Salary Cap: Pens 2024 Summer Thread: "Thus, knocking us out of these superior numbers when we emerge! Mr. President, we must not allow a non-playoff bound gap!"

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

Sorry a nearly 38 year old Malkin couldn't carry the GREAT Riley Smith, Kyyyyyyyyyyle.

I mean, it sounded like Dubas was looking to trade Smith at the TDL but didn’t want to retain. So if he’s trying to move him again, why bury him?

That’s how I took that quote at least.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I mean, it sounded like Dubas was looking to trade Smith at the TDL but didn’t want to retain. So if he’s trying to move him again, why bury him?

That’s how I took that quote at least.

Hopefully. I dunno... trying to lay this entire team's problems at like one or two players feet who are both heading to the HOF is getting to be awfully old. This team tiptoes HARD around the whole roster when it comes to criticism outside of a small handful of guys. Here's the quote for the sake of clarity:

“From mid November on, I thought Rakell was hurt and Malkin wasn’t very good. I think that affected Reilly. Then (Smith) got hurt.”

Said Smith w/Eller, Puustinen “was best fit.”

“I expect bounce back year.”

 

[vikingGoalie]

Hell, he didn't even immediately fire the guy in charge of the 2nd worst power play in the league.

he doesn't have to reirden's contract is up as is Velluci's. I highly doubt either's is renewed.
Most likely Sullivan is back next season with a new coaching staff under him and a much shorter leash. What will be telling to me is how head coach ready one of the assistant's brought in is.

 

[Empoleon8771]

For all of the shit Smith gets, he still finished this year with 13 goals and 40 points. I would still look at moving him to change up the complexion of the winger group on this team, but he really didn't have that terrible of a year. The bounce back they'd be hoping for Smith is probably more him being more of an impact player beyond his production, I don't think it's a terrible bet to make.

The bigger question I'd have is what kind of changes this team plans on making if they don't move Smith, because Smith is probably the most obvious guy to move and there aren't a ton of other obvious candidates. I don't mind running back next year with Smith and Puustinen on L3, but they need to make changes somewhere.

 

[The Old Master]

It's fun to just say things you don't mean at all and have no intentions of actually doing. Try it sometime! Here... I'll start:

"I'm DEFINITELY going to watch this team next season especially because Mike Sullivan and probably his entire staff are going to be back!"

you did that very well.

 

[Khelandros]

Hell, he didn't even immediately fire the guy in charge of the 2nd worst power play in the league.

3rd worst. They passed Columbus with their excellent PP work against the Islanders.

 

[Nakawick]

Smith is a good candidate for a bounce back year. He will want a new contract after next season.

 

[HandshakeLine]

For all of the shit Smith gets, he still finished this year with 13 goals and 40 points. I would still look at moving him to change up the complexion of the winger group on this team, but he really didn't have that terrible of a year. The bounce back they'd be hoping for Smith is probably more him being more of an impact player beyond his production, I don't think it's a terrible bet to make.

The bigger question I'd have is what kind of changes this team plans on making if they don't move Smith, because Smith is probably the most obvious guy to move and there aren't a ton of other obvious candidates. I don't mind running back next year with Smith and Puustinen on L3, but they need to make changes somewhere.

13 goals isn't great though for a guy that's usually hovering around 20-25 goals. And man, we really could have used like 7 more goals in those tight situations to get us over the hump.

I have just been terribly unimpressed by his play anyway, so I'd probably just roll the dice on a similar change-of-scenery guy with a more physical skillset, similar to Bunting.

 

[Nakawick]

So Dubas is going to be assistant GM for Canada at the WC. Crosby and Huberdeau possibly going. I wonder if they both go if they will play together.

 

[HandshakeLine]

To follow up, Emp's right that the team is probably thinking there can be a rebound coming or to maximize Smith's value or whatnot. But I'd argue that this kind of thinking is precisely why we're in the mess we're in this year-- we wait too long to make moves because we don't want any risks, when really at this point in the cycle, the only thing we can really do is roll the dice and hope for something better.

And it's not like we couldn't have found a way to get 13 goals from 4 lines in the lineup if we hadn't committed to icing black holes like Harkins and Carter. That's like Brock McGinn levels of production.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

It's good to hear Dubas commenting on Graves not playing as physically as he should and that's something they want to address with him. He is obviously flawed, but I think the biggest issue I had with him is that he has the size to be a dominant physical presence but he plays so much smaller than that.

I think Graves is in that same group of low IQ defensemen like Phaneuf, so there will obviously be issues with him at times. But proper usage and coaching should be able to yield an effective defenseman, even if it's more of a #4/5 type of PKing defenseman. Pair him with St. Ivany on the 3rd pair and I'm content going into next year with that 3rd pair.

All of this makes me wonder about POJ, though. He did play with Letang down the stretch and did a fine job with it, but I don't really see a spot that I like him in with this team. I don't want him playing with Letang next year and I imagine he may be too expensive to re-sign as a #7 defenseman. At the same time, I kinda think Ludvig sucks so maybe POJ as the #7 does make some sense.

Problem is he should have known that from his prior play. Wasn’t like he’d ever been physical or played to his size. Avs and Devils fans said as much. I was more bullish last summer and didn’t expect any physicality.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Problem is he should have known that from his prior play. Wasn’t like he’d ever been physical or played to his size. Avs and Devils fans said as much. I was more bullish last summer and didn’t expect any physicality.

Yeah, that stood out to me too. It's like "who did you think you were signing?" But that's such a weird recurring problem with this team, we sign players and then immediately put them in roles they're not suited for, which is even weirder when we have roles for those players (like Acciari) and we don't put them there.

