Addressing needs

Forums/Armchair-GM

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Created by: TraeYoung

Team: 2020-21 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 5, 2021

Published: Mar. 5, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

Right now, the Penguins have many problems yet many talented players that don’t work well together. Since it’s easier to fill some holes rather than trade a whole team, the focus here is on three of the problems: Power play, penalty kill, and lack of physicality.

Power Play: Dustin Brown becomes a huge pickup for the power play as one of the league leaders in PP goals. Brown displays a physical net-front presence on the man advantage.

Penalty Kill: Soderberg is another reliable killer, same with Zadarov from what I know.

Physicality: Brown and Zadarov are two physical players who bring more than just a Ryan Reaves, no offense to him.

I would also look at giving Zucker his own line and allowing McCann a role in the top 6. Matheson being grounded with a stable stay-at-home D in Ceci may hide his weaknesses a bit better. It’ll be like the kids who hid in the bushes in Fortnite back a few years back. You know they’re there but they’re harder to see and still suck nonetheless.

I’d be concerned about that third line potentially which is why if you can address it in the off-season, that would be ideal. Maybe you look at a trade for a guy like Nick Schmaltz or one of the Jets talented bottom six players. Granted, these guys are good for a reason and why would their teams want to trade them away?

Feel free to take a look at the PP and PK lines and let me know what you think. I’m not a fan of Jake on the first power play as he’s fallen in love with the pass and refuse to shoot when he’s with Sid and Geno. I’d rather see him man his own unit.

Thanks for taking a look, we are all just garbage armchair wannabe general managers at the end of the day.

Trades

PIT

Brown, Dustin

LAK

O'Connor, Drew
Sceviour, Colton
2023 3rd round pick (PIT)

PIT

CHI

Pettersson, Marcus
Rodrigues, Evan
2022 2nd round pick (PIT)

Buyouts

Jack Johnson: $1,166,667

Retained Salary Transactions

Nick Bjugstad: $2,050,000 (50%)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2021
2022
2023

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
20	$81,500,000	$79,606,667	$0	$850,000	$1,893,333

Roster

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
McCann, Jared $2,940,000$2,940,000 C, LW UFA - 2	Crosby, Sidney $8,700,000$8,700,000 C NMC UFA - 5	Kapanen, Kasperi $3,200,000$3,200,000 RW UFA - 2
Guentzel, Jake $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, RW UFA - 4	Malkin, Evgeni $9,500,000$9,500,000 C NMC UFA - 2	Rust, Bryan $3,500,000$3,500,000 RW, LW UFA - 2
Zucker, Jason $5,500,000$5,500,000 LW, RW M-NTC UFA - 3	Söderberg, Carl $1,000,000$1,000,000 C, LW UFA - 1	Brown, Dustin $5,875,000$5,875,000 RW, LW M-NTC UFA - 2
Aston-Reese, Zach $1,000,000$1,000,000 LW, RW UFA - 1	Blueger, Teddy $750,000$750,000 C, LW UFA - 1	Tanev, Brandon $3,500,000$3,500,000 LW, RW M-NTC UFA - 5

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Dumoulin, Brian $4,100,000$4,100,000 LD M-NTC UFA - 3	Letang, Kris $7,250,000$7,250,000 RD M-NTC, NMC UFA - 2	Jarry, Tristan $3,500,000$3,500,000 G UFA - 3
Zadorov, Nikita $3,200,000$3,200,000 LD/RD UFA - 1	Marino, John $925,000$925,000 ($850,000$850K) RD UFA - 1	DeSmith, Casey $1,250,000$1,250,000 G UFA - 2
Matheson, Michael $4,875,000$4,875,000 LD UFA - 6	Ceci, Cody $1,250,000$1,250,000 RD UFA - 1

Taxi Squad
Lafferty, Sam $750,000$750,000 ($0$0$0$0) RW, C, LW UFA - 2
Ruhwedel, Chad $700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0) RD UFA - 1
Jankowski, Mark $700,000$700,000 ($0$0$0$0) C, LW UFA - 1
Riikola, Juuso $1,150,000$1,150,000 ($75,000$75K$75,000$75K) LD UFA - 2
Larmi, Emil $792,500$792,500 ($0$0$0$0) ($132,500$132K) G UFA - 1
Friedman, Mark $725,000$725,000 ($0$0$0$0) LD/RD UFA - 2

Special Teams

Power Play 1
Rust, B.		Crosby, S.		Brown, D.
	Letang, K.		Malkin, E.

