Salary Cap: Pittsburgh Penguins Salary Cap Thread - JJ is still here!!

[TNT87]

The one thing I want to start this thread off with is how many times i've heard "Oh man he'd be a perfect 3rd wheel for Geno!" We cannot have 5 3rd wheel players for Geno. We have a lot of 3rd wheelers. We need some people to step up to #2s. So with Tanev, he showed for 1 season only that he can be effective w/o a star player. So he can't be flanked with G. We need someone dependent on that star and that to me is Galchenyuk.

We seem to be back at that phase before Kessel where we have a lot of 3rd wheelers and no elite game changers outside of our stars. We are going to need the system and team to work well together and right now the defense is not up to snuff. The system and reliance on speed, tenacity, etc. is going to be key. We need to play as a unit and we need some of these youngins to play above their pay grade.

You know who would make a good third wheel for Geno? Blake Wheeler.

I'll see myself out. I'm not proud of what I did.

 

[canadianguy77]

This season is going to depend on Geno. If it wasn't just Phil dragging him down, then this is no longer a playoff team, JJ or not.

 

[Riptide]

We won in 16 with three elite forwards and some complementary pieces. We won in 09 with the best 1C, 2C and 3C in the game with complementary pieces.

This year, we have an elite winger with Sid. A potential triggerman for Malkin and a ton of versatile pieces to move around the lineup. Get the LW right for Malkin, and this team's problem ain't gonna be offense. It'll be the same it's been since 17. No high end D beyond Letang to help with the transition game.

And it's very likely that between Rust (if he's still here), Kahun, MaCann, Reese, Tanev and Simon that we have the right winger to play alongside Malkin and Gally. That's a very nice mix of players all with slightly different skillsets.

 

[SaucyCelly]

Does bjug + jj + jarry get j.g. pageau?

 

[Riptide]

@Shady Machine

I just know that at the end of the day, someone has to score the ES goals and Kessel out and Chucky in is, on paper, a downgrade in ES production and Rust our and Tanev in would continue that trend.

Not sure if this has been addressed or not in the old thread before it maxed out, but just in case...

Rust over the past two seasons has scored 25ES goals. Tanev without the benefit of playing with elite centers has scored 17ES goals. 8 goals isn't going to make a massive difference - and that's not taking any sort of consideration with regards to their center's into account.

 

[Riptide]

@TheDuderino We have no similar players to Tanev. Rust, as much as I like him is only similar in the sense that he's a 35+pt player who's fast and decent defensively. But he's not close to Tanev in terms of their physical play. And while Reese is similar to Tanev in terms of their physical and defensive games, Reese doesn't come close to matching Tanev's speed.

Basically we have noone who's similar to Tanev on the roster - if we did, we wouldn't have signed Tanev.

 

[JTG]

After looking at their roster, I think we have some pieces Buffalo could benefit from. Vets who have won a bunch. Not sure what we could get back. I've always been a McCabe fan. Just seems like there could be a deal there.

 

[Riptide]

@Empoleon8771 I agree that they did acquire McCann to be their 3c. However that didn't last very long before they reverted to Bjugstad after they actually watched McCann as our 3c. So I'm not so sure that they'd be all that willing to go back there. And between the two of them (Bjugstad and Rust) I'd be trading Rust every day of the week.

 

[Riptide]

New thread... new mention that we need a defender who can skate the puck to pressure!!! This is going to annoy people by November. Or much sooner....

I'm trying to guess what's going to annoy us worse... the fact that we don't have a player (or enough of them) like this... or you reminding us every day or so that we need such a player...

 

[tom_servo]

What other names are people here bouncing around in their heads besides Jake Gardiner (and Jake McCabe)?

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

This season is going to depend on Geno. If it wasn't just Phil dragging him down, then this is no longer a playoff team, JJ or not.

You were exactly right, until you were exactly wrong.

 

[Turin]

What other names are people here bouncing around in their heads besides Jake Gardiner (and Jake McCabe)?

Brodie is available and is basically Jake Gardiner West.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

@TheDuderino We have no similar players to Tanev. Rust, as much as I like him is only similar in the sense that he's a 35+pt player who's fast and decent defensively. But he's not close to Tanev in terms of their physical play. And while Reese is similar to Tanev in terms of their physical and defensive games, Reese doesn't come close to matching Tanev's speed.

