Penguins News: Bad Break for Penguins Jake

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• Rick, The Other Rick, Caleb and the rest of the Pen's bloggers.

  Just saw what is believed to be the trade in the works to get Karlsson.
  Not sure how legit it is but interesting.
  1) San Jose gets Pen's 2024 1st round pick (top-ten protected)
  Granlund, Rutta and forward Mike Hoffman.
  2) Pen's get Karlsson, Rem Pitlick, Dillon Hamaliuk and Sharks 2026
  3rd round pick.
  3) Montreal aquires Pen's 2025 2nd round pick, Jeff Petry, Casey
  DeSmith and Nathan Legare.
  Interesting - The Pen's will be taking on more of Karlsson's contract
  and we will probably see some Pen's players popping up on the
  waiver wire to make room for Karlsson's salary. If theirs any truth
  to the trade rumor.

• Three way trade done:
  Pens got Karlsson. Pitlick (montreal), Hamaliuk , (sj) 3rd rd pick 2026 (sj)
  SJ got 1st rd pick 2024, Granlund, Rutta, Hoffman (montreal)
  Montreal got 2nd rd pick 2025, Petry, Desmith, Legare

  • Glad to see Legare will now get a better chance to play.

    Interesting that both Petrry and Rutta are gone. We know Friedman won't get the 3rd RHD, wonder if they try Ruhwedel as a regular or Ty Smith, both serious mistakes.

    Not going to miss DeSmith or Granlund

    The 1st pick is top 10 protected so I just may get my shot at Cole Eiserman.

  • Phil
    We were posting at the same time - LOL - I couldn't type fast enough.

    • Yeah, it was a lot to type. lol
      I feel like Dubas wiped away Hextall in one clean sweep. If only he could have got Carter in there somehow.

  • Hi Phil
    Any word on EK final cap hit for us? This trade broke on the Sharks media about 30 minutes ago.
    Dubas finally got his man and he moved several untraceable pieces.
    Jim

    • Hi Guys according to Cap Friendly.
      We are paying 10 million a year for EK and we are holding 1,562,500 for the next 2 years of Petry's salary.
      This is a pricey deal.
      JIM

      • Hey Jim & TOR,
        It's pricey, but Pens traded up on D in a big way and got rid of a lot of dead contract weight. Wasn't one of the first things Dubas said was that he wasn't going to go after the big names?
        TOR, yes a team will do worse if one of the star players misses substantial time or if the goal plays horrible. I think the worst GM"s in league NHL are the ones that are making what if defensive moves the whole time. You either swing for the fences and give your team a chance to win the Cup or you don't win the Cup.

        I believe this move gives the Pens a chance at a Cup again, unlike the last 4 years where we knew they would make they playoffs and also knew they wouldn't win the Cup.

        • Hey Phil,

          Did the team trade up on D? Yes. In a big way? Hmmm, the improvement on D all depends on which version of the 33 year old Karlsson comes to Pgh. Everyone in Pgh and many around the league thought the Pens scored big with Brassard (I was one of the few voices of reason back then). Unlike Brassard, a Center and PP specialist coming to a team that had 2 infinitely better Centers and no top PP-unit openings, Karlsson isn't in quite the same boat, but I have a very similar feeling here.

          We also didn't really save much on the Cap. Granlund only had 1 more season after this one and he would have cleared the books, Petry, 2 more seasons and he cleared. We bought 1 more season and a full NMC in Karlsson.

          There is also a significant difference in teams with young up-and-coming guns vs old and fading stars; you say all teams will do worse if their stars get hurt, and yes you are right, however, there is a significant difference in probabilities of that injury occurring. Older players are far more fragile.

          I also agree that defensive moves can only hurt a team, but the defensive move, is sniffing after aging stars rather than looking for the next up and coming star. Trading for Karlsson is one of the most defensive moves the team can make. All it does is show the new owner (FSG) that the new GM is doing "something" - a completely defensive act by the new GM.

          Unfortunately, I don't think this makes this team a real Cup contender. I do know that this team is better than the one that lost its last 2 games of the season, but that team really stunk. The team that started the season was also better than the one that ended the season and that team that started the season wasn't really a Cup contender either, it was only a bubble team that had a shot at a wildcard slot.

