Dubas didn't walk into a perfect situation, but it was about as good as you can get.

A top 5 1C
A top 5 2C
2-3 solid top 6 wingers
Average D and G but not awful.
Lacking forward depth.
Limited cap space but some shorter term contracts.
All of his 1st round picks.
A weak prospect pool but it included Blomqvist and Pickering.

He had a darn good canvas to work with. Look at what Guerin has done with Minny.... That was a bad situation to walk into...
- MacPatty

That’s exactly my thoughts. But he did have 25 million in cap space which is a ton for a team that just missed the playoffs and there main pieces all signed besides starting goalie.
Sid, Malkin, Rust, Guentzel, Rakell all signed and Zucker was quite open he wanted to come back so the top 6 almost done. We all know how he re built the entire bottom 6….. yikes!

I actually thought when he came in he was coming into quite a good 3-4 year situation to just go for a couple playoff round wins and then start the rebuild.

Dubas didn't walk into a perfect situation, but it was about as good as you can get.

A top 5 1C
A top 5 2C
2-3 solid top 6 wingers
Average D and G but not awful.
Lacking forward depth.
Limited cap space but some shorter term contracts.
All of his 1st round picks.
A weak prospect pool but it included Blomqvist and Pickering.

He had a darn good canvas to work with. Look at what Guerin has done with Minny.... That was a bad situation to walk into...
- MacPatty

Don't underestimate how detrimental the coaching has been to this team. Look at the PP last year. That was malpractice. With a better PP, they were easily a playoff team. Sullivan has been a boat anchor around their necks for 4 years minimum. He was asked after the last game why they're so bad defensively and he finally told the truth.... He said he didn't know.

Dubas didn't walk into a perfect situation, but it was about as good as you can get.

A top 5 1C
A top 5 2C
2-3 solid top 6 wingers
Average D and G but not awful.
Lacking forward depth.
Limited cap space but some shorter term contracts.
All of his 1st round picks.
A weak prospect pool but it included Blomqvist and Pickering.

He had a darn good canvas to work with. Look at what Guerin has done with Minny.... That was a bad situation to walk into...
- MacPatty

We have very different views of the state of the Pens D and goalie. Jarry was in net. Petry was our #3 defensemen though we at least had Letang and Pettersson.

Prospect pool can't be understated. Guerin had Kaprisov and Body in the system. And being forced to work with a coach who doesn't seem to understand his roster got older.

The Pens had a good top part (7 players) of the lineup, but the rest was a wreck. Pickering and Blomqvist are just starting to help, the best young player Dubas inherited was DOC. They also had a mess of a cap situation which he turned into Karlsson.

Was that enough? Maybe. Probably could have made the playoffs with better choices at least. Also a tough spot though trying to compete with aging stars and no prospects ready to contribute.

We have very different views of the state of the Pens D and goalie. Jarry was in net. Petry was our #3 defensemen though we at least had Letang and Pettersson.

Prospect pool can't be understated. Guerin had Kaprisov and Body in the system. And being forced to work with a coach who doesn't seem to understand his roster got older.

The Pens had a good top part (7 players) of the lineup, but the rest was a wreck. Pickering and Blomqvist are just starting to help, the best young player Dubas inherited was DOC. They also had a mess of a cap situation which he turned into Karlsson.

Was that enough? Maybe. Probably could have made the playoffs with better choices at least. Also a tough spot though trying to compete with aging stars and no prospects ready to contribute.
- Tojo.

Petry is like Paul Martin... everyone complained about him because expectations were too high but Petry was exactly what you want a 2nd pair D to be. He was solid all around and averaged .5 PPG. Played 20+ mpg. I really liked where we were at with our D and we just needed more forward depth/skill and a better coach. We had a great top 6 and even though he didnt play great for us in the short period of time, Granlud was there to be 3C... he has been better in SJ than any player that Dubas has brought in.

Dumo-Letang
Petts-Petry
POJ-Rutta

ON GUERIN:
Traded for Gustavsson and added Fleury to give them one of the best G duos (and at a very low cost).
Great value re-signings with Boldy and Ek.
Let overrated players like Dumba go. Sold Zucker at the right time.
Only GM with the balls to buy out two massive contracts and still found a way to be competitive.

He inherited probably the worst cap situation in the league but did inherit two very good prospects. I think he has done the best cumulative job of any GM in the league over the past 4 or so years.

Petry is like Paul Martin... everyone complained about him because expectations were too high but Petry was exactly what you want a 2nd pair D to be. He was solid all around and averaged .5 PPG. Played 20+ mpg. I really liked where we were at with our D and we just needed more forward depth/skill and a better coach. We had a great top 6 and even though he didnt play great for us in the short period of time, Granlud was there to be 3C... he has been better in SJ than any player that Dubas has brought in.

