Salary Cap: Pittsburgh Penguins Salary Cap Thread - HARD KNOCK LIFE...FOR US!

[SEALBound]

I understand people getting FRUSTRATED by Letang at times. In some ways it's a little like Fleury... you can see and appreciate the otherworldly talent but sometimes the brain seems stuck on standby.

But yeah I agree... regardless of what complaints I may have here and there the dude is a legit top pairing D on any team and has been a major factor in what has made this team tick in this VERY successful era of hockey.

That's pretty fair. Letang is tough because it's very binary with him. His highs are high and his lows are low. He's rarely in that middle ground. Sid can take a game off and be in the middle. Same with Malkin, same Jake, same with a lot of others. When Letang takes a game off, it's like he slipped off a cliff. He's gotten a lot of flak around here over the years but at the same time, he's gotten A LOT of praise. People tend to only remember the flak though.

Wait, the Pens were "close" to dealing Malkin last year? If they were so close, why don't I recall any potential returns?

IIRC, JR said he would look at offers. I don't recall anything being "close".

 

[pensfan71]

I mean...he says 2-3 and then also mentions "legacy"...there's only a couple others that he could be talking about especially since he singled out Sid by name. Maybe he means the others but I could see why Geno and Letang could be singled out there

 

[Pittsburgh1776]

We somehow went from "why is JR questioning his core other than Crosby" to "he's not questioning them" to "stop saying he wants to trade them". Nobody made that point at all, unless I'm missing something. I'm wondering why he's openly questioning whether two of his core (especially Malkin) want to win again. Because that's what he did. Anything else is a bunch of B.S. frankly, and is not in response to anything discussed.

 

[Gurglesons]

I'd suggest you listen to it again, I did, twice just to make sure I didn't miss anything from the usual boring interview.

I've never heard Rutherford question Malkin and Letang's commitment to winning.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

That's pretty fair. Letang is tough because it's very binary with him. His highs are high and his lows are low. He's rarely in that middle ground. Sid can take a game off and be in the middle. Same with Malkin, same Jake, same with a lot of others. When Letang takes a game off, it's like he slipped off a cliff. He's gotten a lot of flak around here over the years but at the same time, he's gotten A LOT of praise. People tend to only remember the flak though.



IIRC, JR said he would look at offers. I don't recall anything being "close".

And as a GM, that's his job.

To look at offers, then see if any of it is worth it. Lemieux & Burkle have never been shy to veto a deal or make their GM go make one.

What does it say about them if JR is allowed to deal Letang and Malkin?

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Stop what shit? He specifically questioned the drive of two of our core members and specifically left one out. You can't see how that could offend Letang or Malkin especially considering what happened with JR last summer?

Weird how he didn't defend them like Jack Johnson, but I guess that was because Sullivan was telling Rutherford to be nice to Jack Johnson.

In a world, where you call out your generational center but praise your trash bag 3rd pair defenseman who shouldn't even have a spot on the bench...

 

[Pittsburgh1776]

It would say they were also ready to move on from this core. And I don't think that's true this year, but another poor outcome next year and I can see it very easily.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I thought Shero was a good enough GM, too.

But he willingly hitched his wagon to a cretin despite more than enough evidence not to.

What applies then applies now. If JR is willing to not see exactly what you are talking about and in fact make excuses for it... well... what else?

You understand I am in the boat that doesn't want anyone in the current roles in management anymore, yeah? I spoke about a full on culling of the entire front office and coaching staff, f*** the lot of them.

But also...

If the GM isn't actively listening to offers that might better this team, he's not doing his job and that's not a comment about JR, but more so about the players on this team. No one should be untouchable on this team, especially not players that are winding down and their value could still return something that might help fix the future that GM's like Shero & JR have destroyed and some poor bastard that will take over from their idiotic legacy, will have to fix.

 

[Pittsburgh1776]

I'm not sure anyone is saying offers shouldn't be listened to. It was more the "I wonder if they want to win again like they used to" part.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'm not sure anyone is saying offers shouldn't be listened to. It was more the "I wonder if they want to win again like they used to" part.

It didn't seem like it when Guentzel returns from being injured and immediately is stuck to Crosby's hip when the line of Guentzel-Malkin-Rust was better than anything Sid & Jake have done together that season.

That to me, pissed me off because it was, yet again, the usual "stack the top line!" and not "put what helped us get here, back together so we can win!"

