Ryan Wilson: It happened again It happened again

Pens have been getting absolutely destroyed by the Oilers for several seasons now...I expect that trend to continue tomorrow hahah

Those are brutal stats and I dont recall seeing the number of 2 goal leads blown in there. Its crazy that we are even in a position to try for a playoff spot.

I like Rackell but RW is not wrong in that Racks value will never be higher than it is now. Funny that many people looked at him as untradeable coming into the season. The tricky part of trading him is that almost no competitive teams have any cap space so you need some level of salary in salary out.

Pens have been getting absolutely destroyed by the Oilers for several seasons now...I expect that trend to continue tomorrow hahah
- MattStrat

You have to be either fast or physical to deal with Edmonton, unfortunately we are neither, haha.

The questions isnt whether we will get destroyed, but if we will let in yet another 1st shot goal....

The only thing that comes to mind on this is DOC sucks and pretty much represents everything physically, mentally and philosophically wrong with the direction this team has taken.

Those are brutal stats and I dont recall seeing the number of 2 goal leads blown in there. Its crazy that we are even in a position to try for a playoff spot.

I like Rackell but RW is not wrong in that Racks value will never be higher than it is now. Funny that many people looked at him as untradeable coming into the season. The tricky part of trading him is that almost no competitive teams have any cap space so you need some level of salary in salary out.
- MacPatty

I'm still not sure if Rackell is going to be in high demand. But that goal total makes it at least possible.

Tough call for me if you aren't getting much back. He at least helps Crosby put up points. I say that as someone who isn't that interested in getting anything lower than a third rounder. With his term, not sure what Rackell gets, but he fits nice here as a transitional piece.

Those are brutal stats and I dont recall seeing the number of 2 goal leads blown in there. Its crazy that we are even in a position to try for a playoff spot.

I like Rackell but RW is not wrong in that Racks value will never be higher than it is now. Funny that many people looked at him as untradeable coming into the season. The tricky part of trading him is that almost no competitive teams have any cap space so you need some level of salary in salary out.
- MacPatty

Retain and salary in. Not that hard and that’ll increase the return. I just don’t really have a great read on what Dubas is actually trying to do though. Without Rak’s goal output we are completely uncompetitive. Is Crosby ok with that? What sort of vision was he sold when he extended?

These past two years have been rough but we do actually have the assets to retool this offseason if we wanted to now. Is that what Dubas is gonna do? Have we not gone full seller yet because he thinks we can send Sid and Geno off with good teams by leveraging draft capital amassed over two seasons? Or did Sid agree to just call it and play out his career in Pittsburgh content with the three Cups.

One thing I’m thinking about is that with the reacquisition of POJ and the rise of Pickering Pets is legitimately expendable. Yes, we are worse without Petterson but that is even more draft capital and cap flexibility we can play with.

I think Dubas has done an all around C grade job here but there is some potential here to do something interesting. Things aren’t quite as bleak as they look on paper and if we do go full blown seller and it’s over, we’re going into the rebuild in a decent with draft capital. I dont really hate that much about where we’re at right now besides the actual games being frustrating to sit through

Bunting I think might be even more interesting to a playoff team. Shorter term, a little younger. Has that grit factor teams always want. And he's been on fire for a little while.

From the little tidbits I have heard and read. Dubas wants to keep Rakell and Rust because they are cost controlled. He will probably trade Rakell towards the end of his contract. He could be traded during the offseason, but Dubas would have to be wowed with a deal in order to move Rakell.

Bunting is said to be drawing interest and Dubas has been listening (he is more likely to be moved of players with term). Apparently there were 5 teams who asked about Bunting. I know NJ, Calgary and Toronto were a few of the teams.

Side note: I really find it weird that Dubas wants us to fail. He didn’t even try to resign Guentzel. He never once wanted us to be buyers at last year’s deadline. He isn’t trying to resign Pettersson and kinda is in the same mindset as last year. He just set us up worse this offseason compared to last for us to be out of the playoff race and for us to be sellers at the deadline. Even with us winning he kept our scouts last year and this year scouting teams for young talent/prospects as if we were sellers from the beginning of both seasons….

