Salary Cap: Salary Cap & Roster Building | Still July (Cap Details + Links in First Post)

[pistolpete11]

Absolutely. And after seeing how MAF was treated here as the years went on I expect people to trash Murray if he continues to play like he did this past year. I for one won't put up with people making typical yinzer excuses if he has another season where he's like 35th in the league in save % and below 50% in quality starts, etc. I got on him pretty good, but wasn't a jerk about it because he had injuries and obviously his dad passing didn't help things. He had a lot going on, plus the back to back Cups gives you a certain amount of leeway.

But, with that being said, he needs to rebound. And I have faith he will with a full offseason to rest up and move past his dad's death.

No more excuses, for him or Letang now. If those guys both trend upwards, we'll be right back in the thick of a deep playoff run.

Doesn't seeing how well Fleury played indicate that maybe it's not necessarily on the goalie and maybe the Penguins play a style that doesn't make their goalie look very good?

 

[Corvidae]

Doesn't seeing how well Fleury played indicate that maybe it's not necessarily on the goalie and maybe the Penguins play a style that doesn't make their goalie look very good?

Not yet, the whole Vegas team was playing out of their minds until the finals. We'll see how he does next year before drawing that conclusion.

 

[Pancakes]

Yea the Pens went from Sheary/Kuhn-Cullen-Rust/Fehr on their fourth line to the worst, least used fourth line last year. It’ll go a long way to have 4 lines again.

It depends what the Pens do. If they move Brassard to wing, our lines are probably:

Guentzel-Crosby-Brassard
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Sheahan-Hornqvist
Simon-Cullen-ZAR

or Sully says F U to Kessel and goes something like

Guentzel-Crosby-Brassard
Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist
Rust-Sheahan-Kessel
Simon-Cullen-ZAR


The big problems with moving Brass to wing are finding a line where he fits chemistry-wise and also if we do that there's 100% no room for Sprong unless Hagelin or Rust are moved to the 4th line. The Pens are not - I assume - gonna keep Sprong up to play him on line 4. ZAR on the other hand would be fine there.

 

[Turin]

It depends what the Pens do. If they move Brassard to wing, our lines are probably:

Guentzel-Crosby-Brassard
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Sheahan-Hornqvist
Simon-Cullen-ZAR

or Sully says F U to Kessel and goes something like

Guentzel-Crosby-Brassard
Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist
Rust-Sheahan-Kessel
Simon-Cullen-ZAR


The big problems with moving Brass to wing are finding a line where he fits chemistry-wise and also if we do that there's 100% no room for Sprong unless Hagelin or Rust are moved to the 4th line. The Pens are not - I assume - gonna keep Sprong up to play him on line 4. ZAR on the other hand would be fine there.

There’s no room for Sprong if you’re content on playing two wingers who are definitely worse than him in ZAR and Simon, yea.

 

[chethejet]

Pens may a times play Malkin or Brassard on the wing, but Brassard is just to good a match up as a third line center to not play there. Sprong is a young asset that needs to play and develop for this year. He can make the RW depth and scoring a big advantage going into the playoffs.

 

[Andy99]

There’s no room for Sprong if you’re content on playing two wingers who are definitely worse than him in ZAR and Simon, yea.

Maybe he can improve, but so far from what I’ve seen, Simon=a slower Scott Wilson...

 

[pistolpete11]

It depends what the Pens do. If they move Brassard to wing, our lines are probably:

Guentzel-Crosby-Brassard
Hagelin-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Sheahan-Hornqvist
Simon-Cullen-ZAR

or Sully says F U to Kessel and goes something like

Guentzel-Crosby-Brassard
Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist
Rust-Sheahan-Kessel
Simon-Cullen-ZAR


The big problems with moving Brass to wing are finding a line where he fits chemistry-wise and also if we do that there's 100% no room for Sprong unless Hagelin or Rust are moved to the 4th line. The Pens are not - I assume - gonna keep Sprong up to play him on line 4. ZAR on the other hand would be fine there.

Wouldn't Brassard play LW if they moved him from C? Moving a natural C to the wing where they already have a log jam doesn't make sense. Plus he's a lefty.

 

[Pancakes]

Wouldn't Brassard play LW if they moved him from C? Moving a natural C to the wing where they already have a log jam doesn't make sense. Plus he's a lefty.

Yeah, maybe. I dunno. Swap him and Guentzel perhaps.

 

[Pens x]

Another Pens’ fan that thinks there is this magical switch you can just flip. That type of thinking led to homers saying they are fine with our bottom six, the games don’t matter until the deadline! You do realize that you get as many points for a win in October as April. There’s no reason to dig such a huge hole. Let’s no forget that we didn’t comfotavly secure the #2 seed until a few days left in the season.

