Salary Cap: Pens Salary Thread: Teh offseason! All your defense are belong to us

[K Fleur]

You die when Zucker is constantly hurt and Kap is awful.

Anderson gets hurt all the time too and it’s not like his play is always lighting the world on fire

 

[Zirakzigil]

The defense minus Marino and Pettersson makes me want to projective vomit.

Gutting the defense to get a marginally better option than Zucker for the 2nd line is just something I can't support. You're not going to die because your 2nd line has one of Kapanen or Zucker on it.

The defense is vomit inducing with or without Marino and Petts. Has been for years. When you consider we have 5 defensemen making over 4mil each and we still cant defend well or clear the crease in front of our goalies.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Speaking of Marino trades, the rumors among some people, when Friedman commented that there was talk of him being traded to another team that’s not VAN, was that the Pens are waiting for MTL to trade Petry. Once that happens there is an agreement to trade Marino for Josh Anderson…just saying thats the scuttlebutt out there…I can see the appeal of a Josh Anderson power forward type for the Pens…the problem is that he’s just not that good of a player or consistent and he doesn’t bring his power game night after night…he disappears…taking on his $5+ M salary for a million years would be dumb…much rather trade Marino for one year of Miller lol

Anderson is a 36 point per 82 game player.
Miller is a 58 point per 82 game player.

Since Miller has become a PP1 fixture 4 years ago, he is 19th among regulars in the NHL at PPP/P60.
So...he would replace Rust at that unless Sully is an idiot.

 

[Pens x]

Anderson gets hurt all the time too and it’s not like his play is always lighting the world on fire

Oh I agree - I was more responding to those clamoring to not trade Marino because our second line is fine with Kap and Zucker.

 

[Zirakzigil]

The elephant in the room about Miller is hes a UFA next summer. Hes going to want a long term contract in the 7+ mil range or more. Yeah hes great for 5mil right now, but what about next contract?

 

[Night Shift]

I somewhat agree but you got to give to get and the difference between JT Miller and Marino for this team easily weighs towards Miller imo.

He would be one of the better FA pickups or players alone this team has grabbed in a long time.

Love Marino but I would look to find someone thru TDL or pick to replace him and even if we couldn't I would find a way to make it work.

Like I said I'll support whatever they think is the best. It is exciting bringing a guy like Miller in. I'm just stating my preference on it. I just think weakening the D is dangerous because having solid D is more important for a cup run. Then in that case you have to hope Rutta can play top level.

And to the fact that Marino is a key trade piece 4 years from now to get us ahead of the rebuild.

 

[Pens x]

Anderson is a 36 point per 82 game player.
Miller is a 58 point per 82 game player.

Since Miller has become a PP1 fixture 4 years ago, he is 19th among regulars in the NHL at PPP/P60.
So...he would replace Rust at that unless Sully is an idiot.

Welcome to PP2, Miller.

 

[K Fleur]

I thought our defenseman were fine last year.

Dumo had rough stretches for sure and Petts is overpaid but I thought he was ok in his small role.

 

[Andy99]

Yea, it’s not like we have a half dozen decade long contracts here. He will fit in great.

Yeah but Anderson doesn’t produce like $5.5 M player…he’s another Zucker…different player but always either injured or inconsistent

 

[AuroraBorealis]

The elephant in the room about Miller is hes a UFA next summer. Hes going to want a long term contract in the 7+ mil range or more. Yeah hes great for 5mil right now, but what about next contract?

Yes we'd only keep him for one year. But it's a legit cup chance year if he comes. Might not have one of those for a good 10-15 years, starting soon.
And people are assuming Marino will continue to play well like last year/playoffs, which is far from guaranteed.

 

[JTG]

I actually don't mind Pettersson and Marino together. They are two young guys who are coming into their primes. That being said, it would make way more sense to trade a left side defenseman because this is POJ's do or die year, but with the barren RHD market, we could probably fetch a boatload for Marino for teams who desperately need one, especially if the front office and coaching staff things Rutta can play 18-20 mins a night.

It would be nice to see Hextall and Burke do a retool with some trades. We have guys like Zucker, Kapanen, Pettersson, Marino, and Dumo. They are quality players, but we could just use something different. We need a Neal-Hornqvist type trade. Just a guy to bring a shot to the arm to the lineup. 4 of the guys I listed barely have a heartbeat and Zucker goes balls to the wall for 3 games and then is out for 4 months.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

If moving a defenseman or two is what gives this team the ability to land a stud 2nd liner so they don't just default to Zucker-Rakell or Rakell-Kap as Geno's wingers, I don't understand how anyone wouldn't jump at the opportunity.

The defense isn't gonna win this team shit, frankly. They're bland and expensive as hell for who they are and what they bring. You could remove and replace any guy on that blueline minus Letang and they'd be fine. None of these guys are irreplaceable, I don't really care what some player cards or plotted graphs on twitter say. /shrug

 

[Andy99]

The elephant in the room about Miller is hes a UFA next summer. Hes going to want a long term contract in the 7+ mil range or more. Yeah hes great for 5mil right now, but what about next contract?

