thehockeyguru wrote: ↑Mon Mar 04, 2024 11:28 am
https://triblive.com/sports/madden-mond ... ettersson/
“I’ve heard they may yet sign Guentzel,” Madden said. “I’ve heard he’s come down off his asking price a little bit. But is that the right move to make? You’re going to have to sign him for six, seven, maybe eight years, and you want the team to get younger? Is that facilitated by signing a 29-year-old to that length of deal?”
“I also know there’s a lot of interest in Marcus Pettersson,” Madden said. “Why wouldn’t there be? He is a great defensive defenseman, and that could mean a lot to a legit contender. Should the Penguins trade him? Depends on what they get. If they got a real big return, I’d say yeah. But you’ve still got to play games next year.”
Well, this is where Dubas needs to set the direction. Dipping our toes in a bit of each direction won't work. FSG tried to make Hextall do it. Dubas/FSG also needs to understand that there is much more potential risk in the path they have been taken. If the rumors are true that FSG doesn't want some extremely long rebuild cycle to get back to being a good team, then they need to burn down what they can now and get younger. They can't keep saying they want to be a contender, and they want to keep all these picks and prospects. That won't work.
If they continue down the path they are on, which would be signing Guentzel, then 2-3 years, they aren't going to have anything of value to trade and are going to have to flat out stink for 3-4 years to acquire the picks.
Trade Guentzel. Get that haul.
If the offer is there, trade Jarry. Get that haul.
I really like Pettersson, but his haul should be huge right now with another year on his deal under 5M.
Those 3 right there are enough to hopefully acquire a good set of young prospects and start loading up on picks NOW, and retooling around Crosby. Otherwise, good luck with this team not being putrid for close to a decade. Longest playoff drought in team history is 6 years, starting before Lemieux came until his first playoff series in 88-89. Next longest playoff drought was 4 years, which started the year after Jagr was traded and saw us return to the playoffs in Crosby's 2nd year. We are about to be in our 2nd year of a playoff drought.
A lot riding on the decisions Dubas makes in the next 5 days. Hanging on to past glory, hopefully, is not the path chosen.