Confirmed with Link: TRADE: Penguins acquire LW Andreas Martinsen, 7th Round Pick from Ducks for Erik Gudbranson

[JimmyTwoTimes]

This There's a reason that everytime I make this point, I word is as "I'll be really impressed/alarmed if Rutherford finds cap room for UFA signings next year" because I really don't want to make the assumption that he won't. Not any more. I think we all assumed he wouldn't be signing any 3.5m free agents last summer on account of there being no cap space but that didn't stop Rutherford because that man is like some beast out of legend. We may never see a GM so gunhappy - for better or for worse - ever again.

And when you consider it, now that we know Rutherford could create that space in a pain free manner, the Tanev signing is currently for better as long as he gives enough good years to justify his contract.

Also Rutherford is totally going to try and fill this cap space before next summer. Don't expect it to be with pending free agents either.

Maybe it will be. But also depends on who we are talking about gettting in return. Im guessing hed rather have the cap space but if we do trade Bjugs and others, adding more room..as well as deciding to move Schultz(talking over 15mil in space now) ...thats a situaton we are never in and likely wont be again for this window. Have to take advantage.

Whatever route gets us the better returns. Could be 1 elite winger(UFA Mike Hoffman) and a dman to replace Schultz. Or 2 very good forwards(more along lines of a Zucker) and that dman. Which would you rather do? If we could stack all 3 lines like we did in 2016...would be tough to pass up. Just talking about for this year. And having the space in offseason. Then again, wouldnt be so bad not having all that cap room...since the FAs would expect it to go to them anyway.

 

[lawrence]

Canuck fan here.

Penguins trading him for nothing in return will also be a win for Pittsburgh.

in regards to fans thinking where is the protection gonna be from...

we had that same mind set, who the heck is going to prevent Boeser, Pettersson, Hughes from getting on Ice threats, rib jabs, face punches, from other enforcers or bullies. Whois going to protect our kids?

he was that bad that we were better off with the team with (toughness by committee) then to have gudbranson not he ice. We will look to solve that situation later, the choice to trade him for Pearson was too good. Once he was traded, no one brought up whois going to protect our kids because he never did that. He was good at protecting himself, and nothing else. He is the same guy that said, (everyone should show some toughness)

JR said it's cap related, I call his b.s and him recognizing that every time Gudbranson is on the ice, it's actually hurting the team, and I am so happy you guys got rid of him. the Penguins are once again contenders.

 

[Rakell67]

The answer to the question is apparently Sid, Geno, or Letang. Those are the 3 toughest guys on the team, and it's obvious that Mike Sullivan wants those guys handling the rough stuff.

By the way, as a follow up to my post about reading books, quotes, etc from actual players on the subject, here's one from the article:

“It’s good to have guys like that,” forward Jared McCann said. “I played with a guy named Michael Haley. He was kind of like that for us in Florida. It’s got a place in the game still. We’re going to be missing him for sure.”

Obviously McCann is an idiot that doesn't know what he's talking about, and since he shares a different opinion than Mahatma Sullivan, I fully expect McCann to be scratched for a few games

Or demoted to 4th line.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Canuck fan here.

Penguins trading him for nothing in return will also be a win for Pittsburgh.

in regards to fans thinking where is the protection gonna be from...

we had that same mind set, who the heck is going to prevent Boeser, Pettersson, Hughes from getting on Ice threats, rib jabs, face punches, from other enforcers or bullies. Whois going to protect our kids?

he was that bad that we were better off with the team with (toughness by committee) then to have gudbranson not he ice. We will look to solve that situation later, the choice to trade him for Pearson was too good. Once he was traded, no one brought up whois going to protect our kids because he never did that. He was good at protecting himself, and nothing else. He is the same guy that said, (everyone should show some toughness)

JR said it's cap related, I call his b.s and him recognizing that every time Gudbranson is on the ice, it's actually hurting the team, and I am so happy you guys got rid of him. the Penguins are once again contenders.

Its cap related. Also because of having JJ as well and Guds being the easier to move. Cant have both of them out there.

But that cap space will allow us to make some moves this season(it took care of bringing back the IR players) leaving us with Bjusgtad(4.1mil) and Schultz(5.5mil) as the top trade pieces to improve this team

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Canuck fan here.

