Salary Cap: Pittsburgh Penguins Salary Cap: Lets do a better Reload than Hetfield

[Peat]

Time for a new thread anyway, and I reckon the certainty over the pick makes it a good time. But hey, if we can't have the Laf, we can at least make jokes at Metallica's expense!

Here's the Capfriendly page - Pittsburgh Penguins - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps - let's crack on

I'd leave Pettersson on the second pairing with Ristolainen. Dumo-Marino to take the brunt.

Fwiw, 3 points in 160 odd minutes with Tanger, 8 in 375 minutes with Pettersson, 6 in 147 with Dumo. Whether he'd maintain that Dumo pace, who can say, but it does at least look he hasn't flatlined when pushed up yet.

I think Parayko is a good comparison to Marino and St. Louis basically did a similar thing in moving Shattenkirk out when they found him and Parayko greatly suffered the next two years.

And we certainly saw him flat line in the playoffs.

I f***ing love the gift from god that is Marino, but if he ends up being a Parayko caliber defenseman

I have no idea who the Blues have in the system for goalies but couldn't CDS for Jake Allen as the principals work for both teams. Blues get a backup who isn't all that expensive/has some NHL experience AND $3.1M in cap space. We get a NHL vet with alot of experience and only has a single year left on contract.

Four games of nonsense. Couldn't care less what we saw from guys there by now - that's not how players will look in a well-motivated well-directed unit, and if we're not going to have one of them then this is all bollocks anyway.

But, that said, I wouldn't be that surprised if he did struggle with that, even if my confidence in him is sky high. Although a fall to current/2nd year Parayko offensive standards at 5v5 isn't the end of the world if Ristolainen is taking advantage of being the attacking guy.

I think you're running into a season next year where you're hoping everyone hits a peak instead of valley then.

I am officially anxious

Eh. This works with a little offensive regression from Marino, and it's not assuming any growth on Pettersson's part (which would ease things a lot). Can't have valley, but plateaus will do.

The only guy who has to peak is Ristolainen which of course is risky business.

But then, as I'm sure you're aware, there's pretty much no plan to move Letang and replace him that doesn't involve the incoming offensive dman having to peak. We lose the move in terms of talent (barring an insane peak/robbery) and that's that. The reason to do it stems from desire for a mental shake-up, desire not to just lose Letang for nothing but memories should we stick the course, and the half-suspicion that this team's ability to continue doing well without Letang is real and that we can move him and add to the team in other places and still be okay with a half-decent replacement.

Oh God.

They just showed JR.

He looks pissed that they kept him up past his bedtime.

Well, that's that. I think winning the Lafreniere sweepstakes was the one shot we had to kickstart the mini-rebuild needed to chase another Cup before the era of the big 3 ended. Without Lafreniere, I think there's too much to do to realistically have another shot.

Too much to do? Really?

1) we need a top 6 RW
a) we may have one in house already
2) we could upgrade at 3C
3) we need to make a decision on our goalie
4) we need a 3rd pairing RHD
5) we’d *like* to get rid of/bury JJ

That’s the extent of the work we need to do in my opinion. Every couple years there’s a “doom and gloom” mentality around here, and it’s always super dramatic and a waste of energy.

Idk, I feel like staying the course and only nibbling at small depth players won't make a difference in the long run

You need to get rid of JJ, bring in a top-6 RWer, completely restructure the 3rd line, revamp the 3rd pair, address the goalie situation and address the powerplay. Murray needs to be moved, McCann and Hornqvist should be moved and Letang should be considered a trade candidate.

Click to read more...

 

[Peat]

Fire Sullivan. Get a coach that'll play Riikola.

Dumo - Letang
Pettersson - X
Riikola - Marino.

Solves that issue.

Didn't you just create a bigger one in the top 4?

The bottom pairing isn't a huge worry to me. Play good hockey in front of two non-goobers who compliment each other well and things will be fine. Riikola-Ruhwedel were genuinely quite good and while I don't trust that to continue, they can regress and still be fine as long as there's not injuries in front of them. One good dman to go with one of them with the intention of graduating POJ would go a long way.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Too much to do? Really?

1) we need a top 6 RW
a) we may have one in house already
2) we could upgrade at 3C
3) we need to make a decision on our goalie
4) we need a 3rd pairing RHD
5) we’d *like* to get rid of/bury JJ

That’s the extent of the work we need to do in my opinion. Every couple years there’s a “doom and gloom” mentality around here, and it’s always super dramatic and a waste of energy.

