Could’ve just had both Malkin and trocheck if they kept Marino and traded Matheson for no player back

But Hextall

Goaltending has been your issue since you let MAF go.
Jarry is a Excellent Tandem Goalie 100%
Desmith is an Excellent Back Up for a Clear Cut Undisputed Starter like a MAF.

In no way does Jarry-Desmith = Championship
You could make any changes you want but until that's addressed you wont make it out of the east let alone win a Cup
I personally think John Gibsons your Tandem Guy who helps Jarry take that next step towards becoming a true Starter at 60+ games a year.
It'll take a few years maybe 2 max but he'll get him there.

Pretty much what I wanted too except would've gotten Strome for 3 mil to be 3C and wouldn't have signed Carter to that extension at all. Also probably wouldn't have brought back Desmith. Overall though I wanted something similar. Domi, Trocheck, Vatrano, Strome, Marchment, Milano were all names I had on my radar. But Hextall had to sign Rutta and trade two of our best D!

Any team where Carter is your 3C is going to have major problems.

Yep - this is something we all think about everyday haha. Now imagine how much better than better they would be if you signed Malkin over Trocheck too lol

Since the Pens let MAF go(the correct move btw), they are 9th in the league in save %. I wouldn't really call that an issue. Pens aren't, and shouldn't be, giving up assets to get a 6.4 million dollar backup that isn't even better than their current 1.8 million dollar backup.

When has Jarry proven he can win big games?

We could have paid them both. I just chose to add Vatrano but that’s not a must have signing.

Tristan Jarry beat the Colorado Avalanche just last night in a must win game to preserve any chance of making the playoffs.

Could they? Would have had to trade someone else then no? Malkin's like 2.5mil more than Vatrano and you have about 700K in cap space. Definitely possible - just would have had to make another move. Unless I'm missing something

One game in the regular season is not important. Getting to the playoffs is and the only time he showed up in a playoff series he was absolutely awful.

Don’t sign Vatrano or Domi and play the kids as wingers. It still would have been better than what we have now. Wingers are the easiest position to replace for cheap. Center is the toughest.

Jake-Sid-Rakell
Zucker-Geno-Rust
Puustinen-Trochek-Nylander
Heinen-Teddy-Archibald

Scratch Carter (obviously that never happens so reality is we’d scratch one of the kids)

But if they lost you would be saying it was important lol.

Oh no the guy played bad in his first playoff series?! That's it I've seen enough - we can now confirm Tristan Jarry is the worst goaltender of all time and shouldn't be on this team. No other goalie has ever struggled in their first playoff series. MAF ? No. Vasilevskiy? Never.

Yeah that would work. I just meant you would have to make an extra move. Like getting rid of Domi and Vatrano instead of just Vatrano. Oh for sure it would be better - we all agree on that.

Losing to a division rival and getting shelled while it happens is more important than beating a team from the other conference even if that win came over the defending champs. Teams that can’t compete again their own division aren’t winning anything. Goalies that crap the bed against their rivals and spend almost as much time on IR as they do in net aren’t worth resigning. Flower wasn’t even 25 year olds when he won his first cup. His first playoff appearance came at 22 when the rest of the core were also still kids. Jarry would be fine if we had an at least equal goalie to play him in tandem with, but he’s not the guy. He’s not going to be that guy that can play 50-60 games and be above average in that time.

So you're talking about team issues, and them putting it all on Jarry. Nice. Except he hasn't crapped the bed against rivals or spent as much time on IR as he has in net. The guy literally had 58 GP last year haha. I don't see where you think you made a point with your MAF comment?

We do have equal goalie play in tandem with him. You're not allowed to say he's "not the guy" when your alternative is objectively worse. And stats also prove that he's a perfectly fine goaltender. He literally just played 58 games last year and was 6th in save percentage haha. Come up with a better alternative then.

maybe they offerend VT16 deal, he just didnt wanna play in pittsburgh, as i always say.... im sure there is a tons of behind the scenes stuff we dont see.