Penguins trading him for nothing in return will also be a win for Pittsburgh.

in regards to fans thinking where is the protection gonna be from...

we had that same mind set, who the heck is going to prevent Boeser, Pettersson, Hughes from getting on Ice threats, rib jabs, face punches, from other enforcers or bullies. Whois going to protect our kids?

he was that bad that we were better off with the team with (toughness by committee) then to have gudbranson not he ice. We will look to solve that situation later, the choice to trade him for Pearson was too good. Once he was traded, no one brought up whois going to protect our kids because he never did that. He was good at protecting himself, and nothing else. He is the same guy that said, (everyone should show some toughness)

JR said it's cap related, I call his b.s and him recognizing that every time Gudbranson is on the ice, it's actually hurting the team, and I am so happy you guys got rid of him. the Penguins are once again contenders.

I suspect JR is being honest, because he’s obsessed with having a face puncher... he basically self-sabotaged this team trying to make them bigger and tougher since 2017.

The issue is he likely couldn’t move JJ without paying a sweetener, and he couldn’t have JJ and Gubs on the same blueline anymore, so he moved the more movable guy... but it wasn’t the guy he preferred moving... if that makes sense to you...

 

[HandshakeLine]

I suspect JR is being honest, because he’s obsessed with having a face puncher... he basically self-sabotaged this team trying to make them bigger and tougher since 2017.

The issue is he likely couldn’t move JJ without paying a sweetener, and he couldn’t have JJ and Gubs on the same blueline anymore, so he moved the more movable guy... but it wasn’t the guy he preferred moving... if that makes sense to you...

Solution? Make JJ take boxing lessons for the next two months, and then maybe he'll get his bell rung and will have to go on LTIR.

 

[Extra Texture]

Somehow he led the Ducks in ice time last night. A team with Lindholm and Cam Fowler somehow leaned on handsome Erik the most. Will wonders ever cease?

 

[CrosbyMalkin]

I suspect JR is being honest, because he’s obsessed with having a face puncher... he basically self-sabotaged this team trying to make them bigger and tougher since 2017.

The issue is he likely couldn’t move JJ without paying a sweetener, and he couldn’t have JJ and Gubs on the same blueline anymore, so he moved the more movable guy... but it wasn’t the guy he preferred moving... if that makes sense to you...

I agree to a point about Rutherford losing his way after the second Cup. I don't think the team was self sabotaged by getting Reaves who went on to make the Cup Finals that same year. Pens lost a close battle to the eventual Cup Champs and Murray was outplayed which is as simple as that. Can't win them all.

Gudbranson was great for us last season and was not the reason we lost in 4 games to the Islanders. When your top 100 point player gets 1 point in the playoffs you are not going to win many playoff series. So having one enforcer that can still play wasn't the reason we didn't win the Cup. Actually 30 other teams are trying to win also and it's not easy to do it. Who would of thought "Big Game Brass" was out of big games? The thing the Pens went away from was our team speed adding players like Brassard, Sheahan, and others losing our team identity and what is needed for Sullivan's fast forecheck system to work. The good news is that Rutherford has shifted back to the youth and speed emphasis and it is working. For this team to be above water with 4 of the top 9 forwards out of the lineup including arguably 3 of it's top 6 is pretty amazing depth. I think this team has the speed to do Sullivan's system and I think they are going to be very hard to beat come playoff time.

Bottom line is Gudbranson was good for the Pens in his time with us but Rutherford pulled off a steal of a deal and traded for an upgrade at RD for only a 6th round pick. When you have Letang and Schultz as your high priced top 2 RD's, and a young cheap productive RD in Marino it was a cap thing that Gudbranson had to go. He was needed last season with the injury to Schultz and gave the team it's best chance to compete with him in the lineup but he had to go wants Marino proved ready to play. Gudbranson was fine for the Pens and only had a few bad games this season but was understandable with all the movement that was being done with pairings. Gudbranson did fine when playing on a nightly basis with a consistent partner like Pettersson. I wish him the best.

 

[EightyOne]

I hope Guds does well. That means JR won't be blocked on ANA caller ID in future.

 

[MayorofWBS]

Wish Billy Guerin would gift us Jordan Greenway. Not an enforcer but a big guy who can skate (not elite but fine for the game now), take a regular shift and chuck'em if needed.

 

[vikingGoalie]

thing is we won in 2016 without an enforcer. we won because we abandoned that entire mindset. The book on the penguins in the playoffs was to bump, chip, chirp and play a little dirty and then the pens would try to devolve to that level and we would lose because our team is not built that way. 2016 we won because we embraced our identity as a fast forechecking team that will come at you in waves. We have gotten younger and faster in the last year. The only face puncher that I wish we really had was Evander Kane, he's too expensive now but he would be really good here he can skate, score and is a pretty tough hombre. Anyrate if we can't find a E. Kane sorta player we should just do as others have said, have a cage monkey that plays in the A and we can bring up to be let loose on Tom Wilson and crew a few times a year. But we win when we don't get involved in that stuff and stick to our game...
just my two cents.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Canuck fan here.

