2024-2025 Season Random Penguins Fodder

[EndO FanEra]

To follow up with my last post, it seems as though most of the teams around us are continuing to lose while we are racking up some points. Currently sitting at 7, but we seem more likely to slide into 8-10 than 4-6 at the current pace.

From what the scouting reports are saying about this draft, after those top 5/6 picks, the rest of the players that will be drafted in the 1st are closer to 2nd rounders in other years.

So, if we end up in the 8-10 spot, what do you do?
1. Draft BPA
2. Try to package other picks & move up
3. Trade the pick for a player/prospect

I think I would lean towards 2 & 3, depending on what the options are. Swinging and missing with that pick (i.e. Pouliot, our only pick under 20 from Staal to Yager) would be a big blow to the future.

How does the value of a #10 pick equate to a young player like Nemec, Clarke, or any of the other targets we've thrown out there at the deadline? I would typically value a #10 pick pretty high, but getting more of a sure thing (no such thing) that is further along might be the safer play. I really don't know what that value is, but if you could get one of those guys and a 2nd/3rd/4th or whatever for our first, I think I would consider it rather than taking a chance on what would normally be closer to a 2nd rounder.

[Puck-Lurker]

To follow up with my last post, it seems as though most of the teams around us are continuing to lose while we are racking up some points. Currently sitting at 7, but we seem more likely to slide into 8-10 than 4-6 at the current pace.

From what the scouting reports are saying about this draft, after those top 5/6 picks, the rest of the players that will be drafted in the 1st are closer to 2nd rounders in other years.

So, if we end up in the 8-10 spot, what do you do?
1. Draft BPA
2. Try to package other picks & move up
3. Trade the pick for a player/prospect

I think I would lean towards 2 & 3, depending on what the options are. Swinging and missing with that pick (i.e. Pouliot, our only pick under 20 from Staal to Yager) would be a big blow to the future.

How does the value of a #10 pick equate to a young player like Nemec, Clarke, or any of the other targets we've thrown out there at the deadline? I would typically value a #10 pick pretty high, but getting more of a sure thing (no such thing) that is further along might be the safer play. I really don't know what that value is, but if you could get one of those guys and a 2nd/3rd/4th or whatever for our first, I think I would consider it rather than taking a chance on what would normally be closer to a 2nd rounder.

I'm going to go with 1.

Maximise the number of picks, try to outscout the competition and have the most shots at getting good players out of them.

I don't think there's a good way to upgrade a pick that doesn't give up more than is gained. Well if the price is Graves to trade up 3rd rounders I'm al for...

[FLPensFan]

Murashov breaks Matt Murray's WBS record for longest winning streak at the start of their AHL career. Murashov is now 10-0-0 on the season.

This is maybe obvious at this point, but I listened to Yohe on Madden's show last week, and he said the organization is really starting to believe that Murashov is the real deal. Yohe thinks the plan is for him to be the starter in WBS next season, maybe getting a cup of coffee in the NHL when there are injuries, and then graduate permanently for the 26-27 season. But he also said that he's improving so fast that he wouldn't be surprised if Murashov were the best goalie in camp going into next season.

I've read several times, mostly from Yohe and maybe some from Dejan, that while the organization likes Blomqvist, they aren't sure if he will really be an NHL starting goalie. The organization is reportedly much higher on Murashov's ability. On the flip side, I've seen Jesse Marshall say Murashov's rebound control is a bit of an issue that he'll need to work on.

Murashov is still only 20 (turns 21 on April 1st). I'd give him next season as the AHL starter who plays the most games, and try and get him in some NHL games next season to see how he does at that level. Blomqvist was strong in the AHL last year, but has struggled with high shots in the NHL, particularly high blocker. I'd want to see Murashov get some NHL action and evaluating before making a ruling. Murashov has the athleticism factor on his side, which is something MAF had.

[FLPensFan]

To follow up with my last post, it seems as though most of the teams around us are continuing to lose while we are racking up some points. Currently sitting at 7, but we seem more likely to slide into 8-10 than 4-6 at the current pace.