Side note: I really find it weird that Dubas wants us to fail. He didn’t even try to resign Guentzel. He never once wanted us to be buyers at last year’s deadline. He isn’t trying to resign Pettersson and kinda is in the same mindset as last year. He just set us up worse this offseason compared to last for us to be out of the playoff race and for us to be sellers at the deadline. Even with us winning he kept our scouts last year and this year scouting teams for young talent/prospects as if we were sellers from the beginning of both seasons….
- 123Kid

Something that I have seen on many occasions in the business world is a new leader comes in and presents a new vision. They usually sell the current situation as being bleaker than it actually is and so they set up their long term vision. By convincing ownership to go longer term rebuild mode, instead of having pressure to win in the next 2-3 years, he gives himself 5 or so years to show results. Hence it seems like he is in no rush to make any meaningful changes and has shown no interest in pushing for wins.

FSG cares about the bottom line. Sure, they want to win but as long as they are still making money they can tolerate a longer term approach. I believe the thesis is that Sid/Geno/Letang keep the team competitive enough and give fans enough reason to be in the stands every night and it is Dubas job to make sure that in 2 or 3 years when they are all gone, there is a team that fans can be excited about and will show up and pay big bucks to watch play.

They must have decided that the incremental money from making one or two playoff runs would not be worth it if there are 3 dead years rebuilding where they struggle to get fans in the stadium. This is my thesis on why things are going the way they are.

Thanks for the insight Mac. I just find it interesting that I have also heard FSG and Dubas see things differently especially with the offseason. They want Dubas to go after the big fish and feel Pittsburgh can make some competitive offers for Marner and/or Rantanen.

Something that I have seen on many occasions in the business world is a new leader comes in and presents a new vision. They usually sell the current situation as being bleaker than it actually is and so they set up their long term vision. By convincing ownership to go longer term rebuild mode, instead of having pressure to win in the next 2-3 years, he gives himself 5 or so years to show results. Hence it seems like he is in no rush to make any meaningful changes and has shown no interest in pushing for wins.

FSG cares about the bottom line. Sure, they want to win but as long as they are still making money they can tolerate a longer term approach. I believe the thesis is that Sid/Geno/Letang keep the team competitive enough and give fans enough reason to be in the stands every night and it is Dubas job to make sure that in 2 or 3 years when they are all gone, there is a team that fans can be excited about and will show up and pay big bucks to watch play.

They must have decided that the incremental money from making one or two playoff runs would not be worth it if there are 3 dead years rebuilding where they struggle to get fans in the stadium. This is my thesis on why things are going the way they are.
- MacPatty

I generally agree with this. FSG didn't buy this team that was obviously leaking oil (old stars) and expect they were going to be contenders. The reason they gave Dubas such a long contract was proof they understood a rebuild was coming soon.

I was advocating for a little more stark of a rebuild, but Dubas is trying to walk an impossible line. He's trying to keep the team interesting (playoff hunt), while rebuilding his pipeline. In my opinion, he's taking the long route. My style is to rip band-aids off and get the pain started. If things are done right (admittedly not always easy), you can shorten the duration of the pain.

It's a good question to wonder if he's sandbagging the team. He's done some confounding things. I think he's been torn in a few directions and I think he'll be less successful because of it.

That being said, he basically did an interview a week ago where he said nothing has changed. He's going to sell. It would have taken a serious over-performance to change his mind. If I had to guess, anybody not named Sid, Geno and Letang are available. If Geno and Letang asked out, they would be available. Sid is obviously staying....that conversation is over.

I generally agree with this. FSG didn't buy this team that was obviously leaking oil (old stars) and expect they were going to be contenders. The reason they gave Dubas such a long contract was proof they understood a rebuild was coming soon.

I was advocating for a little more stark of a rebuild, but Dubas is trying to walk an impossible line. He's trying to keep the team interesting (playoff hunt), while rebuilding his pipeline. In my opinion, he's taking the long route. My style is to rip band-aids off and get the pain started. If things are done right (admittedly not always easy), you can shorten the duration of the pain.

