Salary Cap: Salary Cap Summer | The Hunt for 3C | Updated cap info in Post #1

[Penske]

JR's not going to spend any money on a 4C yet until he hears from Cullen. The 4C will be the last thing to happen (unless Cullen agrees early). Need to sort out our RFA's and 3C position first

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't see why anybody wouldn't want JJs versatility. Better than our bottom 6 Forwards atm. Except for Rust, Maybe Hags.

He's also 34.

 

[PensandCaps]

He's also 34.

So? He's still a good top 9er. Capable of playing in the the top 6 if needed.

 

[tom_servo]

Old also means cheap. Having Jokinen as an Eric Fehr-like extra while possibly coming much cheaper wouldn't be the worst thing.

Also, 34 means 7 years younger than Cullen. Not a death sentence.

 

[PensPlz]

Jokinen is a good pick up. He can play center or LW, the two areas we are super light on at the moment.

If the Oilers sign him for less than 1.5, I think it's a huge opportunity missed to gain some depth for the season.

 

[Penske]

Jokinen is a good pick up. He can play center or LW, the two areas we are super light on at the moment.

If the Oilers sign him for less than 1.5, I think it's a huge opportunity missed to gain some depth for the season.

I wouldn't say we are super light on LW. Guentzel, Sheary, Hagelin, Wilson, Rust, Archibald, Kuhnhackl.

If we sign Jokinen and Cullen wants to return then we've spent money on a winger we don't need and we might be tight to the cap after Dumo, Sheary and a 3C are acquired.

 

[PensPlz]

Rust is better on the right side, and Archibald and Kuhnhackl are also natural RWs.

I was saying Jokinen for 4th center. Much better option than Rowney. Rowney is essentially a faster, feistier Adams, but he's still not going to lead a scoring line.

And Cullen at 3C would be a mistake, unless it's a temporary thing until we acquire another center and he doesn't play a full season. Not even a half season.

Because whoever we get for 3C needs to be able to play 20 or so games at 2C. It's just reality of this team. That's a huge work load for someone that's 41 and played a **** ton of hockey already in the last 2 years.

 

[ColePens]

Yes he has and is very aware of it. He was right to let the UFA's go. It will be hard to bring g Horny back. If someone offers him a Bonino contract, I don't think we can afford him. But I would try and keep a spot for him like we are with Cullen, but Horny will probably be expensive.

Some of JR's best work is going to be the signings he didn't make. Shero got in trouble with needing to keep it all together. Can't do that in the salary cap era. We have a great core and a bunch of interchangeable parts.

I have no problem losing any of those guys if there was a decent deal there. Letting them walk is nonsensical.

I'm torn on this. For 5-7 years, I say we run with it. Unfortunately guys will walk. We can't make every savy investment. We have to use up every drop and then start over. It's the best way. If that means running Sheary til he gets paid big bucks, so be it. If that means running #72 until you can't re-sign him, so be it. I'm not hell bent on making sure we get value at this point.

And before you counter, I think you are 100% right when it came to Orpik and those guys. But our current situation, 3 Cups, I say we run with it. When we are bare with prospects and Sid/G are retiring, let's start over in a 3-5 year rebuild. I'm not interested in being like Philly where we make the playoffs and lose because we lack depth.

 

[Riptide]

I wonder if this has any effect on Sheary's potential deal in the sense that it's guaranteed Sheary doesn't get less than $2.25 million.

Hoffman got 1x2m, and scored more, but had less points in a full season (79 games). I don't really think there was much of a chance he'd get less than 2.5m. Hyman also got 4 years of term there. For someone who'll (probably) never score more than 15g/35pts, a 9m contract is pretty good. Even if he can improve a lot on that, he still has that to fall back on down the line.

 

[Penske]

Rust is better on the right side, and Archibald and Kuhnhackl are also natural RWs.

I was saying Jokinen for 4th center. Much better option than Rowney. Rowney is essentially a faster, feistier Adams, but he's still not going to lead a scoring line.

And Cullen at 3C would be a mistake, unless it's a temporary thing until we acquire another center and he doesn't play a full season. Not even a half season.

Because whoever we get for 3C needs to be able to play 20 or so games at 2C. It's just reality of this team. That's a huge work load for someone that's 41 and played a **** ton of hockey already in the last 2 years.

I wasn't suggesting Cullen as the 3C. I meant say we sign Jussi for the 4C spot then Cullen decides to return (he'd be the 4C) then we don't really need Jussi and have shelled out money that we need for Sheary, Dumoulin and a 3C.

It might not work exactly like that but JR will be cautious spending any money outside of Sheary, Dumo, 3C and Cullen (if he wants one more year) until these contracts are sorted.

 

[Riptide]

Even if he could change positions easily he doesn't have enough skill for the 4C we'd want.

Archibald may turn into an ok bottom 6 scorer but will need someone to be able to make the plays. We could turn it into a great checking line but having some offensive threat on the 4th line has worked well for us.

huh? There's definitely some room to jump on JJ... but I don't think a "lack of skill" is one of the things to do it over.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Jussi has plenty of skill for a 4C. Someone like that is exactly what we need in that spot to preserve any chance of the 4th line not just turning into every other team's stupid 4th line that doesn't contribute anything to the winning of hockey games.

