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

[Darren McCord]

*AHL.

Now...tell me about the NHL. Then tell me about his NHL stats with the Blues the following year.

...was he all that perfect? I mean, really? Was he? We can't look at previous season (two years later) as a basis to judge whether or not we should have traded him.

My bad I meant AHL.

Who’s judging on those years. Judging on his development and ahl stats he shouldn’t have been traded with a first for reeves and a 2nd

 

[Turin]

I’d love to sign Williams if Gardiner is a pipe dream. I think I get the idea that moving Phil is probably a pretty unpopular move to the players, so you want to bring in some personalities/leadership types instead of leaving a void in his absence.

Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist
Galchenyuk-Malkin-Williams
Kahun-McCann-Rust
Tanev-Bleuger-Simon

All those guys can move up and down the lineup basically. You also gave every bottom six forward capable of scoring at least 30 points.

 

[JackFr]

If we could somehow swing a Matt Cullen type deal for Williams I'd be interested. My pipe dream is still somehow getting Gardiner though.

 

[Turin]

Actually.. Sundqvist sucked last year and this year was basically identical to Sheahan last year. So.. yea.

 

[Peat]

I still don't get why people think that Sundqvist was ready when he wasn't really ready for St Louis the very next season. It'd be one thing if he'd exploded out of the gate for his new org but he didn't. Sucks that his development arc was a little slow at the wrong time but there we go.

 

[Tom Hanks]

If we could somehow swing a Matt Cullen type deal for Williams I'd be interested. My pipe dream is still somehow getting Gardiner though.

A guy who’s averaging 21 goals and 51 points over the last 4 seasons isnt signing a Matt Cullen type deal. Think closer to a 5 mil AAV for a year or two.

 

[JackFr]

The main problem with trading Sundqvist wasn't trading Sundqvist, it was the philosophical shift that trading real assets for Ryan Reaves represented.

 

[JackFr]

A guy who’s averaging 21 goals and 51 points over the last 4 seasons isnt signing a Matt Cullen type deal. Think closer to a 5 mil AAV for a year or two.

I know, I know. I meant in a strictly hypothetical sense where Cullen tells him how amazing Pittsburgh was and you just have to come win a Cup here.

 

[Kristopher Letang]

Damn are we really living in a world where Gardiner is a pipe dream? We’re f***ed homies.

 

[JackFr]

Damn are we really living in a world where Gardiner is a pipe dream? We’re ****ed homies.

From a cap perspective it is, unless you think Gardiner is going to sign a league minimum contract.

At this point the idea of acquiring any defenceman who can make a breakout pass is a pipe dream to be honest.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

The main problem with trading Sundqvist wasn't trading Sundqvist, it was the philosophical shift that trading real assets for Ryan Reaves represented.

Also traded our most NHL-ready center prospect knowing we were losing Bonino. Even if we didn't think much of Sundqvist, it was such an abysmal trade.

 

[Giskard]

Damn are we really living in a world where Gardiner is a pipe dream? We’re ****ed homies.

I have no idea why somebody would want Gardiner ... haven't we suffered enough with UFA defenseman (Scuderi, Ehrhoff, Hunwick, JJ) ?

 

[smetana]

Damn are we really living in a world where Gardiner is a pipe dream? We’re ****ed homies.

Exactly. People wanting a Gardiner-Schultz pairing. The two are actually quite similar players. Gardiner's a better passer, Schultz a better shooter. Neither are any better than average at defending and would be a potential nightmare 2nd pairing.

 

[JackFr]

I have no idea why somebody would want Gardiner ... haven't we suffered enough with UFA defenseman (Scuderi, Ehrhoff, Hunwick, JJ) ?

Except unlike those guys Gardiner is actually good and addresses our main defensive need which is guys who can break out the puck well.

Like if we're still yearning for 2017 Trevor Daley, Gardiner brings everything he does and is a lot less poor defensively. Somehow we survived with Schultz and Daley on the same blueline.

 

[JackFr]

Exactly. People wanting a Gardiner-Schultz pairing. The two are actually quite similar players. Gardiner's a better passer, Schultz a better shooter. Neither are any better than average at defending and would be a potential nightmare 2nd pairing.

Well firstly I'd say that Gardiner-Schultz literally could not be worse than JJ-Schultz, but also I think the idea would be using Pettersson with Schultz and Gardiner with Gudbranson or Ruhwedel - letting those basically be our 2A and 2B pairs getting equal ice time.

 

[MeinerEiner]

I don´t get it why people want Gardiner on this team. Get rid of JJ and let the other boys develope.

Dumo - Letang
Petterson - Schulz
Riikola - Guds

That defense seems fine to me if the forwards decide to buy in for a team defense system.

 

[smetana]

Well firstly I'd say that Gardiner-Schultz literally could not be worse than JJ-Schultz, but also I think the idea would be using Pettersson with Schultz and Gardiner with Gudbranson or Ruhwedel - letting those basically be our 2A and 2B pairs getting equal ice time.

No doubt about that, haha.

