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Haymaker26

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Forum: Armchair-GM2 hours ago
Thread: Youth and Compete
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>LuckyMoneyPuck</b></div><div>53.1 on 5v5. 52% on the year.
anyway historically he's a good faceoff guy. Both in shorthand and 5v5 play.
Not sure they really want Rust on the PK anymore. Smith is a different story if he's still here.
Anyway there is only 1 spot on the PK left. I don't think they want to weigh guys down with the pk who are just getting their feet wet. It is what it is.</div></div>

I'd prefer not to have Rust on the PK anymore either, which is why I'd prefer to have Poulin or Ponomarev on it. But that lets us try Poulin or Ponomarev on the PK, and if they don't work out, we have Rust to fall back on. Given how little ice time anyone young other than DOC had gotten this year, I think giving them PK time would be a good test of their worth at the NHL level, that they can handle a bigger role. I don't see it as a way to weigh them down. I see it as a way for them to prove themselves and push them to be better NHL players.
Forum: Armchair-GM3 hours ago
Thread: pit competitive
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>fil97</b></div><div>I'd tend to agree with you. but tell me this isn't a much much improved team in respect of what we had last year.

(we have Blomqvist over murashov either way and we signed a much better player in free agency without giving up assets)</div></div>

I think it would depend whether it's a better team or not. On paper, we're better. But we were also better on paper this year compared to last, and that didn't end up being the case.
There's still a lot of uncertainty. If Reinhart doesn't maintain his career level away from Florida, that's another big contract on a player that isn't living up to lofty expectations. If Yager doesn't impress, the best option to replace him with got traded away as a sweetener in a deal I think has a high chance of blowing up in our face.

Poor asset management for the sake of making the team better is risky. Every move is a bet, and this would be betting that the cap space for Reinhart is worth giving up good assets for pennies on the dollar. Front offices have information we don't, so I find it hard to believe 31 other NHL teams would look at Rakell and conclude that the Pens would have to add value to move him.
Forum: Armchair-GM3 hours ago
Thread: Youth and Compete
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>LuckyMoneyPuck</b></div><div>You need to win on the dot to be a PK center. Both Acciari and Eller are good faceoff men. This is why they won't let a younger player do that. You lose on the dot, the puck stays in your end. You win you get a clear and time off the clock. They aren't going to take guys who are good on the dot and sit them for younger players.

This is why I say they probably keep both even though they should move 1. Those were 2 of the only guys who really stood out in the bottom 6. All the 4th line wingers were just there. They didn't do anything.
The 3rd line wingers rotated and were here and there. Mainly Smith and Rakell who did a little time there and DOC. You take those 3 off the 3rd line and take way Eller and Acciari and there is nothing there of any value left in the bottom 6 last year.
While a younger player might get the winger role on the PK, I doubt they are getting center role. My guess is they will put DOC out there on one of them as he had the role this year. The other will probably go to Bemstrom if he is a 4th liner. Which he probably will be if they play the youth at 3C and 3RW. So no I don't see them playing them. You have 3 of those forward roles basically set already.

Your 4th line next year probably Bemstrom, Eller, Acciari. 3rd line DOC, ?, ? They will let players try to earn those spots I think. Not rely on them for defense so much, or to PK and just let them try to generate more offense. You have to not flood their plate with responsibility and let them grow.</div></div>

Eller lost more faceoffs on the penalty kill than he won, per Evolving Hockey. And if you take my argument to mean that the young guys will steal our PK spots from Eller and Acciari, you aren't listening. If it were up to me, we'd run Eller/DOC on the top unit, and Acciari and one of Poulin, Ponomarev, or Rust on the 2nd one. Bemstrom never PKed for us. That doesn't mean he won't if he sticks around, but it means the coaches didn't expect him to PK better than Rust, Smith, or Carter this year.