          I certainly hope I am wrong, I really don't want a return to the early 2000s or worse the late 60s thru the early 80s when the team constantly took the defensive tact of trading for another team's aging castoffs rather than trying to build a team in-house.

        • The Other Rick
          I think what people forget is the value Karlsson brings to the Pen's. Other
          than Crosby he''ll be the Pen's biggest asset come the trade deadline if
          things don't go as planned on the ice. Teams making a strong run at the
          Cup will pay dearly to have a player of Karlsson's ability running their
          Power Play. To me it's a no lose situation and I firmly believe if Letang can
          ring up 68pts at age 36 playing with Crosby then Karlsson's good for at least 90.
          Like Rick, I'm excited about this trade and I agree with Jim that Dubas isn't finished.

        • I know, I saw that Phil, but $1.5 mil on Karlsson's contract, but they are retaining $1.5625 mil. So the Pens are only really cleared DeSmith's and Rutta's salaries, with DeSmith's clearing stuck at the end of this year and Rutta's clearing at the end of next season and are stuck with a $10 mil hit from a player with a NMC for 4 years (this year +3 more).

          And yes Karlsson put up his best offensive numbers last season, but that was last season and he is 33 and has few 5 on 5 positive GA% seasons.

          As for Brassard, almost everyone here thought Brassard was a game changer just as everyone is saying Karlsson will be.

          This isn't the first time you and I are on opposite sides of the fence and I doubt it will be the last. I hope I am wrong to fear the outcome of this trade but I do fear it. The only saving grace is that if the team does tank, I may get my wish and the team pluck Cole Eiserman next season

        • TOR,
          Another puzzle piece, San Jose is paying 1.5M a year of Karlsson's pay for four years.
          In my opinion, getting a defenseman at the height of his game and getting Brassard who has been on 7 teams since leaving the Pens 4 years ago is a bit different.

          We'll see how it goes.

      • Hey Jim,

        This is going to get real expensive if Crosby or Malkin or both miss a whole lot of time or Jarry pulls his usual disappearing act after his 22nd GP.

• The Other Rick
  People are jumping the gun. The Pen's should be cap compliant once the
  Karlsson trade goes down. Guentzel's situation isn't something new, most
  teams & players tried to first avoid surgery if at all possible. I'm sure that
  was the plan but he obviously wasn't making progress with his physical
  therapy. It's really a pretty standard move.

  • Hey Mike,

    You are right, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, but then again, sometimes it is more than a cigar.

    As an exercise physiologist, not only do I get the idea of trying every other avenue before surgery, I applaud it. As an adult human being who has lived as long as I have and who has experienced the legerdemain standing with the man behind the curtain I neither count or discount any possibility. That is why I did wonder if there was anything nefarious here. However, considering the fact that any Cap space Guetnzel on IR will give our Pens doesn't take affect until the start of the season, I don't dismiss skulduggery but highly doubt it. The probability is extremely low.

    The only thing Guentzel on IR at the beginning of the season could do is give the team flexibility once the season starts to shuttle players up and down from WBS. Unfortunately, WBS like the parent club is laden with old men (who play small) so there really won't be much help there.

    I have to say that I really do pray that nothing comes of the Karlsson hype. I really don't want another aging player, exiting his prime with a NMC. Yes he is better than Letang, but I would rather dig up the next Karlsson at the fron end of his prime. I spent too many years watching the teams of the 60s and 70s and then the late 90s trying to pin their hopes on castoffs and fading stars.

• This is some suspicious eyebrow raising activity for me. He needs the surgery now instead of two months ago?

  Some LITR cap shenanigans going on here, not sure what Dubas is thinking be he’s definitely up to something.

  Not sure how to feel about that.

  • Agreed Caleb, a little Cap manipulation could be going on. The problem is that since this issue happened off-season, the team can't really use the $6 million in Cap space ($2,783,158 in Cap actual Cap space, since we are over the Cap right now) until the season starts. The team would still have to try and sneak $3,216,842 through waivers for the cut down day, then they can tap into that $$$ boon.

    My next thought is will the Pens give prospects a chance to play, particularly against weak teams at the beginning of the season (Chi is our opener). Then I came down to earth and realized that it is more likely that they will use that Cap space to try and talk Lemieux, Jagr, Coffey, Murphy, or some other veteran out of retirement to try and drive the teams average age down a tough.