From what the scouting reports are saying about this draft, after those top 5/6 picks, the rest of the players that will be drafted in the 1st are closer to 2nd rounders in other years.

So, if we end up in the 8-10 spot, what do you do?
1. Draft BPA
2. Try to package other picks & move up
3. Trade the pick for a player/prospect

I think I would lean towards 2 & 3, depending on what the options are. Swinging and missing with that pick (i.e. Pouliot, our only pick under 20 from Staal to Yager) would be a big blow to the future.

How does the value of a #10 pick equate to a young player like Nemec, Clarke, or any of the other targets we've thrown out there at the deadline? I would typically value a #10 pick pretty high, but getting more of a sure thing (no such thing) that is further along might be the safer play. I really don't know what that value is, but if you could get one of those guys and a 2nd/3rd/4th or whatever for our first, I think I would consider it rather than taking a chance on what would normally be closer to a 2nd rounder.

I'm going to go with 1.

Maximise the number of picks, try to outscout the competition and have the most shots at getting good players out of them.

I don't think there's a good way to upgrade a pick that doesn't give up more than is gained. Well if the price is Graves to trade up 3rd rounders I'm al for...

I would go with 1 or 3. Shaefer, Misa, Hagens, Martone, Desnoyers, Frondell, Eklund, McQueen. Those 8 are considered the top guys before there is a rather big drop off, and the drop off is considered to be outside those 8 guys, the next guys up would likely be taken in the 20s in the first round versus a 10-15th overall pick. So if we fall back to 9th or 10th and are looking at BPA outside those 8 guys....we are probably looking at players like Bear, Carbonneau, Smith, O'Brien, Mrtka, Hensler. I do think there are some team that need defense and could go offboard in the top 8, opening up the chance for us to grab one of the more heavily favored players. Outside those 8 though, I don't know if any of the other players have pure top 6 ability...which is what we really need drafting that low.

That is why, if someone offered me a high end prospect that was close to NHL ready for 8th overall, I would strongly consider it.

But trading to move up probably doesn't help us more than it hurts us.

[FLPensFan]

That's a ridiculous statement. You're not gonna get the same quality (in most cases) drafting 10th OA instead of say 5th OA.

That's a quite narrow as a view.

Many players drafted outside the top 5 are better than #5 each year. What you're referring to is draft odds, chances a player does X or Y relative to draft position historically.

Scouting is something you do to improve on the odds. Better scouting, better odds to improve on said historical odds. The math's fairly straightforward.

This view of I want my team to lose is what I find bizarre and ridiculous. I'm not a supporter of the Penguins roster 4 years from now with not a care for any of the time from now to then.. I'm a Penguins supporter period.

I'm looking at the big picture, you're just looking at the hear and now, that's a narrow view and perspective that helps absolutely no one. Not now and not then.

This team isn't going to make the playoffs ok. So, if we're not making the playoffs the best course of action is to accrue as many high picks as possible, draft effectively and develop well. But you need some cornerstone pieces if you are to be a successful franchise. THIS team of all teams has had such players. Without players like Mario, Jagr, Geno or Sid we don't even have a team in PIT! You gotta start somewhere. And while there's no world beater in this draft necessarily, you could draft your best prospect in possibly decades IF you don't win meaningless games now.

Caring for the here and now is not mutually exclusive with caring for the long term future. I hope you will understand that I care for both, not just one or the other.

I can't wake up and think 'its such a shame the Penguins beat the BJs 6-3'. If Pens lose, I can still shrug and figure at least Crosby got a point and our drafting position is improved. Not feeling bad for a loss much this season, is wildly different from being annoyed your team won a game.

Yeah they don't matter. Neither does the preseason. Still want Pens to win, past present and future. I don't feel that position needs defending among fans.

I can see both sides of the argument here, but I tend to lean towards M74 's line of thinking on this one. I don't ever really want the Pens to be drafting in the top 10 because that means the team isn't very good. But, unfortunately, that's where we are. We've actually been bad enough to draft in/near the top 10 at times over the past few years, but for some reason we have a knack for winning meaningless games in March/April.