The guys that stood out in the bottom 6 to me were DOC, Eller, and after a while Puustinen. Acciari struggled heavily this year, to the point that I wouldn't include him in any list of notable bottom 6 players. He was solid on the PK and pretty disappointing elsewhere. I expect Smith to be gone and Rakell to be a consistent 2nd liner next season: Bunting-Malkin-Rakell was great down the stretch.
Best-case scenario IMO is a 3rd line of DOC, Puustinen, and either a free agent in the short term or whoever wins the spot between Poulin/Ponomarev. Yager could get his 9 games as well. Give that kid line an opportunity to make an impact, see if they can make a dent in our lackluster rush offense. with
That leaves a 4th line of Eller, Acciari, and whoever else wins a spot. Neither Bemstrom nor Puljujarvi are remarkable options. I wouldn't mind if they were our 13th/14th forwards. I'd prefer another younger guy whose ceiling isn't mediocre 4th liner. Maybe if Poulin doesn't stick at 3C, he does at 4LW. No reason that spot can't be earned as well.
Forum: Armchair-GM16 hours ago
Thread: Youth and Compete
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>LuckyMoneyPuck</b></div><div>Gruden will be in the AHL, it doesn't matter if you agree that's where he will be, same is true on Puljujarvi unless claimed off waivers.
He's had his last chance really. He didn't do anything with it.
Eller/Acciari is more about how they view the PK. They could both stay on the 4th line, which is going to be a defensive line one way or another. It also helps them with faceoffs.
I think the penguins spots for youth are 3C and 3RW.
They aren't going to ask them to PK. So you need 2 centers who can do that.
Which is why I say they may keep both, but realistically they should probably ship one out... not saying they will. But they should</div></div>

I'm not saying for sure who will and won't be in the NHL next year. The whole point of my first reply is that I thought they had quite a few options to choose from. I then went to bat for guys that I thought passed the eye test. Every year there are guys that surprise, that have a meteoric rise or dramatic fall. I'm just keeping my options open.
Even if I thought Puljujarvi showed nothing, that actually makes him better than our usual 4th line options last year. And that was after working his way back from a major surgery.
I'm fairly certain both Gruden and Poulin were PKers in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and Ponomarev's two way game is one of the highlights of his game. Hell, in his NHL stint, Gruden killed penalties. Why do you assume none of those guys would be PKers if they made the NHL roster?
Thus, both Poulin and Ponomarev can play center and kill penalties, so we would have two guys who fill that niche. More if we put Acciari or Poulin on the wing (which we definitely should for Acciari if we keep him anyway).
Forum: Armchair-GM17 hours ago
Thread: pit competitive
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>fil97</b></div><div>I know murashov is a tough loss, I'm going all in on Blomqvist... and I like puusty but he is replaceable also koivunen is looking really solid

but that rakell contract at the moment seems very hard to trade, and if Dubas doesn't manage we need a huge bounce back season from him.</div></div>

<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>vols94</b></div><div>4x5M for a 37 pts player at 30. He's not getting better or younger. so yeah he's a cap dump.</div></div>

Rakell isn't playing at the World Invitational over injury issues. I'm willing to bet it was the one that sidelined him in Nov-Dec and he's been playing through it for months. He comes back healthy and suddenly that trade looks Hextallian. And while Puustinen is replaceable, I'm not certain anyone we have is going to slot in as effectively as Puusty, or anyone we could get on the market would be available at as low of a cap hit Puusty would get.
"Lets trade a top 6 winger, a cheap middle 6 winger when we have suspect depth, and a goalie prospect with potential for nothing because that top 6 winger had one bad year due to injuries!" Masterful gambit, sir.
Forum: Armchair-GM17 hours ago
Thread: Youth and Compete
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>LuckyMoneyPuck</b></div><div>Those aren't hard decisions.
Nieto is probably perm LTIR, he never came back last year off what was suppose to be an 8 week injury.
Gruden is pure AHL fodder
Pool party just got what is probably his last chance at the NHL level. He did about as good as anyone expected at this point. Doubtful he returns to the penguins AHL for him if not stay in europe.
Brenstrom will probably be a 13-14th guy if the youth play, otherwise he'll be a 4th liner.
Acciari either stays or is traded and Eller becomes the 4C.</div></div>

We don't know for sure about Nieto
I disagree on Gruden. I thought he was solid and added a physical element we don't really have.
Puljujarvi has another year on his contract and played with a lot more energy than our 4th line usually did this season.
I agree with Bemstrom, but we hold his RFA rights.
And if Eller/Acciari both stay and are then outplayed by young guys? I think Eller stays, but if Acciari isn't traded (assuming anyone wants him) I'd rather want some youth and speed if he doesn't bounce back.

