Salary Cap: Pens '23-'24 Salary Cap Thread: "Youth movement is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face"

[Buddy Bizarre]

Double posting here, but Raddysh was bumped from Chicago's top PP unit because of the Perry addition. Raddysh is being used on Chicago's 2nd PP unit with guys like Athanasiou, Tyler Johnson and Kurashev. His powerplay production has stagnated but it's simply due to usage.

On that same topic, I'd want to know damn well what Perry did, but if he didn't do anything too egregious I'd 100% sign him for the top PP unit as well. He's old as shit, so he fits the team, plus he fills a big need as a PP net front guy. He actually had a really good start to the year with Chicago, so I think he still has it.

Who knows what Perry did, but considering that the Hawks aren't known for their morally high standards, I can't imagine any team welcoming him

 

[Malkinstheman]

We clowned Hextall for sitting on his ass all last season but Dubas' time is running really thin now too. The chance of playoffs is extremely thin but something has to change now for them to have a chance.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Perry clears, contract will be terminated. I wonder what happened.

Not illegal, a "team matter", not involving other players or their families, none of the players seem to know what happened, but was found to be so deeply in violation of conduct after an internal investigation that he was immediately dumped despite being the team's third leading scorer at the time.

f***in' weird, man. Wonder if he just got blasted out of his mind and went on a psycho tirade like Galchenyuk to a team employee or something.

 

[SEALBound]

I think Matheson and Marino are very good players that the Penguins effectively gave away for nothing, but I also don't think either of them are really "missed" on the Penguins defense. I think the only thing the Penguins are missing on their defense right now is POJ playing like he should be playing.

Personally, I really like Ludvig as the #6 and Shea as the #7. It's a bit frustrating to see Shea in every day, but I don't think they really have any other option. If POJ was playing like he could at a #5 level, I'd be extremely happy with this defense:

Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
POJ-Ludvig
Shea

POJ is dealing with a LBI but yeah, once healthy I would love to see POJ-Shea-Ludvig all get time rotating.

I think those guys are a great 5/6/7 grouping with Rudwedel all being in the mix. Finding Shea and Ludvig are the type of good performing value contracts we really needed.

Who knows what Perry did, but considering that the Hawks aren't known for their morally high standards, I can't imagine any team welcoming him

I don't think that's quite fair. There's been pretty much a complete turnover from the group that hid the assault. When I'm dealing with clients, I don't take well to being blamed for previous consultants'/vendors' mistakes. Whatever Perry did, he did it. The team in which it happened on is irrelevant.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

We clowned Hextall for sitting on his ass all last season but Dubas' time is running really thin now too. The chance of playoffs is extremely thin but something has to change now for them to have a chance.

Not for me yet. I definitely am a little upset with how the season is going but that Karlsson trade was as big as Hextalls time here all together.

2 months into a regular season as a GM/President only so much time to really perform.

He also has to deal with the NMC and NTC gifted to everyone. Though he also did gift a few himself...

 

[Pancakes]

Dubas did a good job roster-wise but none of that really matters if he's going to ride it out with Sullivan.

This season is on another collision course with a 14th overall pick the way it's going.

 

[Andy99]

Dubas did a good job roster-wise but none of that really matters if he's going to ride it out with Sullivan.

This season is on another collision course with a 14th overall pick the way it's going.

Think it’ll be higher lol..

 

[Ugene Magic]

Dubas did a good job roster-wise but none of that really matters if he's going to ride it out with Sullivan.

This season is on another collision course with a 14th overall pick the way it's going.

That's where they have to pick their stance. They can't miss another playoff and pick middle of the pack. Choose..

 

[tom_servo]

Rumor has it Cory Perry made fun of deep dish pizza.

Maybe he bet against his own team. Reviving the Chicago Black Sox. Chicago Black ... Hox?

Anyway, he'd probably be executed by now if that were the case.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Maybe he bet against his own team. Reviving the Chicago Black Sox. Chicago Black ... Hox?

