Team doesn't have the luxury of time to trade Malkin for picks and prospects. We're almost 3 years out from a good Staal trade and the assets we got back still aren't better than Staal. Someday maybe but not today. The team's depth is flawed, but that's because they haven't been able to develop a top 9 since Tyler Kennedy. You can change the stars, but that level of ineptitude isn't quickly fixed.

But despite their flaws, without a run of debilitating injuries combined with poor cap management, at worst this team misses the playoffs by a point. Injury not only crushed what was one of the best defense cores in the league down to an undermanned squad, but Malkin and Comeau also are clearly not at their best.

Maybe there is a Malkin trade that addresses enough holes to compensate for losing a top player, but even trying to do so could also cause a rift not only with him but Crosby. Chances are good it's not worth it. A retool isn't as sexy, but is likely the best option. Too many good pieces are in their prime now.

Good feeling people. Just having my chocolate chaud & looking at results but feeling like the Pens are going to do it - just like the water boy!

Funny how teams play - Rags get shut out then smoke a good team in Caps, Flyers - well 'nuff' said.

Allez les Pens putain!

Who do you trade? Kuni? Aint worth crap after this season. Sutter? Couldn't land anything. BB? Scuds? None of those guys bring anything of value the other way.

Frolik is probably the best F available in FA and he will command close to 6mil. I really dont think Dumo and DP are ready to fill the roles of Hoff and Martin.
- sammy87

You and I are on the same page. These people who think trading the Kunitz's, Sutter's, Spaling's, Bennett's and Scuderi's of the world as the "big decisions" are off base. They don't bring much in return. They certainly won't bring anything in return that helps next year's roster. non first and second round picks and average prospects at best. So ... it clears cap space to sign free agents. Well, this free agent class sucks ass. I love Frolik too, but like you said he will command a ridiculous amount. Think about what Opik got last year. He is slow and old and got that because he supposedly one of the better blue liners out there.

If people think this is going to get better next year, I think they have another thing coming.

The draft won't help with a second and seventh round pick ... free agency won't help since it sucks ... trading non productive players won't help because it doesn't yield anything of return, so ...

So, you are saying we aren't in this position with Marcel Goc on this roster? LOL. We would be in very similar position due to the fact he is nothing more than a fourth line center with limited abilities. He has some good, but he makes little impact.

You are saying signing Downie and Comeau for cheap one year contracts is a negative? You don't sign these guys to multi-year contracts based on their history. So, Comeau reverts to the Comeau of before, people will be female doging about him as they do Adams.

Signing Ehrhoff was the necessary move in the offseason. He was the most sought after Dman ... you lost Niskanen and Opik, so you needed a competent Dman. He was that. He was thought of to replace Niskanen. He suffered injuries. Can't control that.

Johnston as head coach is Rutherford? NO ONE WANTED THE JOB. If handled correctly by ownership, we would have a better coach than MJ. Who was out there to get? Torts?

Not trading Sutter? You are assuming people wanted him. So, who would have been our third line center? Marcel Goc? LOL
- Oneonta Penguin

You're right. Rutherford has done an awesome job

Executive of the year!

Things look GREAT going forward and into next year!

I threw that idea out the other day for those lines. I like it other than Sutter. I think he and BB gotta go. It would be great if Kap makes the team and Kuni gets bumped to the 3rd. Im a bit over Comeau at this point. I like Winnik but he's not worth the 2nd. You should have to trade high picks for a guy like that.
- sammy87

Oh poop, I forgot about BB. But then again, he has not brought anything special. I wouldn't mind seeing him being moved to get a draft pick back. I like the thought of comeau in the bottom 6. I thought he played really well in that spot last game. We have winnik, so might as well keep him since he has looked decent. without martins contract, Frolik becomes a big possibility.

To me it's size we lack. That hurts us on the wall on the cycle. The lack of size may also contribute to wearing down and injuries? It's what I see.

You and I are on the same page. These people who think trading the Kunitz's, Sutter's, Spaling's, Bennett's and Scuderi's of the world as the "big decisions" are off base. They don't bring much in return. They certainly won't bring anything in return that helps next year's roster. non first and second round picks and average prospects at best. So ... it clears cap space to sign free agents. Well, this free agent class sucks ass. I love Frolik too, but like you said he will command a ridiculous amount. Think about what Opik got last year. He is slow and old and got that because he supposedly one of the better blue liners out there.

