Willie Desjardin not liking the terms or conditions of the coaching offer is a huge blessing in disguise. The guy is a 60 year old AHL coach for a reason, bring on the Ulf/Tocchet show!!
- nbartley9

You missed the part where Ulf bailed on the lame duck GM too.

You missed the part where Ulf bailed on the lame duck GM too.
- Ben37

Has he? Has that been reported or is that all speculation?

Could we possibly get a "3 for 1" from Anaheim? Any of the Duck players mentioned sound fine except no one is much of a hitter. Anyone know anything about the players' analytics?
- errey12

Smith-Pelly is. He's 6'1, 225 lbs and a good skater. Here is his talent analysis from HockeysFuture.com:

Smith-Pelly posted point-per-game junior numbers but his contribution was not measurable on the stat sheet. He played a big game, both literally and figuratively. A somewhat stocky player, Smith-Pelly earned a reputation as a strong player going to the net, battling along the boards and taking the body all over the ice. He also elevated his game in key situations.

I like the roster up until the fourth line. I think Megna can play, but in a fourth line role I am very much ready to see Payerl up here full time. I know his possession is not that strong, but Gibbons and Goc will help carry him there, I like his straight line speed and hitting ability.

You missed the part where Ulf bailed on the lame duck GM too.
- Ben37

Seriously? What happened? I have not heard that.

for all the armchair gm's. A couple moves that should be in place prior to making your roster.

1. scud's isn't going anywhere. team isn't going to pay him to leave or play elsewhere.
2. dupius is top line with crosby until he proves he doesn't belong there.... crosby will see to that. also, that being said, he deserves to actually lose the spot to a bennett or FA as he was still gpoing strong prior to injury. but mostly crosby wouldnt let it happern

these two are practically guaranteed to happen. slightly less a sure thing but pretty close

3. fluery is your goalie

for all the armchair gm's. A couple moves that should be in place prior to making your roster.

1. scud's isn't going anywhere. team isn't going to pay him to leave or play elsewhere.
2. dupius is top line with crosby until he proves he doesn't belong there.... crosby will see to that. also, that being said, he deserves to actually lose the spot to a bennett or FA as he was still gpoing strong prior to injury. but mostly crosby wouldnt let it happern

these two are practically guaranteed to happen. slightly less a sure thing but pretty close

3. fluery is your goalie
- ChrisMS

At his age, coming off of his injury, with a new coach in place there are no certainties. Duper would be best served on a third line coming off surgery and if Pittsburgh can get a high quality winger they need to do so.

Seriously? What happened? I have not heard that.
- nbartley9

It was rumored on Friday. Right after Desjardins signed with Vancouver there were people posting on twitter about how Ulf doesn't want the same restrictions.

Seriously? What happened? I have not heard that.
- nbartley9

The comment that I read a few places wasn't tied to the other candidates saying no. But, more like a general quote that it "wasn't the right situation". Could be really anything... his kid in the organization, things going well in NY, the mess here...

A LOT of Pens notes in Elliotte Friedman's 30 thoughts....


24. So, what happened in Pittsburgh? There is zero doubt the Penguins were going to hire Peters or Willie Desjardins. They were the top two on the list. When Carolina snapped up Peters, Desjardins was the guy. Desjardins can answer this better than anyone else, but in the end I think his heart was in Vancouver.

25. He's from Western Canada and has the Medicine Hat connection with Trevor Linden. But do not underestimate the place of Doug Lidster in all this. Lidster -- who worked alongside Desjardins in AHL Texas -- is very tight with Linden and also will be joining Vancouver. If Linden and Desjardins had any doubt about each other, Lidster would have erased it. If Desjardins wouldn't be able to take Lidster with him to Pittsburgh, as it was reported, that would have been a problem. (For the record, another Penguins candidate said he was not told about any restrictions on assistants. That source is not Peters, who is quoted above.)

