Random Penguins Fodder

[thehockeyguru]

Good trade article....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/pe ... f1ce&ei=49

I would take Veleno and a 2nd for Rakell. Veleno is 24 so he's not old, he's not under 6 foot so that's a plus for me. He could be a solid 3rd line center for the team for a good 8-10 years if he is healthy and continues to grow his game. He's also cheap at only 825K then an RFA next season. Detroit can take on the equivalent of 12M at the deadline, so there's no need to retain on Rakell here.

Smith...retaining salary would be for this year and next. If I'm retaining salary, and 50%, I'm not taking a 5th just to dump him.
--I don't see Dallas being a fit. We'd have to retain 50% and they STILL need to send us something back off their roster to make it work. If they wanted to give us 23 year old Ty Dellandrea, sure, I'd do it. But the rest of their options they can send to us just to make the cap work are 30+ year olds that don't fit here.

--Colorado is in the same boat. They are so cap strapped that they have to send us a significant piece off their roster...so they have to think that Smith is an upgrade over someone. Only thing I could possibly see here would be Smith (with 30% retained works, could go 50% if they want more cap space) for Miles Wood, who is signed for 5 more years at 2.5M with a 6 team NTC that kicks in after this season.

--Vegas has more cap space than the other 2 options mentioned for Smith, but they'd still need to send salary out. I don't see a big fit that makes them better and gives us a wanted piece. Smith with retention for Brett Howden and a pick is about the best I can come up with.

--Tampa makes the most sense due to the Sergachev injury. They can offer picks or prospects and not have to move anything off their roster. They don't need us to retain, but could have us retain if they want to make multiple moves. But Tampa doesn't have a great prospect pool (ranked 29th by the Athletic), so we aren't going to get a great asset.

Rakell seems like the easier to move in theory, but his contract length will turn some teams off. Smith is harder to move because teams that may want him have little cap space to work with or little assets to give back to us.

Detroit would be wise to get Tarasenko over Rakell

[FLPensFan]

Good trade article....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/pe ... f1ce&ei=49

I would take Veleno and a 2nd for Rakell. Veleno is 24 so he's not old, he's not under 6 foot so that's a plus for me. He could be a solid 3rd line center for the team for a good 8-10 years if he is healthy and continues to grow his game. He's also cheap at only 825K then an RFA next season. Detroit can take on the equivalent of 12M at the deadline, so there's no need to retain on Rakell here.

Smith...retaining salary would be for this year and next. If I'm retaining salary, and 50%, I'm not taking a 5th just to dump him.
--I don't see Dallas being a fit. We'd have to retain 50% and they STILL need to send us something back off their roster to make it work. If they wanted to give us 23 year old Ty Dellandrea, sure, I'd do it. But the rest of their options they can send to us just to make the cap work are 30+ year olds that don't fit here.

--Colorado is in the same boat. They are so cap strapped that they have to send us a significant piece off their roster...so they have to think that Smith is an upgrade over someone. Only thing I could possibly see here would be Smith (with 30% retained works, could go 50% if they want more cap space) for Miles Wood, who is signed for 5 more years at 2.5M with a 6 team NTC that kicks in after this season.

--Vegas has more cap space than the other 2 options mentioned for Smith, but they'd still need to send salary out. I don't see a big fit that makes them better and gives us a wanted piece. Smith with retention for Brett Howden and a pick is about the best I can come up with.

--Tampa makes the most sense due to the Sergachev injury. They can offer picks or prospects and not have to move anything off their roster. They don't need us to retain, but could have us retain if they want to make multiple moves. But Tampa doesn't have a great prospect pool (ranked 29th by the Athletic), so we aren't going to get a great asset.

Rakell seems like the easier to move in theory, but his contract length will turn some teams off. Smith is harder to move because teams that may want him have little cap space to work with or little assets to give back to us.

Detroit would be wise to get Tarasenko over Rakell

Just the lack of term alone on Tarasenko makes that a no brainer.

[thehockeyguru]

The Pittsburgh Penguins have assigned forwards Vinnie Hinostroza and Jonathan Gruden to their farm team in Wilkes-Barre.