And that doesn't address any of the guys that actually have any potential.
Forum: Armchair-GM23 hours ago
Thread: Youth and Compete
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>PenaFanatic</b></div><div>Thats an interesting take and one I should maybe consider with Poulin as well with the talent he was playing with... I think that is fair. I did think about Koivunen but Id like to see him in AHL for a little longer maybe half a season? Plus with new changes in AHL system coming might do some help but OEL would look pretty sweet in a Pens jersey</div></div>

I understand the hesitation with Koivunen. Shaping the bottom 6 is an interesting proposal IMO, since we have a lot of guys that I think are good enough to be NHL players (or at least stay out of the AHL consistently) but only DOC, Eller, and Puustinen with guaranteed roster spots. Any of Yager, Ponomarev, Poulin, Koivunen are likely to fight for a roster spot. But we have to decide what to do with Acciari, Nieto, Bemstrom, Puljujarvi, maybe Gruden. That's before any trades or UFA signings. A lot of competition for not a lot of spots.
Forum: Armchair-GM23 hours ago
Thread: Youth and Compete
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>PenaFanatic</b></div><div>I deleted some ideas I had I thought maybe Kylington as a guy to bring in. I also debated the idea of Chandler Stevenson but that is also why I left some cap space maybe comes via a trade another idea debated for the bottom 6 Lindholm or Roslovic. I think Pens will give Ponomarev a chance I don't think Poulin makes team I think he is not NHL caliber. Any other ideas to bottom 6?</div></div>

I actually thought Poulin looked good during his stint in the NHL. We played with a 4th line of Gruden-Poulin-Puljujarvi for all of one game and it looked like the injection of speed, grit, and youth that we'd been missing, and then we never saw it again. I think Yager gets his 9 games, and maybe stick around if he does well in them. Koivunen was a top Liiga scorer as well, and could make the team as well.

Between Stephenson, Lindholm, and Roslovic, I'd take Ross. I think both Stephenson and Lindholm would ask for a longer term deal, wheras Roslovic would be the most likely to take less term. In 2-3 years, one of Yager, Poulin, or Ponomarev should be a middle 6 C, and we don't need a longer-term veteran in their way.

On the back end, Dillon or Ekman-Larsson are decent bets on a short term deal to see if they can keep up their defensive play from this season. Winnipeg's defensive collapse vs the Avs makes me lean towards betting on OEL keeping up his renaissance for a couple more years, but there still is the risk that it was a product of Florida's system being excellent.
Forum: Armchair-GMThu. at 9:50 a.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMWed. at 11:22 a.m.
Thread: Has the Stamkos Era Ended
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Voice_Of_Thruth</b></div><div>Do you even know about these prospects lmao?

To say theres nothing in there for you is just dumb</div></div>

I'll give it a shot.

The scouting report on this site is a little outdated for Barron but sees his upside as a 2nd pairing 2-way D. His production this season is a step down from last season, which I find a little concerning towards his chances of reaching that upside. He's played in chunks of 3 seasons now but hasn't solidified himself as a permanent NHLer.

I'm not going to go off of Farrell's scouting report since it hasn't been updated in over a year. I think he's in a little similar of a situation: his stellar NCAA scoring hadn't entirely translated to the AHL, apparently partly due to injury. I think he has the highest upside of any of these guys.

Koivunen was 6th in scoring in both the Liiga regular season and playoffs this year. Afterwards, he was one of a few decent players as WBS collapsed in the playoffs. He could very easily be fighting for an NHL spot next season. I'm not convinced the gap between Farrell and Koivunen is particularly wide. He's also over a year and a half younger than both Habs prospects, so there's more wiggle room for him to grow still.

Foster's a step down from the other guys here. However, he is also still only 18 and was 3rd in scoring on the 67s this year. Probably a 3rd liner at best if he ever makes it to the NHL.

I'm willing to say Farrell and Barron are the better pair of prospects right now. Am I willing to turn a 3rd and a 4th into a pair of 7ths for that swap? Not particularly.