We need a top-6 RW, and don't get it twisted, we don't have the option in-house. I like Poulin, but he's never even stepped foot in the AHL yet.
We need a significant 3C to establish an identity around and build a legit 3rd line. Enough of this vanilla, bland, Bjugs/McCann shit. Nobody in house even comes close to what we need there.
We're trading Murray.
We need a blueliner with offensive upside. As we all saw, Letang's the only guy really bringing anything offensively right now, and when his production dries up--the blueline's a barren wasteland. Marino's a gem, but his strength and value to the blueline is in his all-around game. We need more offensive potential. That's going to be expensive.
We absolutely need to get rid of JJ. It's not a conversation, it's not a discussion. There is no sheltering him. There is no insulating him. He absolutely cannot be on this team if we're serious about making progress toward righting the ship.

This team's been trending down, steadily, for the past 3 years. Due mainly to the GM's directionless nonsense, and a coach who has completely lost the plot when it comes to player usage--in addition to potentially having lost the attention/ear of the room.

It's not realistic to do the kind of things we need to do in order to right the ship and make another strong run at the Cup before Geno and Letang's deals are up in 2 years. Even if we scorched earth the front office and coaching staff, and the new guys are singularly focused on one last run and go to work making it happen, you're looking at a solid calendar year of moves, both additions as well as subtractions, before we're in a spot to contend again. That's assuming the moves we make work out, which, as the Bonino situation has shown, isn't always the case. We're three years and a ton of significant assets into trying to simply replace the 3C role.

 

[Clare2904]

Sheary's wife is pregnant so at least he managed to start upright off the ice!

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Sheary's wife is pregnant so at least he managed to start upright off the ice!

 

[Turin]

Repost: team needs to 3C that fits, a bit of a mix up at wing (not much), and a replacement level bottom pairing. And maybe a new coach. All possible, but not easy.

 

[Turin]

McCann and Murray should be able to bring back valuable/needed pieces. JJ has to go, buy out or trade. ZAR is uninspiring and soft and should go. Hornqvist should probably be available for the right price as much as it saddens me. Should be enough to get a 3C and backup. Would be nice if Poulin made it.

 

[orby]

I agree that it feels like the end of the line for Hornqvist as a Penguin. I think he's destined to play the wizened vet role on a young up and coming team.

 

[Empoleon8771]

What I'd do is trade McCann, Murray, Hornqvist and JJ, keep Bjugstad to battle it out with Blueger, ERod (who I'd re-sign) and Lafferty for the 3C spot and target 2 top-9 RWs (one for 1st and 3rd line), a bottom pair RD OFD and a veteran 1B via trade and free agency. I may also target a depth LD to push POJ to the AHL until POJ passes him, someone like Oleksiak.

Personally, I'd be comfortable with re-signing Sheary to be the 3rd line RW. I really like Poulin-Bjugstad-Sheary on paper if Bjugstad can get back to where he once was. But even if Bjugstad can't do that, I think either Rodrigues or Blueger can fit in those spots. I'd hope for a guy like Kapanen for the top line, a guy like Montour for the 3rd pair and a guy like Allen for the 1B position. I'd be pretty happy with this lineup:

Zucker-Crosby-Kapanen
Guentzel-Malkin-Rust
Poulin-Bjugstad/Rodrigues-Sheary
ZAR/Lafferty-Blueger-Tanev

Dumoulin-Marino
Pettersson-Letang
Oleksiak-Montour
Ruhwedel

Jarry-Allen

 

[WayneSid9987]

Fartin' around on Arm-Chair GM:

Zucker-Sid-Kapanen
Jake-G-Rust
McCann-Blueger-Tanev
Simon-Lafferty-Angello
A.Johnson

Dumo-Marino
Krug-Letang
MP-Timmins
Ruh

Jarry
Francouz

Something in the doable range. Paid Krug 8.5 and Jarry 3.5.
Thats with nothing coming back for Bjugs, ZAR as well.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Fartin' around on Arm-Chair GM:

Zucker-Sid-Kapanen
Jake-G-Rust
McCann-Blueger-Tanev
Simon-Lafferty-Angello
A.Johnson

Dumo-Marino
Krug-Letang
MP-Timmins
Ruh

Jarry
Francouz

Something in the doable range. Paid Krug 8.5 and Jarry 3.5.
Thats with nothing coming back for Bjugs, McCann, ZAR as well.