Well we have Zucker, Dumo and Blueger coming off the books next season so we could pay him $7M if we want…

 

[Zirakzigil]

Yes we'd only keep him for one year. But it's a legit cup chance year if he comes. Might not have one of those for a good 10-15 years, starting soon.
And people are assuming Marino will continue to play well like last year/playoffs, which is far from guaranteed.

So youre going to give up 2 or 3 good assists for 1 year of Miller? Thats not good asset management there. Maybe if it was Marino straight up for him. But if you are adding a 1st and something else youre better off rolling with what you got until the TDL.

 

[Pens x]

I thought our defenseman were fine last year.

Dumo had rough stretches for sure and Petts is overpaid but I thought he was ok in his small role.

Is being “okay” in his “small” role good enough for someone making over $4 mill? That should be your standard for Ruh, not Petts.

 

[ThosePuckingPenguins]

Pettersson for Anderson? Fine.

Marino for Anderson? No way. Only player I’d be okay with giving Marino up for is Miller.

 

[IcedCapp]

Feel bad that Kadri is sitting at home waiting for us to clear cap space

 

[xlm34]

The defense minus Marino and Pettersson makes me want to projective vomit.

Gutting the defense to get a marginally better option than Zucker for the 2nd line is just something I can't support. You're not going to die because your 2nd line has one of Kapanen or Zucker on it.

Eh if it's something based around Marino for Miller, that's way more than a marginal upgrade on Zucker. And it'd take some wheeling and dealing, but you could potentially bring in another defenseman. Something like Marino/Blueger/Pettersson/Picks out and Miller/Larsson/Defenseman in. I think that's too much to actually happen, but there's a path where Hextall can seriously upgrade the Malkin line and end up with an ok defense.

 

[Pens x]

Free agency has been a giant let down thus far after sleepy made some decent re-signings. Though, it takes two to tango, and fans here seem to only credit Sleepy for the big 3 taking discounts.

Hopefully, Sully isn’t close to being done. I’m sure he needs to take a week off after working so hard for a solid week heading into free agency.

I still hate the Archibald signing. The kool aid gang can pretend he won’t play every game, but he will.

 

[orby]

Miller would drastically improve the offense even if he doesn't come close to replicating his scoring from last year. I guess the question is, without Marino, is that defense good enough? Maybe it is if POJ turns out like we hope.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

So youre going to give up 2 or 3 good assists for 1 year of Miller? Thats not good asset management there. Maybe if it was Marino straight up for him. But if you are adding a 1st and something else youre better off rolling with what you got until the TDL.

I'm not sure what his price is. It's 1 year of Miller vs 5 years of Marino. That should matter a lot.
It could be a straight up exchange. Maybe + a 2nd?

Even if it's a 1st, does that 1st get us a Cup in the next 15+ years? I know I'm not expecting Pickering to do that, with his middle pair hopeful projection.
Won't that 2023 1st just preside over the rebuild/weak re-tool? What's he actually doing for the organization? And what if he sucks and has no trade value later, just like Poulin?

Miller would drastically improve the offense even if he doesn't come close to replicating his scoring from last year. I guess the question is, without Marino, is that defense good enough? Maybe it is if POJ turns out like we hope.

They would have to defend less with L2 dominating possession. And since we'd score more goals they'd have more of a buffer.

 

[TimmyD]

Could Montreal retain on Anderson? I’d consider that if they retained like 35-50%

 

[Night Shift]

Free agency has been a giant let down thus far after sleepy made some decent re-signings. Though, it takes two to tango, and fans here seem to only credit Sleepy for the big 3 taking discounts.

 

[Trade]

I wonder who that mystery (Not Canucks) team was Friedman referenced was close to a Marino trade?

I’d personally love Anderson here, but definitely not for Marino. PLUS his contract sucks ass considering we’ve saved so much on cap elsewhere. But just for fun, maybe for Petts+Blueger? Montreal gets their Danault replacement.

Jake-Sid-Rust
Rakell-Malkin-Anderson
Zucker-Carter-McGinn
Zohorna-Larsson-DOC
Archibald/Big Puusy

Dumo-Letang
Math-Marino
POJ-Rutta
Fried/Ruh

Jarry
CDS

 

[ChaosAgent]

Well we have Zucker, Dumo and Blueger coming off the books next season so we could pay him $7M if we want…

It'd be dumb to let Miller walk for under $9M if he's PPG and also a + player. That will be ~10% of the cap going forward.

You'd trade Marino to get him, allow Zucker to get his 2/$6M elsewhere and hope Dumo gets paid royally by some dumb team. It may stop you from signing Jarry to a silly contract...but I'd rather give Miller $50M than Jarry. Goaltenders are voodoo.