Confirmed with Link: Penguins re-sign Beau Bennett (1 year, $800k)

[Waffle Fries]

Absolute best case scenario - He starts with Sutter, plays well, pushes Perron out and JR makes a trade at the deadline to get a 1st from someone for Perron and possibly a solid prospect or maybe a Defenseman this team can use and Beau is in the top 6, healthy and producing.

This sounds like a pretty poor - and rather bizarre idea of best case - scenario. Perron is our best left wing by a pretty significant margin. A first, prospect or bottom-4 defenseman aren't going to help this team more than Perron. Plus if you move him what do you have on the left side? A declining 35-year old Chris Kunitz and a relative unknown in Plotnikov?

I hope that Bennett plays well enough to get an opportunity in the top-6, but that would be on the left side of Malkin and Kessel pushing Kunitz or Plotnikov down.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I don't know if that's a best case scenario. Quite the contrary, actually. Getting rid of Perron in favor of Bennett would be a terrible decision, no matter how he plays until the deadline.

Not really, Perron is going to be a UFA, will probably cost the team more as well and if Beau can produce as much as Perron can, it allows the team more flexibility with the cap.

And why does that matter?

Olli Maatta is in the final year of his ELC. You think he's not going to cost a pretty penny to lock up if he picks up where he left off?

Also, you want Beau to play well enough to earn a better contract, which I think he will.

Then in 2016-17 you are looking at:

Plotnikov, Crosby, Kessel
Bennett, Malkin, Hornqvist
XXXX, Sundqvist, XXXX

Perron is a trade chip, we can either ignore that or admit it. If Plotnikov and Bennett play up to their potential if healthy (if Sergei adjusts), the Pens are looking at some more affordable options.

I don't know if you noticed or not, but that 2016 UFA crop is mighty tempting to have some cap space too.

 

[hooverdam]

Not really, Perron is going to be a UFA, will probably cost the team more as well and if Beau can produce as much as Perron can, it allows the team more flexibility with the cap.

And why does that matter?

Olli Maatta is in the final year of his ELC. You think he's not going to cost a pretty penny to lock up if he picks up where he left off?

Also, you want Beau to play well enough to earn a better contract, which I think he will.

Then in 2016-17 you are looking at:

Plotnikov, Crosby, Kessel
Bennett, Malkin, Hornqvist
XXXX, Sundqvist, XXXX

Perron is a trade chip, we can either ignore that or admit it. If Plotnikov and Bennett play up to their potential if healthy (if Sergei adjusts), the Pens are looking at some more affordable options.

I don't know if you noticed or not, but that 2016 UFA crop is mighty tempting to have some cap space too.

But why does he have to make Perron expendable? That seems like a really tall order. Why can't he just make Kunitz expendable? We all want Kunitz gone before his contract is up, let Bennett be the solid reason the front office is finally ready to say "Look, there, Kunitz has been absolutely replaced in the top six. Now we can move him for whatever."

I understand their hesitance to get nothing for Kunitz when, as of right now, none of Bennett/Plotnikov/Dupuis/Sundqvist/etc. have emerged as surefire replacements on the LW. But if one or several of that group makes it, that gives them even more reason to cut ties with Kunitz. And out of all them, I'd say Bennett has the biggest chance of doing it, though it's still a long shot. It's not as long of a shot as him beating out Kunitz and Perron, though. He'd have to blow the doors off and I don't see how he does that in his situation.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Why?

I expect Perron to be healthy and produce at 60+ this season, you think he's going to sign at a bargain 4-4.5m/yr? I think he's going to cost this team 5-5.5 maybe 6m depending on just how good of a year he has.

If JR can get him signed for 4.5-5m/yr for 5yrs, perfect.

I like Perron, don't get me wrong, I am one of the few here defending him and wanting him to stay on, just thinking about the cap and his status. If Perron is misused again and shifted from LW/RW all season long, what are his incentives on staying? Get jerked around for however long this idiotic coaching staff is on for?

 

[BumFortyOne]

Why?

I expect Perron to be healthy and produce at 60+ this season, you think he's going to sign at a bargain 4-4.5m/yr? I think he's going to cost this team 5-5.5 maybe 6m depending on just how good of a year he has.

If JR can get him signed for 4.5-5m/yr for 5yrs, perfect.

I like Perron, don't get me wrong, I am one of the few here defending him and wanting him to stay on, just thinking about the cap and his status. If Perron is misused again and shifted from LW/RW all season long, what are his incentives on staying? Get jerked around for however long this idiotic coaching staff is on for?

If Perron is on pace to put up 60+ points this season he's certainly not going to get traded at the deadline. He's going to stay for the playoffs and hopefully a deep run.

