SalarySwishSalarySwish
Forums/Armchair-GM

da pengwinz

Created by: DragonRaptorHybrid
Team: 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins
Initial Creation Date: Jul. 25, 2016
Published: Jul. 25, 2016
Salary Cap Mode: Basic
Description
First, Pascal Dupuis goes onto LTIR 'cause he kinda has to. I did it as such:
- Demote David Warsofsky, Scott Wilson, and Matt Murray. Warsofsky has to clear waivers, but I doubt anyone's that interested in him.
- Promote Sean Maguire, Lukas Bengtsson, Oskar Sundqvist, and Teodors Bļugers (Teddy Blueger). This puts cap space at $-3,744,999.
- Dupuis to LTIR
- Demote Maguire, Bengtsson, and Blueger.
- Promote Wilson and Murray.

Yes, this assumes that a) Marc-André Fleury isn't traded before the start of the season and b) Matt Cullen isn't resigned. Without Sundqvist, cap space sits at $1,562,500, and that's not enough to give Cullen > $1M (which is what he likely deserves) *and* call someone up in case of emergency. Jim Rutherford said he had an offer for Cullen that would fit under the cap ceiling and that, if he didn't take it, Sundqvist would likely slide into the 4C position (I don't think Kevin Porter should really be a perma-4C).

Forwards

On the whole, the center lineup is pretty much set, Patric Hörnqvist is likely staying at 1RW, and Eric Fehr at 4RW, but the rest of the lineup is somewhat fluid, in my opinion.

Line 1: The 1LW spot really is up for grabs. I think a lot of people seem to have forgotten that Scott Wilson exists, but he had 22 goals and 36 points in 34 games before his call-up last year with the Wilkes/Barre-Scranton Penguins. He's likely a more skilled winger than Conor Sheary, but it depends on what kinds of wingers Sidney Crosby wants (or if he just wants Chris Kunitz back on his line).

Line 2: Evgeni Malkin does seem to have had a habit of getting all of the "spare parts" wingers (in contrast to Crosby's "shiny new toys" wingers), but he and Kunitz still play well together, and Bryan Rust looked fairly good playing alongside him. If Kunitz sticks with Crosby, though, I doubt Malkin will complain about having a winger with decent potential in Wilson.

Line 3: HBK works pretty well, so I can't imagine Sullivan breaking it up anytime soon, unless it suddenly falls apart out of the blue. Besides, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup last year largely in part because their good players were as spread out as they were. The Sharks only had 2 competent defense pairs during the Stanley Cup Finals, and it showed in how badly Brenden Dillon and Roman Polák got shredded by the opposition. If Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel do get moved back to Malkin's line, it'll be interesting to see how Nick Bonino fares with wingers like Wilson, Rust, Kunitz, or Sheary.

Line 4 + Extras: As I mentioned before, I have Sundqvist stepping into Cullen's shoes, and he'll do fine with Fehr and Sheary/Tom Kühnhackl to support him. Kevin Porter is Kevin Porter.

Defense

Pair 1: A healthy Olli Määttä should easily hold down the first pairing with Kris Letang. If not, Brian Dumoulin can step in.

Pair 2: Dumoulin and Trevor Daley should be a fine pairing. I wouldn't keep Daley around past this year, though, mostly because Ethan Prow and Lukas Bengtsson are waiting in the wings. Long-term, the Penguins shouldn't keep having defensemen play on their off-side; Dom Galamini (@MimicoHero on Twitter) wrote an article a while back in which he did some research to support the importance of correct handedness on defense, and I generally run with that when thinking about defense pairings.

Pair 3 + Extras: It'd be lovely to see Derrick Pouliot assert himself on the 3rd pairing this year. It might require Ian Cole playing on his off-side, but it'd be great to see. As for Justin Schultz, I dunno if he's going to be around past this year. It really depends on how he, Prow, and Bengtsson play during the upcoming season.

Special Teams

Note: I largely cobbled these together by going to Hockey-Reference and looking at average TOIs on the power play and the penalty kill and making educated guesses.

PP1: Not much to say. Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Hörnqvist, and Letang.

