I'd rather put Perron with Malkin and Hornqvist. I think Perron-Malkin-Hornqvist is a very good mesh of players' games. If Perrob underperforms we can go from there.

I trust Rutherford is doing everything in his power on the Franson part but I don't think there's a move to be made. Scuderi is just flat out unmoveable until further notice.
- Victoro311

Its going to be really interesting to see who does not get the top two line left Wing spots. There is no debate is Kessel and Horny on the right wing, but we have 4 (5 or even 6 counting Bennett and Bonino once Fehr is back) possible top 6 Left Wings in Dupuis, Kunitz, Perron, and Plot.

I feel like Perron has one of the top spots until someone takes it away from him, that is just my gut feeling on him. So this now leaves just 1 spot in my mind...

Plot seems to be "impressing" but from what level of play did they actually assume him to be that he is impressing from? Did they figure bottom 6 winger, and hes impressed for that level, or mid 6, and impressive? If mid six, he can take Malkin's wing (hes not getting Crosby, think we all can agree on that), and then you have Bonino with Duper and Kunitz.



My hopeful lines based on already existing synergy for Duper and Kunitz, would put them both on the 3rd line, and let our Superstars take the newer players on.

Perron - Crosby - Kessel
Plot - Malkin - Horny
Kunitz - Bonino - Dupuis (or swap them, whatever).
Bennett - Cullen - whoever until Fehr is back.

Then, since Kunitz and Dupuis can play either wing, one of them gets traded for a mid pairing D man, and Bennett or Fehr moves up, and Sundqvuist might be ready for some bottom NHL time. Or another of our younger players for the 4th line.


Edit: Or of course, don't trade Kunitz/Dupuis, somehow dump Scuderi, and just be happy with life having him gone ^_^

I don't think anyone trusts that defense but I think our hands are tied. Knowing what we know now, do we buy Scuderi out in July? Its debatable but back then it was tough to justify. I don't blame Rutherford for not buying him out.
- Victoro311

I think most wanted him bought out. Of course, we're not sure if ownership would authorize that either. Even if Pens did exercise a buyout on him, doesn't mean they would have been able to re-sign Ehrhoff or sign Franson.

Its going to be really interesting to see who does not get the top two line left Wing spots. There is no debate is Kessel and Horny on the right wing, but we have 4 (5 or even 6 counting Bennett and Bonino once Fehr is back) possible top 6 Left Wings in Dupuis, Kunitz, Perron, and Plot.

I feel like Perron has one of the top spots until someone takes it away from him, that is just my gut feeling on him. So this now leaves just 1 spot in my mind...

Plot seems to be "impressing" but from what level of play did they actually assume him to be that he is impressing from? Did they figure bottom 6 winger, and hes impressed for that level, or mid 6, and impressive? If mid six, he can take Malkin's wing (hes not getting Crosby, think we all can agree on that), and then you have Bonino with Duper and Kunitz.



My hopeful lines based on already existing synergy for Duper and Kunitz, would put them both on the 3rd line, and let our Superstars take the newer players on.

Perron - Crosby - Kessel
Plot - Malkin - Horny
Kunitz - Bonino - Dupuis (or swap them, whatever).
Bennett - Cullen - whoever until Fehr is back.

Then, since Kunitz and Dupuis can play either wing, one of them gets traded for a mid pairing D man, and Bennett or Fehr moves up, and Sundqvuist might be ready for some bottom NHL time. Or another of our younger players for the 4th line.


Edit: Or of course, don't trade Kunitz/Dupuis, somehow dump Scuderi, and just be happy with life having him gone ^_^
- Guile

If Plotnikov impresses and proves to be top 6 material I wouldn't write off him taking 1LW. Plotnikov-Crosby-Kessel looks like a very good game mesh, where as Plotnikov-Malkin-Hornqvist looks redundant.

If Plotnikov impresses and proves to be top 6 material I wouldn't write off him taking 1LW. Plotnikov-Crosby-Kessel looks like a very good game mesh, where as Plotnikov-Malkin-Hornqvist looks redundant.
- Victoro311

I agree on possible redundancy, however, JR goes almost out of his way to bring in Plot, a Russian player, and then does not play him with Malkin when putting him in the top 6? Make that a crash and slam the net line with Malkin shooting all day, nothing wrong with seeing if Malkin can outscore Kessel with Crosby by having a Plot and Horny line.

I don't think anyone trusts that defense but I think our hands are tied. Knowing what we know now, do we buy Scuderi out in July? Its debatable but back then it was tough to justify. I don't blame Rutherford for not buying him out.
- Victoro311

As RW said on Twitter, you could've bought out scuderi and signed ehrhoff for the 1.5 million that he signed with LA and you'd still have a lesser total cap hit than you do with just Scuderi still on the roster.

there is absolutely no reason why rob scuderi is on this roster.

Goc remains a Better player than Lapierre. Enough said.
- Barnaby36

Agreed on this, but that isn't saying much at all. It was pick your poison with either player and we chose #grit for a playoff run. Goc literally would have done nothing either anyway. Neither player is playing for an NHL team anymore.