Penguins trading him for nothing in return will also be a win for Pittsburgh.

in regards to fans thinking where is the protection gonna be from...

we had that same mind set, who the heck is going to prevent Boeser, Pettersson, Hughes from getting on Ice threats, rib jabs, face punches, from other enforcers or bullies. Whois going to protect our kids?

he was that bad that we were better off with the team with (toughness by committee) then to have gudbranson not he ice. We will look to solve that situation later, the choice to trade him for Pearson was too good. Once he was traded, no one brought up whois going to protect our kids because he never did that. He was good at protecting himself, and nothing else. He is the same guy that said, (everyone should show some toughness)

JR said it's cap related, I call his b.s and him recognizing that every time Gudbranson is on the ice, it's actually hurting the team, and I am so happy you guys got rid of him. the Penguins are once again contenders.

You didn't watch him play for the Penguins, so don't try and tell us what we should think of how Gudbranson played here. Congrats, he sucked for you guys. We don't need to be told that he sucked for the Penguins, when he played pretty well overall for the Penguins. It is completely cap related, Gudbranson got moved because Marino made him expendable and the Penguins needed to move a defenseman.

 

[66-30-33]

Apparently he was Gud for Ducks last night. Change of scenery has worked out for him again so far.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Apparently he was Gud for Ducks last night. Change of scenery has worked out for him again so far.

All he has to do is switch teams about every 30 games or so and he'll be golden!

 

[66-30-33]

All he has to do is switch teams about every 30 games or so and he'll be golden!

Sounds like he has the Hagelin curse and only good for a short amount of time (though he's still good defensivly).

 

[Gurglesons]

All he has to do is switch teams about every 30 games or so and he'll be golden!

He was great for us with a solid skater with him. The issue is we then played him off his natural side or strapped him to JJ.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

He was great for us with a solid skater with him. The issue is we then played him off his natural side or strapped him to JJ.

I don't doubt those as contributing factors. But I just don't think he's a very good defenseman.

 

[Andy99]

Apparently he was Gud for Ducks last night. Change of scenery has worked out for him again so far.

they played him on their top pair with Lindholm....that’s why he got so many minutes

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

thing is we won in 2016 without an enforcer. we won because we abandoned that entire mindset. The book on the penguins in the playoffs was to bump, chip, chirp and play a little dirty and then the pens would try to devolve to that level and we would lose because our team is not built that way. 2016 we won because we embraced our identity as a fast forechecking team that will come at you in waves. We have gotten younger and faster in the last year. The only face puncher that I wish we really had was Evander Kane, he's too expensive now but he would be really good here he can skate, score and is a pretty tough hombre. Anyrate if we can't find a E. Kane sorta player we should just do as others have said, have a cage monkey that plays in the A and we can bring up to be let loose on Tom Wilson and crew a few times a year. But we win when we don't get involved in that stuff and stick to our game...
just my two cents.

Yup, turning the other cheek worked out too well with back to back cups we decided we didn’t like what was working

The Reaves trade was moronic...there’s no other way to put it

 

[lastcupever75]

. The 15-16 and 16-17 Pens were incredibly physical teams.

what??

who were these physical players?

 

[Gurglesons]

what??

who were these physical players?

Kunitz and Hornqvist if you want straight up “hit leaders”.

Bonino, Rust, Hagelin, and Sid all play a taxing physical game.

We were 8th and 11th those two years in regular season hits.

 

[HandshakeLine]

He was great for us with a solid skater with him. The issue is we then played him off his natural side or strapped him to JJ.

Yeah, agreed. That's my read on it too.

 

[lastcupever75]

Kunitz and Hornqvist if you want straight up “hit leaders”.

Bonino, Rust, Hagelin, and Sid all play a taxing physical game.

We were 8th and 11th those two years in regular season hits.

rust and hagelin? c'mon.
sid takes the body when he has to, but I still wouldn't label that as physical

even still, 5 guys in the line up out of 18 skaters doesn't make an "incredibly physical team" as you stated.

PS. hit stats are very subjective from arena to arena

 

[lastcupever75]

Just grab a Luke Gazdic... move out a contract to make it work, and be done with it.

thats the guy i was trying to think of the last half hour reading this thread

 

[Tender Rip]

There was a funny comment from one of the Dallas commentators the other night regarding hitting, as the Pens are actually leading the league in hits, and he said something like “yeah, they were also among the leaders last year, but with Tanev around it also feels like it”.

Tanev makes a difference, sure, but when we play fast, consistently, AND finish checks, deny easy entries, depriving opposition of time and space, then that’s what makes us physical, successfully.