I would love to get Parise if he would sign with us to win, not to get the best offer.
Because if we have to give him market value, I don't want him. We don't need him enough to spend +7 million.
It's a little naive to think we could acquire a winger who'd work as well for Sid as Neal's worked out for Malkin without giving up a core piece, but what the hell. Here's a rough draft:
What we want in a winger
- young (mid-twenties or so)
- preferably RH shot (for PP)
- skilled
- value at a low due to recent production, team surplus, etc.
- affordable contract
What we can reasonably give up for a winger
- Niskanen/Martin
- TK/Tangradi
- 1st in 2012 (I don't care if the draft is in Pittsburgh)
- Bennett
- waiver-eligible defensemen (Strait, Bortuzzo, etc.)
Suggested targets (in no particular order)
- Dustin Brown
- Chris Stewart
- Bobby Ryan (pipedream)
- Devin Setoguchi
- Peter Mueller
- Bryan Little
- Patric Hornqvist
- Guillaume Latendresse
- David Jones
- Nikolai Kulemin
Any thoughts or suggestions? Maybe what each team could need for a given player?
Kulemin and Latendresse are lefties. And Latendresse has 27 games in the last two years combined, I'm not really sure about him. Jones has some finish, but I don't think his overall game is good enough for Crosby.
I personally like Brown, you just know what you get there. Mueller hat so much talent but like Latendresse has missed many games due to injuries. Ryan is unrealistic, he would fit in perfectly though. Hornqvist has nice hands and a good shot, I'd take him.
What I would really like to so see is a righty with a fantastic one-timer, our pp would be just deadly, holy crap. And of course decent enough wheels and hands to play with Sid. Those players are rare though...
I really like Glencross and he'd fit our style pretty good I guess. Plus, if there is a team in need of a rebuild, it's Calgary, so they might be willing to part with some players. Although the probably promised Iggy to wait till the rebuild until he's contract is over, which would be after next season.
Brown - Brown probably makes the most sense. $3.1M cap hit over the next several seasons, is basically a younger, harder-hitting, Chris Kunitz with slightly better hands. That being said, what do we have to give up in order to obtain him? Personally, if Niskanen and Martin have a strong playoffs, I don't want to move either one of them. I'd want to resign Niskanen and let Martin finish his contract here (Only one year left after this season).
I doubt most of those guys are available. Brown and Stewart might be, but the asking price may be prohibitive. I think Jones gets overpaid in UFA.
I know he doesn't fit some of the criteria, but Ray Whitney (if he doesn't re-sign with Phoenix) on a 1 year deal makes a lot of sense for Crosby and our PP.
We got our scoring winger. It's James Neal. Crosby gets rentals from here on out. Maybe Kunitz moves to his line next season, but that's the best he's going to get. We simply don't have the cap to pick up another top-flight winger without screwing up the defense and/or bottom lines.
When you have three first-line centers, only one of them is going to get first-line wingers. That one, for this season at least, is Malkin.
I doubt most of those guys are available. Brown and Stewart might be, but the asking price may be prohibitive. I think Jones gets overpaid in UFA.
I know he doesn't fit some of the criteria, but Ray Whitney (if he doesn't re-sign with Phoenix) on a 1 year deal makes a lot of sense for Crosby and our PP.
We got our scoring winger. It's James Neal. Crosby gets rentals from here on out. Maybe Kunitz moves to his line next season, but that's the best he's going to get. We simply don't have the cap to pick up another top-flight winger without screwing up the defense and/or bottom lines.
When you have three first-line centers, only one of them is going to get first-line wingers. That one, for this season at least, is Malkin.
I disagree. Unless the cap acutally goes down, then maybe you're right. But if that happens, prices for UFA's will also go down.
He'd definitely have to be in Cup chasing mode and be willing to take less. Rumors swirled that he wanted to come here and play with Crosby a few years ago. Canes asking price was just too high back then.
He'd definitely have to be in Cup chasing mode and be willing to take less. Rumors swirled that he wanted to come here and play with Crosby a few years ago. Canes asking price was just too high back then.
And when he was UFA, he wanted more than one year, which Shero was unwilling to hand out. At least that's what the rumor was. Maybe they find common ground this summer.
I've said it many of times, Crosby doesn't necessarily NEED winger. Of course acquiring a winger like Brown would help, but I don't think he needs a winger like Neal like Malkin does.
This is basically it right here. Great post. The way Sid plays, the opposition is damned if they do and damned if they don't.
A) If they decide to stick on him with heavy D, he will inevitably find the open man and get him the puck. A quick shot in front of the net and it's as good as goal. In that case it's really more about the opposing goalie being able to read the play before it happens, (as opposed to the winger's sniping abilities) which means reading Crosby's mind. Good luck with that.
