Is this guy for real?? Can you say tanking for mario? malkin?? are you kidding me??? you have an issue with the lottery system?? omg. you hypocrit
- mattstake

What makes him a hypocrite exactly? Did he tank for them?

Amen!!! Sour grapes by the author..poor baby..has malkin, crosby, letang and others as they tanked. unreal. really pisses me off
- mattstake

You’re a bit of a dense one there aren’t ya?

Hey, if Johnson was paired with Letang again yesterday, I would be very willing to believe this. But he was back with Schultz... so it makes little sense since nothing changed with today's practice.

I want it to be true of course, but that coming out today is odd timing to me.
- Guile

There were conflicting reports on the pairings. One tweet showed him with Schultz but then Pens Inside Scoop said it’s the same workflow as the day before.

There were conflicting reports on the pairings. One tweet showed him with Schultz but then Pens Inside Scoop said it’s the same workflow as the day before.
- j.boyd919

Oh? Can you give me a link to the inside scoop? I didnt see that one yesterday

Hey, if Johnson was paired with Letang again yesterday, I would be very willing to believe this. But he was back with Schultz... so it makes little sense since nothing changed with today's practice.

I want it to be true of course, but that coming out today is odd timing to me.
- Guile

People don’t think Dumo is a go. Monday they were probably preparing for a Dumo return. Yesterday they were hedging for if he can’t go. Easy explanation.

EDIT: or what boyd said.

I finally read an article because someone said it was "great". Anyways no draft is a terrible idea for many reasons.
1- trading becomes A LOT harder with no draft picks to trade for players. There would be a lot less trades without draft picks involved. GM's will give up a lot quicker on a pick next season then on a player they drafted in there system.
2- Some teams (city) obviously have a huge advantage to signing players. Be it weather, taxes, location, population, wifes, families, or all of those together, etc...
3- Im sure most would agree quite quickly giving a player 10 million a season at 18 in his first season will totally screw everything up... In multiple ways, some teams cant spend to the cap so that hurts them, if an 18 year old can get 10 million a season what does that drive players prices up to that are elite and are free agents at 27? If the contracts are limited in money then players can start stacking a team kinda like the NBA does now. You dont know what you are getting in an 18 year old and bad contracts will be signed by EVERY team which is not good for the entire cap situation as a league. Lets not even think about the MLB situation of trading signing money.

The cap floor also is put in place to stop complete tanking because you have to ice a roster that can be competitive. The young players and rebuilding teams as we see every year dont tank at the end of the year... they are playing for future money and contracts. Pride as well if you wanna through that in there. There is still pros and cons to "the gold plan" ways as well. Not saying I dont like that way. Teams can offload players not at the trade deadline but in the prior offseason so they are VERY bad to start the season then can call up prospects once they are eliminated and make trades to improve for the last 30 games. Could the draft lottery be a bit better? I think everything can be but right now its probably the best process out of any professional sport. Stop complaining, Snowflake.

People don’t think Dumo is a go. Monday they were probably preparing for a Dumo return. Yesterday they were hedging for if he can’t go. Easy explanation.

EDIT: or what boyd said.
- Victoro311

I'll still remain skeptical. Its ~70 games late if they bench him.

If you eliminate the draft, I guess college players have to choose between furthering their education or playing NHL hockey. Oh, and the CHL would love this idea.

Tanked? Dude... the Penguins (frank)ing sucked for the majority of time after Mario left.
- Guile

The Pens missed the playoffs 4 times since 1990. The Pens undoubtedly tanked to get Mario......and thank God for that.

As far as the Fluery, Malkin and Sid drafts, that was purely financial.

The Pens missed the playoffs 4 times since 1991. The Pens undoubtedly tanked to get Mario......and thank God for that.

As far as the Fluery, Malkin and Sid drafts, that was purely financial.
- madmike71

What were the financial issued caused by?

The Pens missed the playoffs 4 times since 1990. The Pens undoubtedly tanked to get Mario......and thank God for that.

