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BestGMBenning

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Forum: Armchair-GMDec. 9, 2023 at 1:55 a.m.
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>GM_SZK</b></div><div>Can he fire himself as GM?</div></div>

<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>BestGMBenning</b></div><div>He’s the president of hockey operations so why not? 😂</div></div>

I'm not really sure what more Dubas can do. People can get mad about the summer but there were two options IMO.

1.Make the EK trade and bet that having him + Letang on the blueline can translate to more offense from a mediocre bottom 6
2. Don't acquire EK, keep Jeff Petry, Buyout Granlund, trade Rutta and DeSmith and use the extra cash to build out a better bottom 6 that can generate offense on it's own.

He sends Rutta/Petry/DeSmith packing for EK. (whom majority of fans wanted).

That's a great trade to move crap contracts out and get the former norris winner.

However, that also left the team with very little money to spend in an already bad UFA class. I'd say you can't be upset at the Jarry or Eller deals right now, Smith has been eh, but I still thought that was a good trade. Graves has been worse than I expected, but again, very poor UFA class, there was not many other top 4 pair LD on the market. After him it was Mikkola or Soucy.

So Dubas dealt with what he had in front of him.

Matt Duchene was never coming here, ROR was never coming here, Compher got overpaid in DET, and Max Domi is not a good center. It was slim pickins this summer.

Rust Rakell and Acciari being hurt right now doesn't help, but as you mentioned the biggest issue is the power play. If they have a league avg. powerplay they're probably sitting very close to a playoff spot in the metro.

5 of their last 7 loses are 1 point loses... because they can't score on the power play.

Reirden needs to go, and someone new needs to come in an run a totally different PP system. I sort of agree Sullivan doesn't need to go yet unless he has lost the room.

Pens are getting legit top 5 goaltending right now from both of their guys, and it's being wasted. They're giving the team plenty of opportunities and getting left out to dry. The last real shelling the pens took was vs NJD nearly a month ago. If you would've told me in August that the pens would get into early December with their goalies combined for the 3rd highest SV% and 5th least GAA I would've said that the pens would be leading the metro and probably top 5 in the league.

They're good on 5v5 and PK, they just blowwww on the PP.

I also think pens fans need to get a bit more realistic around a potential trade at this point of the season. Cap space is next to nothing at the moment. Only 4 teams have more than $3M in space. Most teams are going to look to hang tight until the deadline given most division races are tight at the moment.

There are very few players on the team that they can move. There are 13 NMC of some type, Crosby/Malkin/Letang are obviously off the bored. I don't think Jeff Carter is waiving to go anywhere (nor do I think a team he'd consider waiving for wants him). EK isn't going anywhere. Pens fans may want to fight this, but no teams are going to want to trade for Rust or Rakell. They are both good players, and Rust is having a solid year, but no GM is going to want to trade for a 31yr on year 2 of a 6 year contract (Rust) or a 30 year old on year 1 of a 5 year contract (Rakell). Plus rust has a full NMC and Rakell an NTC. If they were each a few years younger, absolutely could see someone trading, but over 30 I just don't see it. Would be one thing if they were franchise level players.

After that, you have Smith, season and a half left on his contract, 10 team NTC and the pens just got him this summer. Again, tough sell I think given cap hit.

Graves and Jarry no chance, fresh contracts.

The three main pieces to me that can be traded are Jake, Pettersson and Ned.

Now, I'm only doing this if they realize come february that playoffs aren't obtainable, but if that's the case they can probably get a 2024 1st + prospect for Jake and a 2024 1st (and maybe a prospect) for Pettersson. There are some teams that are playoff teams/fringe contenders that desperately need someone like Pettersson and it'd be nothing to retain $2M next year on Pettersson. Given Neds performance you could probably get a 3rd or 4th for him. Maybe you can get some low end picks for random guys like Shea, Z, Ruhewdel etc.

But if Dubas can get 2 1sts and some prospects, I'd take that. and if they finish bottom 10 they get the 2024 they sent to SJS and would have 3 picks this year in the first.

Stocks the cabinet up immediately, and helps the rebuild tremendously. They'd have money to spend next summer, maybe they try and go for it again without using assets.

You keep Sid and Tanger and G around to hopefully grandfather and mentor in the upcoming team and that's that.

(people saying to trade Letang and Malkin, 1. I think they want to stay as long as Crosby is around 2. I don't think Pens can get as much in a return for either player that they think)

That's my take on all of it.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.