They also activated bottom-six winger Jansen Harkins, who has been recovering from a concussion.

[DelPen]

Imagine thinking Matthew Phillips was what this team needed. Fire everyone.

[thehockeyguru]

Imagine thinking Matthew Phillips was what this team needed. Fire everyone.

My issue is this team has had issues with the PP and scoring goals all season and the front office and coaching staff have done nothing to remedy it.

[Wyopen]

Yes they did, traded for Karlsson. Lol. One goal since 11/28/23. Yikes!

[Pruezy11881]

Is it true that after the game Dubas stated that changes were coming?

[Pitts]

Is it true that after the game Dubas stated that changes were coming?

Sure, he's scanning the waiver wire right now! LOL!

[Cow_Master66]

Yes they did, traded for Karlsson. Lol. One goal since 11/28/23. Yikes!

This deal will look better in 3 years, don't worry

[FLPensFan]

Is it wrong that I'd be ok trading Graves to acquire Jack Johnson???

[Dynasty1970]

I keep checking this site every morning hoping that there will be a new thread talking about some major news with this team. It’s becoming evident that this day will not be coming. It’s like we have to sit back and watch this organization self destruct. I mean management has to be ok with how things are going. They must be seeing a good return on their investment. They must be making good money no matter where this team finishes in the standings. It’s sad that after the nice ceremony yesterday that they have forgotten what it took to keep this franchise in Pittsburgh. Jagr had to play hurt and carry this team so that they could make the playoffs and remain solvent. Now it appears they don’t even need that with the prices they charge to put butts in the seats during the regular season. There must be an algorithm associated with the salary cap and the ticket prices that will guarantee positive cash flow regardless of the product that these team put on the ice. What a GD shame!

[Antonio]

Is it true that after the game Dubas stated that changes were coming?

Sure, he's scanning the waiver wire right now! LOL!

Alas, sadly there are no more 5'3 pickups left.

[Skatingpen]

Sullivan has made major changes to the line ups….. and they are as bad as expected. Phillips is now on the 2nd line…….. good lord

[Antonio]

You know I was thinking... honest question .. does anyone think Sullivan ever thinks to himself, privately, something along the lines of what a fraud I am, afraid people will figure out I'm terrible at my job and my success on has been due to other coaches, staff, players, etc or do you think he really genuinely believes he's untouchable and rightly deserved?

[FLPensFan]

Sullivan has made major changes to the line ups….. and they are as bad as expected. Phillips is now on the 2nd line…….. good lord

For those wondering HOW BAD could it be:

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Drew O’Connor-Evgeni Malkin-Matthew Phillips
Reilly Smith-Lars Eller-Valtteri Puustinen
Jansen Harkins-Jeff Carter-Colin White

Puljujarvi out, skating as part of a 4th pairing with either Graves or Ludvig.

How Smith and Harkins are in this lineup above Puljujarvi is beyond me. Look, Puljujarvi hasn't done much to date, but he hasn't caught "the Penguins disease" yet, either. He's hustling, he's hitting, he's chasing down pucks, which is more than I can say about everyone in that bottom 6 except Eller and Puustinen.

[maopens]

After blowing that game last night, I'm ready to blow up this roster and work toward putting a better team together for next season. There is no point to this cast of characters. Trade what you can. Get younger Get hungrier.

As to the thorn in this team's side - the power play - how much longer does this organization continue to do nothing about the one thing that has tanked this entire season?

Is Sullivan refusing to make a systemic change? If so, then he needs to go. If Reirdan is the problem and Sully won't make a change then he needs to go.
Is Sullivan trying and the team has tuned him out? If so, then how do they keep him as the coach?

I get that he is a Boston guy and the Pens are now owned by Boston guys, but whatever this coaching staff has attempted (or not attempted) regarding the power play this entire season ... IT IS NOT WORKING! Do something. Anything. You've wasted an entire season thus far.

Accumulating talent is on the GM. I think this roster looks better on paper than last year's roster. The cap situation looks better this year than it did last year with a bunch of terrible contracts. So Dubas has made progress in the right direction. Getting the talent to play effectively on the ice is not the role of a GM, that is on the coaching staff. Nobody in the hockey world thinks this team has played up to its potential. Nobody.