Anyway, he'd probably be executed by now if that were the case.

Only if CPD mistook him for a minority.

 

[Josey Wales]

The Penguins have re-assigned forward Alex Nylander to the
@WBSPenguins
.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Yeah 100% agreed here. He's not a perfectly ideal guy, but he fills such a major need for the team that I can easily overlook him being another Acciari at 5v5.

I think you can make a pretty compelling case to just try Acciari in the role you'd want to use Raddysh in (3rd line RW and PP net front guy) to begin with. Does it suck that he doesn't put up a great amount of points at 5v5? Yeah, but the team is a top-5 team in 5v5 goal production this year.

I know I'll probably be drawn and quartered for suggesting this, but if they don't bring in anyone from the outside they should consider Carter as the screen guy. He's big, he's good at deflections and he's a RHS.

He won't be very good at any retrievals bc he's so slow, but if you want someone like Horny, JC is the closest thing on the roster

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I know I'll probably be drawn and quartered for suggesting this, but if they don't bring in anyone from the outside they should consider Carter as the screen guy. He's big, he's good at deflections and he's a RHS.

He won't be very good at any retrievals bc he's so slow, but if you want someone like Horny, JC is the closest thing on the roster

Nah, I have been saying this for a while. Dude can't do anything anymore, but he's still big enough to just plonk in the slot on the power play and act as a screen.

The problem is the guy in that role also needs to be able to hustle enough to get to pucks in the corners or loose pucks, and I have real questions as to whether Carter even has the gas left in the tank to do that. Even reducing his ES minutes to absolute minimum and using him as a purely PP specialist kinda guy.

 

[PensandCaps]

We clowned Hextall for sitting on his ass all last season but Dubas' time is running really thin now too. The chance of playoffs is extremely thin but something has to change now for them to have a chance.

Only thing that will work, as we seen before, is a coaching change.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Dubas did a good job roster-wise but none of that really matters if he's going to ride it out with Sullivan.

This season is on another collision course with a 14th overall pick the way it's going.

The fact he got a 3 year extension with 2 years left and reports suggest they love Sullivan. I do not think Dubas has a say at the moment on the coach.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Only thing that will work, as we seen before, is a coaching change.

For dysfunctional semi deep team(s) with younger core.

So, no, a coaching change will not simply fix this.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I don't think a coaching change is going to do anything, but I also don't think keeping the coach is going to do anything, so I'd like to see some blood because this team is playing boring ass hockey and I don't want to watch that.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I don't want them to fire Sullivan because I think it'll vault this team up the standings and make them a Cup contender like it has in the past--this team's way beyond that point.

They should fire him because he's been nothing but a loser for going on six years.

 

[HandshakeLine]

The crux of the matter is, beyond the standings or playoffs or what have you, that this team is just frankly not entertaining to watch most of the time. It's been said over and over by lots of people, even people who don't want to talk about coaching or whatever.

We've reconfigured the roster multiple times and it's still not fun to watch, nor is it successful. So should we be happy with a product that literally nobody enjoys? Even the bright spots are really just individual performances by the aging stars.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I don't think a coaching change is going to do anything, but I also don't think keeping the coach is going to do anything, so I'd like to see some blood because this team is playing boring ass hockey and I don't want to watch that.

I think the talent speaks to why they are not consistent. That's a Dubas thing with slight Sully interference.

3rd line: There's no play driver, goal scorer and they are overloaded with the complimentary player.

Forget O'Connor, Eller and Zoho is fine if you have an actual goal scorer, but only one of the two if that goal scorer is only average at 5 on 5. A true goal scorer can make up for lesser talent. That's why Kessel worked so good.

People are also finding out Karlsson does not make those bottom lines any better. Right talent, wrong position. Unless they want to make Erik a winger this team is in dire straits for one.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I think the talent speaks to why they are not consistent. That's a Dubas thing with slight Sully interference.

3rd line: There's no play driver, goal scorer and they are overloaded with the complimentary player.