That bottom-6 is straight up yikes worthy. You also have McCann on the 3rd line while saying he was traded later.

 

[WayneSid9987]

That bottom-6 is straight up yikes worthy. You also have McCann on the 3rd line while saying he was traded later.

It's gonna be for awhile.
Have to play the youth somewhere so bottom 6 it's gonna be.
Biggest need for me is a Krug type player.

 

[mpp9]

Dunno if Kapanen is as good as we think he is and his contract's up in 2 years, but definitely seems like the right time to go after him.

 

[Turin]

It's gonna be for awhile.
Have to play the youth somewhere so bottom 6 it's gonna be.
Biggest need for me is a Krug type player.

I don’t think those guys are “the youth”, they are at best just guys. Relying on them is bad.

 

[WayneSid9987]

I don’t think those guys are “the youth”, they are at best just guys. Relying on them is bad.

Y'all can make your bottom 6 whatever you like. Trade McCann, don't care.
I just really want to clear the cash to get Krug.

 

[T1K]

Letang for William Nylander

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

I think our 3rd line is a bigger need than Sid's RW. Or at least, the more expensive/difficult hole to fill.

 

[WayneSid9987]

I think our 3rd line is a bigger need than Sid's RW. Or at least, the more expensive/difficult hole to fill.

Disagree.
Need a stud D-man in the mix.
Needs smarts and get up and go.
Krug fits the bill perfectly.
They won't do it tho cuz they believe in MP and POJ heavily BUT you want to get this team back on top quickly that stud D-man will do it the quickest.
You need smarts on D to beat the trap and to best help these F's.
Something Cole, Olli, Daley and Hainsey had.
This squad currently is real dumb on the back end and it drives everything.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Dunno if Kapanen is as good as we think he is and his contract's up in 2 years, but definitely seems like the right time to go after him.

I don't think Kapanen is amazing, he's just another 2017-2018 Rust caliber player that can play in the Penguins top-6. I think he complements Zucker well as a RW

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Disagree.
Need a stud D-man in the mix.
Needs smarts and get up and go.
Krug fits the bill perfectly.
They won't do it tho cuz they believe in MP and POJ heavily BUT you want to get this team back on top quickly that stud D-man will do it the quickest.
You need smarts on D to beat the trap and to best help these F's.
Something Cole, Olli, Daley and Hainsey had.
This squad currently is real dumb on the back end and it drives everything.

I don't necessarily disagree. I just don't know if we have the cap space or assets to land that guy. The 3C is a desperate need, and relatively attainable.

 

[Peat]

Okay. Here's my philosophy.

This team is trying to be the 15-16 Sharks only with a better SCF, and it's trying to be that as quick as possible. Last year's finalists work as models too; hoping late thirties Crosby/Malkin can be mid thirties Krejci/Bergeron seems legit and while the Blues' core isn't old, they were never super explosive superstars, so hoping old age guys can be equal again seems legit.

Which means

a) Roster's got to be tight defensively. If you can't rely on scoring 4 goals most of the time you've got to be able to win with 3 most of the time.
b) You only really need about 5 elite/near elite players and only a couple of them need to be prime aged
c) Depth. A bottom line that doesn't do much other than keep the game static is possible but it seems like about the best you can expect at the moment is about 8 goals against over a full 24-26 games, so it's got to be able to score 8 goals. Your bottom pairing is probably playing 12-13 minutes a night at 5v5 at least. And we're seeing a lot of scoring distributed down the lines. Bergeron was the only one of the top 9 STL/BOS centres not to have at least 3 5v5 goals over the series.

Most of that honestly isn't that hard as long as Rutherford's sane and the coach is being listened to. The big one is the elite and while technically, fully fit and at peak, we have that in Sid/Geno/Jake/Tanger/Marino, gotta wonder how long that lasts - or if Jake and Marino are quite the level. So if we can get it on the next elite player to get traded...

My to do list would be

1) Remove Letang or Hornqvist - if we're reloading, we can't keep crossing our fingers on a beaten up/when do they decline core. Can't be caught holding those contracts. If we're rebuilding, time to cash out. You might not win those trades but you do your best anyway. At least one should go.

2) Acquire a few more picks - if we're going to reload, we need the assets in case an elite player pops up. McCann and Murray are the obvious ones.