If people think this is going to get better next year, I think they have another thing coming.
- Oneonta Penguin

There will be players out there, just need to find them. There will be trades to be made also..if I was the GM, I would trade every one that I could except for 71, 87, 29 and 51. Probably wont get a great offer for Tanger, but I would listen. Just can't keep paying a guy over 7 mil a year to play 50 games a season. You take anything you can get for Scuds, Kunitz, Spaling, Sutter. I would be willing to bet there is another team that is disappointed in their 1st round pick, maybe you can make a BB for that type of player swap and hope for the best. I resign Cole, I run with Cole, Lovejoy,DP, Doums, Letang and Ollie. That leaves you a very good amount of cap space to fill out the forwards either via trade or FA. If you aren't going to let the young guys play on D, then trade them for some forwards....Its time to let the kids play.

To me it's size we lack. That hurts us on the wall on the cycle. The lack of size may also contribute to wearing down and injuries? It's what I see.
- powerhouse

I wonder if we could package something with Bennett to get Bickell from Chicago? We have the money coming off the books to take his cap hit. Just thinking out loud here

You're right. Rutherford has done an awesome job

Executive of the year!

Things look GREAT going forward and into next year!
- RoloTahmasee

JR has done a decent job righting the ship. Comeau, Downie, Hoff were all good moves. He had to work with what he started with. Spaling sucks, but there was a hole in the bottom 6 and getting him with PH was better than finding a FA. The Pens are where they are right now because of injuries. Thats all there is to it. Even healthy they still go out in the 2nd round though. If they win today great, there might be 6 more games in the season if they're lucky.

There will be players out there, just need to find them. There will be trades to be made also..if I was the GM, I would trade every one that I could except for 71, 87, 29 and 51. Probably wont get a great offer for Tanger, but I would listen. Just can't keep paying a guy over 7 mil a year to play 50 games a season. You take anything you can get for Scuds, Kunitz, Spaling, Sutter. I would be willing to bet there is another team that is disappointed in their 1st round pick, maybe you can make a BB for that type of player swap and hope for the best. I resign Cole, I run with Cole, Lovejoy,DP, Doums, Letang and Ollie. That leaves you a very good amount of cap space to fill out the forwards either via trade or FA. If you aren't going to let the young guys play on D, then trade them for some forwards....Its time to let the kids play.
- Thorny

I like the way you think

You're right. Rutherford has done an awesome job

Executive of the year!

Things look GREAT going forward and into next year!
- RoloTahmasee

You are very naive if you think this is all on GMJR. The last guy have a major impact on this year's roster. Jim did do some good things. Signing Comeau and Downie to their respective deals were somewhat gold. No one expected the production from those two. That said, blaming GMJR for not signing those two to longer termed contracts is somewhat of a joke. Those are two guys that you sign for cheap, one year deals and then either move on or re-evaluate later. If those two guys sucked ass and you signed them to longer termed deals, then the reaction would be what?

There will be players out there, just need to find them. There will be trades to be made also..if I was the GM, I would trade every one that I could except for 71, 87, 29 and 51. Probably wont get a great offer for Tanger, but I would listen. Just can't keep paying a guy over 7 mil a year to play 50 games a season. You take anything you can get for Scuds, Kunitz, Spaling, Sutter. I would be willing to bet there is another team that is disappointed in their 1st round pick, maybe you can make a BB for that type of player swap and hope for the best. I resign Cole, I run with Cole, Lovejoy,DP, Doums, Letang and Ollie. That leaves you a very good amount of cap space to fill out the forwards either via trade or FA. If you aren't going to let the young guys play on D, then trade them for some forwards....Its time to let the kids play.
- Thorny

So you're open to trading a norris candidate that played pretty much the whole season but no DP? Interesting. DP has shown about 3 games that he might have something. The rest of the time he basically looks like another plug on the blue line making pretty basic defensive mistakes that Despress, Scuds, Lovejoy make every night.

I would resign Cole though, I think they have to.

There will be players out there, just need to find them. There will be trades to be made also..if I was the GM, I would trade every one that I could except for 71, 87, 29 and 51. Probably wont get a great offer for Tanger, but I would listen. Just can't keep paying a guy over 7 mil a year to play 50 games a season. You take anything you can get for Scuds, Kunitz, Spaling, Sutter. I would be willing to bet there is another team that is disappointed in their 1st round pick, maybe you can make a BB for that type of player swap and hope for the best. I resign Cole, I run with Cole, Lovejoy,DP, Doums, Letang and Ollie. That leaves you a very good amount of cap space to fill out the forwards either via trade or FA. If you aren't going to let the young guys play on D, then trade them for some forwards....Its time to let the kids play.
- Thorny

That is fine and dandy. Then you are fine with either being an eight seed, or not making the play-offs. This team needs to make one significant deal and I'm not talking Kunitz or Sutter. That is what will shift this franchise forward in hopes it gets more balance, depth and talent. Play the kids. Does that mean Dominic Uher? LOL.