As RW said on Twitter, you could've bought out scuderi and signed ehrhoff for the 1.5 million that he signed with LA and you'd still have a lesser total cap hit than you do with just Scuderi still on the roster.

there is absolutely no reason why rob scuderi is on this roster.
- SuperHenderson13

Apparently our new Stat guro could only obtain us Bonino and Fehr, and not convince them to dump Scuds

I think most wanted him bought out. Of course, we're not sure if ownership would authorize that either. Even if Pens did exercise a buyout on him, doesn't mean they would have been able to re-sign Ehrhoff or sign Franson.
- jfkst1

Why would you buy Scuderi out though? The savings we would have gotten wouldn't have been enough to sign one of middle pairing defensemen that were available on the market (Franson, Petry, Martin, Ehrhoff, Greene, Sekera) and even then there was no guarantee we'd land any of them. Hell, Petry didn't even make it to market! Keep in mind further that we would have only wanted Franson, Petry, or Martin due to their ability to play the right side, plus we didn't want to lock up any of them long term, especially Martin.

So that left us only with Franson as a realistic option since he made it to market and giving him term would have been more stomachable than Martin, but everyone agreed Franson on a 1 to 2 year deal would cost $$$. A Scuderi buy out wouldn't have freed that up and then we'd be stuck with 4 years of a Scuderi-related cap hit with nothing to show for it.

Now it's a bit different. Franson's still on the market, so assuming his price and term has gone down, would the Scuderi buyout, not signing Cullen, and putting Erixon on wavers free up enough cap to get a Franson deal done? Who's to say. Still don't fault Rutherford for holding onto Scuds for one more year. Next year when a buy out would only result in two years of a Scuderi-related cap hit and there are multiple extensions to be had is when he should be bought out.

As RW said on Twitter, you could've bought out scuderi and signed ehrhoff for the 1.5 million that he signed with LA and you'd still have a lesser total cap hit than you do with just Scuderi still on the roster.

there is absolutely no reason why rob scuderi is on this roster.
- SuperHenderson13

Ok but that's a different story. Ehrhoff is a LD which we don't need it was obvious that both parties were done with each other. You can't buy out Scuderi banking on that a guy that wants to move in will take 1.5 mil to stay with you when everyone thought he was going to get more. In regards to a Scuderi buy out you have to keep in mind future cap implications, not just this year's cap.

Why would you buy Scuderi out though? The savings we would have gotten wouldn't have been enough to sign one of middle pairing defensemen that were available on the market (Franson, Petry, Martin, Ehrhoff, Greene, Sekera) and even then there was no guarantee we'd land any of them. Hell, Petry didn't even make it to market! Keep in mind further that we would have only wanted Franson, Petry, or Martin due to their ability to play the right side, plus we didn't want to lock up any of them long term, especially Martin.

So that left us only with Franson as a realistic option since he made it to market and giving him term would have been more stomachable than Martin, but everyone agreed Franson on a 1 to 2 year deal would cost $$$. A Scuderi buy out wouldn't have freed that up and then we'd be stuck with 4 years of a Scuderi-related cap hit with nothing to show for it.

Now it's a bit different. Franson's still on the market, so assuming his price and term has gone down, would the Scuderi buyout, not signing Cullen, and putting Erixon on wavers free up enough cap to get a Franson deal done? Who's to say. Still don't fault Rutherford for holding onto Scuds for one more year. Next year when a buy out would only result in two years of a Scuderi-related cap hit and there are multiple extensions to be had is when he should be bought out.
- Victoro311

Didn't read your whole post, but Ehrhoff was signed at 1.5 mil... Scuds buyout saves us a bit over 2 mil. We could have regotten Ehrhoff, and MAYBE Franson would have jumped here for 2 mil to be on a cup contender. His signing also has crippled other defensemen who are left's bargaining power.

Didn't read your whole post, but Ehrhoff was signed at 1.5 mil... Scuds buyout saves us a bit over 2 mil. We could have regotten Ehrhoff, and MAYBE Franson would have jumped here for 2 mil to be on a cup contender. His signing also has crippled other defensemen who are left's bargaining power.
- Guile

Well then you should have kept reading because I addressed that.

Well then you should have kept reading because I addressed that.
- Victoro311

I already crippled my attention span for the next hour or so with my own long ass post

I already crippled my attention span for the next hour or so with my own long ass post
- Guile

But I read yours

But I read yours
- Victoro311

But our offense isn't a depressing mess that features Scuderi existing.. its a nice debate due to too much talent



Ok, skimmed yours... And i can argue against the Scuds buyout cost, due to the MLB-NHL partnering on the online streaming, which is an extra 2-3 mil cap increase expected from the revenue. Scuds cap hit now negated by this nice influx.