We've already locked ourselves out of a playoff spot, and the end of the Crosby era is closer than ever. Now is the time to maximize this (hopefully rare) opportunity to draft the highest pick possible. By most accounts, there is a significant drop off after those top 5/6 players in this year's draft. Yes, drafting it a total gamble, but you can greatly increase your odds by how high you draft.

Every Pens win from here on out will decrease their chances of drafting higher end talent and/or being competitive for the future. We've all suffered through some infuriating, idiotic, clown-show hockey with this team over the past few years. I will gladly sit through 10 more losses in order to draft top 5 rather than 8-12. I'm still rooting for the players to play well and for Sid to get his points, but I just want the opposition to have one more goal on the board when the horn sounds. It's what's best for the team in the long run, IMO.

Right. There really is no right or wrong answer here. I went to the game tonight vs Florida...so of course I wanted them to win. But in the grand scheme of things, winning hurts them going into the next few years by getting a worse draft pick, and potentially falling out of the range of a much better player. As you said EndOfanEra, I didn't expect them to be this bad this year....but they are. If Dubas really wants a quick rebuild, I wanted to see them seize the opportunity to grab a high end pick, rather win games that aren't going to propel them into the playoffs...they just push themselves further away from the young help they desperately need.

It would be a bit different for me if McGroarty, Broz, Koivunen, Ponomarev, Blomqvist, Pickering, and Murashov were playing up here at the NHL level. Then I'd want to see what those guys could do, and I think winning more than losing would be good for their development and mentally heading into next season. But they aren't here, and feel good wins for a bunch of guys nearing the end of their career and a bunch of bottom 6 retreads....I don't feel the need to win for them.

The bigger picture is, a lot of fans are always going to root for the here and now, which is fine. Others have seen this team bottom out the last few years and are ready for the next generation of talent to get drafted and start being infused into the lineup, so we can get back to being annual playoff contenders.

[Pens4Life]

Murashov breaks Matt Murray's WBS record for longest winning streak at the start of their AHL career. Murashov is now 10-0-0 on the season.

This is maybe obvious at this point, but I listened to Yohe on Madden's show last week, and he said the organization is really starting to believe that Murashov is the real deal. Yohe thinks the plan is for him to be the starter in WBS next season, maybe getting a cup of coffee in the NHL when there are injuries, and then graduate permanently for the 26-27 season. But he also said that he's improving so fast that he wouldn't be surprised if Murashov were the best goalie in camp going into next season.

I've read several times, mostly from Yohe and maybe some from Dejan, that while the organization likes Blomqvist, they aren't sure if he will really be an NHL starting goalie. The organization is reportedly much higher on Murashov's ability. On the flip side, I've seen Jesse Marshall say Murashov's rebound control is a bit of an issue that he'll need to work on.

Murashov is still only 20 (turns 21 on April 1st). I'd give him next season as the AHL starter who plays the most games, and try and get him in some NHL games next season to see how he does at that level. Blomqvist was strong in the AHL last year, but has struggled with high shots in the NHL, particularly high blocker. I'd want to see Murashov get some NHL action and evaluating before making a ruling. Murashov has the athleticism factor on his side, which is something MAF had.

Goalies always mature later than forwards and defenders..

I also think Murashov should be our primary goalie to develop and should be no.1 in AHL next season and get 10-15 NHL games.
But we also shouldnt give up early on Larsson and Blom.
Jarry and Ned - ONE has to go in offseason, get Larsson to NHL backup role. Murashov and Blomquist in AHL.

[Antonio]

Just move them both and bring up blom and another to back up and let them figure it out. The idea that somehow we just absolutely can't go in with two new or young goaltenders is silly. Yeah we couldn't go into the year without resigning Jarry to that ridiculous terrible deal that everyone with half a brain knew was a terrible idea because oh no there's no other good goaltender options. Fast forward a few months and we literally waive him into the AHL, which effectively puts us back where we were before we signed him except now he's on the books. No reason you can't move them both and just bring up the youth, this team sucks and will suck for a while so it's okay to bring up young guys and let them figure out the NHL while we lose.

[pens_CT]

That's a quite narrow as a view.

Many players drafted outside the top 5 are better than #5 each year. What you're referring to is draft odds, chances a player does X or Y relative to draft position historically.