Because the way I saw it, Sid & Zucker were finally showing strong chemistry, Malkin and Rust were doing well but missed that 3rd element that was Jake and then the entire coaching staff deemed it necessary to go back to something from November/December instead of what was working well.

Even the usage of JJ, if those idiots wanted to use JJ, he was at least, somewhat useful when Marino was carrying his carcass around. As for Pettersson-Schultz, well maybe a brain-trust of 3-4 coaches should have realized scratching him for literally any of the other 2 in the press-box, would have also been beneficial.

Those are things that irk me. JR's usual bs is whatever, I can, like I have always maintained, accept a bloke that f***ed up and tries to fix his f***ups, but someone that f***s ups and tries to take ownership of his f*** up and can't figure out what part was his f*** up, I can't.

But don't get me wrong, I want both JR and Sullivan gone, for good.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

You understand I am in the boat that doesn't want anyone in the current roles in management anymore, yeah? I spoke about a full on culling of the entire front office and coaching staff, f*** the lot of them.

But also...

If the GM isn't actively listening to offers that might better this team, he's not doing his job and that's not a comment about JR, but more so about the players on this team. No one should be untouchable on this team, especially not players that are winding down and their value could still return something that might help fix the future that GM's like Shero & JR have destroyed and some poor bastard that will take over from their idiotic legacy, will have to fix.

If someone is dumb enough to trade like a 22 year old franchise-type player for Malkin... all ears! But you know that's fantasy as well as I do.

Perhaps this is a controversial opinion... business and all that... but in my opinion Crosby, Malkin and Letang have earned the right to stay here in their twilight years if they wish. And in the end it will be a feather in the cap for the franchise, as well. One-team franchise HOF players are kinda rare.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

If someone is dumb enough to trade like a 22 year old franchise-type player for Malkin... all ears! But you know that's fantasy as well as I do.

Perhaps this is a controversial opinion... business and all that... but in my opinion Crosby, Malkin and Letang have earned the right to stay here in their twilight years if they wish. And in the end it will be a feather in the cap for the franchise, as well. One-team franchise HOF players are kinda rare.

I don't disagree. I also don't think JR would be that stupid, but seeing what this coaching staff and GM have already done in the idiots they've replaced, I don't have a lot of faith in anything anymore.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

There's no wrong answer to the Jake/Zucker thing. Sid and Jake are phenomenal. Geno and Jake are phenomenal. Zucker's great with both centers too.

I just prefer Sid and Jake, and have no idea why anyone had a problem with Zucker-Geno-Rust. I thought it was our best forward line in terms of pressure in the "post season", which, to be fair, isn't saying much of anything. Geno just couldn't find the back of the net on any of his 8,000 shots on goal.

 

[Pittsburgh1776]

It didn't seem like it when Guentzel returns from being injured and immediately is stuck to Crosby's hip when the line of Guentzel-Malkin-Rust was better than anything Sid & Jake have done together that season.

That to me, pissed me off because it was, yet again, the usual "stack the top line!" and not "put what helped us get here, back together so we can win!"

Because the way I saw it, Sid & Zucker were finally showing strong chemistry, Malkin and Rust were doing well but missed that 3rd element that was Jake and then the entire coaching staff deemed it necessary to go back to something from November/December instead of what was working well.

Even the usage of JJ, if those idiots wanted to use JJ, he was at least, somewhat useful when Marino was carrying his carcass around. As for Pettersson-Schultz, well maybe a brain-trust of 3-4 coaches should have realized scratching him for literally any of the other 2 in the press-box, would have also been beneficial.

Those are things that irk me. JR's usual bs is whatever, I can, like I have always maintained, accept a bloke that f***ed up and tries to fix his f***ups, but someone that f***s ups and tries to take ownership of his f*** up and can't figure out what part was his f*** up, I can't.

But don't get me wrong, I want both JR and Sullivan gone, for good.

I mean, I agree with most of this...but I'm not gonna lie, questioning Geno after everything he's done (even Letang, I criticize him as much anyone but never whether he wants to win) is a bee in my bonnet. Those three guys, but especially those two (Crosby and Malkin) have done way too much as recently as this season to be questioned like that publicly by their GM. My only point. It irks me a lot.

 

[Gurglesons]

It didn't seem like it when Guentzel returns from being injured and immediately is stuck to Crosby's hip when the line of Guentzel-Malkin-Rust was better than anything Sid & Jake have done together that season.

That to me, pissed me off because it was, yet again, the usual "stack the top line!" and not "put what helped us get here, back together so we can win!"

