Salary Cap: Pittsburgh Penguins Salad Cap Thread: Craving Top 6 (Buffalo) Wings and More

[HandshakeLine]

The thing is, unless you find a taker for Matheson, or Dumolin gets injured, Pettersson is still the 3rd pairing LD, unless he can outplay one of those two. And lately, Matheson has been playing like the better choice on the 2nd pairing.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

I just wanna say regardless if Petts gets better or worse. The reason why I want to trade him is because we have enough LD and I think Dumo brings something that we lack.

Also Matheson contract has perceived negative value while I disagree with that.

That leaves Petts.

So let's trade him and see what we can get in a hockey trade and get a forward.
There is teams out there looking for a defenseman.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Also, confidential to @Peat: There is no way Matheson becomes a wing.

 

[Peat]

Also, confidential to @Peat: There is no way Matheson becomes a wing.

I know.

But that's because of hockey biases, and he should become one anyway!

 

[Empoleon8771]

But as @Peat and I are discussing, we don't have track records sometimes because the coaching staff has its biases and isn't always choosing the lineup based on merit. So, it's pretty hard to say what we have in Riikola or Freidman, except that they're relatively young, mobile, adequate for 3rd pairing or spot duty, and cheap.

The bigger problem for Pettersson, I think, is he's not really playing well enough to take that 2nd pairing away from Matheson long term, so that's the rub. Petts is probably going to be a better 2nd pairing guy than what we have below him on the chart the long run, sure. I'll buy that. But we're not talking about a 2nd pairing LD opening-- we're talking about the 3LD, which has different needs.

I really don't see the spot up for competition being the 3LD, it's the 2LD spot with Marino. Matheson and Ceci may be playing equal amount of minutes to Pettersson and Marino, but Pettersson and Marino should be receiving the much more difficult assignments.

The problem is I can't see a reasonable way that you can use Marino in an appropriate role if you have Riikola or Friedman on his LD. Or Matheson, for that matter. If you're putting one of those guys with Marino, you either can't use Marino against top competition or you're going to murder one of your depth D by playing them way above their heads. Right now it's fine because Marino is out and Ruhwedel is firmly on your 3rd pair, but that's not going to last.

I mean, none of those guys were elite, or even from the contemporary NHL. I've always thought peak of most defensemen, especially guys who specialize in transition and skating, was 27 to say, 31-32, often into their mid-30s. Was Gonchar not elite when he was 31-35?

But if we're talking about Pettersson, why are we worried about elite players? I brought up those guys because they're similar in role/ability to what we would want to see out of Pettersson. How guys like Gonchar and Letang age really isn't that applicable to how guys like Pettersson age.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I know.

But that's because of hockey biases, and he should become one anyway!

I mean, if he did it would solve a lot of problems with the roster. But he won't, at least not here.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I'm definitely down with the idea that pissing around with the roster too much if they are rounding into form is a bad idea. One this team has done several times under JR.

But at the same time hoo boy do I think a good fit for Malkin's LW could really set this team off. I don't trust McCann there and I trust Zucker even less. But I think they'd be a huge bonus further down the lineup. Plus they NEED more viable options to keep the coach's favorite the f*** outta there.

 

[Peat]

The thing is, unless you find a taker for Matheson, or Dumolin gets injured, Pettersson is still the 3rd pairing LD, unless he can outplay one of those two. And lately, Matheson has been playing like the better choice on the 2nd pairing.

Way I see it on this -

You build the second pairing around the best available dman. Right now that's... err, Cody Ceci, but the hope is it becomes John Marino. At which point it's not "Who's better out of Pettersson and Matheson", it's "who's better at complimenting Marino out of Pettersson and Matheson".

And Matheson has really blown his first audition for that.

 

[SEALBound]

I'd like to buy in one rival for McCann as Malkin's wing, and look at buying another guy for the 4th line if they can't sort it before the deadline. That's it. Agree that too much change is all too likely to backfire.

