Confirmed with Link: Penguins sign Matt Hunwick (3 years, $6.75 M | $2.25M AAV)

[Penske]

He worked well with Yandle in New York. That was also three years ago. I think people expecting him to replace what Daley brings are kidding themselves though. He ultimately is a downgrade from who we've been running in our top six and he's only going to get worse as his contract goes on.

I see this playing out a lot like Jordan Leopold on the Blues in 2013-14. Hopefully, Hunwick stays healthy.

I expect him to be better than 16/17 Daley (this past season he wasn't that good). Schultz replaced Daley. I only watched Hunwick in the playoffs so it was a small sample size but he was impressive.

He's a good bottom pair D man and his contract is reasonable. Sure it was a year more that what we would have wanted but that's what happens with UFA's. Sure he may decline given his age but he won't be falling of a cliff either

 

[Gurglesons]

I expect him to be better than 16/17 Daley (this past season he wasn't that good). Schultz replaced Daley. I only watched Hunwick in the playoffs so it was a small sample size but he was impressive.

He's a good bottom pair D man and his contract is reasonable. Sure it was a year more that what we would have wanted but that's what happens with UFA's. Sure he may decline given his age but he won't be falling of a cliff either

You realize in 16/17 Daley put up the same amount of points as Hunwick did with multiple injuries / recovering from a major injury. He also is only one year older and consistently put up 30 point seasons before coming here so it wasn't like the Pens inflated his numbers.

Like, if you have concerns about Daley, you should have the same exact concerns about Hunwick, especially since Daley kind of followed a similar "path" in terms of putting up points on pretty mediocre teams.

I think "bad" Daley from last year is what you can expect from Hunwick on the regular. A player that is effective at moving the puck, getting up and down the ice, filling in frustatingly in a top four position when needed. I mean Hunwick was on the ice for plenty of goals against Washington, and before that he has been on one playoff team since 2010. In that playoff run he was a healthy scratch more often than not.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Assuming JR does nothing else on defense, what's the game plan here?

Dumoulin, Letang
Maatta, Schultz
Cole, Hunwick
*Ruhwedel

Is that what we're expecting here?

 

[Giskard]

Assuming JR does nothing else on defense, what's the game plan here?

Dumoulin, Letang
Maatta, Schultz
Cole, Hunwick
*Ruhwedel

Is that what we're expecting here?

Yes, it seems pretty much set on D.

 

[Ogrezilla]

You realize in 16/17 Daley put up the same amount of points as Hunwick did with multiple injuries / recovering from a major injury. He also is only one year older and consistently put up 30 point seasons before coming here so it wasn't like the Pens inflated his numbers.

Like, if you have concerns about Daley, you should have the same exact concerns about Hunwick, especially since Daley kind of followed a similar "path" in terms of putting up points on pretty mediocre teams.

I think "bad" Daley from last year is what you can expect from Hunwick on the regular. A player that is effective at moving the puck, getting up and down the ice, filling in frustatingly in a top four position when needed. I mean Hunwick was on the ice for plenty of goals against Washington, and before that he has been on one playoff team since 2010. In that playoff run he was a healthy scratch more often than not.

That's fine. Schultz took good Daley's spot. Hunwick just needs to fill 2016 Schultz's spot. Also, who is expecting Hunwick to be as good as Daley offensively?

And it's hard to judge guys on other teams. Daley was also a 6/7 dman before coming here.

 

[WayneSid9987]

D could go a bunch of ways really:

Dumo-Tang
Maatta-Schultz
Hunwick-Cole or Cole-Hunwick

Dumo-Tang
Cole-Schultz
Hunwick-Maatta or Maatta-Hunwick

Wouldn't rule out Maata-Tang either cuz Olli knows what he has to work on this summer and could establish himself as a top pairing guy in camp giving Sully the ability to use Dumo to spread out his best defenders more:

Maatta-Tang
Dumo-Schultz
Hunwick-Cole

Anyones injured, Ruh steps in.
2 guys are injured Ruh and 1 of Corrado, Pooh or Trotman step in.

 

[froods]

You realize in 16/17 Daley put up the same amount of points as Hunwick did with multiple injuries / recovering from a major injury. He also is only one year older and consistently put up 30 point seasons before coming here so it wasn't like the Pens inflated his numbers.

Like, if you have concerns about Daley, you should have the same exact concerns about Hunwick, especially since Daley kind of followed a similar "path" in terms of putting up points on pretty mediocre teams.