Sorry for the rant but this roster has too much talent to be playing like it is. Something is very wrong within that locker room. The easy and lazy answer is that the team is old but look at the stats, the best players on this team are the old guys. The core and the goaltending have carried this team thus far this season. Nobody else has shown up.

[Wyopen]

[quote =Cow_Master66 post_id=3294287 time=1708358316 user_id=8051]

Yes they did, traded for Karlsson. Lol. One goal since 11/28/23. Yikes!

This deal will look better in 3 years, don't worry
[/quote]

When Sullivans contract has expired or if he’s traded?

[Risto]

So many villains in this tale.

Rackell, Carter - Straight up stealing paychecks.

Malkin, Karlsson - Not providing anything resembling $16 million worth of impact.

Smith, Graves - Big money busts.

O'Connor, POJ, nor any other young player stepping up to distinguish themselves.

To have that many capable players underperforming simultaneously speaks of a sickness in the organization. All this while Crosby may score 50 in his age 36 season- virtually unheard of. They've officially wasted the end of 87's prime.

[Antonio]

I think it's 17 million not 16. I think.

[IntangibleBeer]

Is it wrong that I'd be ok trading Graves to acquire Jack Johnson???

That depends. Are you saying Jack Johnson is worth more or less than a bag of pucks?

Asking for a friend.

[Pens4Life]

So many villains in this tale.

Rackell, Carter - Straight up stealing paychecks.

Malkin, Karlsson - Not providing anything resembling $16 million worth of impact.

Smith, Graves - Big money busts.

O'Connor, POJ, nor any other young player stepping up to distinguish themselves.

To have that many capable players underperforming simultaneously speaks of a sickness in the organization. All this while Crosby may score 50 in his age 36 season- virtually unheard of. They've officially wasted the end of 87's prime.

Sad part of this is that Carter isnt a problem this season at all.. he is fine on 4th line

[Guinness]

Sad part of this is that Carter isnt a problem this season at all.. he is fine on 4th line

Yeah that's been apparent. Only if he would have seen Eller on the doorstep last night when he stole the puck behind the net and went for the wraparound, it would have been 2-0. But, alas...

[lemieuxReturns]

Sullivan has made major changes to the line ups….. and they are as bad as expected. Phillips is now on the 2nd line…….. good lord

For those wondering HOW BAD could it be:

Rickard Rakell-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Drew O’Connor-Evgeni Malkin-Matthew Phillips
Reilly Smith-Lars Eller-Valtteri Puustinen
Jansen Harkins-Jeff Carter-Colin White

Puljujarvi out, skating as part of a 4th pairing with either Graves or Ludvig.

How Smith and Harkins are in this lineup above Puljujarvi is beyond me. Look, Puljujarvi hasn't done much to date, but he hasn't caught "the Penguins disease" yet, either. He's hustling, he's hitting, he's chasing down pucks, which is more than I can say about everyone in that bottom 6 except Eller and Puustinen.

You could replace Malkin with McDavid on that second line and it would struggle to score.

[FLPensFan]

Sad part of this is that Carter isnt a problem this season at all.. he is fine on 4th line

Yeah that's been apparent. Only if he would have seen Eller on the doorstep last night when he stole the puck behind the net and went for the wraparound, it would have been 2-0. But, alas...

Carter's play has actually been fine, but...I still contend Acciari is much better playing RW on a line. And we cannot do that here because Carter has to be given a sweater every night.

[thehockeyguru]

Sad part of this is that Carter isnt a problem this season at all.. he is fine on 4th line

Yeah that's been apparent. Only if he would have seen Eller on the doorstep last night when he stole the puck behind the net and went for the wraparound, it would have been 2-0. But, alas...

Carter's play has actually been fine, but...I still contend Acciari is much better playing RW on a line. And we cannot do that here because Carter has to be given a sweater every night.

I've got no issues with Carter.

The swing and a miss for me was Tatar, I really think if Dubas would have added him it would have helped with our scoring depth.

Since joining Seattle Tatar has 6 goals 11 points in 23 games. No telling what is production would be here but for me he's a clear top 6/9 upgrade over DOC.