And while I do like the idea of having a guy Zucker's had past chemistry with, I think I'd look at Granlund instead, unless I'm very high on Staal as a potential Malkin wing.

For Mantha, Detroit may be looking for a young LD. Boom. Mantha for Pettersson. Easy. Mantha-Malkin-Kapanen. Finally, Malone-Malkin-Sykora 2.0. Took 13 years but we did it!

I think the benefit of Staal would be that he could be both wing and center. If you need a 3B center that's capable, Staal fits the bill well. He would likely get McCann or Zucker (this assumes Zucker is even back by the playoffs) and then likely ERod. I think that could work well. I would even trial Sceviour and Angello on the RW to see if one clicks.

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

For Mantha, Detroit may be looking for a young LD. Boom. Mantha for Pettersson. Easy. Mantha-Malkin-Kapanen. Finally, Malone-Malkin-Sykora 2.0. Took 13 years but we did it!

I think the benefit of Staal would be that he could be both wing and center. If you need a 3B center that's capable, Staal fits the bill well. He would likely get McCann or Zucker (this assumes Zucker is even back by the playoffs) and then likely ERod. I think that could work well. I would even trial Sceviour and Angello on the RW to see if one clicks.

That would be awesome. But we would have to add some more, maybe Legare and/or a 2nd

 

[LRS87]

I’d claim Vesey.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The more I think about it, the more I want Petts for Glendening+2nd.

I've made my opinion of Glendening pretty well known, I think he's terrible, but I have a different reason for being against the concept: I don't want Hextall to bother wasting assets on guys who won't realistically move the needle for this team. I just don't think that playing Jankowski or Glendening on the 4th line will really matter that much in a playoff series. There's a cap on how much your 4C matters if you're playing your 4C 8 minutes a night.

I think if you're adding anything, you go with a bigger acquisition. That wouldn't be anything major, probably just a legit 3rd line player to push the BART line to your 4th line. But I don't see adding a defensive grinder to your 4th line as really making much of a difference with this team. Whether this team wins or loses in the playoffs depends mostly on whether the offense and Jarry shows up.

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

I’d claim Vesey.

He scored 17g and 35pts for NYR a couple years ago, he's also 6'3 212. If he could adapt his game to the bottom six he'd be a great addition. But I hear he's just awful right now and particularly in his own end.

 

[LRS87]

He scored 17g and 35pts for NYR a couple years ago, he's also 6'3 212. If he could adapt his game to the bottom six he'd be a great addition. But I hear he's just awful right now and particularly in his own end.

Can’t be worse than Jankowski/Sceviour

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

Can’t be worse than Jankowski/Sceviour

Maybe, he does in fact have more points than either of them this year. But I'm not sure if that's been him playing in the top 6 or bottom. I just don't know if he has the chops to grind it out. but you know what, maybe it'd be worth claiming him and trying? We could just waive him if it doesn't workout right?

 

[HandshakeLine]

Maybe, he does in fact have more points than either of them this year. But I'm not sure if that's been him playing in the top 6 or bottom. I just don't know if he has the chops to grind it out. but you know what, maybe it'd be worth claiming him and trying? We could just waive him if it doesn't workout right?

Since when does this team try anything unless we have to?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Frankly I'm just surprised no one has suggested claiming Grigorenko and playing him with Malkin solely because he's a Russian

 

[Tacitus Kilgore]

Frankly I'm just surprised no one has suggested claiming Grigorenko and playing him with Malkin solely because he's a Russian

Well now that I know he's on waivers.....

 

[dogthateats]

Well now that I know he's on waivers.....

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I really wanted them to draft Forsberg or that dude over Pouliot. Would have been happy with either at the time.

I guess being HALF right is something.

 

[Peat]

Hard to imagine Paul Byron getting waived a season ago. Few seasons ago, everybody would want to be all over that.

 

[ColePens]

New thread needed