 

[Clare2904]

Another Pens’ fan that thinks there is this magical switch you can just flip. That type of thinking led to homers saying they are fine with our bottom six, the games don’t matter until the deadline! You do realize that you get as many points for a win in October as April. There’s no reason to dig such a huge hole. Let’s no forget that we didn’t comfotavly secure the #2 seed until a few days left in the season.

Woah back the f*** up bitch, it was a joke play on his post.

 

[Pens x]

Yea the Pens went from Sheary/Kuhn-Cullen-Rust/Fehr on their fourth line to the worst, least used fourth line last year. It’ll go a long way to have 4 lines again.

But I thought, according to many last year, the fourth line doesn’t matter? Now that we have depth again the fourth line is important?

 

[Pens x]

Woah back the **** up *****, it was a joke play on his post.

Haha sorry, I’m not sure I even meant to quote your post. But I can’t stand that argument...

 

[Clare2904]

Haha sorry, I’m not sure I even meant to quote your post. But I can’t stand that argument...

Switch flipping is bullshit

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

I think they were mentally exhausted, weren't as deep as they needed to be, and getting used to new players and then getting used to their replacements.

Good point. They've played a ton of hockey. People focus on physical exhaustion but mental exhaustion might have been the more serious problem. That effects all areas of your game, from details, to focus, to desperation. There was just too much adversity to overcome last season.

Or, you go at 90% instead of dogging it. Murray is coming off a bad season and has injury concerns. Letang is coming off a ****ing mess and the D in general looks geared towards helping the forwards generate offsense. How about not throwing those things to the wolves? Just spend the season building the right habits that aren’t psychotic shot blocking and taking massive hits to make a play.

Yup. Focus on details and Playing The Right Way™ but dial back the intensity for a while. The increased depth this year should allow them to do that and still win the games.

The same six D-men last year were a mess, and part of that is they counted on guys who shouldn't be regulars or counted on in the first place.
The lack of offensive push and over use of the top two pairs, they simply didn't add any depth whatsoever. If an injury came to light the next man up took their place and actually filled that void. They didn't have any.

Let's put it this way, your depth is Ruh if someone is injured. That's another exit in the playoffs. They basically traded out JJ for Hunwick moving Ruh to #7. That's not depth, not the kind of depth that won them two straight Stanley cups.

Well, the whole team was a mess.

And we kind of did win 2 Cups with that depth.

The first one we had Letang, Maatta, Dumo, Lovejoy and Cole from the initial roster. Daley was knocked out and Schultz was very fragile at that point.

The second one we won with Maatta, Dumo, Schultz, Cole, Daley and Ruh from the initial roster. We didn't add Hainsey or Streit until the deadline.

Now we have Letang, Dumo, Maatta, Schultz, Olek, Johnson, Ruh on the initial roster. We have guys like Elliott, Riikola, and Trotman battling for the 8 spot, plus anyone we add during the season. I'm not going to rehash the players' potential for improvement. I'm not worried in the slightest.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

The first one we had Letang, Maatta, Dumo, Lovejoy and Cole from the initial roster. Daley was knocked out and Schultz was very fragile at that point.

The second one we won with Maatta, Dumo, Schultz, Cole, Daley and Ruh from the initial roster. We didn't add Hainsey or Streit until the deadline.

Now we have Letang, Dumo, Maatta, Schultz, Olek, Johnson, Ruh on the initial roster. We have guys like Elliott, Riikola, and Trotman battling for the 8 spot, plus anyone we add during the season. I'm not going to rehash the players' potential for improvement. I'm not worried in the slightest.

Eh. If we count players it’s somewhat of an interesting topic.

In 2016 they played Letang, Dumoulin, Lovejoy, Schultz, Maatta, Cole and Pouliot. 8 D. Letang got suspended for a game, Maatta got hurt and Daley got hurt.

In 2017 missing Letang, they played Dumoulin, Maatta, Schultz, Cole, Daley, Hainsey, Ruhwedel and Strait. 8 D again on top of missing Letang so arguably down to 9th on the depth chart. Schultz and Daley got hurt.

It’s likely need to add another depth defensemen if someone doesn’t step up. Last year it’s been said jr tried and failed to add a D at the deadline so it’s something to keep an eye on.

 

[DearDiary]

Whats there to debate? Brassard will be playing multiple positions to get his 18 min of icetime in a contract year. 12min 3C and 6min 2LW seems like a good mix to both help the team and keep him happy.

 

[mpp9]

Whats there to debate? Brassard will be playing multiple positions to get his 18 min of icetime in a contract year. 12min 3C and 6min 2LW seems like a good mix to both help the team and keep him happy.

Where has this worked before? Moving a natural center to wing to get more ice time.

I’m not seeing this working unless they just cut back Sid and Geno’s minutes to keep them fresh for the playoffs.

 

[Turin]

Since everybody who needs to be traded is still out there and I’m pretty sure JR has already shopped Brass, I’m not penciling him in just yet.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I don't think there's anything wrong with moving a center to wing, the Flyers moved Giroux to the wing last season and he put up 102 points. Same with Draisaitl and RNH with the Oilers. I think it's pretty fair to say that most centers can play wing well.

