TIOPS DAILY FIVE
*Rumblings, Musings, Opinions*
1. Penguins management is building their roster with a 3-4 year window in mind where they don’t want to be locked into many bad contracts four to five years down the road when the time comes that some of their core might start to begin regressing.
How much do the Penguins value Patric Hornqvist with the Penguins window still wide open to win a couple more Cups?
We’re about to find out.
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Hornqvist, 30, enters the final year of his contract that carries a $4.25 million cap hit and he’s scheduled to make $4.75 million in 2017/2018.
Pittsburgh believes Hornqvist’s trade value is so high around the league, they protected him as one of their four forwards in the expansion draft to ensure no team tried workout a side deal with Vegas to select Hornqvist and trade for him.
But, do the Penguins value Hornqvist enough to lock him up to a 3-4 year extension when they might be paying more for what he did in the past than he will in the future?
Hornqvist coming off a 21 goal season, has produced seven straight 20-goals seasons (excluding the shortened lockout season).
The intangibles, the net-front presence, the character, Jim Rutherford is a strong believer that Hornqvist is one of the biggest reasons this group transformed into a Stanley Cup team in 2016.
There’s the fact, though, at times this past season when Conor Sheary was starring on the first line with Guentzel and Crosby, and Bryan Rust was still playing right wing, Hornqvist was the Penguins 4th best right winger.
That and there’s concerns his style of play might lead to his body breaking down in his early 30’s. Not to mention, young upside wingers Zach Aston-Reese and Daniel Sprong banging on the door for an NHL role.
While the Penguins are weighing the pros and cons, there are strong indications the team will explore signing Hornqvist to an extension prior to the regular season starting.
2. Was Matt Hunwick at age 32 getting a three year deal from the Penguins insurance for the Penguins potentially losing Ian Cole next summer?
A Penguins source says [hide] “No” and that the team just really likes Hunwick and they had to go three years to close the deal as Hunwick’s hometown Red Wings had a 2 year offer on the table to Hunwick believed to be for around $2.75 million per season.
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3. Ron Cook of the Post-Gazette created a stir today with a column titled “Don’t Be Surprised if the Penguins Trade Phil Kessel.”
Among the blurbs from the column:
[“I believe Phil Kessel will be traded. It might not happen this week or this month or even this offseason. But I believe it will happen sooner rather than later.
Tocchet’s departure could hasten the process.
It was clear in June, by the end of the Penguins’ second consecutive Stanley Cup run, that the organization wasn’t thrilled with Kessel. He scored 23 goals in 82 games during the regular season, not nearly enough for a player with his marvelous shooting skills. He had a huge goal — one of the most significant of the postseason — to beat Ottawa, 1-0, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final but scored just two more goals in the final 11 playoff games. Even though he had 23 points in the 25 postseason games, it was hard to find anyone in organization to say he was playing well.
My belief is Evgeni Malkin wasn’t thrilled to play on the same line with Kessel. And Sidney Crosby? Sullivan acknowledged Crosby and Kessel have no chemistry together. None.”]
I’m sure Cook is getting crushed from many angles because Kessel seems to be a touchy subject with some, but I will say this — there are many in the organization who feel Kessel’s a diminishing asset entering his 30’s and it’s going to be even more difficult to deal with his act [hide] when a 23-25 goal season starts slipping to around 18 which the Penguins internally project will happen.–
I won’t be the least surprised that the Penguins start actively exploring trade scenarios in the next 1-2 years, but, as I mentioned the other day, Kessel’s reps at Newport Sports will always make his eight-team trade listteams right up against the cap who are extremely unlikely to trade for him. In 2015 it just worked out the Penguins were the one and only team on his list willing to take the gamble.
— 4. Another off-season, more questions where Derrick Pouliot fits with the NHL club for the upcoming season.
The Penguins didn’t give Matt Hunwick a three year deal at $2.25 million per to be the 7th defenseman.
The coaches love Chad Ruhwedel as a depth option and feel he’s the perfect No. 7.
The Penguins have continued to talk Pouliot up all summer and it’s hard to take anything serious because the coaching staff has zero patience for him to just let him go out there and play a bunch of games before having look over his shoulder. And the fact right now, there’s just no spot in the top-6.
Pouliot’s one year, $800,000 contract is smaller than his qualifying offer ($874,500) but the number being a little bit lower than the QO was expected in the process where in turn the Penguins give Pouliot a one-way contract.
Pouliot and Chad Ruhwedel will both be waiver eligible and barring a trade of a defenseman between now and October, the Penguins are likely to start the season with eight defensemen with the team likely to be cautious with Kris Letang, who I’m told is progressing very well and is ahead of schedule.
The Penguins will have plenty of cap space to carry 23 skaters to start the season, unlike previous seasons where they had to send players to Wheeling for a day to be cap compliant.
5. The Yankees released Chris Carter on Tuesday. Carter, 30, was the NL leader in home runs in 2016 with 41 as a Milwaukee Brewer. With the Yankees in 2017 prior to his release, he hit .201 with 8 home runs, 26 RBIs and a .284 on-base percentage.
While the Pirates have a much better/younger version of Carter in Josh Bell, when you have guys like Phil Gosselin and Max Moroff on your bench, you should be considering everything when it comes to adding a Major League talent.
Would you rather have John Jaso or Chris Carter as the primary backup behind Bell?[/hide]
Just in case he missed it… sammich… what do you think of GMJRs comments?
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/07/13/penguins-rutherford-phil-kessel-trade-rumors/#.WWfRrolD45c.twitter
The last time I listened to Ron Cook was the day when he said “if you think sidney crosby is better than Jonathan toews, you’re a Pittsburgh homer”. Haven’t heard a minute of his show since.
