Eller traded back to the Caps

[BigMcK]

Per Taylor Haase (https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/team ... s/feed/p/1) Dubas said via email Tuesday night that the Eller trade had been in the works since the spring, Washington met the asking price, so the trade was made. (FLPensFan takes this to mean Dubas has had a price set for awhile, not necessarily that PIT and WSH have been talking that long.

Calling Bull Shot on KD's comments. He is way over his head due to complete lack of experience at his job. Peter principle in full effect. As a lifelong fan, his word ain't worth spit.

Good for Lars to escape this franchise.

[Pens4Life]

I hate it tbh?! What is even our direction? 4.2M in salary cap space now..

I hate it, why? Because we traded away one of best players last 2 seasons for low tier picks.. I know 35yrs old, contract ending, but still.. Some team at deadline could send us more..

Why I also hate it? Because we sent out another player who actually cared, played with heart, who hustled.. while we are keeping some late night cocktail cruisers on team and below average players.
He will be missed on ice and also OFF ICE, character, leadership in locker room.

[Puck-Lurker]

I hate it tbh?! What is even our direction? 4.2M in salary cap space now..

I hate it, why? Because we traded away one of best players last 2 seasons for low tier picks.. I know 35yrs old, contract ending, but still.. Some team at deadline could send us more..

Why I also hate it? Because we sent out another player who actually cared, played with heart, who hustled.. while we are keeping some late night cocktail cruisers on team and below average players.
He will be missed on ice and also OFF ICE, character, leadership in locker room.

Wasn't amazing or great at 2C, but could competently plug that hole. Could play at 3C and 4C and take on different pairs of wingers on a nightly basis and have chemistry.

Aside from everything else, hate to see him go. Best of luck to him.

[pfim]

As has been said, sucks as he's one player that seemed to meet expectations on a regular basis.

But as an organization, we don't need to pay a 35 year old 3C $2.5 million dollars. We can lose with him or without him.

[Cow_Master66]

Good trade for both teams. He wasn't worth too much, and that's what the price was. I think at the end of the day, this team will move a bunch of guys not named Crosby, Malkin, and Letang, + the guys they likely can't move in Jarry and EK, and they will be stuck in a 5+ year rebuild to see the geezers finish their career here.

Time will tell if any of the core 3 ask for a trade.....seems unlikely with Geno to me, and probably not Crosby, but maybe there's a chance Letang wants to take another shot. I have a feeling the return would be underwhelming for him though.

[Puck-Lurker]

Good trade for both teams. He wasn't worth too much, and that's what the price was. I think at the end of the day, this team will move a bunch of guys not named Crosby, Malkin, and Letang, + the guys they likely can't move in Jarry and EK, and they will be stuck in a 5+ year rebuild to see the geezers finish their career here.

Time will tell if any of the core 3 ask for a trade.....seems unlikely with Geno to me, and probably not Crosby, but maybe there's a chance Letang wants to take another shot. I have a feeling the return would be underwhelming for him though.

Cap space to hire a top 4 RHD or acquire one via trade. Letang has been one of the real problems this season

[KG]

We all figured Lars would be on his way out with the additions of Hayes and Lizotte (along with Ponomarov) during the summer. There were rumblings that Dubas was trying to trade Eller at the deadline last season, which he confirmed. Caps met the asking price and you move on. No problem with the trade. Would have preferred a 2nd instead of a 3rd and a 5th, but at least we didn't use our last retention slot.

With Eller off the books that will allow the Pens to bring in an expensive player at the deadline (in the $6mill range). If they choose to.

Wonder if Dubas will go all in for Marner as a UFA this off-season. We will definitely have cap space. Also expect to shed a lot more salary off the books by the summer as well.

[largegarlic]

We all figured Lars would be on his way out with the additions of Hayes and Lizotte (along with Ponomarov) during the summer. There were rumblings that Dubas was trying to trade Eller at the deadline last season, which he confirmed. Caps met the asking price and you move on. No problem with the trade. Would have preferred a 2nd instead of a 3rd and a 5th, but at least we didn't use our last retention slot.