Basically we have noone who's similar to Tanev on the roster - if we did, we wouldn't have signed Tanev.

I don't even find ZAR particularly physical. He reminds me of a guy who will finish his checks because his coach told him to, but there's no real punishment or authority behind them. He's basically Tom Kuhnhackl who is forced into playing like he's Tanner Glass.

 

[Riptide]

I would be shocked if Tanev played in the top 6. I think he is a key cog to a very important energy line (L3). I have a bold prediction: the “third wheel” to Geno and Chucky is not currently on the team.

I'd be shocked that anyone would be shocked about how we might deploy our new toy... I mean you're talking about a team that at one point or another rotated pretty much every forward we have onto Crosby and Malkin's wings. I could very easily see Tanev placed into the top 6 as a fast physical defensive player to cause havoc and who can help with the puck retrieval. Both Malkin and Crosby have had success with someone like this on their wings.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

If we dump Simon or ZAR for gusev and pair the one we don't move with Jarry and JJ for obvious reasons, our line up would be pretty f***ing set.

Guentzel, Crosby, Gusev
McCann, Malkin, Galchenyuk
Tanev, Bjugstad, Hornqvist
Kahun, Blueger, Rust
Adam Johnson

Ideally at this point I don't know what the team plans to do with Hornqvist. I love the guy as much as @ColePens , if not more. But he's now being wasted on this roster because they don't want him in the top 6 and he's an absolute waste on the 3rd line when we have Rust who brings speed and With Tanev can create quite the disturbing forecheck that we've needed in a long time.

Hornqvist is a guy I would shop if only because of this teams own ignorance with his usage and not because he needs to go by any means because of production or being terrible.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

I think Tanev is going to be Sully’s fav player. He’s def playing in the Top 6. I like it, healthy competition between him and Rust.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'd be shocked that anyone would be shocked about how we might deploy our new toy... I mean you're talking about a team that at one point or another rotated pretty much every forward we have onto Crosby and Malkin's wings. I could very easily see Tanev placed into the top 6 as a fast physical defensive player to cause havoc and who can help with the puck retrieval. Both Malkin and Crosby have had success with someone like this on their wings.

The issue is you think it'll be successful. Tanev is a less offensively successful version of Rust and maybe in the same opportunities he might produce and be a dupuis. But if that's their rationale. I'd be way more f***ing worried with that stupidity in their thinking than all of the other dumb shit this coaching staff has deployed as "lines"...

This team lacks major cohesiveness because this coaching staff thinks if you run pairs then a third player is interchangeable but even that is something they've failed to deploy regularly. It's a lot of juggling and it messes with chemistry. They got super lucky with Sid and Jake being great and the HBK flash in the pan. But since then, they've literally tried a bunch of random shit and then when it got cold, went full on panic mode trying everything and even old shit over and over.

The Blues and bruins for example, used lines that have been together for a while to build chemistry. People forget that's like an actual thing. The Pens only ever do it with Sid and Jake and Dumo and Tanger. The irony in that is lost on so many including the coaching staff. Oh we gotta switch shit and it works, but oh let's never split these up because....uh.....

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Holy shit that lumen ad is disruptive as hell. It took up my entire mobile browser and would not let me edit.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I think Tanev is going to be Sully’s fav player. He’s def playing in the Top 6. I like it, healthy competition between him and Rust.

He's going to ruin Tanev for me. I wanted him on the Pens last season, now we have him and you've reminded me why I had that nagging doubt.

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

The one thing I want to start this thread off with is how many times i've heard "Oh man he'd be a perfect 3rd wheel for Geno!" We cannot have 5 3rd wheel players for Geno. We have a lot of 3rd wheelers. We need some people to step up to #2s. So with Tanev, he showed for 1 season only that he can be effective w/o a star player. So he can't be flanked with G. We need someone dependent on that star and that to me is Galchenyuk.

We seem to be back at that phase before Kessel where we have a lot of 3rd wheelers and no elite game changers outside of our stars. We are going to need the system and team to work well together and right now the defense is not up to snuff. The system and reliance on speed, tenacity, etc. is going to be key. We need to play as a unit and we need some of these youngins to play above their pay grade.

