Salary Cap: Salary Cap & Roster Building: SPEED, YOUTH, AND POSITIVITY!

[TimmyD]

Stralman doesn't make much sense for the Penguins because he's only a RD I believe and they're already spending a boatload of money on their RD. If they're trying to clear cap space for a 2nd tier UFA, I think they're going after someone like Johansson and trying to move Rust or Bjugstad.

I would love Johansson but where would he fit?

 

[TimmyD]

Yeah, that should come in under just about... oh wait, missed Tanev, maybe not. Would be close.

And I would honestly prefer Gudbranson to Stralman on his likely contract.

I would think Strallman wouldn’t be super expensive. Getting older and coming off a rough season. I’m thinking they could maybe get him for $3-3.5 million possibly

 

[Empoleon8771]

I would love Johansson but where would he fit?

If you're trading Rust, RW with Crosby.

 

[ownal]

I mean...he was fantastic as the 4C from December on.

no risk in bringing him back at 600k, he was a solid player this past season. Still has it...somehow.



But i dont want him blockng Blueger. Or the other young AHL guys like Di pauli, Johnson or Lafferty/Haggerty.


Time to just move on tbh. But it wouldn't be the worst thing to bring him back.

TB should be the #4 C.

 

[dogthateats]

Lol

 

[Randy Butternubs]

Lol

 

[ownal]

JJ -

Jake Sid Nyquist
Kahun Malkin Galchenyuk
McCann Bjugstad Hornqvist
Simon Blueger Tanev

Dumo Letang
Petterson Schultz
Riikola Strallman

Is there anyway moving Rust, JJ and Gudbranson (not all together in one deal) frees up enough space to afford this roster?

No. We are not getting rid of JJ this season. You are looking at a JJ - Schultz pairing. Petterson - Strallman will eat minutes like nothing.

 

[ColePens]

That defense man. You may be able to start the season with them, but you can't just turn a blind eye. Nobody skates to pressure except Tangers. Give me a break. Guds has his issues, but they are issues i can deal with for a 4-6 dman. But we cannot take JJ's as well. We needed 2 of Maatta/JJ/Guds out. We cannot keep Guds/JJ and JUST get rid of #3.

 

[Trade]

Lol

Doubt anyone would be surprised. I mean, we heard JR say this is the best defensive group he’s had since he was here.

Lets all get ready for the best shutdown third pairing since 2005: JJ-Guds!

Gonna be shutting down our bottom six forward lines all year.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Lol

“I gotta tell you, I’m pretty comfortable”

 

[Peat]

I would think Strallman wouldn’t be super expensive. Getting older and coming off a rough season. I’m thinking they could maybe get him for $3-3.5 million possibly

3 x 3m is as far as I'd go. Tampa fans don't sound high on him right now. Gudbranson might backslide, but his contract is shorter than what I'm expecting for Stralman.

Also, move Gudbranson, and Rutherford is still looking for a facepuncher.

Lol

If that means leaving the blueline alone once he trades Johnson, that's cool. But he's gotta trade Johnson and I still think/hope he's being coy about that.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Am I the only person not worried about the defense right now? The Penguins have the puck movers they need for that defense to be good, it's just a matter of playing them. If they either limit Johnson's minutes or scratch him for Riikola, their defense is fine. They still have a kick-ass top pair and a strong 3rd pair, and I think Schultz has a bounce back year this year. The Penguins don't need to add any defensemen, they just need to not play Johnson.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

My new theory is that the JJ-Schultz pairing is designed to make JS have such a bad year that his next contract is a bargain. Also, good luck getting 8m per backstopping this D, Murr.

 

[TimmyD]

If you're trading Rust, RW with Crosby.

Fair enough

 

[dogthateats]

Am I the only person not worried about the defense right now? The Penguins have the puck movers they need for that defense to be good, it's just a matter of playing them. If they either limit Johnson's minutes or scratch him for Riikola, their defense is fine. They still have a kick-ass top pair and a strong 3rd pair, and I think Schultz has a bounce back year this year. The Penguins don't need to add any defensemen, they just need to not play Johnson.

