So Carlyle back with the Ducks and Yoe is HC in waiting for the Blues.

Serious question, how can these clubs not identify any other coaching prospects? Is nobody in the AHL worthy? Assistant NHL coaches? I just can't believe these retreads are someone's solution.

Having one of those two guys coach my team would be worse than Mike Johnston. Well, ok, not that bad but......
- madmike71

I'm surprised the Marlies guy isn't getting any love. He's been dominant in the AHL.

From Triple H

Edit: I hope this replaces the viking helmet for next year's locker room award

The Pens transformation was truly remarkable. Kudos all around, to Sully, Jacques, Tocchet, and old-man Rutherford. Under Johnston's direction, through the first 25 games of the season, the Pens were ranked 24th is 5v5 SAF% (47.5). Fast forward to the last 25 games of the season and the Pens 5v5 SAF% (56.9) improved to second best. If you include score & venue, the Pens were ranked #1. BTW, San Jose was ranked 4th. SAF #'s referenced from Puck on Net.

Why is this important?

Over the past few months the Pens displayed a paradigm shift in team construction, playing style, and zone efficiencies. During the Finals, SPEED tilted the ice in the Pens favor and relegated the Sharks to chasing the game. I never thought the games we ever as close as the score(s) suggested. Jones deserves a ton of credit. IMO, what makes this Cup run even better, is that it validates that the Pens were indeed the best team in the league! They flew under the radar and not many "experts" gave them a chance. What a great run by a great team of stars, misfits, castoffs, and youngsters! Enjoy the summer Pens fans!

Does anyone else get the changing of the guard feeling from this cup win?

Duper gone, at least in the player capacity.
Fleury gone. There is no way Fleury can stay, Murray won his job.
Kunitz done after next year.
Malkin? E4 guys.

The core went out on top though!

Congrats again guys!!! A job well done, and well deserved. The Cup champion should always be the team with the most skill/talent. Not the team that goons it up. U guys play the right way, a very entertaining brand of hockey. Hard to not like your team.

kunitz isnt going to go on forever. but for right now, i cant see how a third benefits the team more than him being there. if youre moving him just for a third, its largely for salary relief at that point. he's not what he used to be, but its going to be hard to find better for cheaper on the FA market.

he might just be worth more to the team than via trade or gone. add in the intangibles that he clearly is part of the boy club with malkin, crosby, and letang, and i think he sticks for his last year.

by that point, hell definitely be done and you let him do whatever he wants to do, either retiring to some post in the organization or trying to hang on for another year with someone else.
- stayinthefnnet

The team is really young now, they need veteran presence. Who on the team is a better example of how you want a Penguin forward to play? He's a really valuable guy to help develop guys like Rust, Wilson and Sheary.

Congrats (frank)ers.

Didn't read the article but can't disagree with the title. You guys got contributions from everyone on the team and everyone played their role well. You guys brought it every single shift in the attacking zone, forcing turn overs and getting a ridiculous amount of scoring chances, and played incredible team defense that made it difficult for the Sharks to get anything going at all. It hurts to be so close and lose it all but I can live with it knowing we lost to a damn good team.

Congrats (frank)ers.

Didn't read the article but can't disagree with the title. You guys got contributions from everyone on the team and everyone played their role well. You guys brought it every single shift in the attacking zone, forcing turn overs and getting a ridiculous amount of scoring chances, and played incredible team defense that made it difficult for the Sharks to get anything going at all. It hurts to be so close and lose it all but I can live with it knowing we lost to a damn good team.
- sjsharksss

Cheers it was a close affair - who the (frank) was that machine in your net?? Talk about trying to win the game single handed!

As Jumbo said, he thinks next season is going to be your big 1!

Congrats (frank)ers.

Didn't read the article but can't disagree with the title. You guys got contributions from everyone on the team and everyone played their role well. You guys brought it every single shift in the attacking zone, forcing turn overs and getting a ridiculous amount of scoring chances, and played incredible team defense that made it difficult for the Sharks to get anything going at all. It hurts to be so close and lose it all but I can live with it knowing we lost to a damn good team.
- sjsharksss

Congrats to you as well on a great season.