With Eller off the books that will allow the Pens to bring in an expensive player at the deadline (in the $6mill range). If they choose to.

Wonder if Dubas will go all in for Marner as a UFA this off-season. We will definitely have cap space. Also expect to shed a lot more salary off the books by the summer as well.

Yeah, I was hoping for a 2nd, but a 3rd and 5th is pretty close to that. It's a bummer in the short term to trade one of the few guys who was playing up to expectations and playing with effort on a nightly basis, but that's also why he was tradable. It's absolutely the right move to start trading older guys with value and keep stocking up on the picks and prospects.

[TexasPenguins]

We all figured Lars would be on his way out with the additions of Hayes and Lizotte (along with Ponomarov) during the summer. There were rumblings that Dubas was trying to trade Eller at the deadline last season, which he confirmed. Caps met the asking price and you move on. No problem with the trade. Would have preferred a 2nd instead of a 3rd and a 5th, but at least we didn't use our last retention slot.

With Eller off the books that will allow the Pens to bring in an expensive player at the deadline (in the $6mill range). If they choose to.

Wonder if Dubas will go all in for Marner as a UFA this off-season. We will definitely have cap space. Also expect to shed a lot more salary off the books by the summer as well.

I certainly hope this is the beginning of the rebuild. We shouldn’t be attempting to trade for anything but draft picks or prospects.
Unfortunately we probably won’t be able to move EK, Letang, or Jarry unless we eat a bunch of their contract (which I wouldn’t mind) and include a high pick or good prospect (which I hope no one wants to do.) I think the possibile trades this year will include Pettersson, Rust, Rakell, Bunting, Nedeljkovic, and whatever we can get for Grzelcyk, Acciari, Lizette, etc.
Add several picks for the next few years, and hopefully get a top 5 pick the next two seasons.
But either way, no one should expect the Pens to be competing for a playoff spot for at least 3 or 4 years.

[Antonio]

Yeah, I admit to being excited at the prospect of what Dubas could bring and admit to being leery pretty fast but still wanting to give him a shot. I am pretty convinced he is a worthless moron now. I was wrong about him for sure...let myself get caught up in all the hype around him and the idea of how great he was supposed to be, when I really did not know much about him but figured maybe he was really a great pick given the hype. Worthless. No plan, no direction, no vision, no balls. Maybe he can move Crosby for a 1st in 2045.

[Wyopen]

I think this trade of Eller was meant to send a message, that’s all. I don’t foresee any more trades because they play three non playoff teams and should win them all. Then they’ll be back in the playoff race and people will be happy again. Or so they think.

[Skatingpen]

One of the few who gave a crap gets moved. Expected nothing more than this from this organization

[Toke]

I think that Dubas has bitten off more than he can chew here. His plan, beginning with the EK65 deal, was to get the team to be competitive and back in the playoffs. Nothing he has done to accomplish that has worked out in the slightest. Now that he jettisons one of the very few good moves he did make it reeks of desperation.

[Pitts]

Was surprised by this trade. I wonder if holding closer to the deadline may have created a bit if a bidding war? I read Toronto is in need of a 3C and I thought Eller was the perfect type of player they need to help move them along. Toronto been spinning wheels for years in the playoffs.

At any rate, I guess some of the youngsters will finally get a chance. At least for the time being.

[pfim]

I think that Dubas has bitten off more than he can chew here. His plan, beginning with the EK65 deal, was to get the team to be competitive and back in the playoffs. Nothing he has done to accomplish that has worked out in the slightest. Now that he jettisons one of the very few good moves he did make it reeks of desperation.

Never really saw Karlsson's acquisition other than trying to get something useful out of two bad contracts. It turns out he just traded two bad contracts for one very large bad one.

I don't know if he's the guy to turn us around, but we're still recovering from the pure incompetence of Ron Hextall.