Scouting is something you do to improve on the odds. Better scouting, better odds to improve on said historical odds. The math's fairly straightforward.

This view of I want my team to lose is what I find bizarre and ridiculous. I'm not a supporter of the Penguins roster 4 years from now with not a care for any of the time from now to then.. I'm a Penguins supporter period.

I'm looking at the big picture, you're just looking at the hear and now, that's a narrow view and perspective that helps absolutely no one. Not now and not then.

This team isn't going to make the playoffs ok. So, if we're not making the playoffs the best course of action is to accrue as many high picks as possible, draft effectively and develop well. But you need some cornerstone pieces if you are to be a successful franchise. THIS team of all teams has had such players. Without players like Mario, Jagr, Geno or Sid we don't even have a team in PIT! You gotta start somewhere. And while there's no world beater in this draft necessarily, you could draft your best prospect in possibly decades IF you don't win meaningless games now.

Caring for the here and now is not mutually exclusive with caring for the long term future. I hope you will understand that I care for both, not just one or the other.

I can't wake up and think 'its such a shame the Penguins beat the BJs 6-3'. If Pens lose, I can still shrug and figure at least Crosby got a point and our drafting position is improved. Not feeling bad for a loss much this season, is wildly different from being annoyed your team won a game.

Yeah they don't matter. Neither does the preseason. Still want Pens to win, past present and future. I don't feel that position needs defending among fans.

I can see both sides of the argument here, but I tend to lean towards M74 's line of thinking on this one. I don't ever really want the Pens to be drafting in the top 10 because that means the team isn't very good. But, unfortunately, that's where we are. We've actually been bad enough to draft in/near the top 10 at times over the past few years, but for some reason we have a knack for winning meaningless games in March/April.

We've already locked ourselves out of a playoff spot, and the end of the Crosby era is closer than ever. Now is the time to maximize this (hopefully rare) opportunity to draft the highest pick possible. By most accounts, there is a significant drop off after those top 5/6 players in this year's draft. Yes, drafting it a total gamble, but you can greatly increase your odds by how high you draft.

Every Pens win from here on out will decrease their chances of drafting higher end talent and/or being competitive for the future. We've all suffered through some infuriating, idiotic, clown-show hockey with this team over the past few years. I will gladly sit through 10 more losses in order to draft top 5 rather than 8-12. I'm still rooting for the players to play well and for Sid to get his points, but I just want the opposition to have one more goal on the board when the horn sounds. It's what's best for the team in the long run, IMO.

Right. There really is no right or wrong answer here. I went to the game tonight vs Florida...so of course I wanted them to win. But in the grand scheme of things, winning hurts them going into the next few years by getting a worse draft pick, and potentially falling out of the range of a much better player. As you said EndOfanEra, I didn't expect them to be this bad this year....but they are. If Dubas really wants a quick rebuild, I wanted to see them seize the opportunity to grab a high end pick, rather win games that aren't going to propel them into the playoffs...they just push themselves further away from the young help they desperately need.

It would be a bit different for me if McGroarty, Broz, Koivunen, Ponomarev, Blomqvist, Pickering, and Murashov were playing up here at the NHL level. Then I'd want to see what those guys could do, and I think winning more than losing would be good for their development and mentally heading into next season. But they aren't here, and feel good wins for a bunch of guys nearing the end of their career and a bunch of bottom 6 retreads....I don't feel the need to win for them.

The bigger picture is, a lot of fans are always going to root for the here and now, which is fine. Others have seen this team bottom out the last few years and are ready for the next generation of talent to get drafted and start being infused into the lineup, so we can get back to being annual playoff contenders.

Well Chicago and Detroit stripped it down completely. How have those rebuilds gone? No guarantee you're going to be a contender in the foreseeable future just because you get high draft picks.

[FLPensFan]

I'm looking at the big picture, you're just looking at the hear and now, that's a narrow view and perspective that helps absolutely no one. Not now and not then.