26. The Canucks were supposed to interview Scott Arniel on Monday and Desjardins on Tuesday. They changed the schedule. Pittsburgh brought Desjardins into town last Thursday, met with him and, word is, were ready to offer him the job Friday morning. I'd like to see Linden's phone records from Thursday night. Whatever the case, someone from Vancouver made a pre-emptive strike, making sure it was all but done before Pittsburgh could close.

27. The Penguins are unlikely to promote their AHL coach, John Hynes. If Peters and Desjardins were the choices, is that good news for Todd Nelson? Very similar resume. Another new interviewee will be Mike Johnston, who coaches at WHL Portland and was on Vancouver's list.

28. Penguins fans are looking at this and saying, "What the heck? Does no one want to coach Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin?" It's a great question and one we are all asking. The number one answer: It hasn't been a lot of fun there. Ownership and the team's CEO, David Morehouse, are taking most of the heat, but that's not a true picture, because it extended onto the bench and in the dressing room. The demands, the pressure and the disappointment took its toll on a lot of people. No one likes to lose, but things used to be joyous there. That must be re-discovered. It also reveals what a great job Ray Shero did preventing all of this from going public while he was in charge.

29. One other Pittsburgh note: hearing Kris Letang will not be traded, barring a ridiculous offer.

30. OK, one more. Assistant coach Todd Reirden, responsible for defence and given permission to look for other work, may end up in Washington alongside Barry Trotz.

I have heard that both Willie Desjardin and Ulf mentioned Brandon Sutter as a reason they refused to work here.....

Thoughts of waiting for umberger to be bought out then brining him in for like 1.5 as 4th line center instead of goc?

Kuni sid hemsky
Neal geno kuli
Bennett sutter dupes
Megna umberger gibby
Adams

Works in capgeek. I just can't post on here from work. On mobile...

Or you trade neal and ruopp to wpg for kane

Kane sid hemsky
Kuni geno kuli
Bennett sutter dupes
Megna umberger gibby
Adams

That is 4 well balanced lines.. All have grit speed and skill

Being in Tampa for the last 4 years... I want none of Purcell. He's got a wicked shot but refuses to use it too often instead opting to pass... Don't understand it, and he looks way too disinterested and lazy at times. I honestly don't want Connolly either, I see him as a bust. If you're going to trade Neal to TBL, try to get Kucherov (which I doubt you can) or Namestnikov, although I don't think TBL even needs a winger, they are looking for help on the back end. And we have none of that to give them, they won't take Scuderi, and might go after Niskanen in FA. I don't see a trade with TBL happening.
- j.boyd919

Thanks for the feedback. That was actually my least favorite trade of them all but I was putting a lot of stock into Connolly and the 1st pick. I'll cross it off the list.

A LOT of Pens notes in Elliotte Friedman's 30 thoughts....

- rival22

Good stuff...lot of it makes sense too.

Does anyone else have an issue with paying UFA money to forwards (especially this season's forwards) while the defense is going to be comprised mostly of rookies and sophomores? Add a new system as a factor of 'time it will take to be competitive again'. I would prefer younger players at forward as opposed to the likes of Stempniak or Goc.

I appreciate the effort to point out that Pittsburgh can potentially have a not-such-a-God-help-us roster next season, but it still looks like the same squad which is universally acknowledged to have a bad locker room mix and has spectacularly flamed out of the playoffs for five years. The Penguins cannot hope to leapfrog those problems by way of Ales Hemsky.

Could we possibly get a "3 for 1" from Anaheim? Any of the Duck players mentioned sound fine except no one is much of a hitter. Anyone know anything about the players' analytics?
- errey12

3 for 1 would be great but it would most likely remove Cogs from the deal. I really like the idea of Cog's because he is a proven sure thing on a good contract, and he can play both center and wing. And I doubt they'd get rid of 3 top forwards in the system so that's why I was thinking more of a mix and match deal with them....unless we added on our side.

