On Steve Ott...

The Flyers really really want Steve Ott. EK

Not a fun rumor.
- nbartley9

The Flyers may really want him but they're over the cap. They'll have to move a good player if they want him. They've got some ugly contracts that are very Scuderi like.

Honestly, I don't necessarily get the infatuation with him. He'd be a nice player at the right price, but he's not a difference make in any regard.

We won a Cup with Talbot and Fedotenko on the second line. LA just won with Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli on their second line. Those two will likely end up being very good NHL offensive players, but they aren't there yet.

A player like Kulemin could be an effective NHL second line player with his skill set.
- rival22

I've been saying for sometime now that Malkin doesn't need star wingers to be effective. He proved it by winning the Conn Smythe the Cup year.

Sid is the one that needs the higher-end wingers.

Put 2 decent wingers next to Malkin with lower cap hits and let him dominate the puck. Say Bennett and whoever.

Give Sid Horn and Kunitz.

3rd is Spall, Duper, and Sutter.

Sign some bangers for the 4th.

I've been saying for sometime now that Malkin doesn't need star wingers to be effective. He proved it by winning the Conn Smythe the Cup year.

Sid is the one that needs the higher-end wingers.

Put 2 decent wingers next to Malkin with lower cap hits and let him dominate the puck. Say Bennett and whoever.

Give Sid Horn and Kunitz.

3rd is Spall, Duper, and Sutter.

Sign some bangers for the 4th.
- 87_71_11_29

I love all the people who think Duper is going to the 3rd line. The guy is our first line winger until he loses the spot, and he hasnt yet. Right now we have nobody else to take it from him.

First line will remain unchanged while Geno gets BB and Hornqvist.

I've been saying for sometime now that Malkin doesn't need star wingers to be effective. He proved it by winning the Conn Smythe the Cup year.

Sid is the one that needs the higher-end wingers.

Put 2 decent wingers next to Malkin with lower cap hits and let him dominate the puck. Say Bennett and whoever.

Give Sid Horn and Kunitz.

3rd is Spall, Duper, and Sutter.

Sign some bangers for the 4th.
- 87_71_11_29

Agree 100%

I love all the people who think Duper is going to the 3rd line. The guy is our first line winger until he loses the spot, and he hasnt yet. Right now we have nobody else to take it from him.

First line will remain unchanged while Geno gets BB and Hornqvist.
- thickman1178

Dude blew out his knee and is in his mid 30's. Before getting nostalgic and huffy, lets wait and see if he can even hang on the top line before debating this.

The Flyers may really want him but they're over the cap. They'll have to move a good player if they want him. They've got some ugly contracts that are very Scuderi like.

Honestly, I don't necessarily get the infatuation with him. He'd be a nice player at the right price, but he's not a difference make in any regard.
- madmike71

That is with Pronger's cap hit included. That drops as soon as the season starts as it will be LTIR. So really they have roughly $4.7 million in cap space. Still not a great situation, but they have some wiggle room.

That is with Pronger's cap hit included. That drops as soon as the season starts as it will be LTIR. So really they have roughly $4.7 million in cap space. Still not a great situation, but they have some wiggle room.
- PensFan1103

Plus they can be 10% over the cap during the offseason

Sounds like Pens already have an offer to Kulemin. No money mentioned, but it will be for at least 3 years.
- cap1681

Dreger's putting the offer @$3 - $3.5m/yr

Dude blew out his knee and is in his mid 30's. Before getting nostalgic and huffy, lets wait and see if he can even hang on the top line before debating this.
- Reverend Killtaker

I tend to be leaning towards the side that thinks he will be back on the top line with Sid, but yeah it is definitely a wait and see situation. No guarantees coming back from an injury like that at his age. I like that we can basically lump him and Bennett into that either 1st line or 3rd line spot together and whoever runs away with the top line spot keeps it and the other is there on the 3rd in case they are needed and if neither really takes the job and runs with it, then you look for options at the deadline. No reason to assume neither of those guys can do it and sign somebody for more money when you have other spots to worry about.

My realistic roster:

FORWARDS
Chris Kunitz ($3.850m) / Sidney Crosby ($8.700m) / Beau Bennett ($0.900m)
Nikolai Kulemin ($3.250m) / Evgeni Malkin ($9.500m) / Patric Hornqvist ($4.250m)
Pascal Dupuis ($3.750m) / Brandon Sutter ($3.300m) / Leo Komarov ($2.000m)
Jayson Megna ($0.874m) / Nick Spaling ($2.000m) / Brian Gibbons ($0.550m)
Zach Sill ($0.550m) / Craig Adams ($0.700m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Kris Letang ($7.250m) / Paul Martin ($5.000m)
Robert Bortuzzo ($0.600m) / Simon Despres ($1.250m)
Scott Harrington ($0.589m) / Brian Dumoulin ($0.832m)
Olli Maatta ($0.894m) / Philip Samuelsson ($0.605m)
GOALTENDERS
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.000m)
Jeff Zatkoff ($0.600m)
BUYOUTS
Rob Scuderi ($0.431m)
BONUS OVERAGE
$0
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $69,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $67,224,681; BONUSES: $375,833
CAP SPACE (24-man roster): $1,775,319