Forget O'Connor, one of Eller and Zoho is fine if you have an actual goal scorer, but only one of the two if that goal scorer is only average at 5 on 5. A true goal scorer can make up for lesser talent. That's why Kessel worked so good.

People are also finding out Karlsson does not make those bottom lines any better. Right talent, wrong position. Unless they want to make Erik a winger this team is in dire straits for one.

I know that the balance is off, but we've had way more imbalanced teams before that looked better and it wasn't because Sid or Geno were playing with the bottom 6. It's just a roster of mismatched parts clinging to an identity ("north south speed team") which we haven't really been able to play in half a decade, IMO. I just don't think the coaching staff gets this or wants to change it.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's more frustrating to see this team have the potential to be better if parts were just better utilized and the fat was trimmed, but play like absolute ass most of the time than have the team be legitimately bad.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Maybe I'm just being "pretentious and edgy" again, but I still don't see how the 3rd line is even in the top-5 issues with this team right now. The Crosby line has been their best line this year by far, but the 3rd line has been their 2nd best line by an equally large margin too.

Even if you think the 3rd line isn't producing enough, how much below is it than what would be a reasonable expectation for a 3rd line? Zohorna, Eller and O'Connor have a combined 7 goals and 19 points in 21 games this year, and Zohorna has played a few less games than the other two. That projects to end up around 10 goals and 30 points over a full season. Even if you want "elite 3rd line production", you're looking at maybe 5 goals and 10 points extra for each guy (so 15 goals and 40 points for each guy). For the 3rd line to be on pace to put that up, they'd need to have 11 goals and 31 points on the year. So you're talking a difference of about 4 goals so far this year between their production and what I'd call "elite 3rd line production".

Know what has a lot bigger of a difference than the 4 goals that the 3rd line is lacking in? The powerplay, which should have about 10 more goals this year. Or Malkin's line, which should probably have around 5 more goals this year.

The difference between the 3rd line being just "good" and "elite" isn't close at all to the major issues on this team. If you want to talk 5v5, Malkin's line is a far bigger issue than the 3rd line, it's not even close.

 

[Malkinstheman]

It's just wild that ownership is willing to through away the last couple years of 4 legends just to stick with their overrated coach. We're on like the 5th major roster overhaul with the third GM. I wonder what the constant has been through years of shits shows...

 

[Empoleon8771]

It's just wild that ownership is willing to through away the last couple years of 4 legends just to stick with their overrated coach. We're on like the 5th major roster overhaul with the third GM. I wonder what the constant has been through years of shits shows...

I don't know why they'd fire Sullivan before they fire Rierden and replace him with a new PP coach.

The team has been very good at 5v5 this year statistically, it's the powerplay that is literally killing them. You fire Sullivan if firing Rierden doesn't work, but I don't see why you wouldn't start with just firing Rierden.

So far this year, the Penguins are 5th in 5v5 GF/60 and 8th in 5v5 GA/60. That pretty clearly tells me the way this team is set up at 5v5 is working. It's the powerplay that is causing them to be 10-10-1 instead of like 14-6-1 right now.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I know that the balance is off, but we've had way more imbalanced teams before that looked better and it wasn't because Sid or Geno were playing with the bottom 6. It's just a roster of mismatched parts clinging to an identity ("north south speed team") which we haven't really been able to play in half a decade, IMO. I just don't think the coaching staff gets this or wants to change it.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's more frustrating to see this team have the potential to be better if parts were just better utilized and the fat was trimmed, but play like absolute ass most of the time than have the team be legitimately bad.

Not this imbalanced. There's literally next to -0- threat. They can spin their wheels all they want. The lack of finish and puck poise is very evident.

That's the frustrating part, you know there isn't enough and lack of pressure isn't it. Same goes for the PP even though the immense amount of talent. The players have got to be willing to go to those hard areas and the core simply doesn't want to do it, and if they do they pass on open clear shots for the fraction one of the others has a chance of completing the play to their own finishing. They need to be greedy first and shoot and the others will then be more open.