The teams on the other side of the Neal trade scenarios would say no unless we sweetened the pot just a bit.
- 87_71_11_29

Open to ideas :-)

Thoughts of waiting for umberger to be bought out then brining him in for like 1.5 as 4th line center instead of goc?

Kuni sid hemsky
Neal geno kuli
Bennett sutter dupes
Megna umberger gibby
Adams

Works in capgeek. I just can't post on here from work. On mobile...

Or you trade neal and ruopp to wpg for kane

Kane sid hemsky
Kuni geno kuli
Bennett sutter dupes
Megna umberger gibby
Adams

That is 4 well balanced lines.. All have grit speed and skill
- nh4442

well that won't work with Umberger now in PHilly.

apparently its floating around the flyers traded hartnell for umberger on their blog.

FORWARDS
Chris Kunitz ($3.850m) / Sidney Crosby ($8.700m) / Ryan Callahan ($5.000m)
Nikolai Kulemin ($2.500m) / Evgeni Malkin ($9.500m) / James Neal ($5.000m)
Beau Bennett ($0.900m) / Brandon Sutter ($3.750m) / Pascal Dupuis ($3.750m)
Benoit Pouliot ($1.500m) / Marcel Goc ($1.000m) / Brian Gibbons ($0.750m)
Jayson Megna ($0.874m) / Craig Adams ($0.700m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Kris Letang ($7.250m) / Paul Martin ($5.000m)
Rob Scuderi ($3.375m) / Olli Maatta ($0.894m)
Robert Bortuzzo ($0.600m) / Derrick Pouliot ($0.863m)
Scott Harrington ($0.589m) /
GOALTENDERS
Jonas Hiller ($3.750m)
Jeff Zatkoff ($0.600m)
BUYOUTS
Marc-Andre Fleury ($0.000m)
BONUS OVERAGE
$0
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $71,100,000; CAP PAYROLL: $70,695,792; BONUSES: $732,500
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $404,208



Total pipedream I know, but I would like to see something like this.
- j.boyd919

The thing I like about these armchair GM rosters is that everyone is getting rid of the dead weight guys. No more Orpik, Glass, Pyatt, etc. That makes the roster look a lot better to begin with. Then the guys like I like this roster a lot but I'm afraid all the guys we brought in, will cost more than this. B. Pouliot, Callahan, and Kulemin (and even Hiller) would be a heck of a haul in FA but probably would each cost a tad more.

I like all these guys though. I was big on the Callahan train at the beginning of the offseason but never thought we could afford him. I think the biggest question is Callahan, Hemsky, Michalek, Vrbata? Who makes the most sense as Crosbys wing given the price and term of the likely market value contracts.

apparently its floating around the flyers traded hartnell for umberger on their blog.
- stayinthefnnet

Confirmed

So much for Umberger

Does anyone else have an issue with paying UFA money to forwards (especially this season's forwards) while the defense is going to be comprised mostly of rookies and sophomores? Add a new system as a factor of 'time it will take to be competitive again'. I would prefer younger players at forward as opposed to the likes of Stempniak or Goc.

I appreciate the effort to point out that Pittsburgh can potentially have a not-such-a-God-help-us roster next season, but it still looks like the same squad which is universally acknowledged to have a bad locker room mix and has spectacularly flamed out of the playoffs for five years. The Penguins cannot hope to leapfrog those problems by way of Ales Hemsky.
- Johnny Wrath

The Penguins will be competitive next year regardless of the lineup they ice. They are one year removed from the ECF (albeit being swept, but still). If by competitive, you mean cup contender, I don't think it is going to take much time at all. The right coach, and a few of the right supporting cast is all I would say, and maybe a season without a million injuries. People are overreacting in my opinion.

Open to ideas :-)
- YouMeAndDupuis9

Like Hartnell to Columbus? Lol

Also, the Canucks made it official with Desjardins