Penguins do not qualify POJ

15 comments

1. I don’t think POJ not getting a QO is all that surprising. He’s arb eligible, doesn’t particularly fit what the team is looking for on LD and wasn’t particularly good last year either. I don’t think he’s an awful player, but he’s another 5/6 type that doesn’t really seem to have anything that suggests he’ll be more than a 5/6 type.

   I think he’d be useful as a bottom pair puck mover to a physical DFD RD on the 3rd pair of some team, but I don’t really think he fits what this team needs at LD.

2. He’d probably get overpaid via arbitration so it’s fine IMO. If I’m the Pens I give a long look at Brannstrom or Kylington. Fairly high upside with either dude. Pair them with St.Ivany or permanently bump Graves useless corpse to that 3rd pair. This move does mean they likely need another flexible left handed guy. I know some people like Ludvig’s physicality but the dude just doesn’t do enough. This team couldn’t score so a D who can be flexible on the second PP unit and just move the buck a bit at 5v5 is crucial.

3. I liked him but he never was a good fit on this team

4. He’s soft.

5. I’m guessing he’ll still end up signing but lower than his QO

6. Qualifying Offers are for a set amount. Not getting a QO doesn’t mean your team doesn’t want you (they might not). It just means they don’t think you’re worth the QO.

7. He never really seemed to hit his potential

8. [Still working out a possible extension](https://x.com/renlavoietva/status/1807551214696935891)

9. He could very well be back but just cheaper than his QO. If so, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine too but at least he’s a decent depth piece. I’d rather he be back on the cheap

10. A teensy bit of revisionist history going on here right now. By no means is POJ a worldbeater, and he shouldn’t be a top four defensemen, but I thought he showed some solid signs of growth and played with more confidence down the stretch last season. I would be pretty disappointed to lose him. Hopefully they get an extension worked out at a more reasonable price than what the QO would have been.

11. He’s probably coming back and he’s still young but he makes me want to vomit when he’s in the top 4

12. For everyone talking about his qualifying offer amount, that wasnt the issue here. He only cost 890k to qualify. The bigger issue is that he is arbitration eligible, so theres a good chance that we are fine keeping him but don’t want to risk arbitration giving him more money than we want to.

13. Not a big deal. We’ve got bigger problems.

14. He’ll stand out somewhere else.

15. I’ve never see a bunch of defenseman this soff before.