 

[Saints11]

I'd rather the Pens bring back Orpik than Jokinen. He recently has been relegated to the wing because his skills at center have diminished. In the past two seasons, much of the Pens success has been a direct result of an infusion of youthful forwards who have been able to compliment our skillful and grittier players. The emergence of young skill; i.e..Sheary and Guentzal and young grit; Rust, Wilson, Kuhnhackl, Archibald; have been what this team needed. The Pens have been able to develop and obtain young forwards and now have a pipeline of forwards pushing to take the next step: this season it could be Sprong and ZAR, next Bluegar and Johnson, etc. They do not need a diminishing Jokinen taking ice time away from emerging potential.

 

[Penske]

huh? There's definitely some room to jump on JJ... but I don't think a "lack of skill" is one of the things to do it over.

Wrong guy. I was responding to someone saying to try Wilson as the 4C.

Jussi definitely is a skilful player. If Cullen moves on he's the kind of guy we'd want as a 4C (if JR still wants L4 to have some offense ability).

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

3M for 3 years is my want for Sheary. Nothing more, nothing less for cap hit and years.

That looks about right. If Sheary regresses to be a 35-40 point guy, $3 million isn't terrible for that kind of production. And if he repeats his regular season performance from this year, it'll be a steal.

I just hope he doesn't get paid like you'd expect a 50-60 point guy to get paid, since he's only done that one time and there's no guarantee he'll do it again.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

That looks about right. If Sheary regresses to be a 35-40 point guy, $3 million isn't terrible for that kind of production. And if he repeats his regular season performance from this year, it'll be a steal.

I just hope he doesn't get paid like you'd expect a 50-60 point guy to get paid, since he's only done that one time and there's no guarantee he'll do it again.

Yeah the tricky part is he did it at a 71 pt pace with little PP production which is a huge number for him to point at in arbitration, even if just for a year.

 

[WayneSid9987]

I'd rather the Pens bring back Orpik than Jokinen. He recently has been relegated to the wing because his skills at center have diminished. In the past two seasons, much of the Pens success has been a direct result of an infusion of youthful forwards who have been able to compliment our skillful and grittier players. The emergence of young skill; i.e..Sheary and Guentzal and young grit; Rust, Wilson, Kuhnhackl, Archibald; have been what this team needed. The Pens have been able to develop and obtain young forwards and now have a pipeline of forwards pushing to take the next step: this season it could be Sprong and ZAR, next Bluegar and Johnson, etc. They do not need a diminishing Jokinen taking ice time away from emerging potential.

I'd even go deeper than that: Simon, Tiffels, DiPauli and Josephs.

I also highly doubt JR looks at a player like Jussi right now and believes he'd be a great stop gap @ C. Fact is, he's a winger who takes some draws at this point in his career and he's old/slow.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Yeah the tricky part is he did it at a 71 pt pace with little PP production which is a huge number for him to point at in arbitration, even if just for a year.

Hopefully the Pens point out that he was dreadful for much of the playoffs, and that his numbers were a product of playing with Sidney Crosby.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

Hopefully the Pens point out that he was dreadful for much of the playoffs, and that his numbers were a product of playing with Sidney Crosby.

Yeah the playoffs #s not matching the regular season both years def helps to question the sustainability of those numbers, which is already there to a degree since its only 1 year.

 

[Riptide]

I'd rather the Pens bring back Orpik than Jokinen. He recently has been relegated to the wing because his skills at center have diminished. In the past two seasons, much of the Pens success has been a direct result of an infusion of youthful forwards who have been able to compliment our skillful and grittier players. The emergence of young skill; i.e..Sheary and Guentzal and young grit; Rust, Wilson, Kuhnhackl, Archibald; have been what this team needed. The Pens have been able to develop and obtain young forwards and now have a pipeline of forwards pushing to take the next step: this season it could be Sprong and ZAR, next Bluegar and Johnson, etc. They do not need a diminishing Jokinen taking ice time away from emerging potential.

That's great and all... except that not a single one of those guys you've named has shown that they're able to play as a center in the NHL - most of those guys are not even centers in WBS. So while it's great to name guys like Sprong and ZAR and whomever... they're irrelevant to this discussion, as none will be our #4C - regardless of whether we bring someone in or not.

 

[DesertedPenguin]

Yohe said on Madden's show toiday that Rutherford told him Carter Rowney or Matt Cullen will be the 4th line center. That's it.

So we can stop with the Jokinen talk.

 

[Peat]

Didn't he also say he was looking at adding centre depth though beyond the expected 3C trade?

 

[SCPens]

Please stop with the Jokinen talk. His legs are done, if Jimmy's plugging in anybody else's scraps they're going to be able to skate. Which Jussi can no longer do.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Rowney will be the 4th line C when the season starts (if no Cullen) and if that's not working out a trade will be made during the season.

 

[Captain Hook]

Definitely hoping Cullen comes back as the #4 center if it's down to him and Rowney. Although I suppose Rowney could still get a little better in year two as an NHL'er. He's still a very old, low ceiling prospect though.