I don’t think it is too bad. I am actually more concerned with our system. We give up so many off man rushes.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Am I the only person not worried about the defense right now? The Penguins have the puck movers they need for that defense to be good, it's just a matter of playing them. If they either limit Johnson's minutes or scratch him for Riikola, their defense is fine. They still have a kick-ass top pair and a strong 3rd pair, and I think Schultz has a bounce back year this year. The Penguins don't need to add any defensemen, they just need to not play Johnson.

Yes

They have JJ, I don’t think Riikola is that good, how is Schultz’s leg, how many more minutes can Pettersson play while still being good (not real worried about him) and can Gudbranson keep up his form from last season.

More questions than JR should be comfortable with.

 

[Peat]

Am I the only person not worried about the defense right now? The Penguins have the puck movers they need for that defense to be good, it's just a matter of playing them. If they either limit Johnson's minutes or scratch him for Riikola, their defense is fine. They still have a kick-ass top pair and a strong 3rd pair, and I think Schultz has a bounce back year this year. The Penguins don't need to add any defensemen, they just need to not play Johnson.

I would cautiously go along with that but the easiest way to not play Johnson is to get him off the books.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Am I the only person not worried about the defense right now? The Penguins have the puck movers they need for that defense to be good, it's just a matter of playing them. If they either limit Johnson's minutes or scratch him for Riikola, their defense is fine. They still have a kick-ass top pair and a strong 3rd pair, and I think Schultz has a bounce back year this year. The Penguins don't need to add any defensemen, they just need to not play Johnson.

I'm honestly not that worried about it. I think it's one player off but a deal could pop up at any time this year that fixes that. I agree on Schultz, I think he's being undersold a bit lately.

I like having some fun with it though.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I would cautiously go along with that but the easiest way to not play Johnson is to get him off the books.

But you're not getting Johnson off the books. It's kinda just pissing in the wind at this point with the defense, you're not getting rid of him.

 

[dogthateats]

 

[Peat]

But you're not getting Johnson off the books. It's kinda just pissing in the wind at this point with the defense, you're not getting rid of him.

*shrugs* Then we got a problem with the defence.

 

[ColePens]

People are not understanding "puck mover" and a guy who can move the play by skating to pressure or even skating up with the puck/joining the rush.

Schultz is not good at skating with the puck. He's a great passer and he's a great shooter. He's very bad at skating with the puck and defaults to passing d-to-d a lot. That doesn't help when his partner is ONLY looking for d to d or throwing bombs. That sets the offense up for massive failure.

I can't stress it enough. We are lacking dmen who can move the play by skating.

 

[Empoleon8771]

People are not understanding "puck mover" and a guy who can move the play by skating to pressure or even skating up with the puck/joining the rush.

Schultz is not good at skating with the puck. He's a great passer and he's a great shooter. He's very bad at skating with the puck and defaults to passing d-to-d a lot. That doesn't help when his partner is ONLY looking for d to d or throwing bombs. That sets the offense up for massive failure.

I can't stress it enough. We are lacking dmen who can move the play by skating.

Then get rid of Schultz and bring in a guy who can actually do that, that's how you address that area of need on the roster. I'm all for that because I'm not really sold on Schultz being a long term solution here.

 

[Peat]

People are not understanding "puck mover" and a guy who can move the play by skating to pressure or even skating up with the puck/joining the rush.

Schultz is not good at skating with the puck. He's a great passer and he's a great shooter. He's very bad at skating with the puck and defaults to passing d-to-d a lot. That doesn't help when his partner is ONLY looking for d to d or throwing bombs. That sets the offense up for massive failure.

I can't stress it enough. We are lacking dmen who can move the play by skating.

This is why I'm happy to take an opening day gamble on Riikola. He shows hints of it, I want to see if we can develop him into what we need.

 

[OnMyOwn]

Like Cole said, I’m not worried about the defense starting the season. The team as a whole is pretty good as is. I’d like to see someone like tanev added. More speed and youth please.