Polaris922

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.

Or another lame pick by Shero?

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

While I would agree, you could say you aren't getting McDonough for Gomez and his terrible contract....yet they did.

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.

Apparently he's ok with no chance if he wants to go to Florida.

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!

Ok, again you would know better than me. I am just looking at the numbers:

2013/2014- gp 54 (big pens)

2012/2014- gp 46 (15 big pens, 31 little pens)

2011/2012- gp 57 (6 big pens, 51 little pens)

2010/2011- gp 79 (little pens)

2009/2010- gp 75 (little pens)

2008/2009- gp 23 (kitchener rangers)

So, in six seaons, he has only played two full seasons. Whats the story there?? Is he riding pine?? if so, I wouldn't think you would want him as part of your solution. He is not a young chicken anymore (25) and has yet to play a complete season at the NHL level.

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

Can Bortuzzo stay healthy?

For Depres, you are putting allot on a young d-mans plate, but if you think he can handle it, ok.

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

0%

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.

He could put on his big boy pants and take them to the playoffs.

How hopeful are you he does that in Philly? Lol

Alrighty. You would know better than I as I only caught about 20 pens games lol.

I just know the situation would make me nervous. Then again, my situation makes me soooo angry. Lots of cap room on a team that is a 2nd pairing left side Dman away from a real deep playoff run because everyone takes hometown discounts, but a GM who declared he will not make any moves and wants to play the kids in the holes. And a GM that fills holes with worthless players like Burish, Brown and Kennedy and won't admit he made mistakes and dump Stuart and Niemi. Resigning Stalock was the only thing he did that I am happy with.

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

True.

Point is, there is a good chance that this is VLC's last contact. Does he want to end it as a 4th liner occasionally shoe horned into other spots, with a persistent buzz out of home team fans that he is a waste.. Or might he want to end things as a contributor, regardless of where that might be? He gets paid the same either way, so which sounds like the nicer last few years of a career?

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 didn't mind.

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

I am more worried about Olli Maatta missing 4-6 months(Starting end of may). And Pouliot is in the same boat. Those are two entry level contract guys who would be there for the minimum. Despres I can see a full season of. but Bortuzzo? Without Niskanen to eat up minutes, you will need to ice those two more often on less sheltered icetime. Which could be disastrous given what i have seen of Bort. Despres I had a feeling was not liked by coaching for some reason, but I think he has great potential.

Hell, Letang broke his foot and hand vs the Rags and can't even work out till July. A month off physical training really hurts professional athletes. But I assume he will be game ready.

Pascal Dupuis's injury shelved him from Feb till(Assumed 6-8 months) . So realistically, yes he could make it by the start of the season, but he will obviously be behind on his workouts. Beau Bennett at least will be back in time and his wrist injury should not affect his cardio workouts.

But overall, 14 million is NOT a lot to work with. Let's assume for a minute that Sutter is going to want a small raise to 2.5-3 million being your teams PKing center. So 12 million left. Assume for a minute that some of these guys are not ready for Camp due to recovery. Orpik is gone anyways, and so is Niskanen. Are you going to play 3 kids on defense? or go out and get a defenseman? Letang is not exactly Iron man, so you would have to pray he does not go down all season since he will likely be playing 25 minutes a game. You almost certainly need to go out and get a reliable 2nd pairing defenseman, whose going rate these days unfortunately is kicking around 3-4 million(Or higher). Its almost ridiculous that Niskanen and Stralman are likely to get 5.5+ million on the open market, but it is because the pool is thin.

If someone offer sheets Despres, what then? Not saying it is likely, but if a division rival who is not cash strapped and want youth movement decides to throw him a sheet of 2.5 million for a few years because it has the added bonus of Hampering you, while stealing a prospective 2nd pairing Dman(if he develops)?

No, 14 million is not a lot of wiggle room when dealing with 5 players coming back from injuries and still needing to sign that many just to have a team.

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!

YES, picks! Clear a contract and cap.

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

I can see that happening. If Pouliot does not make it this year, he will push real hard to make it in 2015...he's simply to talented to sit in the AHL for to long. You might see a trade happen to accommodate him if a spot is not available.

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

http://www.hockey-trades.com/2014/06/nhl-trade-rumors-keith-yandle-to-ottawa.html

Hockey Trades @NHLTradeRumors The Ottawa Senators are negotiating a deal with the Coyotes - Jason Spezza for Keith Yandle

Now THAT would be great return with your hands tied!

Only 7 forwards and 5 defenseman currently signed, when you need usually 13 forwards and 7 defensemen(even if one is a healthy scratch or sent to the minors) 2 of your entry level defensemen are under the knife and will not be ready by training camp.

14 million. Is not a lot unless you plan on calling up the farm for months.

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.

The counter argument is, the fluke injury came from way off the radar. No one can reasonably anticipate or account for that risk. Just like a stroke. For the organization, that's just bad luck. Too bad the NHL doesn't have a provision for injuries like Pronger, because this charade is utterly ridiculous. Retirements due to grave injury should be allowed without penalty. It just makes sense.

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.

Maybe, maybe not, my crystal ball isn't as clear a some people's. That's a hypothetical not related to the reason that he stopped playing hockey. A guy is on LTIR and can't actually retire without blowing up the team's cap. Clearly that state of affairs would not have existed for such a length of time without the injury. Unless you believe he was ready to quit playing hockey that day and the injury was just a coincidence.

Not blaming the league or Bettman or the easter bunny. I just think the rule needs tweaking somehow in the future. That's all.

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.

@aziz

Primeau counted because the Flyers paid him despite his "retiring". If a club does that he counts against the cap, though LTIR takes care of that for cap purposes.

Black hawks are much better team then the pens and flyers. Where they lacked this year was at the center position. How many cups have the pens come close with since their last? I'm not judging anything by reg season. I'm talking playoffs. Pens have always been a scoring machine post lock out.

Closer than your Flyers every season except one . I could understand your comment if Crosby & Malkin were 33 or 34... But at 27 that's just plain silly.

@doom88

Thank you. Lol