This team isn't going to make the playoffs ok. So, if we're not making the playoffs the best course of action is to accrue as many high picks as possible, draft effectively and develop well. But you need some cornerstone pieces if you are to be a successful franchise. THIS team of all teams has had such players. Without players like Mario, Jagr, Geno or Sid we don't even have a team in PIT! You gotta start somewhere. And while there's no world beater in this draft necessarily, you could draft your best prospect in possibly decades IF you don't win meaningless games now.

Caring for the here and now is not mutually exclusive with caring for the long term future. I hope you will understand that I care for both, not just one or the other.

I can't wake up and think 'its such a shame the Penguins beat the BJs 6-3'. If Pens lose, I can still shrug and figure at least Crosby got a point and our drafting position is improved. Not feeling bad for a loss much this season, is wildly different from being annoyed your team won a game.

Yeah they don't matter. Neither does the preseason. Still want Pens to win, past present and future. I don't feel that position needs defending among fans.

I can see both sides of the argument here, but I tend to lean towards M74 's line of thinking on this one. I don't ever really want the Pens to be drafting in the top 10 because that means the team isn't very good. But, unfortunately, that's where we are. We've actually been bad enough to draft in/near the top 10 at times over the past few years, but for some reason we have a knack for winning meaningless games in March/April.

We've already locked ourselves out of a playoff spot, and the end of the Crosby era is closer than ever. Now is the time to maximize this (hopefully rare) opportunity to draft the highest pick possible. By most accounts, there is a significant drop off after those top 5/6 players in this year's draft. Yes, drafting it a total gamble, but you can greatly increase your odds by how high you draft.

Every Pens win from here on out will decrease their chances of drafting higher end talent and/or being competitive for the future. We've all suffered through some infuriating, idiotic, clown-show hockey with this team over the past few years. I will gladly sit through 10 more losses in order to draft top 5 rather than 8-12. I'm still rooting for the players to play well and for Sid to get his points, but I just want the opposition to have one more goal on the board when the horn sounds. It's what's best for the team in the long run, IMO.

Right. There really is no right or wrong answer here. I went to the game tonight vs Florida...so of course I wanted them to win. But in the grand scheme of things, winning hurts them going into the next few years by getting a worse draft pick, and potentially falling out of the range of a much better player. As you said EndOfanEra, I didn't expect them to be this bad this year....but they are. If Dubas really wants a quick rebuild, I wanted to see them seize the opportunity to grab a high end pick, rather win games that aren't going to propel them into the playoffs...they just push themselves further away from the young help they desperately need.

It would be a bit different for me if McGroarty, Broz, Koivunen, Ponomarev, Blomqvist, Pickering, and Murashov were playing up here at the NHL level. Then I'd want to see what those guys could do, and I think winning more than losing would be good for their development and mentally heading into next season. But they aren't here, and feel good wins for a bunch of guys nearing the end of their career and a bunch of bottom 6 retreads....I don't feel the need to win for them.

The bigger picture is, a lot of fans are always going to root for the here and now, which is fine. Others have seen this team bottom out the last few years and are ready for the next generation of talent to get drafted and start being infused into the lineup, so we can get back to being annual playoff contenders.

Well Chicago and Detroit stripped it down completely. How have those rebuilds gone? No guarantee you're going to be a contender in the foreseeable future just because you get high draft picks.

We've missed the playoffs 6 years (about to be 7) since our first Cup win in 90-91. That's pretty damn good and probably tops in the league. We are tops with 5 Cups since 90-91. I think no matter what, we Penguins fans are long overdue for a long drought until our next Stanley Cup win, and building a dynasty like we've had twice isn't a foregone conclusion. Needs a lot of things to go just right, and a bit of luck.

[Pitts]

According to Dan Kingerski:

**The San Jose Sharks are already scouring the market for a veteran goalie. There will be little to no netminders on the free agent market. And others like John Gibson figure to block a deal to San Jose.

Keep that in your back pocket for after the season.

https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/penguin ... -thoughts/

[KG]

According to Dan Kingerski:

**The San Jose Sharks are already scouring the market for a veteran goalie. There will be little to no netminders on the free agent market. And others like John Gibson figure to block a deal to San Jose.

