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Carnegiejy t1_j6frp65 wrote

Bench him for who? The Pens have no cap room and not a ton of desirable assets they would trade. I know everyone wants a shakeup move but I just don't see a path to do it.

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chad4359 t1_j6fs7i9 wrote

Hopefully Jarry comes back after the break and stays healthy.

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Carnegiejy t1_j6fsvae wrote

Replying to Ok_Cap3087 (#1,596,938)

The contracts he gave Carter and Kap are going to hamstring the team this year. I hope he has a plan too. But outside of trading Malkin or Letang I don't see any way to drastically change the roster. The plan for this year was clearly decided in the off-season.

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skankin22jax t1_j6fu9hd wrote

The depth is holding us back, not DeSmith. He’ll always be a backup. Can’t rely on the top 2 lines every single game. Grandpa Carter and Kapanen haven’t done crap and are waste of money.

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RequirementFew773 t1_j6fw5zc wrote

Their problems run much deeper than DeSmith. Looking on MoneyPuck, based on advanced stats CDS is breaking even - expected goals against equal actual goals against. He is ranked 54th, but take out 7 guys above him with 1 or 2 games played (too small a sample) and he is then 47th, so smack dab in the middle as a backup. While he might be slightly overpaid,

The big issues are slow starts, not winning in OT/SO and losing against bad teams, 3rd and 4th lines scoring a lot less than you expect, and Dumo going from great partner to Letang to barely treading water in a 3rd pairing role. They have no cap room because of contracts given to Carter, Kapanen, and McGinn (not to mention Jack Johnson's buyout is costing almost $2 mil this year, and then almost $1 mil the following three years).

It's been said that Hextall won't trade a 1st, and I agree if it's only a rental with little or no chance to resign them. However, Arizona is trying to tank, and their goalie Vejmelka (8th best goalie on MoneyPuck) is preventing that. He's almost a million more, but he looks to be at min a 1B goalie with high potential to be a 1A, and he has two years after this one. I propose trading Dumo and DeSmith to Arizona for Vejmelka and Ghost. Since they would be retaining salary on Ghost, it would likely cost a 1st and a 3rd at minimum, but it would be worth it IMO.

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