[madmike71]

If he demands top dollar, yeah, he’ll have problems getting on a top 5 team. If he takes a page out of Sid’s book, he should be able to land on a perennial contender. The more I think about it, the less I think he’ll sign in Edmonton. On another note… Sounds like the Pens are getting sold. Mario’s group is out. DK says a deal is expected in October to some guy named Hoffman. He owns an ECHL team in FLA.

[madmike71]

McKenna to pens end of June.

Mcdavid to pens July 1st.

Boom

Lol… I used to think getting McDavid was a remote possibility because I figured he might eventually want out of Edmonton. Plus, our salary commitments would allow for his demands. Unfortunately our team is no where close to being ready to compete. We haven’t even bottomed out yet. That pain is coming.

[madmike71]

The lack of winning is a big part of McDavid weighing his options, but being tucked away in western Canada might not be his ideal choice either. A prominent US city will definitely be more attractive. His quote… “I don’t have a preference either way” Ouch. I think he’s going to bolt.

[madmike71]

10inchterror wrote:

Any guesses on starting lineup?

Koivunen Crosby Rust
Mcgroaty Malkin Rakell
Tomasino Novak Mantha
Heinen Hayes Brazeau
Dewar Lizotte Accari

Graves Letang
Shea Karlsson
Pickering Clifton
Wotherspoon Dumba
Alexyev St ivany
Jones Brunicke

Jarry
Silovs
Blom
Murashov

At least goalie will be sorted. Jarry and silovs in the N. Blom and Murashov sharing starts in the A. Hopefully Jarry costs us all the games but for some reason I feel like we will see All Star Jar.

An absolute gluttony of sucking on defence and forward depth though.

I was reading your post and was thinking the exact same thing as your last sentence. Outside of 5 or 6 players, this is a whole lot of suck and question marks. I think McG ends up with Sid. I think they send Brunicke back to juniors unless he makes it impossible for the coaches to justify it.

[madmike71]

Barnaby36 wrote:

Part of me would like to see Rust and Karlsson traded. Not so much Rakell. Graves and Jarry we’ll just have to be patient. Ain’t no one taking those contracts.

I’d trade anything for the right return….other than Sid of course. Rak likely gets us the best return. This is far from a playoff team, so let’s get bottom 3. This team needs some top end prospects.

[madmike71]

I like this deal. If we eat a little salary, I think Jarry is tradeable. 2 time all-star. The Pens have been mostly awful defensively for years. The Pens inability to keep the puck out of their own net wasn’t all “bad goal tending”. It was a team effort.

[madmike71]

Iguanas00 wrote:

Dubas seems to be following the same model Arizona/ Utah did, by acquiring a ton of draft capital and pipeline developmental players. The challenge is taking all that and converting it to NHL on-ice success. Not many examples of teams being successful using this route (Utah, Detroit, Buffalo). Teams don’t want to give up developed, cost-controlled younger talent. I see this as only getting worse if the NHL expands in the next couple of years.

Wish the Pens would be in on Jason Robertson.

You need to hit on your draft picks. I don’t see any other way to build a consistent contender in a capped league. Build a good base of young (cost controlled) players. Then add when the right time is right. If we’re being completely honest, the Pens are still in the very early stages of a rebuild. They don’t have any “franchise” players on the horizon. Maybe a few good players, but no show stoppers. You need at least a couple of legit stars to be a regular contender.

Dubas has already said he’ll use his picks to make moves if he can, but you’re right, teams usually don’t let good young prospects leave for picks.

[madmike71]

From Haase… The Penguins have now accumulated 29 draft picks over the next three years — 17 of which are within the first three rounds.

My how things have changed lol.

[madmike71]

Seems like EK will be leaving for sure now. Maybe flip Dumba at the deadline. Got a 2nd to take one year….pretty good IMO.

[madmike71]

Brownsoldier wrote:

Yeah this site is clunky. I also feel like we don’t always see RWs blogs on time. Either or, glad we can chat still.

That being said – why tf did we not trade for Isaac Howard???

As someone who was on HB from the beginning, his site was really clunky for the first few years. It takes time. I just hope people don’t get frustrated and give up. I haven’t heard back from any of the other regulars over there. Those DM’s were supposedly delivered. I’m guessing those users got banned and never went back. Or, my DM’s never got through. Who knows.

I think they have some good writers and content here. Might take awhile to get things figured out.

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