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Forums :: Blog World :: Ryan Wilson: March to the Cup: Mario Lemieux Conference Finals voting
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Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Rochester, NY
Joined: 06.13.2013

Apr 6 @ 9:36 AM ET
Ryan Wilson: March to the Cup: Mario Lemieux Conference Finals voting March to the Cup: Mario Lemieux Conference Finals voting
cranktheradio
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Greensburg, PA
Joined: 07.02.2011

Apr 6 @ 9:58 AM ET
I absolutely love both teams. In this case though, I'm going to go with who's been there before. A healthy pens lineup with both Guentzel and Zucker next to Sai and Geno. Rust holding down a spot on the right hand side. The overall depth to match the playoff pedigree of Murray. I don't see any advantage the Avs have. I look at it like the 07 pens vs the senators, or the 08 pens against Wings. The Abs are "almost" ready
Blackstrom2
Washington Capitals
Location: richmond, VA
Joined: 10.11.2010

Apr 6 @ 10:13 AM ET
I absolutely love both teams. In this case though, I'm going to go with who's been there before. A healthy pens lineup with both Guentzel and Zucker next to Sai and Geno. Rust holding down a spot on the right hand side. The overall depth to match the playoff pedigree of Murray. I don't see any advantage the Avs have. I look at it like the 07 pens vs the senators, or the 08 pens against Wings. The Abs are "almost" ready
- cranktheradio


I really thought you were going to pick the Avs.
jmatchett383
Philadelphia Flyers
Location: Newark, DE
Joined: 03.09.2010

Apr 6 @ 10:20 AM ET
Very close matchup, could go either way.

Penguins will get 85% of the vote.
Tojo.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Aliquippa, PA
Joined: 11.11.2014

Apr 6 @ 11:17 AM ET
Not buying that buyout rumor list. Why would they buyout Schultz who's a pending UFA? Also, buying out Bjugstad makes little sense. Despite his injury woes this year they can likely find a deal for him.

As pointed out, JJ and Hornqvist would be the players you look at to buy out.

There are just too many players on that list who don't need to be bought out and can be traded with retention instead of being on the hook for years and year.

Teams on there in rebuilds, i.e. Ottawa and LA have no reason to buy anyone out. Plenty of teams would take Bobby Ryan at 50% of $7.25 for two years and the same with Carter at 50% of $5.27. When you look at the buyout for those two players they save more by trading and retaining.

Those are just two examples from that list, but there are plenty of teams in similar positions with players who only have two or three years left and don't get much savings from a buyout the first two years of the buyout.

- Rinosaur

I might have been looking at it, wrong, but I thought the rumor was compliance buyouts without the cap penalty like they did before to get out of bad contracts because of having to lower the cap.

A lower cap might hurt the ability to trade Bjugstad as well. I always figured there would be a team with spare cap space that needed a center that missed out on their targets and took him because he only had one year left. Now I'm not sure since it could be a very different market.

It's all really tough to predict right now.
MattStrat
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: ...serial abuser...and misuser...of the ellipsis , NF
Joined: 12.12.2014

Apr 6 @ 11:21 AM ET
Regular season would of ended Saturday
MattStrat
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: ...serial abuser...and misuser...of the ellipsis , NF
Joined: 12.12.2014

Apr 6 @ 11:21 AM ET
I really thought you were going to pick the Avs.
- Blackstrom2


hahaha
Rinosaur
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Somewhere, NJ
Joined: 01.21.2016

Apr 6 @ 2:28 PM ET
If both teams are 100% healthy this all comes down to goaltending.

Forward Group: Fully healthy the Pens have a deeper bottom six than the Avs.

Defense: RW says about even, but I think the Avs are a bit faster and tighter on defense.

It's goaltending and the one part I agree with him on is how volatile goaltending can be, so it's really whoever's goaltenders show up, but I'm giving the edge to the Avs. I think the younger legs will prevail.
123Kid
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: PA
Joined: 07.03.2017

Apr 6 @ 6:28 PM ET
I might have been looking at it, wrong, but I thought the rumor was compliance buyouts without the cap penalty like they did before to get out of bad contracts because of having to lower the cap.

A lower cap might hurt the ability to trade Bjugstad as well. I always figured there would be a team with spare cap space that needed a center that missed out on their targets and took him because he only had one year left. Now I'm not sure since it could be a very different market.

It's all really tough to predict right now.

- Tojo.



That's how I saw it as well. I don't think many teams tried to trade some of the players on the list. I think some of the players may get traded like a Tyler Johnson. It would depend on what occurs. There are probably 100 scenarios. I believe most is with the salary cap either staying the same or decreasing. I think most sports are going to take hit after this is all done mostly because most businesses and jobs took a hit.
Hockey66
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 07.05.2019

Apr 6 @ 6:32 PM ET
I might have been looking at it, wrong, but I thought the rumor was compliance buyouts without the cap penalty like they did before to get out of bad contracts because of having to lower the cap.