Keep that in your back pocket for after the season.

https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/penguin ... -thoughts/

Would be great. Jarry has a 12 team no trade list though. Although SJ is going to start getting better with all the young talent they have. SJ also has their young goalie Askarov who projects to be a #1. Who knows. Maybe this little run Jarry is on will give him a little bit of trade value at least.

[KG]

Wow. Even Rossi with his black and gold tinted glasses see's what the Pens need. It does seem like once you get past the top 4 prospects then there isn't much of a difference between 5-10 in this draft. But the lower you go in the standings the higher your chances of winning the lottery are.

That said, I'm not too worried about the draft lottery, I'm more concerned that this little run they are on is going to result in more of the same next season. Same coaching staff, same bunch of veterans and no youth in the lineup.

[KG]

Letang needs to start playing less minutes ASAP. If the plan is to win next season. Which I'm not sure it is.

[ahawk9]

It's funny as a fan because when I was a kid in the '70s-early-'80s I was a Pens fan but I adopted my "playoff teams" because the Pens were rarely there, and when they were, it was a quick exit. Boston and Isles were teams I rooted for in the playoffs those days. I began hating those teams in '91 (Boston) & '93 (Isles) but I wanted to root for someone in the playoffs. I actually had a bumper sticker that said, "C'mon Pens, get the Cup!" but I never once put the Pens and the Cup in my thoughts because it was insane to think about.

I vaguely remember them losing to the Isles in '75 after winning the first three games, but I was excited by their 3 playoff teams that lost three tough 5-game series (when it was best of 5) to Boston, St. Louis (Mike Crombeen!), and the champion Isles. They really weren't a good team those three years but they played with a lot of heart against much better competition. Those were the days of 1 versus 16, etc. And, playoff away games were on Channel 53! Such a different time.

Now, I have spent nearly my entire adult life with one of the best players in the league (if not more!) playing in Pittsburgh. I'm so spoiled it's hard to fathom those dark days returning but there is an excitement involved in a potential rebuild. It may go the way of Detroit and Chicago and might take longer than I have to live but man have I had a great run as a hockey fan. I still can't bring myself to root against them in the moment but I wasn't disappointed to see the shootout loss last night. I wouldn't mind seeing a few 8-6 losses in regulation down the stretch but that's in theory. Once the puck drops, I'm going to root for them. If they lose, I'll try to see the big picture. Even a top 10 pick isn't the worst thing. Sure, it's probably worse than a top 4 pick but these are 18-year-old kids who develop at different rates. Maybe they can snag the next Kevin Stevens at 9 or something. Conversely, maybe they take Robert Dome with the 5th pick. Ya never know! Just enjoying Sid while I can.

[KG]

And what's the deal with Tommy Novak? I forgot he was on the team. He blocked that shot weeks ago now. No updates? No word if it was a break or anything? Would be nice to see him back and getting some real minutes.

[Puck-Lurker]

And what's the deal with Tommy Novak? I forgot he was on the team. He blocked that shot weeks ago now. No updates? No word if it was a break or anything? Would be nice to see him back and getting some real minutes.

He's been skating again, last I heard. Figure he's out for this week though.

[ahawk9]

Saw somewhere that he's listed as day-to-day, which could mean a whole lot of things...

[Michael74]

Wow. Even Rossi with his black and gold tinted glasses see's what the Pens need. It does seem like once you get past the top 4 prospects then there isn't much of a difference between 5-10 in this draft. But the lower you go in the standings the higher your chances of winning the lottery are.

That said, I'm not too worried about the draft lottery, I'm more concerned that this little run they are on is going to result in more of the same next season. Same coaching staff, same bunch of veterans and no youth in the lineup.

100% agree with Rossi, first time for everything.

[FLPensFan]

Wow. Even Rossi with his black and gold tinted glasses see's what the Pens need. It does seem like once you get past the top 4 prospects then there isn't much of a difference between 5-10 in this draft. But the lower you go in the standings the higher your chances of winning the lottery are.

That said, I'm not too worried about the draft lottery, I'm more concerned that this little run they are on is going to result in more of the same next season. Same coaching staff, same bunch of veterans and no youth in the lineup.