It's a good question to wonder if he's sandbagging the team. He's done some confounding things. I think he's been torn if a few directions and I think he'll be less successful because of it.

That being said, he basically did an interview a week ago where he said nothing has changed. He's going to sell. It would have taken a serious over-performance to change his mind. If I had to guess, anybody not named Sid, Geno and Letang are available. If Geno and Letang asked out, they would be available. Sid is obviously staying....that conversation is over.
- madmike71

He should be selling, the goal is to get as many assets as possible to stock up the pipeline for after Sid and Geno. The vision is clear and has been pretty clear since beginning. Make moves to keep the team competitive, but also for the future. He tried to make the team competitive the first year, it didn't work, so he shifted gears into collecting assets.

He should be looking to move Petts, Rakell, Bunting, Beau, Grz.

I would have added DOC to that list but he's flamed out this season.

He should be trying to find a way to dump Ned since Jarry is probably untradable, that way they can bring of Blom, and move Murashov to WBS since he's been stellar in the ECHL.

If they can dump those guys above for some assets, and let a few FA's walk, they could have some money to play with in FA -- Dubas has to be willing to let some of the WBS come up and play through their warts though.

Rutger, Broz, Koivenen, Ponomarev could all receive some NHL seasoning next year.

If they could somehow make room for 2 or 3 of those guys plus Blom thats like 3-4 guys for under 4m -- which with recent years they've been severely overpaying bottom 6 players which has been hurting the top 6.

I agree with your plan J.Boyd. Sell off the cap and be aggressive this offseason. I think many of us on here have been preaching this. I would keep Rak. I'm 50-50 on keeping Bunting. If they do try to bring in Marner this offseason. Bunting and Marner had amazing chemistry for Toronto previously.


I would also try to see if we can use an asset acquired in the deals to ship off someone like Graves this offseason.

I would love for us to get rid of Hayes. It would be the ultimate win if we receive picks to take him.Then end up getting something for him at the deadline or in the offseason.

I also read somewhere that Dubas would take a cap dump or use the last retention spot to get a pick/prospect at the deadline.

Thanks for the insight Mac. I just find it interesting that I have also heard FSG and Dubas see things differently especially with the offseason. They want Dubas to go after the big fish and feel Pittsburgh can make some competitive offers for Marner and/or Rantanen.
- 123Kid

So again, I would have no clue how Dubas is thinking, but if we were to go after a big fish like that, it’s actually good that we have assets and flexibility to build out the rest of the roster which only happened because we punted on these past two seasons. A retool is theoretically possible and not necessarily at odds philosophically with what we’ve been doing

I agree with your plan J.Boyd. Sell off the cap and be aggressive this offseason. I think many of us on here have been preaching this. I would keep Rak. I'm 50-50 on keeping Bunting. If they do try to bring in Marner this offseason. Bunting and Marner had amazing chemistry for Toronto previously.


I would also try to see if we can use an asset acquired in the deals to ship off someone like Graves this offseason.

I would love for us to get rid of Hayes. It would be the ultimate win if we receive picks to take him.Then end up getting something for him at the deadline or in the offseason.

I also read somewhere that Dubas would take a cap dump or use the last retention spot to get a pick/prospect at the deadline.
- 123Kid

The Hayes move pissed me off so much... We basically traded a 2026 5th for a 2026 2nd and a 2025 3rd to take on 2 years of $4M in basically dead cap. It looks good on paper, but only sinks us in the short term for a couple shots 4-5 years down the road.

IMO, St Louis owes us a big favor for sending them back their 2025 2nd rounder so they could do their offer sheets on Edmonton. I'd bet the 2025 2nd is going to be a good bit higher than their 2026 2nd, as they are likely missing the playoffs this season.

Moving Hayes should be the top priority, but we are probably going to have to retain or pay someone what we were paid to get rid of him.

They spent all that money on Jarry and you gotta wonder if they keep putting him in there hoping that he'll get hot and garner some interest at the deadline. It's probably not gonna happen.

