Team: 2023-24 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Oct. 25, 2023

Published: Oct. 25, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

I argued with a lot of people on here this summer that while I completely understand how good of a player EK was, acquiring him meant that the bottom 6 wouldn't be very strong, and through 6 games it's quite obvious that's the case. Don't get me wrong, Karlsson has been fine so far, and shown in various times that he's still a very dominant player, but the bottom 6 is just brutal.

So a few notes:
- I brought Granlund back and bought him out to signify the easy way to get out of his deal in the summer.
- I brought Petry back and left enough cap space to cover what Montreal ate of his contract ($2,343,750)
- I didn't bring back DeSmith or Rutta as I think realistically they wouldn't have had an issue finding a team for either player. Both short term, neither on crazy contracts from a dollar perspective.

People hated Petry last year, and look I get it, he's not EK but his contract would've provided more balance across the team.

My third line picks:

- Erod is familiar with the team, and that's a contract the pens could've afforded.
- I think Pens could've signed Donato for the same deal he signed in Chicago, maybe even a 1x$3M, he could've bet on himself with cap going up next season.
- Same thing with Geekie, took a short deal with a playoff team to see if he can secure a bigger contract next go around, no reason penguins couldn't match that.


This scenario would make the bottom six faster and younger than they are now, everyone on the third line could jump up to the second line if there were injuries (no chance Eller can play top 6 minutes, I think DOC would be fine if you stuck him on a top line but that's about it).

This would also leave the team with $1.8M in cap space to work with should they want to add at the deadline.



I completely understand what Dubas was aiming to do with the way he constructed the bottom six. His hope was that they'd be stronger defensively and capable of holding leads + being able to role out Letang or karlsson more often would provide the bottom six with a highly skilled defender to push play and potentially create scoring chances rather than strictly relying on the forward for that. Obviously that hasn't worked yet.

Throw in being stuck with Carter's contract and a lackluster FA class, there was only so much to do.

People can say what they want about guys like ROR, Duchene, Domi, Compher but I think majority of those guys were out of reach at center. Duchene took a cut to go to a contender, Domi the same and to where his dad played. Compher got a big deal from DET that the pens couldn't afford and ROR would maybe be the closest, but I'm guessing the Preds gave him a better offer than most teams were willing to give and he took the money.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Sullivan get the door soon. He's a fantastic coach, but his system doesn't fit this team any more and hasn't for a few years. Dubas will be pressed to make adjustments given the window for Sid/G/Tanger/EK.

I also wouldn't be shocked to see one of Genteel or Rakell traded. I thought the other day it'd be stupid to trade Rakell, and still not sure it's the brightest idea, but if it can return a 3C and another winger then Dubas may got for it. POJ would be another player that may be dangled to try and get more bottom 6 players.

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