I think "bad" Daley from last year is what you can expect from Hunwick on the regular. A player that is effective at moving the puck, getting up and down the ice, filling in frustatingly in a top four position when needed. I mean Hunwick was on the ice for plenty of goals against Washington, and before that he has been on one playoff team since 2010. In that playoff run he was a healthy scratch more often than not.

Why are we using points as a basis of our argument about Matt Hunwick?

 

[Randy Butternubs]

That's fair, but Cole was also a fairly highly touted prospect at one point whose development seemed to stall in St. Louis. No doubt that Sullivan helped him quite a bit and it's entirely possible that Sullivan can have a similar impact on Hunwick, but that seems considerably less likely given the disparity in age and pedigree. Of course I'll give Hunwick a chance. I'll give anybody a chance, no matter what I thought of them before they were a Penguin (well, aside from Evander Kane). I just don't think the comparison that was made before with Cole and Hunwick is even remotely valid, that's all.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/ian-_cole/

7.0B

"Cole is a puck moving, two-way defenseman that can play in all situations. He can carry the puck very well up the ice, makes a good outlet pass and isn't afraid to jump up into the offensive play. The solidly built blueliner has the physicality down low, plays big shutdown minutes and on both specialty team units. He has the potential to be a top four defenseman with offensive upside at the NHL level."

 

[WheresRamziAbid]

Yes, really. Cole was not yet in his prime, Hunwick is on the tail end of his, if not past it. That is a huge difference because Cole had a very good chance of hitting another level, which he ended up doing. Hunwick is almost certainly not getting any better and he may very well get worse. That doesn't mean that 3 years is a terrible decision or that you can't like the signing, but the comparison to Cole is pretty silly.

Could be wrong but Ian Cole was an RFA when he signed?

But either way its certainly comparable. Because the deals are short term neither player is/was expected to be materially different from the start of the contract to the end. They are both good bottom pairing guys that bring surplus value in those roles. And both (Cole already has) could be better fits with Sullivan than in their old situation.

 

[Jacob]

Daley has had 1 30 point season in his career. Not real consistent if you ask me.

 

[NMK11]

D could go a bunch of ways really:

Dumo-Tang
Maatta-Schultz
Hunwick-Cole or Cole-Hunwick

Dumo-Tang
Cole-Schultz
Hunwick-Maatta or Maatta-Hunwick

Wouldn't rule out Maata-Tang either cuz Olli knows what he has to work on this summer and could establish himself as a top pairing guy in camp giving Sully the ability to use Dumo to spread out his best defenders more:

Maatta-Tang
Dumo-Schultz
Hunwick-Cole

Anyones injured, Ruh steps in.
2 guys are injured Ruh and 1 of Corrado, Pooh or Trotman step in.

I think I'd like to see what the last setup could do. Dumo in my eyes is now a legit #2, but I Schultz is just such a one dimensional top 4D that I think he needs the insulation more than Letang. Plus Maatta with Letang can make for a more even pairing in terms of offense and Letang can cover for him with speed better.

I still think Maatta needs to be the offensive half of a pairing to fully get the most out of him, but thats not happening unless he plays with Hunwick and we keep Cole-Schultz and run them more equally. Wouldn't be against that either I guess.

 

[Gurglesons]

That's fine. Schultz took good Daley's spot. Hunwick just needs to fill 2016 Schultz's spot. Also, who is expecting Hunwick to be as good as Daley offensively?

And it's hard to judge guys on other teams. Daley was also a 6/7 dman before coming here.

Daley averaged 20 - 22 minutes every season before coming here since 2009. 2016 Schultz was a fill in for our number one defenseman half the season.

 

[Shady Machine]

Daley averaged 20 - 22 minutes every season before coming here since 2009. 2016 Schultz was a fill in for our number one defenseman half the season.

He meant 2016 Cup playoffs Schultz. You know the guy that played 10 minutes of heavily sheltered hockey where a fair potion of this board wanted Pouliot in over him.

For some reason, you seem to take the downside of everything. Hunwick won't be as good as prime Daley, but prime Daley existed on a team where Maatta was getting healthy scratched, Lovejoy was playing top 4 minutes, and Schultz was coming off of a career low point. Prime Daley also broke his ankle and we still won without him.

The Pens are asking Hunwick to be a 3rd pairing dman that can move the puck and skate adequately. He's definitely capable of that. If there are injuries, we will survive and there are always deadline acquisitions if we need an upgrade later on.

 

[Merc29]

Don't know why, after what they showed together last season, people are splitting up Shultz and Cole.

