand a bit with this news piece. poor guy needs paid after all this, though I suspect it won't be by Pittsburgh.

 

[WannabeFinn]

They need help on LD right? Signing him on a 1 year deal seems like a good low-risk move for them to make.

Jack Johnson is not taking a 1 year deal. He's not taking any sort of discount. He's absolutely taking the best deal offered to him, financially speaking.

 

[BillNy]

I wish people would stop overrating Letang. I would gladly drive him to the place he is traded myself. That is a lot of change to pay for a guy that is careless with the puck and makes poor defensive decisions. Cool, he can skate and move the puck. He is a flawed player that GMs still would pay a ton for. I would move him quickly.

I think a lot people are harder on themselves than others, and Kris Letang had a stroke, which sometimes impairs cognitive ability, so based on your post, I think it's smart to assume you're Kris Letang.