Salary Cap: Pens Salary Cap Thread: If we score 6 we win, its science!

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I'm surprised nobody's freaking out about Hextall giving away the league leader in SHG, Sam Lafferty.

 

[Peat]

1 - I agree with the idea of building teams around the idea that injuries will happen, or at least are at strong likelihoods of happening. Most teams have a forward or two playing a line above their normal placement any given night.

2 - For this to make sense though, they've got to be good players to move up. Blueger and McGinn have more or less been that in the regular season, but there are fair questions about Blueger post-season, and McGinn isn't really split enough from Blueger to make total sense

3 - At this point it seems fairly academic. We have a set squad. The areas we could perhaps spend more - goaltending, top six - are doing well. We haven't passed over fantastic 7m players where we could use them solely due to cap. I know people have some questions about how long we'll love the top six but if everyone stays peak and connected, it's a hell of a lot of talent. And if they do, having near 6m on the bottom line is an affordable luxury.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think McGinn on L4 is one of the issue contracts this team has, but if Zucker is suddenly back into top-6 form, you don’t really need any substantial upgrades on the roster that don’t already involve shedding money. So it’s kinda a whatever situation.

The only hole I could see on this team is 2nd line LW and 2nd pair LD. But Zucker is doing a great job on the 2nd line and Petry has made Pettersson look solid on the 2nd pair. Those may become needs later but the roster seems fairly well set right now.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Someone will complain about not running a full roster of 23, but just over a third of the league has to/is.

 

[pistolpete11]

Woke up and saw this article this morning:

Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph is ready for a new experience in Montreal

P.O Joseph has all of 22 NHL games on his resume. In that sense, the 23-year-old hasn’t even shot his age yet. So, the left-handed Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman doesn’t have much experience to draw from. But he has had some first-hand on-ice involvement in a Penguins game at Montreal’s Bell

triblive.com

Thought they traded him

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Again, I did a small "study" of when defensemen become full time NHLers. The most common age was 24, average was 22.2, and approaching "bust" territory is 24.5.

POJ turned 23 this summer.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Heinen doesn't PK. McGinn does, and does it better than anyone we have. We clearly need those guys, with what's happening these first 2 games.
3 of our 4 goals against are shorthanded.

And McGinn had a direct hand in allowing 1/3 of those goals while SH.
People act like PKing takes a significant amount of skill or grit to do it effectively. You need at least 1 of the following 2 traits to PK.

1) Speed
2) High hockey IQ

I wouldn't say McGinn has either of those.

He's a luxury on the 4th line and yes we'll likely have some injuries where he'll be the 1st bumped up. But there are also cheaper options available in WBS who can fill in. He's just so vanilla and brings to appreciable trait to this team.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

I think McGinn on L4 is one of the issue contracts this team has, but if Zucker is suddenly back into top-6 form, you don’t really need any substantial upgrades on the roster that don’t already involve shedding money. So it’s kinda a whatever situation.

The only hole I could see on this team is 2nd line LW and 2nd pair LD. But Zucker is doing a great job on the 2nd line and Petry has made Pettersson look solid on the 2nd pair. Those may become needs later but the roster seems fairly well set right now.

Cap space for a potential rental?
or we are expecting the usual LTIR to sort that out for us.

I agree though, I like the team where it is. I don't think the Poehling's/Archibald's are going to make/break us.

It's Zucker's contract year, and unless he implodes, he's going to have a good year, which is good for us, regardless of whether we keep him or not.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

I'm surprised nobody's freaking out about Hextall giving away the league leader in SHG, Sam Lafferty.

Lol
That dude was only good for taking a terrible penalty and getting punched in the face repeatedly.

 

[Peat]

Cap space for a potential rental?
or we are expecting the usual LTIR to sort that out for us.

I agree though, I like the team where it is. I don't think the Poehling's/Archibald's are going to make/break us.

It's Zucker's contract year, and unless he implodes, he's going to have a good year, which is good for us, regardless of whether we keep him or not.

That's the one thing I wonder about here, but if Zucker does well how likely are we to need a rental and if he doesn't, there's 5.5m right there. Unless people want us to be this year's Florida, that is sufficient. Kinda ditto with Dumo on the blue line.

 

[Andy99]

That's the one thing I wonder about here, but if Zucker does well how likely are we to need a rental and if he doesn't, there's 5.5m right there. Unless people want us to be this year's Florida, that is sufficient. Kinda ditto with Dumo on the blue line.

Yes, I’m in all in favor of swapping Zucker for P.Kane

 

[Gurglesons]

Yes, I’m in all in favor of swapping Zucker for P.Kane

I honestly don’t see Patrick Kane working here. If we are making a trade it needs to be a Lehkonen type that can solidify our depth and PK not top six skill.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I honestly don’t see Patrick Kane working here. If we are making a trade it needs to be a Lehkonen type that can solidify our depth and PK not top six skill.

Over some random top 6 tweener? Sure.

But Kane has the skill/ability to help a line finish off plays.

 

[Darren McCord]

I honestly don’t see Patrick Kane working here. If we are making a trade it needs to be a Lehkonen type that can solidify our depth and PK not top six skill.

Kane a 100% could would. I agree with you on shoring up depth but Kane is smart enough and good enough to make it work. He would be the missing RH shot on the PP. I still dont think Rust is good enough on the top PP. You could move Rakell back to LW.