But our offense isn't a depressing mess that features Scuderi existing.. its a nice debate due to too much talent



Ok, skimmed yours... And i can argue against the Scuds buyout cost, due to the MLB-NHL partnering on the online streaming, which is an extra 2-3 mil cap increase expected from the revenue. Scuds cap hit now negated by this nice influx.
- Guile

Raises in the cap also raise the contracts individual players receive. It's a red queen situation. We're gonna want that raise in the cap to go towards Maatta, Pouliot, and potentially Perron, Bennett, and Plotnikov extensions in a world where the cap is higher and they're asking for more, not to negate a buyout cap hit.

As RW said on Twitter, you could've bought out scuderi and signed ehrhoff for the 1.5 million that he signed with LA and you'd still have a lesser total cap hit than you do with just Scuderi still on the roster.

there is absolutely no reason why rob scuderi is on this roster.
- SuperHenderson13

I can't remember where I read it... I think it was Yohe who said the team doesn't want to get the reputation for not honoring it's commitments/contracts. Saying it will have a detrimental effect on their ability to sign future players. Take it fwiw, but I can understand that line of thinking.

I can't remember where I read it... I think it was Yohe who said the team doesn't want to get the reputation for not honoring it's commitments/contracts. Saying it will have a detrimental effect on their ability to sign future players. Take it fwiw, but I can understand that line of thinking.
- madmike71

Yeah, have been feeling its an "org decision" to not use buyouts or sit older players... since its seemed pretty apparent with Scuds, and Adams. But jeez... shouldn't winning > not hurting a bad veteran's feelings?

I can't remember where I read it... I think it was Yohe who said the team doesn't want to get the reputation for not honoring it's commitments/contracts. Saying it will have a detrimental effect on their ability to sign future players. Take it fwiw, but I can understand that line of thinking.
- madmike71

Every team has buyouts. People are still signing with TB, Philly, NYR, and even LA which was even worse than a buyout. I don't buy that. People will go where the money is and the championship chance is no matter what.

EDIT: Ok maybe not Philly

Every team has buyouts. People are still signing with TB, Philly, NYR, and even LA which was even worse than a buyout. I don't buy that. People will go where the money is and the championship chance is no matter what.

EDIT: Ok maybe not Philly
- Victoro311

Like I said, take it FWIW. I'm just saying I can understand that line of thinking. This team has been known to treat players very well.

I do think Philly's rep has taken a beating for some of the things they've done. Didn't they sign Carter then move him to CLB before the NTC set in? That kind of crap will certainly get around.

Like I said, take it FWIW. I'm just saying I can understand that line of thinking. This team has been known to treat players very well.

I do think Philly's rep has taken a beating for some of the things they've done. Didn't they sign Carter then move him to CLB before the NTC set in? That kind of crap will certainly get around.
- madmike71

That was Richards to LA I'm pretty sure. Did they do that twice?

That was Richards to LA I'm pretty sure. Did they do that twice?
- Victoro311

I think it was Carter to Columbus......where he absolutely did not want to be. They ended up moving him to LA because he was pissed.

That was Richards to LA I'm pretty sure. Did they do that twice?
- Victoro311

They did it to both Richards and Carter. Pulled a fast one on Hartnell too.

Why would you buy Scuderi out though? The savings we would have gotten wouldn't have been enough to sign one of middle pairing defensemen that were available on the market (Franson, Petry, Martin, Ehrhoff, Greene, Sekera) and even then there was no guarantee we'd land any of them. Hell, Petry didn't even make it to market! Keep in mind further that we would have only wanted Franson, Petry, or Martin due to their ability to play the right side, plus we didn't want to lock up any of them long term, especially Martin.

So that left us only with Franson as a realistic option since he made it to market and giving him term would have been more stomachable than Martin, but everyone agreed Franson on a 1 to 2 year deal would cost $$$. A Scuderi buy out wouldn't have freed that up and then we'd be stuck with 4 years of a Scuderi-related cap hit with nothing to show for it.

Now it's a bit different. Franson's still on the market, so assuming his price and term has gone down, would the Scuderi buyout, not signing Cullen, and putting Erixon on wavers free up enough cap to get a Franson deal done? Who's to say. Still don't fault Rutherford for holding onto Scuds for one more year. Next year when a buy out would only result in two years of a Scuderi-related cap hit and there are multiple extensions to be had is when he should be bought out.
- Victoro311

Just getting Scuderi off the roster and opening up a roster spot with some added cap savings would have been beneficial to the team overall for this season. I can see the argument that in the long-term not buying Scuderi out this season is beneficial to the organization.

They did it to both Richards and Carter. Pulled a fast one on Hartnell too.
- jfkst1

All to make room for Ilya mother (frank)in' Bryzgalov

Just getting Scuderi off the roster and opening up a roster spot with some added cap savings would have been beneficial to the team overall for this season. I can see the argument that in the long-term not buying Scuderi out this season is beneficial to the organization.
- jfkst1

If Scuderi is playing in front of Dumoulin this season my argument emidiately changes to pro-buyout. Losing Erixon or Clendening to wavers because the FO refuses to send Scuderi to WBS would piss me off, but we didn't know we'd have those two in the system during the buyout window, so once again I do not fault Rutherford.