3) Lose JJ - Just find a way

4) Make the bottom six score more - It can defend, but we need some scoring punch, and we need some cohesiveness to do it. I don't even know where to start given all the options but that's what we need to do

5) Reload bottom pairing - Honestly wouldn't care that much if Riikola-Ruh started the season, but it'd be nice to sign something better if it's on; maybe swap some depth forwards for dmen that won't make it through waivers elsewhere for more competition

6) Be opportunistic f***s and wait for the next big one to fall - We can live with Simon as 1RW, Pettersson as 2LD, Riikola-Ruh... probably even with Jarry/DeSmith as goalies. Sure, they're places we can upgrade with varying levels of difficulty, but I don't want to pay much to do it. Not when we can hoard up some assets and wait to get absurdly lucky on a prospect, or for a big player to get pissed off and force their way out. In the meantime, take the cheap and short term options - if the system and locker room is right, most will do fine, if it's not, who cares as down we go anyway

 

[MayorofWBS]

Penguins been awfully quiet. I'm expecting mostly the status quo:

1) No changes in GM or HC
2) Matt Murray traded
3) 2020 pick moved to Minny to complete Zucker trade
4) Sheary signed to a 3-4 year deal we'll regret even before the ink dries
5) We go with the Jarry/CDS duo cuz it's cheap (and regret it)
6) Poulin will play 9 games but will get returned to Jrs.
7) JJ and Horny return for another year
8) McCann will be traded for a vet d-man with one year of term until UFA; in the end it will be a bad fit and we'll let the player walk

We'll hover right below the playoff cutoff and they will fire Sully mid-season. The team will respond to the firing and have enough of a push to get in playoffs but will crash and burn again.

 

[Pancakes]

What I want:

1) Explore trading Murray depending on what his contract demands are. If the price tag is too high trade him otherwise you can consider keeping him and platooning Jarry/MM and playing whoever is looking better.

2) Get rid of JJ at whatever cost. Buyout? Sure. Minors bury? Sure. Trade? Sure. Just...whatever it takes. He's a drain on the roster to the point that not having him and having less cap to work with would still be preferable.

3) Let Schultz walk.

4) Move either McCann or Bjugstad. There's not really room for both imo. Ideally this would be Bjugstad but he's had injury troubles and has a big price tag. I don't know if it can done.

5) This will be unpopular, but keep Sullivan. Give him at least one more honest go at this. Keep a quick trigger finger early if the Pens struggle or don't look right though.

 

[OswaldBates]

What I'd do is trade McCann, Murray, Hornqvist and JJ, keep Bjugstad to battle it out with Blueger, ERod (who I'd re-sign) and Lafferty for the 3C spot and target 2 top-9 RWs (one for 1st and 3rd line), a bottom pair RD OFD and a veteran 1B via trade and free agency. I may also target a depth LD to push POJ to the AHL until POJ passes him, someone like Oleksiak.

Personally, I'd be comfortable with re-signing Sheary to be the 3rd line RW. I really like Poulin-Bjugstad-Sheary on paper if Bjugstad can get back to where he once was. But even if Bjugstad can't do that, I think either Rodrigues or Blueger can fit in those spots. I'd hope for a guy like Kapanen for the top line, a guy like Montour for the 3rd pair and a guy like Allen for the 1B position. I'd be pretty happy with this lineup:

Zucker-Crosby-Kapanen
Guentzel-Malkin-Rust
Poulin-Bjugstad/Rodrigues-Sheary
ZAR/Lafferty-Blueger-Tanev

Dumoulin-Marino
Pettersson-Letang
Oleksiak-Montour
Ruhwedel

Jarry-Allen

Sheary Blows GOOD GOD ! Stop it

 

[OswaldBates]

Penguins been awfully quiet. I'm expecting mostly the status quo:

1) No changes in GM or HC
2) Matt Murray traded
3) 2020 pick moved to Minny to complete Zucker trade
4) Sheary signed to a 3-4 year deal we'll regret even before the ink dries
5) We go with the Jarry/CDS duo cuz it's cheap (and regret it)
6) Poulin will play 9 games but will get returned to Jrs.
7) JJ and Horny return for another year
8) McCann will be traded for a vet d-man with one year of term until UFA; in the end it will be a bad fit and we'll let the player walk

We'll hover right below the playoff cutoff and they will fire Sully mid-season. The team will respond to the firing and have enough of a push to get in playoffs but will crash and burn again.

UMMM what did you think they would have done already ?