I'm just really not a fan of Gardiner. Or any other defenseman currently available in FA.

As far as our D goes, losing JJ is the important thing. Replacing him might be better put off till later, unless you can get someone useful via trade. Riikola in the top-six isn't ideal, but compared to Johnson....

 

[Giskard]

I don´t get it why people want Gardiner on this team. Get rid of JJ and let the other boys develope.

Dumo - Letang
Petterson - Schulz
Riikola - Guds

That defense seems fine to me if the forwards decide to buy in for a team defense system.

Agree. No reason to get out of JJ contract and then jump in bed with another ugly contract. Let see how that D works, then address it as the season goes.

 

[TimmyD]

It's the laziest narrative. They've both won Conn Smythes. Geno played maybe his finest game of his career in game 7 against the Red Wings in 09. I know he didn't score, but go back and watch tape of that game. Geno's defensive brilliance was crazy that game. He was a beast. And then Sid when the series was 2-2 vs Nashville went and had the best game of his career and got the momentum going for the Pens so that they could win that third Cup. And I don't think I need to bother posting their long and established point production in the playoffs.

And then look at how Geno plays when Sid gets hurt. He puts the friggin team on his back and carries them.

It's funny how leadership only becomes a question when the Pens lose. How about find another reason for why we lose when we do because it's obvious that Sid and Geno can and have lead this team to an absurd amount of success.

And oh if you want some more examples of actual locker room leadership, how about this:

- The numerous examples that I've read in the past of Sid reaching out and welcoming new teammates and making them comfortable

- Geno telling Orpik et al to **** off when they dared try to take Sid's C from him while he was hurt

- Geno telling teammates that their play was unacceptable when Therrien was about to get fired. Then Geno went out and played like a beast. Therrien still got fired, but it wasn't because Geno didn't care.


etc etc etc.

To the bolded statement, I remember watching the first shift in game 5 and watching Sid just blow through the entire Nashville team and the only thought that crossed my mind was “Sid will not let this team lose another game in this series.” You could just flat out see how much he wanted it and how he wanted to make sure everyone else in the lineup understood just how much winning another cup meant to him

 

[pistolpete11]

Re: Reaves....I still think JR expected Cullen back. A Kuhn-Cullen-Reaves line could have been solid. Kuhn-Rowney-Reaves was....not. I think Sully reigned Reaves in too much, too. Him mouthing off, dropping the gloves, getting revenge was the whole reason for getting him and if the rumors are true what the stars wanted from him. At the same time, Sully's whole philosophy was shut up and play and it just won them 2 Cups. So GM and coach were not on the same page and the GM took an unnecessary risk especially before he had the rest of the roster filled out.

Exactly. People wanting a Gardiner-Schultz pairing. The two are actually quite similar players. Gardiner's a better passer, Schultz a better shooter. Neither are any better than average at defending and would be a potential nightmare 2nd pairing.

He doesn't have to play with Schultz, though. You could go with Petts-Schultz and Gardiner-Gud. That gives you a good offensive defenseman and a more defensive-minded defenseman on each pair. And the offensive guys aren't terrible defensively and the defensive guys aren't terrible offensively. (Edit: Assuming Gud is the Gud we saw in Pittsburgh). It's an expensive defense once again, but if you could afford it, why not? Just don't give him a NTC and you have options for next year.

I don´t get it why people want Gardiner on this team. Get rid of JJ and let the other boys develope.

Dumo - Letang
Petterson - Schulz
Riikola - Guds

That defense seems fine to me if the forwards decide to buy in for a team defense system.

I don't hate this either, but you're probably looking for a D at the deadline. The odds that Petts is top 4 ready and Riikola is capable of #6 on a contending team and Gud is the Gud we saw last year aren't great IMO. If this did work out, though, that would be awesome because you could keep that insanely deep forward group.

 

[MeinerEiner]

I don't hate this either, but you're probably looking for a D at the deadline. The odds that Petts is top 4 ready and Riikola is capable of #6 on a contending team and Gud is the Gud we saw last year aren't great IMO. If this did work out, though, that would be awesome because you could keep that insanely deep forward group.

The odds aren´t great but guys like Gud could pick up some value with a decent season and then you can flip him with a little + in like December for a better player who could become the replacement for Schultz.

 

[Peat]

If we go into next season with Riikola as 6D, I'd hugely prefer having him with Schultz than with Gudbranson - softer start for Riikola, keeps the good pairing of Pettersson-Gudbranson together.

 

[pistolpete11]

The odds aren´t great but guys like Gud could pick up some value with a decent season and then you can flip him with a little + in like December for a better player who could become the replacement for Schultz.

I don't see that happening. By all accounts, JR has liked Gud for a while. So if he's playing well, he's probably not going anywhere.

 

[Tom Hanks]

From a cap perspective it is, unless you think Gardiner is going to sign a league minimum contract.

At this point the idea of acquiring any defenceman who can make a breakout pass is a pipe dream to be honest.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Lol, Kingerski has Eklund-esque success at predicting anything.