We only lost Kessel so I don’t get your point of how we are at the point before Kessel with a bunch of 3rd wheelers. Kessel out and Galchenyuk in and he is not a 3rd wheeler. So in fact the number of 3rd wheelers has not increased. In fact winger depth has increased since last year. Having a third wheel on each line is not a bad thing. Having a fast forechecking forward on each line actually helps the two skilled forwards on those lines. For example having someone like Rust with Galchenyuk and Malkin helps keep pressure on the opposing teams defenseman and create space for his line mates. I like these lines to start but we have many options.

Guentzel-Crosby-Kahun
Galchenyuk-Malkin-Rust
McCann-Bjugstad-Hornqvist
Tanev-Blueger-Simon
ZAR odd man out as 13th forward or traded and have Johnson as 13th forward.

I don’t see anyone that wouldn’t work with those groupings. Although I think a line with Tanev-McCann-Hornqvist would drive other lines crazy. Lots of options with this group. I think it will be easy to have line mates for Crosby and Malkin along with many options to make a great 3rd line.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

We only lost Kessel so I don’t get your point of how we are at the point before Kessel with a bunch of 3rd wheelers. Kessel out and Galchenyuk in and he is not a 3rd wheeler. So in fact the number of 3rd wheelers has not increased. In fact winger depth has increased since last year. Having a third wheel on each line is not a bad thing. Having a fast forechecking forward on each line actually helps the two skilled forwards on those lines. For example having someone like Rust with Galchenyuk and Malkin helps keep pressure on the opposing teams defenseman and create space for his line mates. I like these lines to start but we have many options.

Guentzel-Crosby-Kahun
Galchenyuk-Malkin-Rust
McCann-Bjugstad-Hornqvist
Tanev-Blueger-Simon
ZAR odd man out as 13th forward or traded and have Johnson as 13th forward.

I don’t see anyone that wouldn’t work with those groupings. Although I think a line with Tanev-McCann-Hornqvist would drive other lines crazy. Lots of options with this group. I think it will be easy to have line mates for Crosby and Malkin along with many options to make a great 3rd line.

The thing is none of those guys outside of Jake are creative scorers. It's why I identify a need for a guy like Gusev. Galchenyuk isn't great defensively and he's not great offensively, he's a very middling player that we're gonna pray, opens up his scoring with Geno and makes JR look brilliant. It's a long stretch. We have dumb and dumber for gm and coach duo with the kind of players they seem to like or want.

At this point the biggest travesty is the usage of horny and then it's the lack of a pure offensive player on the wing. This team is so f***ing white bread right now and they didn't take anything away from the finals at all. Blues won because of a lot of things but they also had those guilty pleasure players that have skill and that creativity and that's Tarasenko.

Even if Gusev turns out to be a poor man's version of him. Its better than a bunch of Simon's and ZARs of which we have an entire ahl full of. I would dump both to literally give Bellerive or Johnson or Lafferty or Angello or etc a chance.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Because they wouldn’t have saved much with the buyout

They would save basically 3 million for this season. Cap hit would be $270,833.
Then in 2020-21 it'd be $1,270,833 and it would more or less hold that course until 2026-27.

I would do it. Our window is now. 3 mil for this season is hard to pass up. It would allow us to keep Rust and Bjugstad. Also if you factor in the addition by subtraction of him just not being on the ice and freeing up a spot for Riikola...

 

[Honour Over Glory]

They would save basically 3 million for this season. Cap hit would be $270,833.
Then in 2020-21 it'd be $1,270,833 and it would more or less hold that course until 2026-27.

I would do it. Our window is now. 3 mil for this season is hard to pass up. It would allow us to keep Rust and Bjugstad. Also if you factor in the addition by subtraction of him just not being on the ice and freeing up a spot for Riikola...

I hate JJ so much I would be 100% with Man trots or Church wanker as our regulars instead.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

I think Tanev is going to be Sully’s fav player. He’s def playing in the Top 6. I like it, healthy competition between him and Rust.

True. I think his effort and enthusiasm is going to be contagious. We saw a little of that with McCann last season. I think Kahun could be in that group too. No way Rust mails it in when he sees these guys flying around. D men are not going to look forward to playing us.

 

[canadianguy77]

You were exactly right, until you were exactly wrong.

He needs to be better this season or this is probably a lottery team. Not sure what is wrong about that.