GDT: Salary Cap Thread - Free Agency Frenzy Edition!

[Andy99]

I just don't get why we are spending so much on defense and quite honestly it doesn't look pretty on paper. It's not bad, but it's not 34% of our cap good.

Actually, we’ve never spent 34% in the salary cap era...ever...Cup winning teams at under 30%...

 

[JackFr]

Having four top-four defencemen locked in was an awesome asset that allowed us to use trades and shrewd pickups to pack out the defence.

And now we're gonna have a 5.5 million dollar bottom pairing as well. Whoops.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Who cares how much money you're spending on any part of your team if your team is still good? I never understood those kind of comments, the kind of comments that the Penguins couldn't play Hagelin on the 4th line because of his cap hit or they can't spend a lot of money on their defense. I don't care how much they spend, I care about how good it is if it works with the cap. If you can afford a great 4th line that costs $10 million, you do that. If you can have Olli Maatta on your bottom pair by signing someone like JJ, you do that.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Who cares how much money you're spending on any part of your team if your team is still good? I never understood those kind of comments, the kind of comments that the Penguins couldn't play Hagelin on the 4th line because of his cap hit or they can't spend a lot of money on their defense. I don't care how much they spend, I care about how good it is.

Eh. I tend to agree but I’d be interested to know the splits for cup winning teams over the years.

 

[ColePens]

Who cares how much money you're spending on any part of your team if your team is still good? I never understood those kind of comments, the kind of comments that the Penguins couldn't play Hagelin on the 4th line because of his cap hit or they can't spend a lot of money on their defense. I don't care how much they spend, I care about how good it is.

I DEFINITELY agree, but is our defense really that good? So when you are spending 34% and they are still an issue and underperforming, then we have an issue.

For example - Maatta was bad. Oleksiak was bad in the postseason but i understand he's getting better. Schultz was really bad. Letang was really bad. Dumo was our best dman and it wasn't close.

So with how much is being spent, you cannot have those players playing as poorly as they were.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I DEFINITELY agree, but is our defense really that good? So when you are spending 34% and they are still an issue and underperforming, then we have an issue.

For example - Maatta was bad. Oleksiak was bad in the postseason but i understand he's getting better. Schultz was really bad. Letang was really bad. Dumo was our best dman and it wasn't close.

So with how much is being spent, you cannot have those players playing as poorly as they were.

It's not that good, but I still like the defense if the players are playing to their capabilities. But that's just the problem, the only safe bet for a guy playing to his abilities is Dumoulin. Everyone else is a wildcard. I don't like having that many wildcards on defense, but the only way you can really address that is by blowing up your defense entirely.

 

[Ryder71]

I like the make up of our team, I'm not in love with it but we're definitely legit contenders. On paper anyhow. I just hope we can pick up a good depth LW. Probably with a cap hit under 1.7 mil. If Oleksiak re-signs at 1.5 mil that would leave us with about a mil in cap space.

 

[Tom Hanks]

 

[Speaking Moistly]

I DEFINITELY agree, but is our defense really that good? So when you are spending 34% and they are still an issue and underperforming, then we have an issue.

For example - Maatta was bad. Oleksiak was bad in the postseason but i understand he's getting better. Schultz was really bad. Letang was really bad. Dumo was our best dman and it wasn't close.

So with how much is being spent, you cannot have those players playing as poorly as they were.

Yeah, but you could also say Dumoulin, Schultz and Maatta won back to back cups and deserve a pass.

 

[Sideline]

Actually, we’ve never spent 34% in the salary cap era...ever...Cup winning teams at under 30%...

The allocation actually makes sense for the Penguins. Their 3 best forwards are much cheaper than similar quality players on new vintage contracts. Their starting goalie makes about half as much as most #1 options. The problem is the player quality and mix on defense not the money.

I think everyone here would want to add Karlsson before Tavares. That tells me the Penguins aren't starving the forwards to pay defesemen. They're just paying the wrong defensemen.

 

[Peat]

I just don't get why we are spending so much on defense and quite honestly it doesn't look pretty on paper. It's not bad, but it's not 34% of our cap good.

Because our goaltending and wingers are really cheap so we can afford to, and we have no ELC/bridge contract dmen so we need to.

Whether it's 34% of the cap good or not does seem kinda irrelevant to me. What's relevant is "Can we afford it?" and "Can we make it better without increasing spend?". Maybe "Could we keep it as good but make it cheaper through trade?" too.

To which, imo, the answers are Yes, Ehhh probably not and Ehhh probably not.

edit: I also people way overtalk the extent to which our defensive frailities are down to the defensive personnel and not the league's most aggressive system.

 

[Clare2904]

Not in this particular FA anyway. Prices seem higher than usual.

And it will be higher next year and the year after etc. Cap goes up, people say "oh it is ok to give an extra 500k, the cap will go up to cover it" More mediocre players earning 500k-1m too much. Players get pissed at their escrow, lock out happens, people cry, we start all over again.