He’s in full on hiding mode.
Hey look – thumbs downed a bunch of times, with no response. That’s our sam!
What’s funny is that he’s the only one who cares about thumb ratings. He cares to the point where he has two accounts. He’s a very troubled 10 year old.
He pasted away
Sam, why won’t you address stanch’s post below? Why do you keep avoiding it?
Full disclosure, that’s Zero’s post – I’m just intrigued as to why Sam won’t address the fact that he was wrong in every facet of what he contended earlier. He must have a response. And if he doesn’t, why should anyone listen to him ever? He contends NPL and I don’t have a clue – yet he keeps hiding from a post that PROVES he doesn’t…why? I’d certainly want to defend my position (then again, I try not to assert things as fact when I dont’ have a clue…)
BTW – this is like the 3rd or 4th post like this that one or several of us have flat out called him out on, and re-posted ad nausea only to have him run and hide like Quebec’s biggest pusssy. Like any time he claims Malkin is a power play specialist / comparing him to how Sid is not.
I love it, the guy claims to be the end all pertaining to the game in general yet he has failed to make a single coherent and intelligent case vs any of the retorts to his claims. Guys a fucken fraud or yoda-like caliber lol.
Like the coward that he is, he will wait until there is a new article. We will just need to repost it.
(I see that whilst ignoring the post and refusing to address, he did manage to give you a thumbs down for asking about it though)
Lotta Kessel rumours being debunked by JR. Good call sammich
See when you possess critical thinking skills you don’t just jump on the work of hacks, you can pick them apart. SBNation is not usually a go to IMO but this author here… this is called skepticism. This is what critical thought looks like sammich. I know this is a hard concept but read how he breaks down Cooks column
https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2017/7/12/15959078/phil-kessel-trade-rumors-column-sports-media-pittsburgh-penguins
Westbrook winning athlete of the year over crosby is a joke. Then you have Lebron winning best NBA player over westbrook. No wonder ESPN is a joke now.
It’s such a joke, that I have no idea what you’re talking about.
We kinda feel the same about you and Npl
Yeah – but you can barely write, and your hockey knowledge compares to an explosive bout of diarrhea, so who really cares what you feel?
Now respond to this, or shut the fuckk up
“San Jose is the 13th most valuable team worth 470MM and net earnings of 7.1MM – Forbes
Dallas is the 12th most valuable team worth 500M and net earnings of 20.9MM – Forbes
NYI is down at 18th worth 385M buuut net earnings of 2.7MM
Tampa is not a valuable franchise per-say but did have net earnings of 3MM” -Me
SAM – please reconcile
Sam?
https://media.tenor.com/images/3d06d6ac5a22d245bce66d453f2fad7c/tenor.gif
It’s a joke you watched the ESPY’S. I’d rather watch paint dry.
I didn’t watch. Seen it on ESPN.com today at work.
Kessel > Toews
I think you mean “Phil > Jonathan”
“Nathan”
“San Jose is the 13th most valuable team worth 470MM and net earnings of 7.1MM – Forbes
Dallas is the 12th most valuable team worth 500M and net earnings of 20.9MM – Forbes
NYI is down at 18th worth 385M buuut net earnings of 2.7MM
Tampa is not a valuable franchise per-say but did have net earnings of 3MM” -Me
SAM – please reconcile
Wtf did that first paragraph say?
Kessel + for Ovi
Great to see the Daily 5 is back!
Kessel to be traded? Sheary my not come back but.. but those are amazing players. Just ask box score stain and zeroTool
And I think same was right when he said that one hit wonder line won’t last long and now possible all 3 members being eventually gone when same said in 2016 after the cup trade hbk line to Colorado for Nathan. And other players.
Lol… one hit wonder, won two cups! Idiot. Cook was simply filling a slow news day you stupid fuckk.
Also I didn’t read Shearys name anywhere either cuntbag.
“San Jose is the 13th most valuable team worth 470MM and net earnings of 7.1MM – Forbes
Dallas is the 12th most valuable team worth 500M and net earnings of 20.9MM – Forbes
NYI is down at 18th worth 385M buuut net earnings of 2.7MM
Tampa is not a valuable franchise per-say but did have net earnings of 3MM” -Me
SAM – please reconcile
#BoxScore4Life
Remember when you called it a Score Box that one time? I do.
I don’t know why you say that as you clearly don’t know how to read those either
Yet 2 of the three are still on the team and the ONLY reason Bones is gone is because he was worth too much for the team to keep… so keep putting it out there to the world how stupid you are lol
Dude if it was easy the situation trust me pens would get rid of haggy in a heart beat. Chubby’s case is a little bit more complicated but if Timing is right your hot dog boy will be gone too it’s just other teams don’t have Crosby, malkin to have a lazy chubby collect paychecks from. Their expense
They could get rid of either one in 2 seconds.
Chubby is so lazy, he ho-hums his way to 70 points. Jonathan Toews tries SO HARD for nearly $4M more a year, and can only hit the mid 50 point mark. Sad!
Thanks for clarifying it Box Score
I wouldn’t have to clarify it so often if you had a clue, but that’s asking the world.
Keep going dumbass. Both carry a ton of value on the market period. If Hags was to be moved it is simply due to basic math… too many wingers and enough of them can do much of what he can at a lower price. Would likely be easy to find a trade partner you halfwit.
As for Kessel… had his 3rd highest single season output. Its a special kind of stupid to call him a thief while sticking up for a guy like Toews who would only dream of Kessels production.
They have more Cups than anyone playing in Montreal. #Fact