 

[The Old Master]

Brassard is just to good a match up as a third line center to not play there.

only if he can play with phil. if he can't, maybe he could ply with geno taking turns playing center / wing.
edit; i'm not sure how geno would feel about that though. he's ok with playing wing with sid, but brass?

 

[Honour Over Glory]

So you're saying I shouldn't have just gone and purchased a Mercedes SLK55 that I fly down to Vancouver to pick up today... Dammit!

Actually my advice is that as long as the bills are getting paid, and you have some money tucked away, you only live once - so you might as well actually go and live the life you have! Buy the fun car, take the expensive vacation(s).

I mean, I can go and buy a luxury car and I won't really feel the restraints from spending that money, but the notion that I just spent money on something that is decreasing in value literally the moment I get in and drive off the lot, irks me. I'd rather spend it on a vintage car and just work on it and maintain it, at least then its an investment that I can get a return on that isn't a kick in the sack.

But then again, it's your money, you do what you want with it, right? Should I have gone full ham on my house? Maybe not, but there are moments I sit and just look around and I get chills like "this is mine, I picked everything and its mine." So I get it.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't think there's anything wrong with moving a center to wing, the Flyers moved Giroux to the wing last season and he put up 102 points. Same with Draisaitl and RNH with the Oilers. I think it's pretty fair to say that most centers can play wing well.

If I’m not mistaken Giroux played wing with Briere when he first broke into the league?

Do you ever sit back and wonder how the hell a team with Briere, Carter, and Richards down the gut with wingers like JVR, Giroux, Hartnell and prime Gagne blew it all up?

They even had pretty crazy depth. And our 08 and 09 squads just blew them up. Guess that was before Giroux and JVR really broke out though.

The Richards and Carter trades just look completely asisine in retrospect. JVR for Schenn, lol. They should’ve just moved one of Richards and Carter.

 

[Empoleon8771]

If I’m not mistaken Giroux played wing with Briere when he first broke into the league?

Do you ever sit back and wonder how the hell a team with Briere, Carter, and Richards down the gut with wingers like JVR, Giroux, Hartnell and prime Gagne blew it all up?

They even had pretty crazy depth. And our 08 and 09 squads just blew them up. Guess that was before Giroux and JVR really broke out though.

The Richards and Carter trades just look completely asisine in retrospect. They should’ve moved Richards and kept Carter.

The Flyers blowing it up in 2011 was honestly one of the most confusing things that I've seen in hockey recently. They made the cup finals in 2010, finished tied for 3rd in the NHL in 2010-2011 and made the 2nd round in the 2011 playoffs. Sure, they got embarrassed by Boston, but 1 bad series shouldn't push you to blow up your team and trade your 24 and 25 year old 1st line centers. It would be like if the Predators would have blown up their roster this offseason, it wouldn't have made sense to me.

That 2011 offseason took the Flyers from an actual cup contender to a laughing stock, one that they still are today. I don't care how many points they got this year, they're not a good team and they got embarrassed in the playoffs by a bad Penguins team. They have been a worse team in every single season since 2010-2011 because of the moves they made that offseason.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Eh. If we count players it’s somewhat of an interesting topic.

In 2016 they played Letang, Dumoulin, Lovejoy, Schultz, Maatta, Cole and Pouliot. 8 D. Letang got suspended for a game, Maatta got hurt and Daley got hurt.

In 2017 missing Letang, they played Dumoulin, Maatta, Schultz, Cole, Daley, Hainsey, Ruhwedel and Strait. 8 D again on top of missing Letang so arguably down to 9th on the depth chart. Schultz and Daley got hurt.

It’s likely need to add another depth defensemen if someone doesn’t step up. Last year it’s been said jr tried and failed to add a D at the deadline so it’s something to keep an eye on.

JR has added at least one defenseman during the season every year he has been here. He isn't going to quit now.

IMO, acting like we're going to be significantly worse on opening night than we were in the Cup years is ridiculous. It reminds me of the 3C handwringing last year.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

JR has added at least one defenseman during the season every year he has been here. He isn't going to quit now.

IMO, acting like we're going to be significantly worse on opening night than we were in the Cup years is ridiculous. It reminds me of the 3C handwringing last year.

Last season he added Oleksiak but traded Cole during the season. Before that he swapped Despres and Lovejoy and Bortuzzo for Cole. It’s not always increasing the total. Last year they probably didn’t have the defensive depth they’ve needed for another run given what they used for the other 2. This year, if he’s unable to add another D again and no one steps up it’s likely a problem. It’s not something to panic about but it’s something to remember.

They’re not significantly worse but could be if things don’t work out well with Sprong, Murray and the path they’ve taken with the D. Mainly, they need to get playing the right way again. If they try to glide through the season and the forwards float defensively I think it becomes a serious problem.