Tanger said as long as the number starts with a 7

If the Pens can get Tanger at anything less than $8M I would ecstatic. If he was willing to take anything less than $8M, I would hope he'd be signed by now.

I don’t think we resign all of the forwards you have signed. I think instead we let Puustinen and/or Poulin break into the lineup to save some cap space. This would allow us to pay a legit solid second line winger. I also think POJ makes the team over Friedman. MAF would also take a bit less which could go to *insert second line winger from FA*. It would look something like this.

Guentzel-Crosby-rust
*insert second line winger from FA*-Malkin-Rakell
Zucker-Carter-Heinen/Erod(one stays one walks)
Poulin/Puustinen-Blueger-Mcginn

Dumo-Tanger
Math-Marino
POJ-Chad

Jarry
🌹

Or you dump zucker to whoever will take him and whoever isn’t against his NMC and keep both Heinen and Erod. This is what you would have to do if one of Malkin, Letang, or flower want more than expected OR you wanted to make an even bigger splash on *insert second line winger from FA*

I totally don't expect Rakell, ERod, Heinen and Kappy to all take discounts to stay on the team. I just really hope that Rakell does. I also hope Kappy does because the skills are there and can hopefully be tapped into on an affordable contract. As for ERod and Heinen, I would prefer to have someone like Domi in the mix then either of these guys, but we know that for stretches these two can fit on any of the four lines. I do think some of the younger guys should get a shot at making the team, but I don't think Poulin or Puustinen should be making the team over DOC or Zahorna. However, I can see Halander or Bjorkqvist being ahead of them as well because they have some PK experience. I would really like to see Angello given more of a shot simply because he is one of the few players that the Pens have with size that can actually skate.

I put Friedman ahead of POJ simply for the fact that the team seems to have him higher than POJ currently.

As for MAF, he is an interesting case. I can see a team like Edmonton willing to give him $3.5-4M a year as their 1A goalie. I could see numerous teams willing to go up to about $3-3.5M for him to be a 1B/ strong back-up. I think MAF would be more than willing to leave a little money on the table to rejoin the Pens, but I went with $2.9 for the same reason I went with $7.1M for Geno. Sid is a brother to these guys and Geno and MAF love to rib him. Them taking 7.1 and 2.9 would be "hilarious" to them. It's just almost too perfect to not happen.

Love the 2.9 for flower. If his contract got done first it makes a ton of sense, but if we are a week into FA and the pens have 2.2 left in cap space or whatever, I think he would rather sign with them as opposed to signing with the oil for 3.5

The reason I chose POJ, Puustinen, and Poulin over the guys you have is because they all have higher potential ceilings and Hextall specifically mentioned them as players he expects could make the jump next year

While we are at it, we should sign Letang for 5.8 mil🥴