If things are going that well we'll finally have three legit top six wingers, one of whom is elite and would make up for having a slightly subpar LW depending on how Kunitz, Plotnikov, etc perform. No more excuses for this team failing to score goals in the playoffs. Depending on how the young guys on defense progress, this is a Cup contending roster now. No productive piece of the team is going to be sold off at the deadline.

 

[Giskard]

It's should be a good year for him. If he can stay healthy (of course), he doesn't have the pressure to play with Crosby/Malkin and perform right away. If we're gonna have 4 line capable of scoring like GMJR sayd, he will certainly be very usefull in a 3rd/4th line wing.

 

[hooverdam]

Why?

I expect Perron to be healthy and produce at 60+ this season, you think he's going to sign at a bargain 4-4.5m/yr? I think he's going to cost this team 5-5.5 maybe 6m depending on just how good of a year he has.

If JR can get him signed for 4.5-5m/yr for 5yrs, perfect.

I like Perron, don't get me wrong, I am one of the few here defending him and wanting him to stay on, just thinking about the cap and his status. If Perron is misused again and shifted from LW/RW all season long, what are his incentives on staying? Get jerked around for however long this idiotic coaching staff is on for?

I don't pretend to know Perron's mindset and for all I know, he could be looking for the biggest paycheck. You're right. But if he's that productive, after bouncing around from one team's doghouse to one of the worst teams in the league to here, I'd speculate he'll want stability more than anything. He'll want to know that he's assured a spot alongside one of the two best centers in the world or will have the opportunity to fight for one of those spots. For a player like Perron, I think that's more valuable than bouncing around looking for a payday.

For all that people joke about players taking discounts to play with Sid or Geno, I don't think it's as ridiculous as it sounds. Neal knew what he had in Geno and took a sweatheart deal accordingly. Kunitz and Dupuis were coming off their most productive seasons when they signed their deals, and Dupuis especially could have priced himself right out of Pittsburgh on the open market, seeing what Clarkson and Bolland got. They took deals that were, at the time, lower than what they could get on the market because they knew Sid or Geno were their bread and butter. I don't think it's much of a leap to think that Perron will think the same way, especially since I doubt he'll outproduce Neal and he could command more term than Kunitz or Dupuis.

I really don't think we have to worry about Perron exploding and pricing himself out of Pittsburgh. If he does explode, it'll be because Sid or Geno helped him just that much. If he leaves because he was misused, do you have any faith Bennett will have been treated better enough to be a replacement? If they can't even get Perron right, Bennett is surely beyond their capabilities.

 

[Deutschland Dangler]

Not really, Perron is going to be a UFA, will probably cost the team more as well and if Beau can produce as much as Perron can, it allows the team more flexibility with the cap.

Bennett won't match Perron's production for quite a while and has had insane injury problems throughout his life. Even if we assume he miraculously matches Perron production-wise and stays healthy until the deadline, you don't ship out Perron and hitch your wagon entirely to Beau. Way too risky.
Perron is part of the winger solution and not a "trade chip". The only reason to ship him out is if he absolutely refuses to resign or you get an offer you just can't refuse. Both are extremely unlikely.

To me, this seems like a case where someone has fallen in love with Beau and his potential so much that the priority shifts from what would be best for the team to what would be be best for him, thus constructing a situation where we get rid of better players so that he can slide up in the depth chart.

I really like Bennett, but not that much. And let's be realistic here, 70 games and 25-30 points would be absolutely terrific already.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

What, exactly, gives people the impression Bennett is ready to, or will ever replicate Perron's ~50pts a year?

I mean, I like Bennett. I really do. I think he'll be a very serviceable 3rd line winger with a bit of an offensive touch. I don't think he'll ever do anything of significance in the top six, at least on this team. That being said, I think people are judging Perron solely on his performance while the entire team was in the midst of the biggest slide in decades. Everyone was playing the worst brand of hockey, and was wholly unsuccessful from like Christmas to the playoffs, Sid and Geno included.

 

[M0NTY26]

I live in the STL area these days and have watched Perron since he broke into the league. What we got was par for course with him. The one thing he has consistently done in his career is light the world on fire when he's got the hot hand, but as soon as it cools off, he just disappears from the face of the planet for long stretches.

This is the first time he's being centered by world class players though, so hopefully he changes that this upcoming season, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I don't think Bennett plays badly under the pressure of having to play with either Crosby or Malkin. I mean, has he even played at ALL with Sid? And with Geno and Neal that line looked like money and a unit we could keep together for a decade.

Bennett has hockey sense, so in my estimation he can play as the main puckhandler on a line (like if he plays on Line 3 or 4), or serve more of a complementary role. He knows where to be, where to go.

