Ryan Wilson: Blockbuster trade a grand slam for the Penguins Blockbuster trade a grand slam for the Penguins

Giddy up.

Wooowoooooo

I was looking at some 5v5 numbers from last season:

* All the Pens D combined scored only 19 goals at 5v5, nobody scored more than 4.

* EK scored 16 5v5 goals himself last year and Graves scored 8.

* EK had 64 5v5 points, which was 9 more than Sid, twice as many as our other top-6 except Geno, and more than 3x more than any Pens D.

* The Pens bottom 6 scored only 42 5v5 goals, with just 33 of those when no top-6 forward was on the ice. Nobody in their bottom 6 scored more than 7 5v5 goals. Acciari (10), Nieto (11), Eller (8) combined for 29 5v5 goals last year. (Graves scored more 5v5 goals than any of the Pens bottom 6 last year.)

* Zucker was a monster at 5v5, led the team with 24 goals.

* The Pens top 6 scored 107 5v5 goals. Looking forward to EK pushing that even higher this year.

I think graves is going to be an underrated pickup. For an extra 1/2 mil he replaces the corpse of dumo, except he doesn’t shoot muffins. I also think without having a second strong defensive defenceman ek wouldn’t work too well.

I think graves is going to be an underrated pickup. For an extra 1/2 mil he replaces the corpse of dumo, except he doesn’t shoot muffins. I also think without having a second strong defensive defenceman ek wouldn’t work too well.
- 10inchTerror

Add Reilly Smith into that conversation well.

- Feds91Stammer

If we get him you have to get a Tatar Pens tee lol.

- Feds91Stammer

Friedman is saying it....as is, with current roster players, the Pens will have about 5.9 in cap space to start the season and possibly until November or December...

You can figure it out if you can get Tatar in at a one year vet min.

Friedman is saying it....as is, with current roster players, the Pens will have about 5.9 in cap space to start the season and possibly until November or December...
- MattStrat

Would be a decent stop gap with Jake out. He must be coming in on a cheap 1 year to make it work though

I'm guessing Graves plays with Letang... and Pettersson with Karlsson? Swede connection.

Would be a decent stop gap with Jake out. He must be coming in on a cheap 1 year to make it work though
- 10inchTerror

Yeah, I mean, once Jake came back you'd have a problem haha but there might be other ways to fit Tatar in without caring about Jakes LTIR space for while he's out. I think Tatar was waiting for some teams to figure things out. You have to think there's been at least a team or two kick the tires on him.

Yeah, I mean, once Jake came back you'd have a problem haha but there might be other ways to fit Tatar in without caring about Jakes LTIR space for while he's out. I think Tatar was waiting for some teams to figure things out. You have to think there's been at least a team or two kick the tires on him.
- MattStrat

Short of finding a way to jettison Carter into the sun, there's nowhere else to save enough cap without detracting from the current roster.

Man looking at CapFriendly and seeing a million bucks on the cap for Jack Johnson still for 3 more seasons!.... not buying out Granlund was a huge, unexpected W.

Short of finding a way to jettison Carter into the sun, there's nowhere else to save enough cap without detracting from the current roster.
- YouMeAndDupuis9

yeah, its true. I mean, we dont know what Tatar would sign for...and perhaps Pitlick and his 1.1 mill cap hit arent even part of Dubas plans for October, but even still not much wiggle room and I doubt Tatar goes for less than 2 mil per. In fact that's what I see him getting...like 2/2.5 per for a season or two.

I have a feeling of unrest. For some reason I’m expecting it just not to work. EK gets 90 pts pens finish just out of a playoff spot. The Mike Sullivan affect.

I have a feeling of unrest. For some reason I’m expecting it just not to work. EK gets 90 pts pens finish just out of a playoff spot. The Mike Sullivan affect.
- Grinder47

I dont think them missing the playoffs again is far fetched at all hahaha...I really dont. I will not be shocked at all if they miss the playoffs. A lot of brand new pieces to jive and try and work together. With little to no organizational depth health is a huge factor here...and the big players are all in mid 30's....then you add in that their top goal scorer could potentially miss a significant amount of time to start the season....

sing a different song.

I have a feeling of unrest. For some reason I’m expecting it just not to work. EK gets 90 pts pens finish just out of a playoff spot. The Mike Sullivan affect.
- Grinder47

You’re giving RW a run for his money for most negative guy here, buddy.

quotes not working...

That was for Grinder. Pens just made one of the best trades in franchise history. Removing negative assets, getting the best defenseman in the league, etc etc. The team is miles better than last year.

quotes not working...

That was for Grinder. Pens just made one of the best trades in franchise history. Removing negative assets, getting the best defenseman in the league, etc etc. The team is miles better than last year.
- Brownsoldier

Looking at Mick’s lost above, every single move made this team better. Hextall basically undone. The bottom 6 is defensively more responsible and should be able to score more than last year, albeit nothing crazy. The D is more skilled in every way, especially offensively. Slightly younger and slightly cheaper. Pk should see a huge increase and pp should do better too.

The only thing I would like to see is more grit on defence for the playoffs. A big nasty bottom pair guy who can play competent 3rd pair minutes.

Looking at the numbers Mick posted above im even more impressed with Doob’s moves. They have a whole year together to help as well. They could keep petts/tanger together just for the chemistry and 5 of the top 6 are returning so they are familiar. I would be a lot more crestfallen to miss the playoffs with this team.

I hope this trade works out for PIT, I sincerely do. I think it would be insanely entertaining to watch four super high end players with extensive experience on the same team.


However... counting on four 33-37 year old players to be your best players and not only make it through the season, but also maintain their level of performance is a tall order. I'm unfortunately seeing shades of Chicago's "one last hurrah" before they blew everything up.

I hope this trade works out for PIT, I sincerely do. I think it would be insanely entertaining to watch four super high end players with extensive experience on the same team.


However... counting on four 33-37 year old players to be your best players and not only make it through the season, but also maintain their level of performance is a tall order. I'm unfortunately seeing shades of Chicago's "one last hurrah" before they blew everything up.
- Chunk

I’d say most of us here, all we want is to win a round. That would be a success. If they remain 80% healthy I think it’s a possibility. Worst case, we just want entertainment.

I'm guessing Graves plays with Letang... and Pettersson with Karlsson? Swede connection.
- YouMeAndDupuis9

I was wondering if they had played together on the world stage at all, but I'm not sure.