Power Play 2
Kapanen, K.		McCann, J.		Zucker, J.
	Marino, J.		Guentzel, J.

Penalty Kill 1
	Blueger, T.	Tanev, B.
	Dumoulin, B.	Marino, J.

Penalty Kill 2
	Söderberg, C.	Aston-Reese, Z.
	Zadorov, N.	Ceci, C.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 1:35 p.m.

Beetlejuice

In Connor We Trust

Joined: Jul. 2020

Posts: 3,315

Likes: 2,080

Chicago Accepts

TraeYoung liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 1:37 p.m.

TraeYoung

Thread Starter

Trae Young

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 134

Likes: 33

Quoting: Beetlejuice

Chicago Accepts

Thanks, I appreciate it. Do you think it’s fair value or are the Pens giving up too much? Just curious, not sure about Zadorov and Soderberg’s values.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 1:44 p.m.

Beetlejuice

In Connor We Trust

Joined: Jul. 2020

Posts: 3,315

Likes: 2,080

Quoting: TraeYoung

Thanks, I appreciate it. Do you think it’s fair value or are the Pens giving up too much? Just curious, not sure about Zadorov and Soderberg’s values.

I feel like Pettersson is better than Zadorov, I don't watch much pens game but from what I can tell Petterson has more value than Zadorov. Zadorov is worth a 2nd and Soderberg has been playing good but is only worth a 3rd maybe 4th

Wadejos123 liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 1:45 p.m.

Wadejos123

Joined: May 2017

Posts: 8,322

Likes: 4,970

hawks accept

TraeYoung liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 1:51 p.m.

JackBurton

Chicago Blackhawks

Joined: Aug. 2017

Posts: 1,026

Likes: 408

"We're all just garbage" is my favorite ending to an armchair GM post ever.

I think your issue with the LA trade is the man, not the team. The kings front office would be all about it, despite the extra PR legwork involved. The problem is Brownie, he wants to stay in that sweater until he dies. And he'd use his clauses to do so. Is there a chance he might be motivated to go to PIT for one last hurrah? Yeah, but PIT would have to trade every drop of futures away to make a monster competitor that would move the needle for Brownie. Just don't see it.

The problem with the Chicago trade is Bowman himself, not the returning value you've given here. He seems quite proud of himself for that **** awful trade, and even if he wasn't, the optics on tossing away Saad for him will ensure that Zads stays in town.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 1:52 p.m.

TraeYoung

Thread Starter

Trae Young

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 134

Likes: 33

Quoting: Beetlejuice

If it was last year, Pettersson would feel like he’d be valued at a late first or early second but this year he’s been rough. Just lacks physicality and wasn’t healthy to start the year. I love how he can be smart in jumping up on offense and I think he’s a sound defenseman on most teams but he isn’t what the Pens need anymore. He was when they acquired him. I’ll admit though, people have been quick to turn on him and write him off. He was great with Marino last year and this year, Marino has been disappointing so when you pick which one may be the problem or who you should move, it has to be Pettersson.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 1:55 p.m.

TraeYoung

Thread Starter

Trae Young

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 134

Likes: 33

Quoting: JackBurton

Unfortunately for me, you’re right in everything you said lol. I had the idea of trading for Brown at the start of the year before he popped off so that doesn’t help his value for other teams haha. I can imagine he wants to and may deserve to retire In LA but I hope we could drink the juice and fall in love with the idea of another cup run, whether it’s realistic with this team or not.

In regards to Bowman, it’s funny because I was reading today about Zadorov to do some research before this and it’s been pointed out that historically Bowman doesn’t move guys he trades for so quick because he loves them no matter why. However with Zadorov being a pending free agent and rumors of his agent maybe wanting a significant raise, I’d hope he’d consider it. Thanks for the comment and discussion!

JackBurton liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:06 p.m.

JackBurton

Chicago Blackhawks

Joined: Aug. 2017

Posts: 1,026

Likes: 408

Quoting: TraeYoung

If there is one thing that Bowman absolutely, unequivocally excels at... It is doubling down on a stupid move. David Rundblad anyone? Saad pissed away for Zads after taking the wash on Panarin? And acting like it was both necessary and a good idea at the time? Bowman's idea generator is his own worst enemy...