 

[ColePens]

Yeah, but you could also say Dumoulin, Schultz and Maatta won back to back cups and deserve a pass.

I've been extremely patient with Maatta as he battled everything under the sun during his development and he's still freaking young. He has been so brutal in the postseason. I'm getting a tad bit impatient. That's for sure. I really want him to step up and be the player we know he can be.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Yeah, but you could also say Dumoulin, Schultz and Maatta won back to back cups and deserve a pass.

2 of our top 4 D have major flaws though (Letang and Maatta). Olli’s skating and he turned into a turnover machine in the playoffs. Obviously Letang has his issues.

It’s starts to become a gamble especially when Schultz is a little bit overpaid too.

We need more stability in the back end. Safer options.

 

[ColePens]

Because our goaltending and wingers are really cheap so we can afford to, and we have no ELC/bridge contract dmen so we need to.

Whether it's 34% of the cap good or not does seem kinda irrelevant to me. What's relevant is "Can we afford it?" and "Can we make it better without increasing spend?". Maybe "Could we keep it as good but make it cheaper through trade?" too.

To which, imo, the answers are Yes, Ehhh probably not and Ehhh probably not.

edit: I also people way overtalk the extent to which our defensive frailities are down to the defensive personnel and not the league's most aggressive system.

Oh you know I definitely agree with that because I said our offensive support in the transition defense was brutal last year. That's why I felt like we hit a wall. So many odd man rushes without backing up forwards.

 

[ColePens]

2 of our top 4 D have major flaws though (Letang and Maatta). Olli’s skating and he turned into a turnover machine in the playoffs. Obviously Letang has his issues.

It’s starts to become a gamble especially when Schultz is a little bit overpaid too.

We need more stability in the back end. Safer options.

Stability/safe is exactly what I think they need (while still meeting our identity) to match up and enable the Letangs/Schultz to do what they do.

 

[JackFr]

I think our team's great. I always said switching out Sheary for a new LW to play with Rust and Brassard was the only move I wanted on forward. I wanted a cheap RD like Pysyk or Petrovic in a trade and then be on our way.

The point is that I don't think Johnson makes us a better team, in the way that Scuderi didn't make us a better team and Reaves didn't make us a better team. The difference is that we're locked in for 5 years.

 

[Andy99]

2 of our top 4 D have major flaws though (Letang and Maatta). Olli’s skating and he turned into a turnover machine in the playoffs. Obviously Letang has his issues.

It’s starts to become a gamble especially when Schultz is a little bit overpaid too.

We need more stability in the back end. Safer options.

Well that’s not JJ...he has just as many brain farts as Letang....and his positioning/stick is worse....

 

[USMC607]

ahh you got the life

Meh, Honestly my wife is a Disney Fanatic. So we are annual passholders, and go.... ALOT.

The parks get old Reaaalllly Fast.

I miss Cedar Point being a coaster man myself. Even Universal if they werent ridiculously expensive for 1 day tickets.

However drinking at Epcot is my favorite thing to do. Just gotta be ready to drop 60-100 bucks.

Since they overprice everything. So I'll probably pregame beforehand.

 

[cheesedanish87]

I hope the Pens sign Josh Jooris, i like him as a call up when you get some forward injuries.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

I've been extremely patient with Maatta as he battled everything under the sun during his development and he's still freaking young. He has been so brutal in the postseason. I'm getting a tad bit impatient. That's for sure. I really want him to step up and be the player we know he can be.

I think saying the entirety of his playoff career is bad is false. Last RS was his best in awhile but it was also the most games he’s played in awhile and there’s an article that mentioned him playing through injuries players don’t usually probably because he wanted 82 games. Dude was burned out by the playoffs and I’m sure it wasn’t unique to him. So, progress but insert rant about playing 82 games here.

I’m a bit more worried about Schultz having to coexist with Letang and perform up to his potential. Idk if it’s possible.

 

[Asuna]

Meh, Honestly my wife is a Disney Fanatic. So we are annual passholders, and go.... ALOT.

The parks get old Reaaalllly Fast.

I miss Cedar Point being a coaster man myself. Even Universal if they werent ridiculously expensive for 1 day tickets.

However drinking at Epcot is my favorite thing to do. Just gotta be ready to drop 60-100 bucks.

Since they overprice everything. So I'll probably pregame beforehand.

i'll be moving there in january, so i'm quite excited to get annual passes, being a disney fanatic myself.

i have a friend down there, he also says drinking at epcot is great. so i'm ready for some around the world drinking!

 

[Turin]

Winnipeg has a Brassard shaped hole again.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Well that’s not JJ...he has just as many brain farts as Letang....and his positioning/stick is worse....

that was true for Daley too, but losing him was still a big loss. Replacing Daley is pretty clearly the intent of bringing in JJ.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Hendricks looks to have a 1 year deal in Minnesota - Friedman