Gutting the young talent: have the Pens gone too far?

Let’s see… two Cup Finals appearances… one Cup… I’d say the answer is a resounding “no.”

Nothing ventured nothing gained, and what Shero’s ventured so far has worked out just fine – even if Caputi and the pick are straws that break some camel’s back, you can’t begrudge him doing what he’s been successful doing.

I’m not overly concerned but like I said in Poni trade post, I’d be worried if the Pens made a habit of this. I don’t want to see the farm dry up in exchange for guys who come and go over a season or two. Eventually you’ll hit a wall and either run out of guys on the farm or even guys to trade away FOR prospects or minor leaguers. I guess that’s the start of a rebuilding phase though and thankfully something I can’t see the Pens doing for at least another five or more years. Been there, done that recently.

A few weeks back I talked about how I was not overly impressed with Caputi or his potential in an open game thread and someone jumped all over me for it. I stand by that assessment. We’ve built him up to be some kind of ultimate winger prospect who’s expected to fill the void on the top 2 lines by scoring 20-30 goals per season. I said it before and I’ll say it again – Caputi isn’t that guy, and he’s not going to be. This is based purely on my opinion so don’t jump all over me and tell me about how he’s still young. I just don’t see it happening for Luca.

I have to agree with JP. I see this as a move to pick up some solid help at wing. What’s ironic is that Fedetenko picked up 1&1 last night.

Faceoff Factor’s take on Caputi.

If there is one thing that I have learned by being a Pittsburgh fan over the past 20 years it is that you always, always, always, take proven talent for potential talent.

Granted the situations were different but think of the guys the Pens got for the likes of Jagr, Kovalev, Straka, Lang, Kasper, etc. Did the high potential prospects they get in return ever turn into anything? No!

Armstrong, Christensen, Esposito, Welch, and 3 draft picks (only 1 of which were a first rounder and the one first rounder was a late first rounder) for “rentals” Hossa, Gill, Roberts, etc. lead to 2 Final appearances and 1 Cup. What became of the others? Army, a top 6 forward on a mediocre team, Christensen, bounced around the waiver wire, Welch is a career minor leaguer, and Esposito had not touched NHL ice and it doesn’t look like he will any time soon.

I know it is a different sport but the same can be said for baseball. Think of all the prospects the Pirates have acquired for ligament MLB talent. Honestly in these 17 playoff-less seasons have ANY of those deals benefited the Bucs? No.

I liked Caputi, I did, but if afforded the chance to win now for the possibility of maybe winning later with you prospects, sorry you gotta go for now!

Shero knows what he id doing. I fully expect him to keep reloading that cupboard with the draft picks he has now.

Hooks, there was an article by Depaoli on Insider that said a few of the Penguins scouts only projected Caputi to a third liner in the NHL. Hopefully that’ll help us come to ease with this trade haha.

I think if we repeat, we’ll see the trade as worth it.

I think that the NHL landscape for trades is going to be different going forward, and has been for a few years now. Gone are the days of multiple blockbusters at the deadline to stock up for a deep playoff run. Teams, typically, do not have the cap space to accomodate these kinds of trades. We are seeing more of an NFL landscape. where teams are making the hard decisions on free agents over the summer because they are unwilling to pay the exorbitant prices, or unable to fit their preferred players under the cap, to get deals done at the deadline. Also, contracts are becoming shorter for alot of players, so there is more availability to sign key guys over the summer versus having to trade for them at the deadline.

Things will get especially interesting over the summer if the cap truly does not go up, or retracts. That is when the good GM’s will make their money.

I’m seldom one to play Fantasy Hockey Team Manager, but from what I see, I think Shero did just fine (again). All season long we’ve been saying we needed better defense and a winger for Geno. It looks like we got both, at least for the rest of the season. You have to give something to get something, and I don’t think the Penguins gave up that very much for this trade, on balance. Like FrankD said, I hope Shero doesn’t make a habit of mortgaging the future for the sake of the immediate present, but this trade seems to be what the Penguins need. We’ll see what we see.

He’s not as good as the fans and media have made him out to be. He’s struggling to maintain a PPG rate in the AHL. I’d expect his offense to top out somewhere around Kennedy’s offense and I don’t think he’ll be the all zones player that Kennedy is.