Because the way I saw it, Sid & Zucker were finally showing strong chemistry, Malkin and Rust were doing well but missed that 3rd element that was Jake and then the entire coaching staff deemed it necessary to go back to something from November/December instead of what was working well.

Even the usage of JJ, if those idiots wanted to use JJ, he was at least, somewhat useful when Marino was carrying his carcass around. As for Pettersson-Schultz, well maybe a brain-trust of 3-4 coaches should have realized scratching him for literally any of the other 2 in the press-box, would have also been beneficial.

Those are things that irk me. JR's usual bs is whatever, I can, like I have always maintained, accept a bloke that f***ed up and tries to fix his f***ups, but someone that f***s ups and tries to take ownership of his f*** up and can't figure out what part was his f*** up, I can't.

But don't get me wrong, I want both JR and Sullivan gone, for good.

Why are you going on an insane tangent about Sullivan when we are just pissed about JR shooting his mouth off like he always does? Nobody is defending Sullivan and your paragraph long bitchfests about him are just lame.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Why are you going on an insane tangent about Sullivan when we are just pissed about JR shooting his mouth off like he always does? Nobody is defending Sullivan and your paragraph long bitchfests about him are just lame.

I don't give a f*** if it pisses you off.

I don't care for either, the GM or the Coach and for me, both are at fault for the f***-ups the last couple of seasons.

 

[Pittsburgh1776]

It's not that Z-M-R was terrible (it wasn't good). It's more the apparent thought process which was to break up a truly great line just so you can reunite Crosby's wingers, regardless of how line two was playing. That's more fuel for the #2 instead of 1B theory for me. But it's not the first time Malkin's line has been broken up and not reunited so I'm not that surprised, just disappointed because the team never looked better this year than when Malkin was leading, and an injured Crosby definitely doesn't change that. But rearranged the lines anyway. The reverse has never and will never happen here. And I wonder how long that can continue, paired with comments like JR just made two years in a row, before Malkin gets tired of dealing with it. Like I've said before I believe this is his last deal here.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't give a f*** if it pisses you off.

I don't care for either, the GM or the Coach and for me, both are at fault for the f***-ups the last couple of seasons.

What does this have to do with JR shooting his mouth off about Letang and Malkin in a public forum and questioning their commitment to winning?

 

[JTG]

Speculation on my part: do you think Murray would be willing to take a shorter term deal at a more modest cap hit (maybe $5-$5.5 million)? That may be worth looking into, giving Murray a 3 or so year deal in that range and trading Jarry may be better than giving Jarry a 3 year deal at $3.5 million and trading Murray depending on what trade value each goalie has.

I doubt Jarry has the trade value to make this work, but it may be worth looking into. I think Murray's value is pretty good already, so Jarry would need super high value to rationalize doing that.

I just don't really see a way these two goalies can co-exist together. Both are young and want to play so they get paid.

 

[mpp9]

I just don't really see a way these two goalies can co-exist together. Both are young and want to play so they get paid.

Murray would actually be best in tandem where he plays like 50 games max. His highs are still better than most of the league, but he has yet to prove he can handle a starters load AND perform in the playoffs.

 

[JTG]

Murray would actually be best in tandem where he plays like 50 games max. His highs are still better than most of the league, but he has yet to prove he can handle a starters load AND perform in the playoffs.

I completely agree. You don't pay those types of guys 5-6m though.

 

[OswaldBates]

I don't give a f*** if it pisses you off.

I don't care for either, the GM or the Coach and for me, both are at fault for the f***-ups the last couple of seasons.

Might want to try Decaf

 

[Andy99]

Dreger just reported that JR has one offer he likes from a team he thinks is not Leafs....Murray deal is happening very soon I think.
Fingers crossed

also there was this...
Tom Hunter

@PuckDontLie

·

50m

“Darren Dreger is on TSN1050 heavily implying that Dubas is all set to acquire Matt Murray if he ends up finding a good return for Freddie Andersen...“

also, some rumor EDM is the front runner and that EDM offered Larsson + but JR wanted Nurse, and was rejected...lots of stuff

 

[mpp9]

I'm sure Larsson would work fine on a bottom pairing that didn't have JJ on it.

But like, that's not the kind of D-man we need. At all.

I have yet to hear JR even speak about the obvious need of an offensive D-man.

And that's putting aside the fact we'd have an 8.5 million dollar bottom pairing that likely gets pinned in their end most games.

 

[66-30-33]

I guess that Larsson has Pool Party attatched to it.