B) If they decide to cover all players equally, well, we've seen that before too. Now you leave Crosby able to do basically whatever he wants out there.
As much as i love to see the fancy Crosby highlight reels, I also thoroughly enjoyed watching his office play last game with TK putting them away. If Sid went on to get 10 goals and 120 assists a year for the rest of his career I would be perfectly content.
And when he was UFA, he wanted more than one year, which Shero was unwilling to hand out. At least that's what the rumor was. Maybe they find common ground this summer.
Interesting. Never heard that rumor. That was the summer we loaded up on D with Martin and Michalek. We basically spent all our money on those guys that summer. Shero seemed disinterested in the wingers on the market. He claimed he didn't see any great wingers out there worth pursuing. It's only logical to think Whitney's age and want for a 2 year deal turned Shero off though.
I've said it many of times, Crosby doesn't necessarily NEED winger. Of course acquiring a winger like Brown would help, but I don't think he needs a winger like Neal like Malkin does.
He doesn't need a winger like Neal, he just needs a RH guy who is an upgrade over Kennedy. I saw a lot of frustration on Sid's face during the Jets game with TK on his line. I could see a guy like Stempniak(UFA)
He doesn't need a winger like Neal, he just needs a RH guy who is an upgrade over Kennedy. I saw a lot of frustration on Sid's face during the Jets game with TK on his line. I could see a guy like Stempniak(UFA)
Seriously?
Of all games to pick from you took the blowout game where TK scored two goals. Yeah, Sid looked incredibly frustrated. And Stempniak has one 50 point season on his resumé, that was 5 years ago. He might score 3 more goals than TK every other season, but TK is WAY better on the forecheck and defensively. There's a reason Stempniak only got 1.9 per season as an UFA. Incredibly streaky and one dimensional.
Interesting. Never heard that rumor. That was the summer we loaded up on D with Martin and Michalek. We basically spent all our money on those guys that summer. Shero seemed disinterested in the wingers on the market. He claimed he didn't see any great wingers out there worth pursuing. It's only logical to think Whitney's age and want for a 2 year deal turned Shero off though.
That's Shero though. He's very careful handing out contracts to older guys. It's never more than one year. That's the reason het let Gonchar go, Comrie (who wasn't old but nearing the end of his career) and Sully only got one years deals. You just never know when the wheels might fall off. And I really like that approach, with the 35+ rule, you might have a guy counting against the cap who can't play anymore.
Brown is completely unrealistic and Stewart/Hornqvist are pretty far-fetched because they are good players and the Pens would have to outbid every other team looking for bargain top 6 wingers (i.e. just about every other team in hockey).
Jones and Whitney make much more sense if they come cheap, maybe retaining Sullivan as well. I mentioned it earlier in the thread but acquiring or signing a more legit third line center and bumping Staal to play with Sid and Dupuis is probably the most cost-effective measure and it allows Staal to continue his offensive growth. He could even carry center responsibilities in the defensive zone to shield 87 from some wear and tear.
Whitney would make the biggest impact next year. Sid's a 150 pt player with that guy in a healthy and in form season.
Whitney has the wheels, the hands and what's very important, the smarts to play with Sid. If he can play at the level he's playing now for another year, he'd be the perfect winger, espacially if the 3rd wheel is a guy like Kunitz.
I'm not sure why I keep seeing the words "big power forward" (and even saw the words "he's not the fastest") in this thread. If those are the ways you'd describe a guy, he isn't Crosby's Neal, so cross him off your damn list. You're better off looking at a guy who's small to medium sized but a very good skater.
Dustin brown "seems" farfetched. But Mckenzie don't lie folks. He was available at some point. The rumored asking price was within our realm of possibility.
Dustin brown "seems" farfetched. But Mckenzie don't lie folks. He was available at some point. The rumored asking price was within our realm of possibility.
McKenzie doesn't tweet crap just so made a tweet, so there's a good chance he was available. The important questions though are now:
1. Will he be available this summer?
2. What would DL want for him?
3. Will there be many teams in the hunt with better offers?
Dustin brown "seems" farfetched. But Mckenzie don't lie folks. He was available at some point. The rumored asking price was within our realm of possibility.
I would agree but Lombardi backed off that rumor pretty quickly and the Kings are playing much better now. Brown is such an ideal player that any team would fight for him. The asking price was in the range of a young puck-mover plus depth winger. Would Shero really be comfortable offering, say Kennedy + Despres/Morrow? I know we would want Niskanen to go instead but I doubt he's what LA would want.