It's really hard to comment definitively about Beau Bennett because he hasn't been given a real opportunity as a top-six winger, has been hurt a ton and has been typically inconsistent.

The talent to thrive is there, though. We just need to get it out of him. Hopefully, he has an absolutely dominant training camp and FORCES his way onto the top six.

We won't need Kunitz at all if Bennett steps up.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Absolute best case scenario - He starts with Sutter, plays well, pushes Perron out and JR makes a trade at the deadline to get a 1st from someone for Perron and possibly a solid prospect or maybe a Defenseman this team can use and Beau is in the top 6, healthy and producing.

best case scenario is that we have both Perron and Bennett playing well at the same time. We're still short one reliable LW now and looking ahead. Bennett being that guy doesn't push Perron out.

Why?

I expect Perron to be healthy and produce at 60+ this season, you think he's going to sign at a bargain 4-4.5m/yr? I think he's going to cost this team 5-5.5 maybe 6m depending on just how good of a year he has.

If JR can get him signed for 4.5-5m/yr for 5yrs, perfect.

60+ will be really really hard to get without top powerplay time.

 

[SirBrad]

I don't trust him staying healthy all season so you better have good depth behind him.

 

[td_ice]

I live in the STL area these days and have watched Perron since he broke into the league. What we got was par for course with him. The one thing he has consistently done in his career is light the world on fire when he's got the hot hand, but as soon as it cools off, he just disappears from the face of the planet for long stretches.

This is the first time he's being centered by world class players though, so hopefully he changes that this upcoming season, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Yeah, at this point in his career I think he is what he is. Hate that trade.

 

[mpp9]

Yeah, at this point in his career I think he is what he is. Hate that trade.

Eh. I think hes not good enough to be a primary scorer, which is why the Blues dumped him with Schwartz emerging. But if he can work on his skating, he can fit in well here.

I definitely wouldnt give him 5 mil though now that hes not going to be on the top PP. Hopefully he'll take a discount at PH money. Seems like hes part of the French Canadian clique already. And his agent has several clients with us.

But yeah, if we lose another 1st rounder for a glorified rental, this team is that much closer to ****ed.

 

[CrosbytoKessel]

Anyone know anything about the guy thats training him?

 

[Deutschland Dangler]

But yeah, if we lose another 1st rounder for a glorified rental, this team is that much closer to ****ed.

It would suck for sure but I wouldn't really hold it against JR that much. In any case, it wasn't a typical rental due to Perron's age and him having an extra year on the contract left. This is nothing like the pure, old rentals that Shero brought in.
Of course it was also a gamble with him being a UFA but honestly, there's no way anyone could have fixed the mess Shero left behind in the time frame set by Sid and Geno (or their bodies) without taking risks. JR put the chips down with the Perron and Kessel trades and now we'll have to see if it pays off. Better than staying put and continue to put waiver fodder on our superstars' wings and hope they can polish these turds enough to go on a deep run.

 

[Jacob]

I think Bennett's either going to play all 82 games or he's going to play like 25.

 

[Zero Pucks]

IC needs to make one of these for Simon



http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/07/08/hilarious-video-captures-pens-fans-beau-bennett-meltdown/



I just love Beau Bennett too. Glad he re-signed!

Poor girl. Bennett is such a dick for making her cry.

 

[chethejet]

I am a little concerned over the comment that JR made concerning Oli. He has to pass the next test on his shoulder as if there is still a question mark here. If he isn't able to go physically by now, with his work ethic and dedication, that is a huge problem.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Good deal, hope he can stay healthy and have a solid season

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I still can't believe he was skating with two knee braces on. That's so ****ed up. Anyone who has skated before knows how important it is to have complete range of motion. I would have been frustrated as hell with those on my knees.

I assume he will not be wearing the braces this season, but it seems like a huge catch 22.

I know many lineman wear braces in the NFL as a proactive measure agt knee injuries, but I'm not sure it's feasible for an NHL player to wear them simply to prevent a knee injury.

 

[IcedCapp]

had the most ****ed up dream. Was browsing hfboards and someone had quoted a post that said "1 year, 800k is 1 year and 800k too much"

Thankfully, I knew it was a dream, because there's no way such a person actually exists.

Dreams rock.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

I am a little concerned over the comment that JR made concerning Oli. He has to pass the next test on his shoulder as if there is still a question mark here. If he isn't able to go physically by now, with his work ethic and dedication, that is a huge problem.

I imagine they're just being super extra cautious after what happened last time.

 

[dr robbie]

glad for this signing. I still have hope for him. He's also my wife's favorite player, so she is willing to watch more games