100% agree with Rossi, first time for everything.

To put it more simply....inside the top 7, they have a stronger chance of drafting another Rutger McGroarty.
Outside the top 7-10 range, they have a stronger chance of drafting the next Sam Poulin.

We have enough Sam Poulins and bottom 6 prospects. This team needs to start adding top 6 and potential top pairing d-men prospects.

[FLPensFan]

Saw somewhere that he's listed as day-to-day, which could mean a whole lot of things...

It was mentioned yesterday that Novak and POJ did not make the Florida trip, so it seems like they are still several days to a week away.

[FLPensFan]

Letang needs to start playing less minutes ASAP. If the plan is to win next season. Which I'm not sure it is.

Kingerski had the idea a week or two ago that we should trade Letang, make Karlsson our #1 d-man and get Sullivan to loosen up a bit on his system to let Karlsson play his game.

We're already seeing the constant mistakes that Karlsson makes. I don't think it can get much worse than what we've seen the past 2 seasons....but opening up his game and letting him play his way sure could add some offense and help offset the defensive lapses.

Otherwise, we don't have a top pairing d-man in our system. This was the appeal of getting a Brandt Clarke or a Simon Nemec in a trade.

[Michael74]

Wow. Even Rossi with his black and gold tinted glasses see's what the Pens need. It does seem like once you get past the top 4 prospects then there isn't much of a difference between 5-10 in this draft. But the lower you go in the standings the higher your chances of winning the lottery are.

That said, I'm not too worried about the draft lottery, I'm more concerned that this little run they are on is going to result in more of the same next season. Same coaching staff, same bunch of veterans and no youth in the lineup.

100% agree with Rossi, first time for everything.

To put it more simply....inside the top 7, they have a stronger chance of drafting another Rutger McGroarty.
Outside the top 7-10 range, they have a stronger chance of drafting the next Sam Poulin.

We have enough Sam Poulins and bottom 6 prospects. This team needs to start adding top 6 and potential top pairing d-men prospects.

Specifically they need Centers. But if we somehow get into the top 7 we could get our best prospect in some time. If not the quality drops rather significantly. There's a step down from 8-15, after that it drops much more.

[KG]

Letang needs to start playing less minutes ASAP. If the plan is to win next season. Which I'm not sure it is.

Kingerski had the idea a week or two ago that we should trade Letang, make Karlsson our #1 d-man and get Sullivan to loosen up a bit on his system to let Karlsson play his game.

We're already seeing the constant mistakes that Karlsson makes. I don't think it can get much worse than what we've seen the past 2 seasons....but opening up his game and letting him play his way sure could add some offense and help offset the defensive lapses.

Otherwise, we don't have a top pairing d-man in our system. This was the appeal of getting a Brandt Clarke or a Simon Nemec in a trade.

Sullivan will never accept Karlsson as his #1 d man. He would probably quit if they traded Letang. In that case, maybe they should do it!

[Cow_Master66]

Every time I read that the team needs to let Karlsson open up his game more, I get a great laugh. How much more open can it possibly get?

[100565]

I'd be really excited to get James Hagens, Michael Misa, or Matthew Schaefer. I would not want to trade any of these players; it would take a lottery win to get one of them. I think these three have a chance of being high level talent the team needs.

I would probably wait and see regarding Porter Martone. A little excited, but certainly moveable. He could be high level talent, but much likely than the top 3. Also, clearly a wing.

The next group of 4-6 players are like FlPensFan write, another McGroarty. It is fine, but I would certainly entertain trades. They have a chance of being high level talent, but more likely to be solid NHL players.

After those, 8-10 players, the remaining first round players, I have little excitement. Of course a few will end up being surprising, but most will be solid third liners that can play up some times.

Again, I am not a scout, simply my opinion based on reading articles and watching videos.

Therefore, without a lottery win, I would try to trade up to top 3. I would pay a hefty sum to move up, but nothing too ridiculous. I highly doubt any top 3 will be traded. Without a lottery win, picking 6-9 and NYR pick, I would try to trade for prospect already drafted and closer to NHL. Otherwise, I take BPA, hope they have a good year next year, then try to trade.