Maybe Kyle Dubas’ greatest challenge will be infusing legit young talent
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10 Comments
I feel Sully is so stuck on older players means wins. The game is starting to become younger and faster. New Jersey proved that. Bring in young players and let Sid, Geno and Tanger lead by example.
Greetings from Paradise, Newfoundland. Have you ever been here DK? Great spot! I'll be sure and visit the shop in August when passing through town to see my kids. Anyway, here is what I have been wondering about in the new Dubas era? It seems logical to resign O'Connor and Poehling! Am I missing something?
Trading Guentzel might make sense LATER but now its all about the "building with the core thing." Jake is Sid's winger! You are right – we need to build up the Baby Pens….
Ouch! Want to ruin a Pens fan's day? Simply say two words: Jared McCann!
The Hextall gifts that just keep on giving… anytime the Devils win a playoff series any Pens fan thinks of Ty Smith. Thanks DK for this deep dive on taking the effort to generate a youth movement in Pittsburgh: It seems like the most obvious way to build a shorter bridge between the Core Three Era and a future without Sid some day. Is there a salary cap for the WBS Baby Pens? I don't think so – so if youth is needed and needs to come from within – that's where the focus/priority needs to be. What about who's coaching in WBS – is that job possibly in jeopardy given the arrival of a new POH?
All in for these 3 Crosby,Malkin,Letang get that goaltender salary cap will be 24 million buyout Granlund.FA he will be signing younger FA speed .Guentzel will not be traded. Puutstinen needs to play defense.Will have 1 line Poehling Oconnor,Nylander that whole line is younger
Dubas has to have a full draft. WBS needs rebuilt. Drafting has been ignored for too long.
What about it? They already have little to nil odds of building up around this core with established, quality players to compete for even a playoff seeding, let alone a cup, and people want them to also think about young players for now and the future? You can't have it both ways, especially considering the current state of things with this roster, and it's bad contracts that need flushed before it can even be considered. They have two options: Either go all in "again" (read like Forrest Gump) as best they can and look at this season and the next as cup or bust, while trading away any youth and picks they might have to try achieving that goal because that's what it will take at the minimum, or admit like a lot of people already have who's thinking isn't clouded by Sid, Geno and Letang still skating without falling down means they have a legit cup winning chance, that it's time (it's been time) to call it a day and start a more gradual rebuild without having to hit rock bottom to do it. That means trading away players that are probably more valuable now for any fantastical cup chances, to get highly valued prospects in return to help see that the team isn't bereft and barren of measurable and worthwhile talent when talk of cups becomes more about protection than something you win.
We know ownership is going to milk every last breath and point from these past their prime players, since that's what they invested in when they bought the team, to the delight of everyone still living in 2017, so that leaves the Cup or Bust option as the only one. There's no room for youth in that plan outside of what's already there in O'Connor, Nylander and maybe Smith, if they actually allow him to play instead of trading him for more valuable "cup now" pieces. There; that's your "youth" for the foreseeable future that includes Crosby still playing. I hope it's enough, because I'll tell you this, the day Sid retires (which could be in as little as after these last two seasons), if Geno and Letang are still with the team by then they'll be dumped/traded before Sid's plane leaves for Nova Scotia because he's they only reason they are even here right now. Both Malkin and Letang would have been trade for the youth we're talking about if Sid wasn't there.
That'll be a hard reset, one that Dubas is probably already itching for and angling towards, with no talk of anything other than how they can officially tank to help get the No. 1 pick and start a new era will be heard. But that's the bust part of the Cup or Bust mindset that doesn't leave room for a parachute, let alone a spare tire. I hope everyone is ok with that, because it's gonna suk.
Nathan Legare has always been overrated in Pittsburgh.
If you could get him for a cheap price, would you resign Archibald and keep him on the 4th line.?