Letang Extended; 8 years 7.25mm, Limited no trade (15 teams)

[canaan]

There was nothing wrong with what he said. If anything, it was a shot at the trapping dingleberries that just try to win, even if it means a brand of hockey that resembles activity time at the senior center. Trap hockey isn't fun...no matter the outcome. Its crap

No it wasn't. He went corporate Ray and resorted to discussing how entertaining the team is and how they field a competitor in the aftermath of the most embarrassing playoff losses in franchise history. That says it all.

Furthermore, he signed the guy solely responsible for it to an extension. It's a country club people. I know that hurts your feelings because you have this image in your mind that Mario is the savior who only cares about wining but let's face it, that new 20 million dollar ski chalet in Quebec isn't going to pat for itself.

what are you even saying?

[Gaucho]

Locking up Malkin and Letang long-term should have us less concerned about the future.

[Bioshock]

It's now really sinking in. The Pens kept one of the top 3 best forwards along with one of the top 5 defenseman in the whole league for a raise of 4.55 million per season for the greater part of the next decade.

I'm just so pleased.

[Boogeyman]

A Letang departure does not fall in line with this teams goal of having a team who can compete for the Stanley cup.


I just thank god for Ray Shero, I know some other teams at the beginning of the season, are informed whether or not they can compete for the Stanley Cup. On a Ray Shero team, you can compete for the cup every year.

[topshelf]

Locking up Malkin and Letang long-term should have us less concerned about the future.

Yep. Plus, as the cap moves up each year, Letang's deal will begin to look better and better. It was the same with Gonchar in '05. I remember being a bit apprehensive about the price we paid, but the contract looked pretty good a few years later.

[Boogeyman]

There was nothing wrong with what he said. If anything, it was a shot at the trapping dingleberries that just try to win, even if it means a brand of hockey that resembles activity time at the senior center. Trap hockey isn't fun...no matter the outcome. Its crap

No it wasn't. He went corporate Ray and resorted to discussing how entertaining the team is and how they field a competitor in the aftermath of the most embarrassing playoff losses in franchise history. That says it all.

Furthermore, he signed the guy solely responsible for it to an extension. It's a country club people. I know that hurts your feelings because you have this image in your mind that Mario is the savior who only cares about wining but let's face it, that new 20 million dollar ski chalet in Quebec isn't going to pat for itself.

what are you even saying?

What I've been saying all along, top shelf has a Shero fat head.

[topshelf]

It's now really sinking in. The Pens kept one of the top 3 best forwards along with one of the top 5 defenseman in the whole league for a raise of 4.55 million per season for the greater part of the next decade.

I'm just so pleased.

[topshelf]

What I've been saying all along, top shelf has a Shero fat head.

Yet another lie that is packaged to look like the truth.

They haven't come out with the GM edition of Fatheads yet.

[Boogeyman]

What I've been saying all along, top shelf has a Shero fat head.

Yet another lie that is packaged to look like the truth.

They haven't come out with the GM edition of Fatheads yet.

Did it smell real bad or was it just all air? By how high strung you are, seems like it may have been stewing in there a bit, yes?

[Beveridge]

I don't even understand this thread anymore.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Just wanted to add that I am glad Letang's contract was extended. He is young and only going to get better. The cap will go up and his deal will be seen as a discount in a couple seasons. Now back to your regularly scheduled circle jag.

[DontToewsMeBro]

I hope the cap really goes up, that's all I'll say. If it does, it's great we have a #1 guy for the next decade into his prime at a reasonable contract. If his mental game can catch up with his feet, even better.

[topshelf]

I hope the cap really goes up, that's all I'll say. If it does, it's great we have a #1 guy for the next decade into his prime at a reasonable contract. If his mental game can catch up with his feet, even better.

Isn't it supposed to go down one year? I don't know why I have that stuck in my head. I remember hearing during the CBA negotiations, but I am not sure if it happened or whatnot. If so, at least we have Letang at his current cap hit for one more year.

[sil]

It's going down this year topshelf...from $70,200,000 to $64,300,000. Luckily Letang will still only count $3,500,000 against it. The cap CANNOT, per the CBA, go any lower than $64,300,000 in any season.

[Bioshock]

Guys, in the new CBA it is not allowed to go below 64.3 million. Know it, love it, breathe it.

