Blowing it up

[DocEmrick]

Blowing up the 3 Center model, what move does RS make now?

Replace Staal's ~30 goals with Zach Parise's talent.

Replace Staal's ~30 goals with firmer goaltending (Tomas Vokoun), and better defense (Ryan Suter

Replace Staal's ~30 goals with Bobby Ryan.

Scenarios

Parise/Ryan - Crosby - Dupuis
Neal - Malkin - Kunitz
Cooke - Sutter - Kennedy
Asham - Jeffrey - Adams

Suter - Letang
Orpik - Despres
Niskanen - Lovejoy

Fleury
Vokoun

[DocEmrick]

[Bioshock]

I'm seeing articles where people are projecting Zach might command as much as 8-9 million on the open market.

That being said, i would still pay it in a heart beat. You need to take care of the captain that keeps giving us this huge hometown discount. He is freeing up space so we can get guys like this. Reward him.

[DocEmrick]

Yikes. Still need to find somewhere to balance out the loss of Staal's production.

[wondermoose]

I've said it here before, but the direction Staal has decided to go the past year or two hasn't been what is best for the Pens. His defensive game has gotten worse and he was no longer fulfilling his "shutdown" label anymore. He's a terrific talent, but I think he's more replaceable now than the Cups years.

That said, Shero still needs to find someone to take up Staal's mantle as resident defensive forward. Gaustad please!

[blurryhaze312]

That said, Shero still needs to find someone to take up Staal's mantle as resident defensive forward. Gaustad please!

Umm...you do realize who was returned in the trade from Carolina, right?

[Rylan]

Yea Sutter will be a beloved Penguin for years IMO.

[Pavel Bure]

Staal never once scored 30 goals in the league. The closest he ever got was 29 his rookie year and never came close to eclipsing that number again. Lets not act like Sutter's 5-7 less goals per season are going to be a huge difference for the team.

[bhaw]

Staal never once scored 30 goals in the league. The closest he ever got was 29 his rookie year and never came close to eclipsing that number again. Lets not act like Sutter's 5-7 less goals per season are going to be a huge difference for the team.

Whoever fills out the 6th forward on the top 2 lines will determine if we made up for it. Sutter won't have the expectations to be both production AND defense like Staal. So if he puts up 15-20 or anywhere near it, we are fine. Right now we just have an opening on wing. As long as TK isn't the answer, we should be more than fine, IMO.

[fleury495]

Staal never once scored 30 goals in the league. The closest he ever got was 29 his rookie year and never came close to eclipsing that number again. Lets not act like Sutter's 5-7 less goals per season are going to be a huge difference for the team.

this not to mention hopefully having a full season of Sid next year

[Bioshock]

Sutter is a hell of a player. No need for any more defensive forwards. He fits the bill perfectly.

[sil]

What happened to Vitale on the 4th line?

[Bioshock]

What happened to Vitale on the 4th line?

Who?

[Defence21]

Sutter is a hell of a player. No need for any more defensive forwards. He fits the bill perfectly.

Why not? The third and fourth lines should be all about speedy, physical and.or defensive forwards. If they also can score some goals, all the better.

Personally, I am a proponent of trading Kennedy and bringing in a big and physical winger for Sutter and Cooke -- specifically one who knows how to handle himself defensively and can kill penalties.

My bottom six:

Cooke-Sutter-?
? - Vitale - Asham

3rd line targets, in no particular order: Moen, Gaustad, Dvorak

4th line targets, in no particular order: Tootoo, Hordichuk, Prust, Konopka

I suppose it also could be possible to bring in a mid-level winger in addition to a star winger, bumping Dupuis to the third line. For example, Parise and Sullivan.

[Gaucho]

Pens are still by far the best team down the middle, so it does not seem like much of a blow-up.

[Bioshock]

Pens are still by far the best team down the middle, so it does not seem like much of a blow-up.

Just a re-tooling so to speak. I like where Shero is taking this.

[owtahear]

Doesn't Brandon Sutter mean the continuation of the "3 Center Model"? I don't understand the OP. The Pens didn't blow it up. Jordan Staal blew it up.

[wondermoose]

That said, Shero still needs to find someone to take up Staal's mantle as resident defensive forward. Gaustad please!

Umm...you do realize who was returned in the trade from Carolina, right?

I was not aware Sutter was in Gaustad's class. My apologies.

[Daniel87]

I wish they'd of "blown up" Paul Martin. Figuratively speaking of course.

[Bioshock]

Yeah, with Sutter here, you can forget Gaustad.

Team looks good. Just gotta add some pieces and everything will be just fine.

[Matthew Monstar]

Pens are still by far the best team down the middle, so it does not seem like much of a blow-up.

Just a re-tooling so to speak. I like where Shero is taking this.

I agree, it's a proper re-tooling. Realistically, Jordan Staal was 2nd liner that we had the luxury of positioning on our 3rd line.

We are now adding Brandon Sutter, whom is a true 3rd liner and will be happy with his role and has the ability to play with Geno and Sid and do just fine.

I don't believe Jordan Staal will start producing all star numbers just because he's getting the minutes on the top line, but he deserves the opportunity to play in a more "Offensive" approaching line.

I like how our team is shaping up as well!

[Bioshock]

I do really think the Blue line will look even more different than we all realize. Also, Bobby Ryan/Parise/Suter will be here. One or two of those three will be in a Pens uniform come fall.

Letang/Orpik
Niskanen/Suter
Engelland/Despres
Bortuzzo

Harrington and Morrow will be right on the cusp and Dumoulin will spend the full year in the AHL and might spot start in a few games. I'm not even joking with that last statement. Kid is a stud.

[BurghersAndDogsSports]

I like all the moves so far. However, we lost a top player and one of our only dmen who didn't act like a poor mans Paul Coffey.

I understand we have cap space but 21 teams have more and we have 3 or 4 forward spots to fill plus one or two d spots. Plus you cant just go by this years projections for cap if you sign a guy to a long term deal. It's just not guaranteed sid only wants 9 or the cap will keep growing.

All that I am saying is its not as easy as pie for us to sign a ZP or Suter to long term deals, not bashing what we have done so far.

[Bioshock]

This is what i really think the Roster will look like next year. I just for some reason think getting Parise will be too good to be true so i think we will get Sid another winger instead.

FORWARDS
Chris Kunitz ($3.725m) / Evgeni Malkin ($8.700m) / James Neal ($5.000m)
Pascal Dupuis ($1.500m) / Sidney Crosby ($8.700m) / Bobby Ryan ($5.100m)
Matt Cooke ($1.800m) / Brandon Sutter ($2.067m) / Eric Tangradi ($0.900m)
Craig Adams ($0.675m) / Dominic Moore ($1.300m) / Arron Asham ($0.800m)
DEFENSEMEN
Kris Letang ($3.500m) / Brooks Orpik ($3.750m)
Ryan Suter ($7.500m) / Matt Niskanen ($2.500m)
Deryk Engelland ($0.567m) / Simon Despres ($0.840m)
Robert Bortuzzo ($0.650m) /
GOALTENDERS
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.000m)
Tomas Vokoun ($2.000m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $70,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $66,573,333; BONUSES: $0
CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $3,726,667

[Froggy]

Is that the mythical Martin-Kennedy package that will somehow get us Ryan?