Polaris922

Hahahahahahaaa

Yeah that didn't really come out till after I'd made that comment. Lol.

Look at it this way... The ONLY damage it's doing is the Flyers have to either pay him his annual salary or take him as an annual cap hit. As long as they pay him he goes on LTIR and doesn't impact your salary cap one bit. Does it hurt Pronger to not be allowed to say he's retired for a few years? That $5 million is a pretty good band-aid.

I don't think so. Shero was pretty good overall. And Depres is pretty well thought of by all but Bylsma.

There will ALWAYS be stupid deals. (A few less with Holmgren out of the chair;). But I try to weigh trade proposals from a reasonable point if view.

He still has a house there where his family still lives, and claims Tampa as his home. That's probably more the reason and he doesn't have that in Dallas.

You better up the ante if you're thinking Yandle. VLC isn't fetching you him that's for sure!

Too much talent in front of him, and splitting 7th man duties with Depres.

Bortuzzo hasn't had any injury issues. Depres is ready for a 5-6 role. Maybe more if he can get some ice time.

I bet he feels the same way at this point! Lol

@Vanflyer Orpik needed to go. I am a fan if his, even wearing his number on my jersey, but his time at big $ and minutes has passed. I'm hoping Bortuzzo becomes the next guy in that role. And Depres is Niskanen's.

How hopeful are you he does that in Philly? Lol

We're ALL the best GM's aren't we? Lol

But if it IS his last hurrah... Does he want to be fourth line on a team he feels has the playoffs in its future or a second line center on a team with no chance? That's the balance I suppose. I'm sure he'll take a trade but it has to be somewhere he feels his situation improves. Is that Dallas? I just don't know how he views that.

Jagr was without a team and offered $4.5 million by the Stars. He wasn't already guaranteed it with a NTC on paper.

Actually... Last season we played half a roster of AHL players and still held first most of the year. At one point we had Letang, Martin, Orpik and Scuderi ALL out and used Doumoulin, Pouliot, Depres, Bortuzzo, Maatta and Niskanen for our lineup and won regularly. Engelland is a throw in. I'm really not worried about all this. I WANT Bortuzzo in there. He had a great playoff season. And I want Depres in there. Bylsma was unfair to the kid in my opinion. I sometimes wonder if the hunger the youth movement had in the regular season would've made the difference against the Rangers! Honestly... All this cap fear is much ado about nothing as far as the Pens are concerned. I have complete trust in Botterill. The guy knows numbers. And if the Pens aren't panicking shedding payroll left and right, I'm thinking I'm right not to panic either.

@sarsippius Just thinking out loud!

Unless VLC doesn't wanna go to Dallas...

That's good news thank you. I know Johnston was his coach in Portland and thinks very highly of him.

Now THAT would be great return with your hands tied!

And @Vanflyer Orpik was no longer the #1 P&K guy. I love Brooks but his days here are over unless he takes less than $2 mill to play. He's just not the same player anymore. Niskanen ran the PP because of Letang's injury. Letang and Martin are plenty able to. I think the goal IS to bring Bortuzzo and Depres in full time this season. There is a lot of talk about Pouliot as well but that remains to be seen. Spaling is a $1.5 mill contract. I don't see many of the bottom six hitting the $2 mill mark if any aside from Sutter. I really see no reason to worry. The numbers would be right if you're out there looking for star players, but we have those locked up. It's the interchangeable a we're looking at now. And Rutherford (as much as I don't trust him) seems interested in letting others have a say so Botterill (the numbers guy), Guerin and Fitzgerald are involved. I think we'll be just fine.

There's no doubt Neal needs someone to feed him the puck. Maybe that's why the Preds went after Spezza?

The Pens have $14 million to sign 6 guys with... I don't think we're crying about that. Lol.

I won't argue that. But I think as the player ages and increased risk if injury comes with it. So the question is was that weighed into the decision to make the rule or not? Understanding that risk went along with it.

I don't think I'm getting my point across. When a GM signs a player at that age, they HAVE to consider the ramifications if they get hurt. It's not Holmgren and Pronger specifically, its everyone. Holmgren signed it anyway, so again that's the risk you take. Unfortunately for the Flyers they got snake eyes. So they either LTIR and pay the man or accept the cap hit. A GM HAS to weigh the risk vs cap vs player desires.