As far as the Fluery, Malkin and Sid drafts, that was purely financial.
- madmike71

Yes, they didnt spend in free agency, and thus... (frank)ing sucked.

What were the financial issued caused by?
- jmatchett383

Sucking ass, and probably some overspending during the Mario era.

Sucking ass, and probably some overspending during the Mario era.
- Guile

I didn't know "sucking ass" directly caused financial issues. And they only overspent in the Mario era by about $20 million.

I think you know where I'm going here.

I didn't know "sucking ass" directly caused financial issues.

I think you know where I'm going here.
- jmatchett383

If you have to ask, you cant afford it

What were the financial issued caused by?
- jmatchett383

People always want to blame the fan support. It wasn't the issue. It was poor ownership combined with an uncapped league and a small market.

I'm not going to go down the road of explaining it all, but the ownership of that time basically flushed every revenue stream down the toilet for short term capital infusions. Howard Baldwin and the twit that followed him make Melnyk look like Warren Buffett.

The year before the lockout when the Pens basically iced a less than AHL team, they managed to average something like 12K. Not to mention the total dump of an arena was competing against brand new venues like PNC Park and Heinz field.

no draft means the orig six teams have a tremendous advantage and cold weather teams and the rust belt teams will have a hard time attracting the top tier talent.

I am pretty sure a majority of teams would hate the result.
- galahad

Agree with this, some teams would be doomed if prospects could sign wherever.

Is this guy for real?? Can you say tanking for mario? malkin?? are you kidding me??? you have an issue with the lottery system?? omg. you hypocrit
- mattstake

Your name looks too similar to mine for my liking...especially when you're posting drivel like this.

I didn't know "sucking ass" directly caused financial issues. And they only overspent in the Mario era by about $20 million.

I think you know where I'm going here.
- jmatchett383

Not fully sure of your meaning.

But they overspent, gave up part ownership of the team as a result. Then they didnt spend squat, became bottom feeders, and couldn't get money to spend more or less.

Did I miss something in a super condensed version of Penguins history between Mario and Crosby?

Not fully sure of your meaning.

But they overspent, gave up part ownership of the team as a result. Then they didnt spend squat, became bottom feeders, and couldn't get money to spend more or less.

Did I miss something in a super condensed version of Penguins history between Mario and Crosby?
- Guile

He's trying to say the fans suck.

I'll still remain skeptical. Its ~70 games late if they bench him.
- Guile

Yeah me too...we have too large of a sample size of bone headed decision for JJ to think he's not going to be in the lineup this eve....

Yohe tweeted JJ is likely the odd man out if Dumo returns!!!! Praise him!
- burgh4life87

This better not be a tease!

Everything is a gripe or a complaint. It's so off putting.

If the NHL did it Ryan's way, there would be no Pittsburgh Penguins because Mario would have simply signed with Montreal in 1984. I'm sure we're be fielding a great AHL team at the Civic Arena and looking forward to the AHL playoffs.

The draft and draft lottery are working the way they intended. NJ and NYR have been lousy for several years and are therefore getting to restock with top talent.

He's trying to say the fans suck.
- madmike71

So they emulated the PHI model.

Everything is a gripe or a complaint. It's so off putting.

If the NHL did it Ryan's way, there would be no Pittsburgh Penguins because Mario would have simply signed with Montreal in 1984. I'm sure we're be fielding a great AHL team at the Civic Arena and looking forward to the AHL playoffs.

The draft and draft lottery are working the way they intended. NJ and NYR have been lousy for several years and are therefore getting to restock with top talent.
- Emperor Filonius

You sure about that?

The problem with this gold plan is, what if a team truly sucks? If a team gets eliminated With 12-15 games left , but actually tries to win and only win say 3 games the rest of the season, for 6 points. Another team gets eliminated with 5 games to go because they are a decent team in a tough division. They win 4 of their last 5 and jump the really crappy team. Doesn’t seem fair to me. Or am getting the plan wrong?