I LOVE Cooke, but the more I think about it, the more important it is for Ray to stick to his guns on his 'no more than 2 years' for players like Cooke.
That 2nd line is just beastly, Staal and Kunitz can easily put up 60 points on that line, and Geno should continue being Geno, only not the Geno from last year
I LOVE Cooke, but the more I think about it, the more important it is for Ray to stick to his guns on his 'no more than 2 years' for players like Cooke.
That 2nd line is just beastly, Staal and Kunitz can easily put up 60 points on that line, and Geno should continue being Geno, only not the Geno from last year
Why don't you just get Whitney, which drops Kunitz down to Malkin's line, then get a couple cheap right wings with a little skill? Pretty much the same thing but without so much change.
Down the stretch, Sopel played VERY WELL for the Hawks. Now, that might not extend to the upcoming season, but he was a large part of the Hawks winning the Cup. Very reliable.
I would have to consider that as well. He only has one year left on his contract, which will hopefully serve as a bridge for the young guys to play in 2011-12. It is doubtful that either Leopold or Eaton would take a one year contract.
Sopel + Versteeg --> 2001 2nd Round Pick is a no-brainer for me ... which tells me that it will never happen.
I don't loathe Armstrong, but I love Cooke. For me, in all the years I have been watching Pen's hockey, Cooke has been the most consistent role player I have witnessed wearing our logo. What he does a lot of guys can do. But few do it at nearly every game basis. Cooke provides his role game in and game out.
Armstrong, would disappear for long stretches at a time. As in 5 games here, maybe 10 game there.
I'm a huge fan of bringing Armstrong back if he comes around the 1.0-1.5 range and it is for the 3rd line because Cooke signs somewhere else for 2.0+
That's such a reach and optimistic view, it's not even funny. But if those are the conditions, sign me up.
Agreed - Armstrong would be a great 3rd liner for the Pens especially at that cap hit. He plays hard every shift and he could definitely step right in and fill in if Matt Cooke opts to sign with another team.
I would have to consider that as well. He only has one year left on his contract, which will hopefully serve as a bridge for the young guys to play in 2011-12. It is doubtful that either Leopold or Eaton would take a one year contract.
Sopel + Versteeg --> 2001 2nd Round Pick is a no-brainer for me ... which tells me that it will never happen.
How can we get Versteeg, Ladd, and Sopel. 2010 1st round pick Jefferys, and maybe Lovejoy? We wouldn't need Whitney and could spend the money on defense.
Just a suggestion.
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.000m) / Brent Johnson ($0.600m)
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
(these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion)
ROSTER: 21; CAP:$58.8m; PAYROLL: $58.025m; CAP ROOM: $0.912m BONUSES: $0.138m
With Whitney, Michalek, and Eaton all +/- .250 million
Could we trade Dupis and Talbot in the Versteeg/Sopel deal? Pick up Zherdev at say 2.5 put him on Malkin's RW. Trade Godard and bring in Konopka who is a fighter but also awesome at face off's. 4th line Adams Konopka Rupp awesome line. Maybe let Eaton walk and sign Foster who is cheaper with Sopel as the 3rd pairing. Foster had 42pts on a bad Tampa team. Otherwise I really like this team you made
Whitney still appears to be a serviceable player, but man is he getting up there in age. A two year deal? I'm not sure about that. Price and term being equal, I might even prefer Kariya.
I think this team should be effectively done with trying to sign old guys aside from the ones they've already got (Gonch, Cooke perhaps), or in the event of extreme bargains. Their veteran intangibles are meaningless now that the team's young core has taken the reigns on the ice and in the locker room. All you end up with is a semi-productive stop-gap or a plodding, huffing has-been that you can't waive or trade.
And I don't know what Whitney's going to do for our powerplay. Sure, he's a right-handed shot, but he isn't the front-net presence that our powerplay has lacked since Malone left. Put Malkin, Crosby and Whitney up front and you're still going to get a lot of outside shots and absolutely no second and third chances. Same as the past two years. What the powerplay needs more than anything is for Staal to become that front-net guy he can be.
They need someone with some size added to the group to go along with one of them.
I don't think so. We have Kunitz. All the Hawks had in that department was Byguflien. Yeah in a perfect world I'd love to have every line look like the old Malone/Malkin/Sykora line but it's really hard to do. Plus I think people are way too hell bent on having grit on the top two lines. Yeah it's nice and depending on the mix of players it can be better, but it's not 100% necessary. If you have 3 guys who can skate and dish to each other and be creative they can be an incredibly potent line without any muscle.
Whitney still appears to be a serviceable player, but man is he getting up there in age. A two year deal? I'm not sure about that. Price and term being equal, I might even prefer Kariya.
I think this team should be effectively done with trying to sign old guys aside from the ones they've already got (Gonch, Cooke perhaps), or in the event of extreme bargains. Their veteran intangibles are meaningless now that the team's young core has taken the reigns on the ice and in the locker room. All you end up with is a semi-productive stop-gap or a plodding, huffing has-been that you can't waive or trade.
And I don't know what Whitney's going to do for our powerplay. Sure, he's a right-handed shot, but he isn't the front-net presence that our powerplay has lacked since Malone left. Put Malkin, Crosby and Whitney up front and you're still going to get a lot of outside shots and absolutely no second and third chances. Same as the past two years. What the powerplay needs more than anything is for Staal to become that front-net guy he can be.
No I don't think they should just stop doing it entirely. Youth = More salary. Stop gap measures are what we need to stay under the cap. Can't have everything.
They need someone with some size added to the group to go along with one of them.
Heck I don't think we can have both in our top 6 because we can't afford two wingers making $3m+, especially when we need to improve our defense. Last year we were cap strapped with Guerin and Fedotenko taking paycuts, how can we afford all of these new wings?
This was touched on earlier by others, but how many would support something like this if it was possible: Trading Kunitz if a Versteeg/Sharp type combo was possible to acquire? I would certainly make the change. Yeah yeah you don't have the grit but that can be had sans a little bit of skill someone like Kunitz would have.
I think we can only afford 1 decent winger, if we get a Versteeg and Whitney the defense will suffer. We have to roll with Kunitz, Tangradi, 1 decent 3m~ UFA winger, and someone cheap.
Kunitz-Crosby-Tangradi
Whitney-Malkin-Grinder or Hope for Afinogenov type signing