Yes unless nothing works;

Maatta and Dumo should be platooning on the top line with Letang

Maatta/dumo - Letang
Shultz - Cole
Hunwick - Maatta/Dumo (whoever didn't play the last shift with Letang)

 

[Riptide]

He worked well with Yandle in New York. That was also three years ago. I think people expecting him to replace what Daley brings are kidding themselves though. He ultimately is a downgrade from who we've been running in our top six and he's only going to get worse as his contract goes on.

I see this playing out a lot like Jordan Leopold on the Blues in 2013-14. Hopefully, Hunwick stays healthy.

Hunwick is not Daley, and anyone expecting that is going to be very disappointed. Hunwick if getting compared to anyone here is more like Cole then Daley.

 

[Shady Machine]

Hunwick is not Daley, and anyone expecting that is going to be very disappointed. Hunwick if getting compared to anyone here is more like Cole then Daley.

Right and he's basically being asked to replace what Hainsey/Lovejoy brought and is a hedge against Cole if he doesn't return after this season. Schultz is replacing Daley.

Dumo-Letang
Maatta/Cole-Schultz
Maatta/Cole-Hunwick
Ruh-Pouliot

Going into the season, that is pretty solid depth on defense. There will be plenty of UFA's available at the deadline if needed. Garrison, Enstrom, Green, Gorges, Sbisa, Stoner, Moore, Prout, Schenn are all likely to be available (some yuck, but listing options of D on likely non playoff teams) with some other names likely to surface.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Daley averaged 20 - 22 minutes every season before coming here since 2009. 2016 Schultz was a fill in for our number one defenseman half the season.

Schultz was in Daley's spot well before Letang went out last year, and he played as well or better than Daley ever has. Hunwick doesn't need to replace Daley, Schultz does. Hunwick needs to fill a spot on the 3rd pairing. And as long as Letang is back, that will be more similar to what Schultz was doing in 2016. That is, playing like 10-15 fairly sheltered minutes a night. And he's certainly not going to produce like that, he's not that player.

 

[vodeni]

D could go a bunch of ways really:

Dumo-Tang
Maatta-Schultz
Hunwick-Cole or Cole-Hunwick

Dumo-Tang
Cole-Schultz
Hunwick-Maatta or Maatta-Hunwick

Wouldn't rule out Maata-Tang either cuz Olli knows what he has to work on this summer and could establish himself as a top pairing guy in camp giving Sully the ability to use Dumo to spread out his best defenders more:

Maatta-Tang
Dumo-Schultz
Hunwick-Cole

Anyones injured, Ruh steps in.
2 guys are injured Ruh and 1 of Corrado, Pooh or Trotman step in.

as long as Tanger is back for the full season, we are 7 deep. defense will not be our problem. those pairings look really good.

 

[Corvidae]

as long as Tanger is back for the full season, we are 7 deep. defense will not be our problem. those pairings look really good.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Would you settle for 'back for the entire playoff'?

I would.

 

[66-30-33]

Don't know why, after what they showed together last season, people are splitting up Shultz and Cole.

Yes unless nothing works;

Maatta and Dumo should be platooning on the top line with Letang

Maatta/dumo - Letang
Shultz - Cole
Hunwick - Maatta/Dumo (whoever didn't play the last shift with Letang)

Dumo-Letang
Maatta-Demers
Cole/Hunwick-Schultz
Hunwick/Cole

Pens rotate Hunwick and Cole. Then when Letang gets injured Demers moves to Letangs spot, Schultz to Demers spot, Hunwick plays with Cole.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Would you settle for 'back for the entire playoff'?

I would.

I would love for Sully to more evenly distribute the ice time in the reg season, but realize how tempting it is for a coach to send out his best Dman more often than not.

Just seems to be no good reason for Letang to hit the 25+ min mark during the regular season

 

[Peat]

Dumo-Letang
Maatta-Demers
Cole/Hunwick-Schultz
Hunwick/Cole

Pens rotate Hunwick and Cole. Then when Letang gets injured Demers moves to Letangs spot, Schultz to Demers spot, Hunwick plays with Cole.

That's not gonna work under the cap, not without moving a forward. I don't think Demers is enough better than Ruhwedel to be worth that.

 

[66-30-33]

That's not gonna work under the cap, not without moving a forward. I don't think Demers is enough better than Ruhwedel to be worth that.

Florida retains a little. Also if you need more cap space adios Hagelin.

 

[Corvidae]

Would you settle for 'back for the entire playoff'?

I would.

I would too but I don't think we get to pick.