You are very naive if you think this is all on GMJR. The last guy have a major impact on this year's roster. Jim did do some good things. Signing Comeau and Downie to their respective deals were somewhat gold. No one expected the production from those two. That said, blaming GMJR for not signing those two to longer termed contracts is somewhat of a joke. Those are two guys that you sign for cheap, one year deals and then either move on or re-evaluate later. If those two guys sucked ass and you signed them to longer termed deals, then the reaction would be what?
- Oneonta Penguin

My issue with GMJR is that he has killed this team the last month with the lack of cap space, there is zero issue for the FA players he brought in...he did a great job there. If it was brought to his attention about not having cap space to bring players up and he ignored it, thats grounds for dismissal to me. That is just something you can not do to a team trying to make the playoffs. It has killed this team the last 3 weeks of the season, just killed them. Playing with 5 dmen has buried this team. I don't blame the players, honestly...I think the effort is there, but they are just dead tired, probably have dead legs...you can see as the game goes on, these guys just don't have it.

That is fine and dandy. Then you are fine with either being an eight seed, or not making the play-offs. This team needs to make one significant deal and I'm not talking Kunitz or Sutter. That is what will shift this franchise forward in hopes it gets more balance, depth and talent. Play the kids. Does that mean Dominic Uher? LOL.
- Oneonta Penguin

If you arent going to play Harrington, Doums next year, trade them for forward help...what is the point in holding onto these guys and not playing them? This team needs an infusion of young talent, and they keep it buried in the minors. I would take Doums over Scuds and Lovejoy, both those guys are awful right now and logging more minutes than their legs will allow them. Coming out of camp, Kap and Suns look good enough, you keep them up here and you let them learn and play through their mistakes. This year has been a total waste on another year of Crosby, Malkin and MAF. You can't just keep running out the same crap over and over and hope that it somehow turns into magic. All off season all we heard about was getting young fresh hungry guys in here, here we are...last game of the season and there isn't one young guy on this roster aside from BB and DP. What a joke.

My issue with GMJR is that he has killed this team the last month with the lack of cap space, there is zero issue for the FA players he brought in...he did a great job there. If it was brought to his attention about not having cap space to bring players up and he ignored it, thats grounds for dismissal to me. That is just something you can not do to a team trying to make the playoffs. It has killed this team the last 3 weeks of the season, just killed them. Playing with 5 dmen has buried this team. I don't blame the players, honestly...I think the effort is there, but they are just dead tired, probably have dead legs...you can see as the game goes on, these guys just don't have it.
- Thorny

Of the 4 moves JR made in 2015, Cole, Winnik, Lovejoy, Perron. I think Winnik is by far the worst. A 2nd for a rental bottom 6 is terrible. I will assume Despres was a problem but to me that trade is a wash, nether are very impressive. You hsouldnt have to trade that much for those guys.

So you're open to trading a norris candidate that played pretty much the whole season but no DP? Interesting. DP has shown about 3 games that he might have something. The rest of the time he basically looks like another plug on the blue line making pretty basic defensive mistakes that Despress, Scuds, Lovejoy make every night.

I would resign Cole though, I think they have to.
- sammy87

I would kick the tires on Letang and if you get an offer you can't turn down, I pull it. He just can not stay healthy, and you just can't have 7+ mil invested into a player that isn't on the ice. Not when you have 9 mil in Crosby and 10 mil in Malkin. I would still run with DP, Doums, Cole, Letang, Lovejoy and Cole. You have enough time before the trade deadline to see if you need to add a dman or not to that.

If you arent going to play Harrington, Doums next year, trade them for forward help...what is the point in holding onto these guys and not playing them? This team needs an infusion of young talent, and they keep it buried in the minors. I would take Doums over Scuds and Lovejoy, both those guys are awful right now and logging more minutes than their legs will allow them. Coming out of camp, Kap and Suns look good enough, you keep them up here and you let them learn and play through their mistakes. This year has been a total waste on another year of Crosby, Malkin and MAF. You can't just keep running out the same crap over and over and hope that it somehow turns into magic. All off season all we heard about was getting young fresh hungry guys in here, here we are...last game of the season and there isn't one young guy on this roster aside from BB and DP. What a joke.
- Thorny

I'm fine with playing kids that are ready. We saw what ready kids are like the last few games. Ottawa has them; the Islanders have them ... Buffalo will have them soon enough. We will have no option but to play the kids on D next year due to our set up. We are in need of forwards, so Pouliott, Harrington and Dumo are going to be needed since it appears Martin is gone and I wouldn't touch Ehrhoff now based on his injuries. I wonder how much this year hurts Ehrhoff on the open market.

We have a lack of talent on this year's roster when it comes to young talent. We have zero. I can tell you how to rectify that, but its not a popular idea. There is only one way how to help this.

