Salary Cap: - Pens 2024 Summer Thread: "Thus, knocking us out of these superior numbers when we emerge! Mr. President, we must not allow a non-playoff bound gap!" (2024)

This is where I am at, too. I don't hate Emp's roster ideas. I would be fine starting next season with those additions. I just like where Desert is at more.

I will continue to hammer home the youth philosophy until Kyle Dubas says otherwise, or proves his own words wrong by doing otherwise. Plus, I will also continue to insist that the team that finished 2023-24 is a team that can build something. We played solid hockey down the stretch and got results that were eluding us earlier in the season (and probably for the better part of two seasons). AND, that is WITH Todd Reirden running both the defense and the PP. Someone new is taking over both roles, so that alone could/should improve both the man advantage situation and the overall state of the defense. It was also without Jake Guentzel, but with an overall improved top six situation thanks to some tweaks.

- like DesertPenguin, I am comfortable with Jack St. Ivany on the third pairing. I am also comfortable keeping the status quo on defense and adding to the depth. Dubas began that exercise with Filip Kral, which is an underrated move imo. But I like P.O. Joseph alongside Kris Letang and I like the Swedish combo. Graves was not around for our playoff push, yes. So what if we simply replaced Ryan Shea with Ryan Graves from stretch drive roster? Ideally, you don't want the third LD to make more money than the other two LDs, but this is about roster construction. How you get there matters, but is not the only consideration. I am a huge believer in team chemistry, and to me the top two pairings have that. They also need a new voice to help them improve. We are getting that. Do we need a right depth defenseman? Yes. Do we need to draft right defensem*n this year? Absolutely. We are barren behind St. Ivany right now and our two studs are up there in age. We need to start thinking about the future of the defense on the right side. On the left? Pickering is a nice prospect and he could be one season away from helping us. I would extend Pettersson, too. Nothing crazy but he is a solid D and every team that wins needs a Pettersson. We know because we have won. I agree that Ruhwedel's value was as a 7 but we have to avoid bringing HIM back because our coach LOVES him way too much. It is unhealthy for all involved.

- the center situation should be relatively easy. Find a trade partner for Eller because he has value and Sullivan will not play him on the fourth line if he sticks around. He will take ice time away from the younger centers we have, and we need to see what we have in those players. IF you can't trade Eller for whatever reason, then you should trade Acciari. My preference is Eller because he is older and he is better, therefore he brings back more via trade. I could be wrong about that because GMs and teams have their own ideas and agendas. Malkin is a center. Period. Enough with the lunacy. We need one top-six winger upgrade. When we traded Guentzel, it created that opening. Reilly Smith failed as a top-six winger and Michael Bunting replaced him. Now we need the Guentzel replacement.

- Just like starting the season with the same defensive duos, I would start training camp with the same first line as we ended '23-24. O'Connor-Crosby-Rust looked to me like the type of line that could both a) satisfy Sullivan and b) create scoring depth down the lineup. That is a good thing. The jury is out on O'Connor, sure. I was not sold on him until the stretch drive and his work with the top unit, but I would run with it and see what happens. If he was 22, we would all be excited. But he is 26. This team over-marinates prospects. It is what it is. I think there is still some upside there, just as I believe there is still some upside in P.O. Joseph, Jack St. Ivany and even Sam Poulin and Jesse Puljujarvi. I know there is upside in Puustinen.

- When we were successful, Rutherford brought in players and did some things that seemed counter to what Sullivan's philosophical preferences were (whether that was real or speculation is a moot point). Phil Kessel comes to mind. Dubas and Sullivan need to butt heads philosophically for this thing to work. But, I think it can. We traded a first-line player that Sullivan loves last season and it worked out OK. It took a while to get there, but the lineup that finished the season played good hockey. Now, tweak it a little bit more.