Agents chat a lot of **** because that's the job. For most of the season, Zads has been really bad. But he's been having his best games in the sweater lately, so the question is was he just taking some time to get up to Jeremy's system, or is he going to revert back to slow, out of position, and kinda dumb. If he continues to improve, and takes the longer "Connor Murphy" road to stability, I'm fine with giving him a long term contract for a decent raise. But if he wants more than 5.5/year, he can pound sand.

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Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:07 p.m.

Dpellz90

I know more than you

Joined: Feb. 2020

Posts: 1,103

Likes: 438

Going from Pettersson to Zadorov is a big downgrade. It'd be better to trade him for picks instead

pharrow liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:09 p.m.

#10

TraeYoung

Thread Starter

Trae Young

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 134

Likes: 33

Quoting: JackBurton

Yeah and it’s always risky to keep these players and even trade for them in this case. Obviously it doesn’t sound great for me giving up Pete and a pick for someone who may be a wash but it’s all a crapshoot which is why this website can be crazy at times. If anything I’d love to ship Matheson over instead of Pettersson and pray that Bowman falls I love with him

JackBurton liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:16 p.m.

#11

TraeYoung

Thread Starter

Trae Young

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 134

Likes: 33

Quoting: Dpellz90

Going from Pettersson to Zadorov is a big downgrade. It'd be better to trade him for picks instead

Value wise it is a downgrade but value shouldn’t be a key focus when you’re trying to compete. Zadorov fits the team needs better than Pettersson. Obviously Zadorov is a big risk and could be a flunk but it’s a shot I’d take. Maybe a similar style defenseman but better would be nicer obviously but those don’t come easy

Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:45 p.m.

#12

OldNYIfan

Once a Kings Fan Too

Joined: Jun. 2018

Posts: 40,998

Likes: 25,793

I think that we'd want more for Dustin Brown than a bottom-6 RW, a taxi-squad LW and an over-the-horizon third. As you so accurately note, he's one of the league leaders in power-play goals, and net-front presence is a valuable commodity no matter what the age of the player.

TraeYoung liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:48 p.m.

#13

TraeYoung

Thread Starter

Trae Young

Joined: Jan. 2020

Posts: 134

Likes: 33

Quoting: OldNYIfan

Yeah it’s just that contract is tough for contenders to eat. I’d upgrade to a 2nd but I’d prefer if some cap was retained. Any thoughts? Appreciate the comment !

OldNYIfan liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:56 p.m.

#14

tkecanuck341

Joined: May 2016

Posts: 14,713

Likes: 6,218

LA has no interest in trading Brown. Prior to the 2019 draft, Robitaille and Blake reported that a concern for this team going forward was the loss of leadership and lack of culture from when guys like Willie MItchell, Justin Williams, Jarret Stoll, and Matt Greene left the team. Dustin Brown is one of the few remaining guys around that still brings that aspect to the locker room. The guy exudes leadership, and has been referred to as the ideal when Blake describes what he wants his prospects to mature into, in terms of attitude and mindset.

Brown is the franchise leader in games played and is the unofficial leader of the Kings, even if he no longer wears a letter on his jersey. Unless he specifically requests a trade, he's not going anywhere. I expect LA to sign him to another less lucrative contract when his current deal expires.

OldNYIfan liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 2:58 p.m.

#15

OldNYIfan

Once a Kings Fan Too

Joined: Jun. 2018

Posts: 40,998

Likes: 25,793

Quoting: TraeYoung

Yeah it’s just that contract is tough for contenders to eat. I’d upgrade to a 2nd but I’d prefer if some cap was retained. Any thoughts? Appreciate the comment !

I can see us retaining up to 50% because we're at the bottom of the food (=salary) chain and we could take Matheson back for laughs, but then you're talking about your 2022 first and Legare plus, and (a) I don't know what the "plus" would be, and (b) I think that such a price is more than you want to pay. And that's IF we wanted to trade him and he wanted to go, both of which I highly doubt.

TraeYoung liked this.

Mar. 5, 2021 at 7:40 p.m.

#16

pharrow

Banned

Joined: Jun. 2018

Posts: 19,215

Likes: 4,837

bringing in new players doesn't fix the coach.

Moving MP from Z is a downgrade.

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