[Antonio]

Well it speaks to a larger issue with this franchise... we HAD to ship off Granlund, who was a catastrophe.... except he never was before coming here and now has almost a point per game pace in over a full season of games after leaving. Really needed to be free of him... clearly he couldn't produce, except for before and after coming here. Honestly, the EK trade was sold as shipping off trash we couldn't unload, and I agreed with the move for sure, but the reality seems a lot closer to the stuff we moved wasn't THAT bad or necessary to unload and what we got turned out to be... surprise surprise, unable to be useful here despite a career of much greater production prior to arriving here. Hmmmm...

[Gunnerfan]

Eller was a fine player for us but not a significant piece. If you can grab a 3rd and a 5th for an expiring contract, you do it. We always whine on this board about getting significant playing time to younger players, so we can't double back on that and complain when it happens. We could also be acquiring resources to make more significant moves or get NHL-ready players. This has not played out entirely. I still believe in GMKD

[Tico Rick]

I don't know if he's the guy to turn us around, but we're still recovering from the pure incompetence of Ron Hextall.

This.

[pfim]

Well it speaks to a larger issue with this franchise... we HAD to ship off Granlund, who was a catastrophe.... except he never was before coming here and now has almost a point per game pace in over a full season of games after leaving. Really needed to be free of him... clearly he couldn't produce, except for before and after coming here. Honestly, the EK trade was sold as shipping off trash we couldn't unload, and I agreed with the move for sure, but the reality seems a lot closer to the stuff we moved wasn't THAT bad or necessary to unload and what we got turned out to be... surprise surprise, unable to be useful here despite a career of much greater production prior to arriving here. Hmmmm...

He was awful before he got here and was even worse when here. He doesn't fit into any sort of winning hockey style.

He's producing in San Jose for the same reason EK did: getting ridiculous amounts of ice time in high leverage situations for an awful team.

[Antonio]

I'm not saying he's a superstar, but his career before and after shows he isn't anywhere near the atomic bomb level catastrophe he was here. EK is getting copious amounts of high value ice time here also... yet he is not producing anywhere near his career levels. Again... hmmm...

[Pruezy11881]

I'm not saying he's a superstar, but his career before and after shows he isn't anywhere near the atomic bomb level catastrophe he was here. EK is getting copious amounts of high value ice time here also... yet he is not producing anywhere near his career levels. Again... hmmm...

He's been fixed by the coaching staff in the 'Burgh so much that there has been chatter that team Sweden may leave him off the team now due to his 'defensive shortcomings'. That outta make EK real happy if true, let a lone comes to fruition.

[KG]

The Caps are having a good start to the season, but I would pump the brakes on giving them too much credit for their re-tool on the fly efforts. It's a lot easier to re-tool when you are allowed to have a payroll of over $100mill with LTIR players. Could certainly see them coming back down to earth as the season goes along.

[FLPensFan]

If Dubas can find a way to pickup two 2nd round picks in 2025, and another 1st for any of the next 3 drafts, the Penguins may actually well on their way to building that war chest of picks. Currently, in terms of first 3 rounds, the Penguins have:

2025 - 4 picks (a 1st and three 3rds)
2026 - 5 picks (a 1st, two 2nds, two 3rds)
2027 - 5 picks (a 1st, two 2nds, two 3rds)

That's 14 picks in the first 3 rounds over the next 3 years. Add a 1st somewhere and 2 more 2nds in 2025, that puts that total up to 17.
Of the extra picks in those rounds we have today:
--2 of the 4 extra 3rds (not counting our own) should be top half of the round picks. Those come from SJ and OTT. The other 2 are WSH and MIN, and by 2027, that WSH pick could very well be a top half of the round pick, too.
--1 of the 2 extra 2nds we have should be top half of the round, which would be the STL pick. The other pick is from the Rangers.

[Admin]

Interesting looking over the Pens' draft history:
https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/tea ... 07475.html

[Antonio]

I'm not terribly excited at 50 third round picks. Sure, more picks is always great because you never know what you might hit on, but given that our drafting has been terrible and 3rd rounders are already almost certainly duds, the number of picks in the next 3 years is a bit misleading.