A lower cap might hurt the ability to trade Bjugstad as well. I always figured there would be a team with spare cap space that needed a center that missed out on their targets and took him because he only had one year left. Now I'm not sure since it could be a very different market.

It's all really tough to predict right now.

- Tojo.

That's how I interpret it, too.

I agree about Bjug. I think he is the new Martin Hanzal. Tantalizing skill for a big center but can never stay healthy. I don't think teams will be lining up for a $4M player who is likely to get injured again and create a hole in the lineup.
madmike71
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Joined: 12.21.2006

Apr 6 @ 9:29 PM ET
AT&T just had game 6 from 2009. Can't believe I forgot about Scuderi's "save". Just one of those massive individual plays that really stand out in that cup win.

That Staal, Kennedy and Cooke line was in beast mode.
MattStrat
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: ...serial abuser...and misuser...of the ellipsis , NF
Joined: 12.12.2014

Apr 7 @ 7:56 AM ET
The trade deadline feels like a life time ago...
Hockey66
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 07.05.2019

Apr 7 @ 3:27 PM ET
AT&T just had game 6 from 2009. Can't believe I forgot about Scuderi's "save". Just one of those massive individual plays that really stand out in that cup win.

That Staal, Kennedy and Cooke line was in beast mode.

- madmike71

Haha - how could you forget Scuderi's save?

Yeah, that third line was a monster. Cooke was a very underrated hockey player (probably because the focus was on all of the "other" stuff). He's one of those guys who always knew exactly where to be on the ice. Staal is pretty underrated, too, IMO. Then again, I put a lot of value in defensive forwards.
Hockey66
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 07.05.2019

Apr 7 @ 3:32 PM ET
The trade deadline feels like a life time ago...
- MattStrat

What do you think the odds are that JR had an inkling that trouble was brewing with coronavirus (and thus the season might be in jeopardy) so he didn't want to pay for a rental? A lot of people were sounding the alarm back then (and earlier). A record-breaking trade deadline and JR, who is generally very active, only makes one minor move (minus the Zucker trade weeks earlier).
madmike71
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Joined: 12.21.2006

Apr 7 @ 4:15 PM ET
Haha - how could you forget Scuderi's save?

Yeah, that third line was a monster. Cooke was a very underrated hockey player (probably because the focus was on all of the "other" stuff). He's one of those guys who always knew exactly where to be on the ice. Staal is pretty underrated, too, IMO. Then again, I put a lot of value in defensive forwards.

- Hockey66


Staal was such a horse. Kennedy too.....Played the best hockey of his career. Fun times.
Tojo.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Location: Aliquippa, PA
Joined: 11.11.2014

Apr 7 @ 5:22 PM ET
What do you think the odds are that JR had an inkling that trouble was brewing with coronavirus (and thus the season might be in jeopardy) so he didn't want to pay for a rental? A lot of people were sounding the alarm back then (and earlier). A record-breaking trade deadline and JR, who is generally very active, only makes one minor move (minus the Zucker trade weeks earlier).
- Hockey66

I don't think so, otherwise they don't bother with Marleau and Sheary, both rentals and Rodrigues who while technically a RFA has a high qualifier. We could argue about Sheary as a top RW and the LHD, but I think they felt they patched their holes as best as they could and didn't see them as problems.

I think you were the only one super upset they didn't do more. I thought there were a couple moves like Scandella that were affordable early, but after the Zucker trade, the team was left without it's 1st and 2nd this year, it's 3rd and 4th next year, and a prospect group that after Poulin isn't getting anyone good. It's hard to make more deals without assets.
Hockey66
Pittsburgh Penguins
Joined: 07.05.2019

Apr 8 @ 8:19 AM ET
I don't think so, otherwise they don't bother with Marleau and Sheary, both rentals and Rodrigues who while technically a RFA has a high qualifier. We could argue about Sheary as a top RW and the LHD, but I think they felt they patched their holes as best as they could and didn't see them as problems.

I think you were the only one super upset they didn't do more. I thought there were a couple moves like Scandella that were affordable early, but after the Zucker trade, the team was left without it's 1st and 2nd this year, it's 3rd and 4th next year, and a prospect group that after Poulin isn't getting anyone good. It's hard to make more deals without assets.

- Tojo.

Good point - make that two minor trades besides Zucker.

Haha - I don't know about being the only one and while I was upset at first, I calmed down a bit and became just 'disappointed' (but really annoyed that we re-acquired Sheary). I reject the notion that we don't have assets, it's just a matter of who we get and for how long. Yeah, not having our 1st and 2nd this year isn't great, but we still have 1sts and 2nds the next two years and 3 legit prospects.

I'm fine with it, though - with Guentzel out, guys coming back from injury, and the team playing like crap, I was already looking forward to next season when I think we have a much better shot. I just wonder if JR was maybe hedging his bets a bit, because that was a very underwhelming TDL. I think we can all agree with that.