I just dont think he is worth what the cost will be.

 

[Gurglesons]

Over some random top 6 tweener? Sure.

But Kane has the skill/ability to help a line finish off plays.

Kane a 100% could would. I agree with you on shoring up depth but Kane is smart enough and good enough to make it work. He would be the missing RH shot on the PP. I still dont think Rust is good enough on the top PP. You could move Rakell back to LW.

I just dont think he is worth what the cost will be.

I don’t really want us to touch the top line and I don’t want another undersized forward in the top six that is defensively suspect.

Patrick Kane is the move that makes you win in NHL23.

A Lehkonen type is the move that wins you a cup.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I definitely don’t think Kane is a move this team should make. Not a slight at Kane at all, but that would absolutely be a “too many cooks” type of situation. If you acquire him, I think you’d be best off using him in a “HBK Kessel” role, I don’t think there’s enough puck to go around with him in the top-6.

If Zucker is legit, you don’t need to add another top-6 winger and you should focus solely on the 2nd pair LD.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

I don’t really want us to touch the top line and I don’t want another undersized forward in the top six that is defensively suspect.

Patrick Kane is the move that makes you win in NHL23.

A Lehkonen type is the move that wins you a cup.

Again if it’s Blake Coleman or Nick Paul or Lehkonen vs some average top 6 guy I agree.

Give me the superstar over all of them though.

However, I suspect a real hole will reveal itself and the team will focus on that.

If this is how this roster looks/is playing at the deadline I’d say that Chychrun would be my target (which is funny because I’m not enamored with him).

 

[Gurglesons]

Again if it’s Blake Coleman or Nick Paul or Lehkonen vs some average top 6 guy I agree.

Give me the superstar over all of them though.

However, I suspect a real hole will reveal itself and the team will focus on that.

If this is how this roster looks/is playing at the deadline I’d say that Chychrun would be my target (which is funny because I’m not enamored with him).

Chychrun makes no sense to me with yet another seemingly big injury.

I don't really see any point in adding Patrick Kane aside from his name.

 

[Peat]

To me the idea of getting Kane is reminiscent of Florida mostly ignoring their defence last season to get Giroux and I'd expect similar results. I'm with Gurgs on wanting to get more resilient defensively rather than increasing scoring punch. Maybe that'll change as the season progresses.

I suspect ideal rental will be dictated by injury as much as anything.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Chychrun makes no sense to me with yet another seemingly big injury.

I don't really see any point in adding Patrick Kane aside from his name.

Idk. There are fair points to be made on both sides. So far, Petry is showing what having a bonafide stud can do for this team.

Ya I don’t like Chychrun. More meant LD.

Overall, I do think it’s stupid to blow up half the team to add a Kane level player. Hextall would need to be creative for it to make sense and imo that would cost too much.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The Penguins current roster situation is awkward enough to the point that I’m not expecting any notable trades this year by Hextall. The only think I could feasibly see is a POJ and Kapanen package to upgrade on the 3rd line, but any other trade gets complicated by needing to dump a notable contract in a deal.

I think the POJ situation is a bit weird because you don’t really want to trade him if he figures out his stuff and can cut it as a NHL caliber defenseman, but he also doesn’t really have a spot here. Or at least you should be looking for a different skill set in a potential role he could play in. POJ-Petry is probably his best role but I think Petry should have a more physical D partner.

 

[eXile3]

I don’t really want us to touch the top line and I don’t want another undersized forward in the top six that is defensively suspect.

Patrick Kane is the move that makes you win in NHL23.

A Lehkonen type is the move that wins you a cup.

Kane is still incredibly talented. It would be fun to watch and see how much Sid/Geno could pad their stats with him.

But I agree it wouldn't necessarily make them a better team. We already have guys who make their fair share of high risk plays for the sake of offense. Still cool to think about.

 

[Gurglesons]

Idk. There are fair points to be made on both sides. So far, Petry is showing what having a bonafide stud can do for this team.

Ya I don’t like Chychrun. More meant LD.

Overall, I do think it’s stupid to blow up half the team to add a Kane level player. Hextall would need to be creative for it to make sense and imo that would cost too much.

I think Ty Smith is our LD add this year.

As far as up front I look at Heinen or Kapanen down to L4 as the improvement.

Kane is still incredibly talented. It would be fun to watch and see how much Sid/Geno could pad their stats with him.

But I agree it wouldn't necessarily make them a better team. We already have guys who make their fair share of high risk plays for the sake of offense. Still cool to think about.

I don't see Kane with Sid or Geno really meshing tbh.

 

[chethejet]

Pens have to see if Zucker healthy and ready to go is going to give them the kind of energy, speed and bang at L2. I think he will and more importantly, I would not be surprised if Hextall inks a 3 year extension at say 3 million AAV. I know that goes against conventional wisdom, but Hextall and the brass know more about the players than we do and if he thinks Zucker can be a really good L2 with Malkin and Rust, he won't risk a FA or a WB guy playing up above his pay grade ala DOC or Poulin. Plus after Jarry is extended at say 6 million AAV give or take, Pens have 14 million in cap space to bring up DOC, Poulin, p***yten and Hallander for the roles that will be open next year.

 

[pistolpete11]

Luckily, there are 137 days until the Pens have to decide if they want to make any moves this season.