Dumo-Letang
Petts-Petry
POJ-Rutta

ON GUERIN:
Traded for Gustavsson and added Fleury to give them one of the best G duos (and at a very low cost).
Great value re-signings with Boldy and Ek.
Let overrated players like Dumba go. Sold Zucker at the right time.
Only GM with the balls to buy out two massive contracts and still found a way to be competitive.

He inherited probably the worst cap situation in the league but did inherit two very good prospects. I think he has done the best cumulative job of any GM in the league over the past 4 or so years.
- MacPatty

Yeah I felt like Petry was better than what we gave him credit for. Hextall definitely botched it with our defense though. I wonder how this team would be if we did end up riding it out with Petry and Granlund. That would have sent that EK would be in Carolina and that would have been interesting to see how he played with them.


Only way EK can help us now is if we are able to trade him for something of value at the deadline or offseason.

Man, people around here have very bad memories. This team was a mess when Dubas took over. There was no easy or quick fix. The Guentzal trade is in its infancy to know how well it turned out, and you’d all be complaining by next year if he gave him the same contract TB did.

Man, people around here have very bad memories. This team was a mess when Dubas took over. There was no easy or quick fix. The Guentzal trade is in its infancy to know how well it turned out, and you’d all be complaining by next year if he gave him the same contract TB did.
- abasin

Not by memory, this is what it was... 28 million in cap space with the *** players as "bigger cap players" to replace/ re sign. They missed the playoffs by 1 point and lost there last 2 games to Chicago and Columbus (in overtime)...

Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
Zucker*** - Malkin - Rakell
DOC - Granlund - Poehling
Heinen - Carter - Archibald

Dumo*** - Letang
Pettersson - Petry
POJ - Ruuta

Jarry***
Desmith

Not by memory, this is what it was... 28 million in cap space with the *** players as "bigger cap players" to replace/ re sign. They missed the playoffs by 1 point and lost there last 2 games to Chicago and Columbus (in overtime)...

Guentzel - Crosby - Rust
Zucker*** - Malkin - Rakell
DOC - Granlund - Poehling
Heinen - Carter - Archibald

Dumo*** - Letang
Pettersson - Petry
POJ - Ruuta

Jarry***
Desmith
- pens4life-66

This roster also got a year older, Petry couldn’t even keep an active roster spot last season. Granlund was awful in that role / pens system with an equally as awful contract. Smith & Zucker is a wash and they didn’t have the extra $500k for Zucker without making call ups a lot tougher. No other “better” option than Jarry at the time (was always going to be a high-risk/high-reward signing). Also zero prospects at the time he took over. DOC and POJ the only guys under 25 (Poehling was a plug/didn’t resign anyway). I really hope none of you are in decision-making positions for work, this is a 5+ year process, this clusterfvck began in 2017 with the Reaves trade.

This roster also got a year older, Petry couldn’t even keep an active roster spot last season. Granlund was awful in that role / pens system with an equally as awful contract. Smith & Zucker is a wash and they didn’t have the extra $500k for Zucker without making call ups a lot tougher. No other “better” option than Jarry at the time (was always going to be a high-risk/high-reward signing). Also zero prospects at the time he took over. DOC and POJ the only guys under 25 (Poehling was a plug/didn’t resign anyway). I really hope none of you are in decision-making positions for work, this is a 5+ year process, this clusterfvck began in 2017 with the Reaves trade.
- abasin

Hey Kyle - glad you finally listened to us and sent down Jarry. Next we'd like to see you get a 1st for Petts please.

It's not high risk/high reward when you overpay a goalie who has a history of collapsing at the end of the season. It's just a bad move.

This should be the best effort we've seen from the Pens in a while. They may even hustle for a full sixty minutes.

Having said that, I'll take Tage Thompson for $20.

Hey Kyle - glad you finally listened to us and sent down Jarry. Next we'd like to see you get a 1st for Petts please.

It's not high risk/high reward when you overpay a goalie who has a history of collapsing at the end of the season. It's just a bad move.
- MacPatty

It’s high-reward to lock up an above average starter, which Jarry proved he was capable of, for under $5.5M. I expect 7-8 roster spots to change by the start of next season, time will tell what happens / the direction they choose to go, he’ll have another $25M+ this offseason to play with.

DOC sucks.

It’s high-reward to lock up an above average starter, which Jarry proved he was capable of, for under $5.5M. I expect 7-8 roster spots to change by the start of next season, time will tell what happens / the direction they choose to go, he’ll have another $25M+ this offseason to play with.
- abasin

I got them at $18M space plus cap raise pre deadline. They would need at minimum five forwards and 3 defensemen. Unless they have a ton of young entry level guys playing that isn't a lot of space.

Damn. And Fleury could never buy one

He better go fight the other goalie now ffs. First ever goalie with a gordie Howe.

He was already having quite the night, but what a game for Ned!

He was already having quite the night, but what a game for Ned!
- Tojo.

Yep. Ned with a goal and an assists. How many times has that happened lol?

Yep. Ned with a goal and an assists. How many times has that happened lol?
- madmike71

First time

Why did no one fight after Bed was decked for his goalie goal efforts?