 

[SEALBound]

Dubas' comments on Nedjelkovic and Blomqvist kinda gave me the impression that Dubas didn't plan on bringing back Nedjelkovic. The comments for Nedjelkovic were really "it was so good for him to be able to show what he can do", which seems more like a "he'll go get paid elsewhere" comment than "I'm going to keep him". Beyond that, they were speaking really highly of Blomqvist as well.

If they go back with Jarry and Blomqvist next year, I would really hope that they'd use them as a platoon setup rather than Jarry as the starter and Blomqvist as the backup. I think Jarry being overused early in the season is definitely a factor for why he breaks down later in the year, they should plan on using Jarry less earlier in the year to try to keep him fresher for later in the year.

I mentioned this in the prospect thread, but yeah I basically heard the same thing from Dubas. I think this means they need to look more seriously at a legit journeyman goalie for WBS just in case Blomqvist doesn't work out. Someone maybe a tad better than Hellberg or Domingue.

 

[SomeDude]

To start, the mere fact that he isn't Ron Hextall who "has a plan in his head but is unable to articulate that on paper".

Dubas has the same exact plan. He almost said word for word at the deadline press conference what Hextall allegedly said about having a plan in his head that can’t be explained.

Dubas is a terrible GM who can speak well. His press conferences are nothing more than a modern day medicine show.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

This is likely misplaced criticism but on top of everything else WTF is up with this team pro scouting?

Do they even do anything? I kind of imagine they might be somewhat blameless because I can imagine them giving Sullivan and Dubas their input and those two just being like "yeah yeah yeah eggheads... anyway where were with with that Matt Nieto contract, Mike?"

 

[HandshakeLine]

This is likely misplaced criticism but on top of everything else WTF is up with this team pro scouting?

Do they even do anything? I kind of imagine they might be somewhat blameless because I can imagine them giving Sullivan and Dubas their input and those two just being like "yeah yeah yeah eggheads... anyway where were with with that Matt Nieto contract, Mike?"

Not just in trades, but this team looks hella unprepared against opponents too, which I think the video and pro scouting guys also cover.

 

[SEALBound]

His team just finished worse than Hextall’s ever did.

So your faith is instilled in Dubas because he is not Hextall. Yikes!



It’s interesting to me that Hextall gets crucified for having a plan in his head, but not a peep about how Dubas “needs to get us younger” after he spent 20+ mil on 28+ year olds last season.



The EK trade was fine. But it’s like giving Shero credit for Iginla. EK forced his hand.

I wouldn't say I have a ton of faith instilled in Dubas. I've been critical of him for several things this year.

But I also recognize that half of his job has been cleaning up the unmitigated disaster of a roster that Hextall left him with.

 

[Gurglesons]

I wouldn't say I have a ton of faith instilled in Dubas. I've been critical of him for several things this year.

But I also recognize that half of his job has been cleaning up the unmitigated disaster of a roster that Hextall left him with.

I don’t get this. Who are these terrible pieces left over from Hextall? Rakell and Carter?

 

[SomeDude]

I’m pretty sure Dubas just copied and pasted his Jarry comments from last year. We’re going to hear how he can’t wait to see how he responds after a disappointing season for 4 more summers.

 

[HandshakeLine]

The Carter extension was pretty bad, but if we're talking about leftover passes, then there's all the JR nonsense, and then the Shero weirdness before that.

I guess in the end, I don't really see Dubas as being all that much better than what we've had previously until he does something that fundamentally alters our fortunes for the better, whether that means getting into the postseason or getting some good building blocks for the rebuild.

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

This is likely misplaced criticism but on top of everything else WTF is up with this team pro scouting?

Do they even do anything? I kind of imagine they might be somewhat blameless because I can imagine them giving Sullivan and Dubas their input and those two just being like "yeah yeah yeah eggheads... anyway where were with with that Matt Nieto contract, Mike?"

I was thinking about this the other day. I know the pecking order is coaching and GM but no one ever brings up scouting. Drafting Crosby, Malkin and Letang isn’t hard work.

Can’t wait to see the talent pool when the league expands to 36 teams.

 

[Andy99]

Hopefully. I dunno... trying to lay this entire team's problems at like one or two players feet who are both heading to the HOF is getting to be awfully old. This team tiptoes HARD around the whole roster when it comes to criticism outside of a small handful of guys. Here's the quote for the sake of clarity:

“From mid November on, I thought Rakell was hurt and Malkin wasn’t very good. I think that affected Reilly. Then (Smith) got hurt.”

Said Smith w/Eller, Puustinen “was best fit.”

“I expect bounce back year.”

Outside of Graves, Geno was the only player portrayed in his presser in a negative light lol

 

[eXile3]

Dubas has the same exact plan. He almost said word for word at the deadline press conference what Hextall allegedly said about having a plan in his head that can’t be explained.

Dubas is a terrible GM who can speak well. His press conferences are nothing more than a modern day medicine show.

The one thing I’ve learned from Dubas is if you look the part and can fake it, it doesn’t matter if you’re actually good at your job.

I mean I knew that through work already but I get to see it reconfirmed. Might start wearing my glasses more.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I was thinking about this the other day. I know the pecking order is coaching and GM but no one ever brings up scouting. Drafting Crosby, Malkin and Letang isn’t hard work.

Can’t wait to see the talent pool when the league expands to 36 teams.

I can't believe people even think it's a good idea to have THIS many teams.

Outside of Graves, Geno was the only player portrayed in his presser in a negative light lol

Total coincidence, I'm sure. Never happens otherwise, right?

 

[Ginormousthumbs]

I can't believe people even think it's a good idea to have THIS many teams.



Total coincidence, I'm sure. Never happens otherwise, right?

I definitely don’t but it sure looks like it’s going to happen. However, I’d love for the league to split into 2 for promotion/relegation….