Offseason

Let me be the first to tell you Hawks are not paying anything for Rakell. 4 years $5M, nope.

That Hawks trade is hysterically bad. No chance the Pens get assets back in a Rakell deal. Hawks want no part of that contract anyway.

the only ufa there worth signing there is Chatfield, and I doubt he signs in PIT, he's probably staying in CAR.
MAF is 40 next year. No thanks, all you are doing is needlessly blocking blooms path, especially when you bring over Murashov who will need games in net next year in wbs.

Every other ufa there outside of DeBrusk doesn't improve the team. DeBrusk isn't going to sign a 5 year deal, nor is he worth almost 6 mil per.

Hawks fans are complaining about the Rakell deal, but at least they're getting a good player. Athanasiou hasn't been a regular for them, and Raddysh's offense has sucked even by Chicago's standards.

I also doubt Yager is NHL ready. He's taken a step forwards basically everywhere this year, but I want to see if his production holds up without Jagger Firkus. I think he sees his 9 and gets sent back to the W.

On the bright side, I like the UFAs. Chatfield has been a popular RD3 pick, and a no-brainer if we can get him. DeBrusk adds a nice blend of scoring, defense, and physicality. Olofsson makes sense on a prove-it deal: he's been stuck in a 4th line role this season and has a shooting element we need more of. I don't think I'd give him 2 years, though. Dermott is good organizational depth. Pretty sure I read recently that Fleury doesn't want to move his family out of Minnesota.
Combine those guys with some of our youth and I think the Pens would have a much better supporting cast than the previous couple seasons.

I'm going to dissect this a little so bear with me. I think Rakell is the best player moving in this trade and I'm not as opposed to it as my fellow Hawks fans. This team is loaded with bottom six guys and I think Rakell would fit nicely into the top six. I believe he's slightly overpaid but the Hawks could absorb it with no issue. The issue is that while you don't see Athanasiou and Raddysh's contributions on the score sheet often they actually both play a big part on the team. Athanasiou because for some reason he gets Reichel to produce and Raddysh because he's one of Chicago's top PKers. I think for that reason Chicago declines.