Mock Roster 3

Hey penguin fans we do not want smith on our team. There are way better options on the free agent market and trade market not to mention in our system than wasting any of our cap on smith. He had 12 goals last year while sissons had 15. Hard pass on smith even if he was free

-odds of brayden playing in pittsburgh on opening night seem to be about 1%. odds are he goes back to moose jaw bc hes too young to wilkes barre (unless he gets a waiver)
-debrusk... eh. im not so sure personally. and i think that contract is a bit pricey relative to his projections from different sources. good player, just not sure of the fit.
-i feel like there are better options than scissons. would rather roll the dice on a free agent or let lars be the 3C again. if ponomarev is playing well in wilkes barre then he could jump up and be the 4C by january.
-that defense core stinks and needs another LD that isnt named ryan graves. hes being asked to be a stay at home defenseman, and hes not that. not even close.

--On Yager, you are probably correct. Yager has the skills to play in the NHL today, but his lack of size and strength against bigger, older players may hurt his chances. On the flip side, Dubas wanted to see players in the mix battle and put their best foot forward towards fighting for a spot in camp. With WBS getting knocked out early, Yager is the only player that really had the chance to put on a show and make his case, and nothing he did took him out of the mix. Let's see what Dubas does this summer in terms of filling out the roster and leaving some space up for grabs, and if Yager can pack on another 5-10 lbs of weight/muscle. Seems like if they have the space, at least a 9 game tryout could be in the mix.

--The Penguins were markedly improved down the stretch once they got Bunting. They need some more guys that will go hard to the net. They need more of that Hornqvist/Kunitz style in their lineup. DeBrusk might be an overpay, but, he's going into UFA with an expanding cap, and is expected to be one of the top guys teams gun for. If the Penguins want him, they will have to overpay a bit.

--With the retirement of Jeff Carter, Noel Acciari is the only RH center on the team, and quite honestly, Acciari should not be playing center. He's much better on the RW at his age, but Carter had that spot locked down for much of the season. There aren't many RH centers that are going to be available. Roslovic on the UFA market isn't great defensively and atrocious in the dot. Pinto is another option, but he could possibly end up costing the Penguins Yager if they want a shot to acquire him. Sissons has a good mix of skill, adds some more of that gritty element, and if Yager is here, he would be a good player for Yager to lean on and help learn the center role. I'd rather see Eller pushed to 4C, because that would make this lineup that much stronger. Poulin, Ponomarev, and Gruden are all LH centers. We have no RH centers in the system, and playing without one isn't an ideal situation. Acciari is also hurt too often by his style of play for the team to count on him to take on that role full-time.

--The defense stinks, but, the Penguins don't have much of a choice going into next year to run with it, and hope Graves and Karlsson improve in year 2. Nobody is going to take on Graves contract after the season he had (the lone exception could be something like a Graves for Kotkaniemi swap if Skjei leaves Carolina...one bad contract for another). Nobody has the cap space to take Karlsson, and the Penguins don't need to be retaining a bunch on him. If Graves continues to struggle, this is also where starting the season with a little over 3M in cap space will help them pivot to another d-man pickup at the trade deadline.

Well, I mean, that's certainly the be all end all of the conversation then, right. Because one year of a player makes all the world of difference. He had one down year, 3 goal difference, and there's no chance. That's as dumb as the roles being reversed, you wanting Smith, and me saying no chance because Sissons just had his career high point total at age 30 and he'll never do it again.

Sissons isn't a 2C, and you had trash production at on your wings aside from Forsberg and Nyquist. Smith has been a pretty consistent 20 goal scorer throughout his career, and the years he didn't make it, he was on pace to do it over a full 82 games. You aren't going to find that level of consistency on the UFA market for under 5M.