Also, the league is posting record profits again. The cap will rebound and rebound quickly. This isn't a question or a possibility. The money is there.

This deal will be manageable and quite cap friendly after a few years.

[mikey287]

Once again, now that it's official, this is good for us. Even if it doesn't work out to the extent that everyone seems to believe it has to, it's the right idea at the time...virtually the only idea at the time...to keep this team as a reasonable contender.

We could have it so much worse than Letang...there are teams with similarly-priced but worse d-men, there are teams without #1 d-men, etc. the grass was, is and always will be greener on the other side...

[sil]

Guys, in the new CBA it is not allowed to go below 64.3 million. Know it, love it, breathe it.

Also, the league is posting record profits again. The cap will rebound and rebound quickly. This isn't a question or a possibility. The money is there.

This deal will be manageable and quite cap friendly after a few years.

The assumption is that it continues to go up, and there's no reason to think it won't. Luckily, should the worst happen, the cap cannot drop below what it is currently, which is nice.

[sil]

We could have it so much worse than Letang.

And he can still get better too.

[columbia]

It could be the 3rd year of the new contract, before they have money to flesh out a balanced team.
No whining about the depth of their roster until then.

[bhaw]

People would complain we aren't giving the supposed forward prospects a chance if we played them on the 4th line (see: Tangradi), and then they'd complain it's hurting their development because they're playing 4th line.

We aren't talking a prospect who is supposed to have top 6 potential. We are talking playing a young fourth liner or bottom pair. Believe it or not, there are actually players out there who belong on the fourth line and can be played there who aren't 1m to the cap. Bylsma has developed zero prospects to this point on forward or defense.

But I guess this is MRandall being MRandall.

Of course I'm sure you can provide mounds of evidence with all the prospects who have developed in four years who are currently playing a full time spot on the roster. Yeah, there are none...

Engelland part time
Vitale part time
Bennett barely part time
Bortuzzo part time
Despres part time

Everyone else was brought in via free agency/trade or developed pre-DB.

Any evidence to the contrary or is it just the standard straw man/critical comment with nothing behind it or anecdotal fluff?

[columbia]

Perhaps Letestu.

[bhaw]

Perhaps Letestu.

No one on the current roster. If we count him, that's 1 in four years. That's poor by any standard.

[Pavel Bure]

Who should DB have developed?

Letang - seems to have turned out pretty good
Staal - seems to be okay
Goligoski - plays #1 D on another team
Kennedy - developed nicely into NHL 3rd liner
Tangradi - he's awful, poor work ethic and attitude, not sure how that's DB's fault
Bennett - Rookie, developing nicely
Despres - same as Bennett
Vitale - developing into an energy guy quite nicely

Who else should he have developed? Strait? Lovejoy? They had no place on this team. Nick Johnson? Seems whatever team he's on now is t "developing" him either. This isn't a Guilleme Latendresse (sp?) we're talking about here. Who has Bylsma put a lot if time into and failed to develope?

[columbia]

It's a two fold issue:

The potential list is prettt thin after who mentioned - and there are various reasons for that - and he hasn't done much with the ones who have been around.

[bhaw]

TK developed so well he regressed and was benched in the playoffs.
Letang was already up and playing a large role on the team, so nice try.
Staal was the same.
Tangradi sucked.
Goligoski was awful other than points. I guess if you want to credit DB for making Gogo awful on defense, sure. I'm also pretty sure he's not the #1 in Dallas.

You have no evidence for DB developing players. As a matter of fact two young guys have specifically said after they left that they didn't understand what they had to do or why they lost playing time. There's more evidence to the contrary the Dab is developing prospects. Your anecdotal "there's no one to develop" is not evidence. Why isn't Vitale a full time player? Why did Bennett inexplicably play so few game when he actually played well? Why is Despres spending so much time in the press box?

The only credit you are giving him is for guys who were already full time players. Letestu is probably the best example of any.

On the short list of things DB does well, I don't think anyone would put "developer of young talent" on there. This isn't ground breaking news. He's bad with it so far. Seems like you just want to cling to the mystique that DB is the great and powerful coach who has no flaws.

This team won't do well of he can't take AHL guys and get them to play on the bottom lines around Sutter and Vitale and possibly Adams. They can't afford to pay bottom line guy what they have been. DB has yet to show he's capable of that. It's ok to admit a coach's blatantly obvious faults.