BUYOUTS
Rob Scuderi ($0.431m)

- cap1681

Scuds won't get a buy-out this year. They'll see what he does once the new coach implements a system that even pretends to give a damn about what happens in his own end. They'll look at it as a case where Scuds was entirely incompatible with a system like Dan's, but in 09 under a system that was still 90% Therrien's and for 4 years in LA where they cared about the d-zone, he was a solid guy.

Scuds won't get a buy-out this year. They'll see what he does once the new coach implements a system that even pretends to give a damn about what happens in his own end. They'll look at it as a case where Scuds was entirely incompatible with a system like Dan's, but in 09 under a system that was still 90% Therrien's and for 4 years in LA where they cared about the d-zone, he was a solid guy.
- ScienceJesus

The thing is he wasn't that solid for LA at the end, which is why they moved on.

The thing is he wasn't that solid for LA at the end, which is why they moved on.
- Ryan_Wilson

And they won a cup again w/o him.

Scuds won't get a buy-out this year. They'll see what he does once the new coach implements a system that even pretends to give a damn about what happens in his own end. They'll look at it as a case where Scuds was entirely incompatible with a system like Dan's, but in 09 under a system that was still 90% Therrien's and for 4 years in LA where they cared about the d-zone, he was a solid guy.
- ScienceJesus

Agreed, they will trade him if they can, but otherwise he will be on the team this year and we will all have to just cross our fingers and hope for the best. If he has a bad year again, he will be somewhat easier to move next year just because his cap hit will be higher than his actual salary, which teams struggling to get to the cap floor will love, assuming of course he can't veto all of those teams with his limited no movement clause.

Dreger's putting the offer @$3 - $3.5m/yr
- Incredible Malk

Sounds about right.

Dude blew out his knee and is in his mid 30's. Before getting nostalgic and huffy, lets wait and see if he can even hang on the top line before debating this.
- Reverend Killtaker

This.

And you have to be prepared in case he can't hang it. Hence, looking for top 6 help in free agency.

I love all the people who think Duper is going to the 3rd line. The guy is our first line winger until he loses the spot, and he hasnt yet. Right now we have nobody else to take it from him.

First line will remain unchanged while Geno gets BB and Hornqvist.
- thickman1178

Duper is a decent 1st line guy. Passable. You already saw him before the injury last year being less effective.

He is a great 3rd line guy.

JR already said he wants grit on 3rd and 4th lines. That means no Bennett on lines 3 and 4.

If they sign Kulemin, Duper gonna be on the 3rd line.

The thing is he wasn't that solid for LA at the end, which is why they moved on.
- Ryan_Wilson

He wasn't AS solid, but he was still pretty solid. They just decided that they had younger guys that could do the same job at a lower price & moved on. They had some guys like Matt Greene that they felt could take that spot.

EDIT: They also had grabbed Reghr at the deadline in his last season there as well as added Willie Mitchell this past offseason.

The thing is he wasn't that solid for LA at the end, which is why they moved on.
- Ryan_Wilson

Just a friendly reminder you loved the signing.

Duper is a decent 1st line guy. Passable. You already saw him before the injury last year being less effective.

He is a great 3rd line guy.

JR already said he wants grit on 3rd and 4th lines. That means no Bennett on lines 3 and 4.

If they sign Kulemin, Duper gonna be on the 3rd line.
- 87_71_11_29

Do you think Duper is a 1st line player on any other team now or ever?

How about Heaters for the league minimum?

Guys an F'in Superstar

How about Heaters for the league minimum?

Guys an F'in Superstar
- RoloTahmasee

Ha Ha Ha he ownes a lake

Chances of trading Sutter at this point?

I tend to agree with Rutherford it's not about the best guy it's about the right guy. We've had the best guys the past 5 seasons time to get the right guys. Not saying what he has done or will do will be right but they certainly weren't recently anyways. Tomorrow is a pretty big day but at least wait until mid season to start judging this team and new regime. Just my thoughts

Do you think Duper is a 1st line player on any other team now or ever?
- dbell646

Speed and synergy with Crosby... thats what he was. He was a 1st liner "with" Crosby. He probably may have gotten 2nd line play elsewhere after his first season on the Crosby line, he hit a 2nd prime in his mid 30s. I'd be very surprised, and definitely not upset, if he comes back this season without losing a step from last year.