PP2: Bonino and Kunitz had decent power play time, as did Daley and Schultz. Depending on whether Wilson turns into the goal-scorer in the NHL that he was in the AHL, he might be a good fit on PP2.

PK1: Man, the PK really took a hit with Cullen and Ben Lovejoy 's departures. Sundqvist will likely step into Cullen's shoes, though, and I think Dumoulin's probably the best choice to step into Lovejoy's.

PK2: I think Määttä, Letang, Bonino, and Hagelin were all on the PK last year, so I just kinda stuck them on PK2.

As an aside, if Jake Guentzel does well in the AHL this year, he might be a lock to replace Bonino at 3C next year if the latter prices himself out of the Penguins' range. Daniel Sprong will likely have to go back to play in the QMJHL because there's just not enough room for him on the roster (and it's probably a bad idea to make him play on his off-wing); Rutherford and Mike Johnston kinda screwed up there in burning the first year of his ELC. I think Prow and Bengtsson will likely need some time to adjust to the difficulty level of the AHL (especially the latter, as he's coming from the SHL), so they won't be on the opening night roster. Knowing the Penguins, *someone's* going to get injured, so they'll have their opportunity to play at the NHL level.
Retained Salary Transactions
DraftRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7
2017
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
2018
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
2019
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the PIT
ROSTER SIZESALARY CAPCAP HITOVERAGES TooltipBONUSESCAP SPACE
23$73,000,000$69,246,974$0$1,072,500$3,753,026

Roster

Left WingCentreRight Wing
$625,000$625,000
LW
UFA - 2
$8,700,000$8,700,000
C
NMC
UFA - 9
$4,250,000$4,250,000
RW
M-NTC
UFA - 2
$3,850,000$3,850,000
RW, LW
M-NTC
UFA - 1
$9,500,000$9,500,000
C
NMC
UFA - 6
$640,000$640,000
RW, LW
UFA - 2
$1,875,000$1,875,000
LW
UFA - 3
$1,900,000$1,900,000
C, LW
UFA - 1
$6,800,000$6,800,000
RW
M-NTC, NMC
UFA - 6
$667,500$667,500 (Performance Bonus$257,500$258K)
LW, RW
UFA - 1
$700,833$700,833 (Performance Bonus$132,500$132K)
RW, C
UFA - 1
$2,000,000$2,000,000
C, RW
UFA - 2
$625,000$625,000
RW
UFA - 2
$575,000$575,000
C
UFA - 1
Left DefenseRight DefenseGoaltender
$3,333,225$3,333,225
LD
UFA - 6
$7,250,000$7,250,000
RD
M-NTC, NMC
UFA - 6
$5,750,000$5,750,000
G
M-NTC, NMC
UFA - 3
$800,000$800,000
LD
UFA - 1
$3,300,000$3,300,000
RD
UFA - 1
$628,333$628,333 (Performance Bonus$257,500$258K)
G
UFA - 1
$2,100,000$2,100,000
LD/RD
UFA - 2
$863,333$863,333 (Performance Bonus$425,000$425K)
LD
UFA - 1
$1,400,000$1,400,000
RD
UFA - 1
ScratchesInjured Reserve (IR)Long Term IR (LTIR)
$3,750,000$3,750,000
RW, LW
M-NTC
UFA - 1

Embed Code

  • To display this team on another website or blog, add this iFrame to the appropriate page
  • Customize the height attribute in the iFrame code below to fit your website appropriately. Minimum recommended: 400px.

Text-Embed

Click to Highlight
Jul. 26, 2016 at 8:26 a.m.
#1
IgorKutchakokov
Avatar of the user
Joined: Mar. 2016
Posts: 561
Likes: 61
Solid analysis of the most likely direction the Pens will go.. Obviously as mentioned this is all thrown for a loop if Fleury is dealt which could allow them to bring in a top 2 line winger. I love the position the Pens are in going into next off-season - good timing on the RFA's and older guys contract expiry.
 
Reply
To create a post please Login or Register
Question:
Options:
Add Option
Submit Poll