Next Stop for Kyle Dubas: Pittsburgh?

[RichieNextel305]

Feel free to merge with the Dubas/Toronto post. I wasn’t sure if you guys would prefer to talk about this in there or if it warranted a new topic being made.

 

Edited Friday at 04:15 AM by RichieNextel305

[jsrangers]

I sport some wood if he brings the broom and sweeps Sully right outta there. 

[Phil]

Definitely a new thread. This definitely feels like it's happening, but man, what a terrible scenario to takeover for. That roster is more locked down than almost any other in the league. What exactly is he supposed to do?

[Cash or Czech]

15 minutes ago, Phil said:

Definitely a new thread. This definitely feels like it's happening, but man, what a terrible scenario to takeover for. That roster is more locked down than almost any other in the league. What exactly is he supposed to do?

Cash in on a fat contract, continue with mediocrity and draft in the early teens while the Pens continue to muddle until the post-Cup core retires. 

[siddious]

6 minutes ago, Cash or Czech said:

Cash in on a fat contract, continue with mediocrity and draft in the early teens while the Pens continue to muddle until the post-Cup core retires. 

Sounds like a sweet gig 

[LindG1000]

18 minutes ago, Phil said:

Definitely a new thread. This definitely feels like it's happening, but man, what a terrible scenario to takeover for. That roster is more locked down than almost any other in the league. What exactly is he supposed to do?

 

Oh...I don't agree at all with this.

 

He's inheriting an old core, but are you really that miffed to inherit the Crosby/Malkin/Letang core? They're all still phenomenal players. 

 

The "bad" contracts are either short (Carter's done after this year, Petry - is that even a bad deal?, even Granlund's 2 years) or very moveable. He's got 20m in cap space to fill 8 spots, mostly bottom-6, but also a goalie. I don't know any GM better than finding gold in the turds than Dubas. 

 

The issue with the Penguins is a complete and abject lack of a prospect pipeline, but there's absolutely a path to a successful retool for the next two seasons and a teardown if it goes completely sideways. Very doable job.

[Long live the King]

11 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

 

Oh...I don't agree at all with this.

 

He's inheriting an old core, but are you really that miffed to inherit the Crosby/Malkin/Letang core? They're all still phenomenal players. 

 

The "bad" contracts are either short (Carter's done after this year, Petry - is that even a bad deal?, even Granlund's 2 years) or very moveable. He's got 20m in cap space to fill 8 spots, mostly bottom-6, but also a goalie. I don't know any GM better than finding gold in the turds than Dubas. 

 

The issue with the Penguins is a complete and abject lack of a prospect pipeline, but there's absolutely a path to a successful retool for the next two seasons and a teardown if it goes completely sideways. Very doable job.

 

I wouldn't be at all excited to have Letang on a 35+ contract until he's 40.

[Phil]

1 hour ago, LindG1000 said:

 

Oh...I don't agree at all with this.

 

He's inheriting an old core, but are you really that miffed to inherit the Crosby/Malkin/Letang core? They're all still phenomenal players. 

 

The "bad" contracts are either short (Carter's done after this year, Petry - is that even a bad deal?, even Granlund's 2 years) or very moveable. He's got 20m in cap space to fill 8 spots, mostly bottom-6, but also a goalie. I don't know any GM better than finding gold in the turds than Dubas. 

 

The issue with the Penguins is a complete and abject lack of a prospect pipeline, but there's absolutely a path to a successful retool for the next two seasons and a teardown if it goes completely sideways. Very doable job.

 

He's inheriting an old core who are signed into their fucking forties, dude. They're decent now, but they're clearly not good enough to make the playoffs, and have no wiggle room to make meaningful change.

[LindG1000]

9 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

He's inheriting an old core who are signed into their fucking forties, dude. They're decent now, but they're clearly not good enough to make the playoffs, and have no wiggle room to make meaningful change.

