Haula was pretty bad last year.

Also Rutherford said he would be looking for a depth RHD.

That's why he only gets a 1 year deal at a low cap hit

Doubt Rutherford adds to the offense. He probably signs a 3RD and that’s it. He should add another center, but probably won’t.

they have got to find a center. What we have isn't it.

Think he's just waiting out the market to find the most value... which is unusually smart for him

He'll definitely add a tweener goalie

still options available

also not opposed to trying Blueger as 3C

That's not low enough for how bad it was.

They have tons of bottom six Cs now. Should go after Troy Stetcher or something with the remaining cap space.

That's low for what Haula can be

obvious rebound candidate

I like Blueger, I'm not going to knock blueger. But he's a 45.1% FO guy.
we just can't.

still young, there was a time where Crosby wasn't good at face-offs

Blueger also was facing off against #1 guys as a defensive 4C, numbers would go up against easier matchups

Rebound? Maybe but it doesn't make sense to waste cap space there when they need a RHD. Can't have Ruhwedel be the only option there behind Marino and Letang.

Don't think they need a RD, JR was pretty clear Matheson can play on the right and I believe POJ can as well

Riikola looked fine there

when?

1 year under 50% his whole career.....never that low
https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/c/crosbsi01-advanced.html

And he's 26...that's like peek age for a forward....young....
I know you want to put sugar on it and everything is nice. But lets be real about it.
We can't keep having Crosby take every single face off. Malkin isn't great. Blueger isn't great. We need someone who is capable.

start of his career, first couple seasons

again, give Blueger less defensive matchups and he would be fine

those are all 50% years. his career low, and only time below 50% is 48 something.

Blueger in two seasons 44 and 45%..... Crosby was basically never terrible at faceoffs, he always held his own.

I just don’t see it as that much of a difference between winning 9 vs. 10 of every 20 faceoffs, honestly

More focused on defensive ability and possession quality from a 3C

Faceoffs were something Crosby specifically focused on improving early in his career, it’s been pretty well documented

The moves today make me think JR has one or two trades left in him.

Obvious candidates being

1. Sceviour
2. ZAR
3. McCann.

No reason to sign Rodrigues AND Jankowski when you have

1. McCann
2. Blueger
3. Tanev
4. ZAR
5. Lafferty
6. Sceviour

With guys like Poulin chomping at the edges and Angello who can come up and play 4th line roles.

Currie is also capable of coming up and playing hard 4th line minutes.

Just seems like something else is going on right now.

Having your best option other than Ruhwedel be a left defenseman playing the right side is a bad idea. Sullivan hates it. Sullivan also hates using Riikola in any capacity, let alone on the right side.

From my POV I don’t think they believe Poulin makes the team out of camp and ZAR will miss the first half of the year

McCann-UFA-Tanev
Jankowski-Blueger-Sceviour
With Lafferty/Rodrigues as extras makes a lot of sense

Not sure that I agree, there wasn’t really a partner for Sullivan to shelter Riikola with last season

Riikola has proven to be a competent third pair defenseman in limited minutes

Riikola absolutely is a competent third pairing guy. But it's been proven time and again that Sullivan doesn't like him. He also hates playing D on their off side.

There was zero excuse to continue using Jack Johnson over Riikola. Johnson needed to be sheltered too.