The Hayes move pissed me off so much... We basically traded a 2026 5th for a 2026 2nd and a 2025 3rd to take on 2 years of $4M in basically dead cap. It looks good on paper, but only sinks us in the short term for a couple shots 4-5 years down the road.

IMO, St Louis owes us a big favor for sending them back their 2025 2nd rounder so they could do their offer sheets on Edmonton. I'd bet the 2025 2nd is going to be a good bit higher than their 2026 2nd, as they are likely missing the playoffs this season.

Moving Hayes should be the top priority, but we are probably going to have to retain or pay someone what we were paid to get rid of him.
- MacPatty

.I can only hope that a playoff team watches Hayes and feels like he can add secondary scoring to their team. Then sends us a pick for him during the TDL. I agree with you on being mad that we have his cap him weighing us down.

He should be selling, the goal is to get as many assets as possible to stock up the pipeline for after Sid and Geno. The vision is clear and has been pretty clear since beginning. Make moves to keep the team competitive, but also for the future. He tried to make the team competitive the first year, it didn't work, so he shifted gears into collecting assets.

He should be looking to move Petts, Rakell, Bunting, Beau, Grz.

I would have added DOC to that list but he's flamed out this season.

He should be trying to find a way to dump Ned since Jarry is probably untradable, that way they can bring of Blom, and move Murashov to WBS since he's been stellar in the ECHL.

If they can dump those guys above for some assets, and let a few FA's walk, they could have some money to play with in FA -- Dubas has to be willing to let some of the WBS come up and play through their warts though.

Rutger, Broz, Koivenen, Ponomarev could all receive some NHL seasoning next year.

If they could somehow make room for 2 or 3 of those guys plus Blom thats like 3-4 guys for under 4m -- which with recent years they've been severely overpaying bottom 6 players which has been hurting the top 6.
- j.boyd919

I agree with most of this. I want a very good return if we are going to trade Rackell and Bunting though. Im not just dumping them for cap space because I dont think there will be cheaper top 6 options in FA. As it stands, we need at least 1, if not two top 6 forwards to be a playoff team. If you trade Rackell, that goes up one more.

Top priorities:

1. Trade Pettersson. Probably gets a 2nd rounder and maybe another later pick. Could also be used as a nice compliment in a bigger trade. Only trading him because I think he will get more than he is worth in FA.

2. Trade Ned. As you mention, we have two top prospects who are having their development messed up because of the Ned/Jarry situation. Jarry is way harder to trade, the only Jarry trade I can come up with is probably to Montreal for Josh Anderson. They need a goalie and both Jarry and Anderson are overpaid.

We could still buy out Jarry, but it isnt really much of an advantage. We would save $3.6M next year but less than $1M for the next two years. If we could ride a Blomqvist/Murashov combo in 2026 it would make sense to do it now. The way his contract is structured, it makes no sense to do the buyout in 2026. So its this offseason or never.

3. Get what you can for Beau. Clear that roster spot for one of the younger guys to come up. If you can move Hayes, DOC, Nieto, Accari or Glass Im cool with it. I want to hang onto Lizotte and Tomasino though.

4. Trade Karlsson - Im fine if we keep him but I heard him make some comments the other day and he wasnt negative on Pittsburgh, but he REALLY wants to win a cup. I think he would open up his NTC to more teams if we can find him the right fit. I, unlike some, still think he has some value even with his contract.

Ottawa - They need to win now and Karlsson is beloved there. They could use him on RD. There are a million trade options with him but could be as simple as Karlsson w/$4M retained for Jenson/Zub, a 2025 1st and a 2026 3rd or Karlsson $3M retained & Glass for Jenson/Zub & Pinto. To add value we could also flip Ned for Forsberg in a deal to free up a roster spot in net next season.

Carolina - Burns sucks and is on an expiring contract, they had initial interest in Karlsson and need more offence as that is always their achilles heel in the playoffs. Karlsson & Glass for Burns and Kotepkanemi. We get an overpaid, but pretty decent 3C forever and we get $5M in cap space when Burns contract expires. We should be able to get more out of the deal but even if it was just players for players I'd be fine.