Of the 4 moves JR made in 2015, Cole, Winnik, Lovejoy, Perron. I think Winnik is by far the worst. A 2nd for a rental bottom 6 is terrible. I will assume Despres was a problem but to me that trade is a wash, nether are very impressive. You hsouldnt have to trade that much for those guys.
- sammy87

For me, the Despres one was the worst...that trade just baffles me, if its going to be a wash, wouldnt you want to keep the younger guy with more upside? I agree the Winnik deal looks bad....He did well in the Cole trade, that has paid off....Perron, I could take it or leave it. I didn't mind the move at all, if the Pens don't get in, that deal looks a lot worse.

I would kick the tires on Letang and if you get an offer you can't turn down, I pull it. He just can not stay healthy, and you just can't have 7+ mil invested into a player that isn't on the ice. Not when you have 9 mil in Crosby and 10 mil in Malkin. I would still run with DP, Doums, Cole, Letang, Lovejoy and Cole. You have enough time before the trade deadline to see if you need to add a dman or not to that.
- Thorny

No one will touch Letang based on his injury resume.

For me, the Despres one was the worst...that trade just baffles me, if its going to be a wash, wouldnt you want to keep the younger guy with more upside? I agree the Winnik deal looks bad....He did well in the Cole trade, that has paid off....Perron, I could take it or leave it. I didn't mind the move at all, if the Pens don't get in, that deal looks a lot worse.
- Thorny

Winnik deal won't be as bad to swallow if GMJR resigns him, which is possible. Lovejoy deal sucked. Cole deal was great.

Perron deal ... looked great the first three weeks and now he looks like the same miserable player he did in Edmonton. Worth a gamble at the time, but now getting him and giving Edmonton a high first round pick isn't good.

I'm fine with playing kids that are ready. We saw what ready kids are like the last few games. Ottawa has them; the Islanders have them ... Buffalo will have them soon enough. We will have no option but to play the kids on D next year due to our set up. We are in need of forwards, so Pouliott, Harrington and Dumo are going to be needed since it appears Martin is gone and I wouldn't touch Ehrhoff now based on his injuries. I wonder how much this year hurts Ehrhoff on the open market.

We have a lack of talent on this year's roster when it comes to young talent. We have zero. I can tell you how to rectify that, but its not a popular idea. There is only one way how to help this.
- Oneonta Penguin

Thats why I am saying, you have to pay the young kids on D....I don't see how Doums, DP, Cole, Letang, Ollie and Cole can't start the season as your starting 6. You can keep Harrington down if he isn't ready, if he makes the team out of camp, then you could look into a trade. That leaves you a good amount of money to spend on fowards. I know there is no quick fix via FA, but you have to start somewhere. There will be trades to had, just have to find them. There are gems in FA every year, have to find those too. Crosby and Malkin will make whomever is brought in that much better. I guess Pens have to hope that Kap and Suns can make this roster out of camp next year...thats even more money saved. For the love of god, stop trading 1st round picks...I hate when we trade them...

No one will touch Letang based on his injury resume.
- Oneonta Penguin

Someone will always take a risk on talent...always. Its figuring out how much they are willing to risk. If Letang was on the block, there would be plenty of teams knocking on the door.

Sid and geno proved they don't need star wingers to be effective. You have Sid,malkin, Perron, horn, and Kunitz, for 5 of your top 6. Frolik would be ideal (for me) but there quite a bit of depth guys who could be huge in the bottom 6. I'm hoping comeau, downie, and winnik are resigned. I honestly wouldn't mind keeping sutter given the fact there's really no better 3rd line C in free agency. Ehrhoff I think could be resigned for a little cheaper due to his season with injuries.

Perron-Sid-horn
Kunitz-malkin-Frolik
Bergenheim-sutter-winnik
Downie-sundqvist-comeau

Most of those guys in the bottom 6 can be plugged into the top 6 in case of injuries
- drummer829

That's the masterplan. I'd try to bring just a little bit more of character by getting Richards (with $2M retained). I wouldn't think Twice If we could have him on Sutter's place.

Who do you trade? Kuni? Aint worth crap after this season. Sutter? Couldn't land anything. BB? Scuds? None of those guys bring anything of value the other way.

Frolik is probably the best F available in FA and he will command close to 6mil. I really dont think Dumo and DP are ready to fill the roles of Hoff and Martin.
- sammy87

Sutter and Kunitz would each get something useful. Sutter is an in his prime center with 19 goals with a reputation for a 2 way game. And every year GMs overpay for aging players based on past performance. Not saying either gets a franchise changing piece, but a good GM could turn either into a useful asset.

I definitely agree with your last 2 points. Clearing cap space for free agency won't likely help add top 6 talent. And going into next year with Letang and Maatta with their injury histories as our only proven top 4 defensemen is asking a lot. Clear our bottom spots for the young guys, but need to add one more 2nd pairing guy. Unless of course everyone believes in Lovejoy.