 

And? Malkin and Crosby were both PPG players last season. Crosby looks absolutely fine. Malkin looked good enough for his contract and certainly good enough to be a 2c. I get that they're old, but they're still very, very good players - that cannot be discounted. He's got Crosby through his age-37 season (so two more years), Malkin through 39 (3 more years). There's really nothing wrong with this.

 

Letang's still a very good player signed to a fair hit. His term is a problem that will solve itself with LTIR. Dude's had two strokes. He's literally the most understandable "you can't play hockey" contract ever.

 

On top of that, Dubas would inherit 20M+ in cap space this year to replace Jason Zucker, Brian Dumoulin, Tristan Jarry, and plugs. Very, very doable, especially since he's going to get another 20m next season to rebuild his defense with only Guentzel a serious extension candidate. 

 

There's some challenge here - no doubt. There's no prospect pipeline. The entire defense needs to be rebuilt over the next two seasons.  The team hasn't got much gas left in the tank. The smarter GM would have yanked out the plug in 21-22, dealt Malkin and Letang, and collected a ransom. There's not really a goalie coming through here.

 

All that said, this is far from a trainwreck situation in the hands of a good GM - and Dubas is a good GM. At the worst, this goes immediately sideways and Dubas gets the greenlight to rebuild with some team getting the grand prize of "One Year of Sidney Crosby".  I can think of worse spots than that.

[Phil]

7 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

 

And? Malkin and Crosby were both PPG players last season. Crosby looks absolutely fine. Malkin looked good enough for his contract and certainly good enough to be a 2c. I get that they're old, but they're still very, very good players - that cannot be discounted. He's got Crosby through his age-37 season (so two more years), Malkin through 39 (3 more years). There's really nothing wrong with this.

 

Letang's still a very good player signed to a fair hit. His term is a problem that will solve itself with LTIR. Dude's had two strokes. He's literally the most understandable "you can't play hockey" contract ever.

 

On top of that, Dubas would inherit 20M+ in cap space this year to replace Jason Zucker, Brian Dumoulin, Tristan Jarry, and plugs. Very, very doable, especially since he's going to get another 20m next season to rebuild his defense with only Guentzel a serious extension candidate. 

 

There's some challenge here - no doubt. There's no prospect pipeline. The entire defense needs to be rebuilt over the next two seasons.  The team hasn't got much gas left in the tank. The smarter GM would have yanked out the plug in 21-22, dealt Malkin and Letang, and collected a ransom. There's not really a goalie coming through here.

 

All that said, this is far from a trainwreck situation in the hands of a good GM - and Dubas is a good GM. At the worst, this goes immediately sideways and Dubas gets the greenlight to rebuild with some team getting the grand prize of "One Year of Sidney Crosby".  I can think of worse spots than that.

 

Amazing how you connected these two thoughts consecutively and thought nothing of it.

 

$20 million to replace a top-six/nine winger, a top-four defenseman, and a starting goalie in a garbage free agent market with no prospect pipeline (in other words, nothing coming internally).

 

So how, exactly, is he doing this? Oh, right you said all those shitty, expensive players are tradeable, so clearly he's going to flip Granlund for magic beans or something?

[LindG1000]

12 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Amazing how you connected these two thoughts consecutively and thought nothing of it.

 

$20 million to replace a top-six/nine winger, a top-four defenseman, and a starting goalie in a garbage free agent market with no prospect pipeline (in other words, nothing coming internally).

 

So how, exactly, is he doing this? Oh, right you said all those shitty, expensive players are tradeable, so clearly he's going to flip Granlund for magic beans or something?

 

Straight talk - are the Pens worse if they have Tarasenko, Soucy, and like...Varlamov instead of Zucker, Jarry, Dumoulin?

 

I don't think so, and that trio will come in cheaper than their current players.

 

I'm not saying this is easy. I'm saying it's pretty goddamn doable to keep this team competitive for a year or two.