Isn't Wilson really fast and supposed to be the best of the bunch? Don't forget about him

It's modified. Until recently it was generally believed only those with full NMCs were autoprotected. That's no longer the case.
- Victoro311

Fwiw that isn't official yet. Still just rumor mill but agree the leaks are saying partial nmc is auto protect. if fleury is auto protect I basically move into the cap of trade fleury by the draft. I don't want to run into an issue next year where we are in the scf and the expansion draft is 10 days after the season and we are forced to rush a trade or God forbid fleury gets some kind of injury and can't be trade and is auto protected.

Does anyone else get the changing of the guard feeling from this cup win?

Duper gone, at least in the player capacity.
Fleury gone. There is no way Fleury can stay, Murray won his job.
Kunitz done after next year.
Malkin? E4 guys.

The core went out on top though!
- stackthepads

I would say there's a small chance we start doing 1 year deals with Kunitz after his contract is up. Seems like he's declined but analytic guys love him. Could be a good 4th liner at right price.

Isn't Wilson really fast and supposed to be the best the bunch? Don't forget about him
- dbell646

Hagelin and Kunitz are the two veteran LWs and locks for next year. Kuhnhackl, Sheary and Wilson are signed and will battle it out for the remaining two spots. Left Wing is not a position of strength but it is also not the black hole some would like us to believe either.

Funny that buyouts start tomorrow and then the draft is next week.

http://www.tsn.ca/let-s-c...-all-season-long-1.506547

So, what happened in game 5 that he would say the refs ignored right under their noses??

Funny that buyouts start tomorrow and then the draft is next week.
- nh4442

You forgot the parade!!

So Carlyle back with the Ducks and Yoe is HC in waiting for the Blues.

Serious question, how can these clubs not identify any other coaching prospects? Is nobody in the AHL worthy? Assistant NHL coaches? I just can't believe these retreads are someone's solution.

Having one of those two guys coach my team would be worse than the return of Mike Johnston. Well, ok, not that bad but......
- madmike71

I don't think Perry nor Getzlaf are happy about Carlyle being back.

Isn't Wilson really fast and supposed to be the best of the bunch? Don't forget about him
- dbell646

I haven't forgotten about Wilson. I don't think he is really fast, but good enough. He is a potential Kunitz replacement IMO.

Great write up Ryan! Thanks for your constant stream of blogs all season.

Pens are in surprisingly decent shape cap wise with trading Fleury the one glaring move which needs to be made. Also worth noting the Pens came out of these playoffs relatively unscathed. I mean, SJ looked dead and the Pens looked like they could have gone a few more series without slowing down.

Tough thing with trading Fleury is that there could be some top notch goalies available this offseason. I expect Fleury, Bishop and Crawford will all be available for the right price, meaning Fleury might need to be traded at a bit of a discount.

Pens need to keep Kunitz to play alongside of either Malkin or Crosby, the cost you are going to pay for someone to replace him is much higher than the $3.75M he is due.

HAHAHA, pure internet gold

https://medium.com/sports...b0021f092?source=featured

Does anyone else get the changing of the guard feeling from this cup win?

Duper gone, at least in the player capacity.
Fleury gone. There is no way Fleury can stay, Murray won his job.
Kunitz done after next year.
Malkin? E4 guys.

The core went out on top though!
- stackthepads

Hahaha Malkin ain't going nowhere.

But yes you're right. The core has transitioned in Pittsburgh. Guys like Orpik, Kunitz, Dupuis, Martin, and Fleury are no longer a part of it where as guys like Kessel, Hornqvist, Maatta, Dumoulin, and Murray are. And the supporting cast has completely changed as well. This is going to start feeling like a tale of two eras, as it should have always been.

Look at how successful the Hawks have been and ask yourself why. They identified a core group and then kept the supporting cast a revolving door of youth and cap efficiency. Shero decided our core of guys was way bigger than it should have been and was too loyal to guys from the 09 Cup when he should have looked to surround the true core with more effective options.

The true core in Pittsburgh will always be Crosby, Malkin, and Letang. Some other guys you can maybe include there now are Maatta and Kessel. You stay loyal to those guys and you build contenders around them. The rest are expendable.

Kunitz: most unheralded player in recent memory (dupuis aside) - still got some of them hands left

Awesome playoff Run guys! Maybe next year, we can finish it off at home!
Well done!

HAHAHA, pure internet gold

https://medium.com/sports...b0021f092?source=featured


- PittsPens

I saw that yesterday. Great stuff wish it were true

Awesome playoff Run guys! Maybe next year, we can finish it off at home!
Well done!
- Amanion

The City of Champions house words