5. Figure out what to do with Gryz... I would usually say trade him, but Im wondering what a 2 year extension looks like for him. He has figured out his game and could be a nice transitory player for us.

6. Im fine trading Bunting but not in any hurry to do so. Can he bring back a decent prospect with no cap coming back? Lets do it.

OFFSEASON PRIORITIES:
1. Make Marchand an offer he can't refuse. If he hits free agency, we should be prepared to offer him 2-3 years at $8M. I want to see him and Sid make some magic before their careers are over.

2. I want to take a run at Marner or Rantanen, but I think there are other teams they would rather play for that will also pay them $14M per season. Bennett I would like to get but you just know that next contract for him will be a trap.

So Im looking at guys like Duchene and Benn as older guys who can still play and will take shorter term deals. I would overpay both of those guys for 2-3 years to try to compete while not blocking prospects 3-5 years down the road. I like Olivier, Tanev or Greenway to add some fire to the bottom 6.

3. Depending on who we move on from, we should have cap space to fill out the D group with a couple good players but it is going to be pretty thin in free agency meaning everyone is going to be overpaid. Part of why Im fine with a Gryzelyk extension. If we trade Karlsson, maybe we are a player for Ekblad but I feel like he is going to be willing to take a steep discount to stay in Florida. Chuchryn would be interesting but he has said he wants to stay in Washington. Id like Provorov or Orlov but just not sure they are fits.

They spent all that money on Jarry and you gotta wonder if they keep putting him in there hoping that he'll get hot and garner some interest at the deadline. It's probably not gonna happen.
- greenyone

Probably the only shot is if Anderson goes down for Carolina again. Maybe Montreal in the offseason, but I just can't see it happening in season. Buyout is probably the only way out of it.

I could see Marchand as a real possibility to sign here with Sid. At the very least the next 2 free agent periods could be interesting with some cap space.

Getting both Marchand and one of Ranntanen/Marner completely changes this team. Upgrade top LD spot and Pickering becomes legit, young guys hold down the fort in the bottom 6x and this team isn’t that far from being a semi-legit contender.

The new beginning actually begins when DOC isn’t given a jersey. You know I’m right. I’m always right.

From the little tidbits I have heard and read. Dubas wants to keep Rakell and Rust because they are cost controlled. He will probably trade Rakell towards the end of his contract. He could be traded during the offseason, but Dubas would have to be wowed with a deal in order to move Rakell.

Bunting is said to be drawing interest and Dubas has been listening (he is more likely to be moved of players with term). Apparently there were 5 teams who asked about Bunting. I know NJ, Calgary and Toronto were a few of the teams.

Side note: I really find it weird that Dubas wants us to fail. He didn’t even try to resign Guentzel. He never once wanted us to be buyers at last year’s deadline. He isn’t trying to resign Pettersson and kinda is in the same mindset as last year. He just set us up worse this offseason compared to last for us to be out of the playoff race and for us to be sellers at the deadline. Even with us winning he kept our scouts last year and this year scouting teams for young talent/prospects as if we were sellers from the beginning of both seasons….
- 123Kid

I think Dubas is banking hard on getting a push from the young talent in WBS next year. Even just solving the goaltending would be huge, though Blomqvist has been struggling too.

But filling out the middle six would be a pretty big help too. For some perspective, even as disappointing as DOC has been, his 13 points is still 6th among forwards, so it's not like anyone has really stepped up. Beau had some goals with Crosby, much less since then. Tomasino has cooled a bit though I'd give him more time. But really after the top five forwards the only one I'd say has been good is Lizotte.

This team could really use a Carl Haglin type for the second line that could handle the defensive responsibilities while not being an offensive hole. DOC and Glass are this team's best answers and neither is scoring enough. Hopefully that's McGroarty.

The new beginning actually begins when DOC isn’t given a jersey. You know I’m right. I’m always right.
- Grinder47

I thought the team would improve once they got rid of Jake.