In my opinion, it's bad for both of the teams. Letang is an injury-prone star D-man, but can be very valuable asset to a contending team like Pittsburgh is. I doubt he can maintain his level in a young team like Colorado. And if Colorado sells Johnson away, they lose very solid defensive asset from their team. Their defense would have a big hole, which Letang might not be able to fill. Also I don't believe Johnson would be so successful in the fast hockey that the Pens are playing.

Not wild about this.

Johnson has had similar issues missing games (not bizarre issues like a stroke), isnt as good of a player, and is $1.25M cheaper.

There are quite a few dmen who will be getting deals that will make $7.25M look more like a deal a NBA 7th man gets. I expect several guys will be getting 8 figures.

Yeah, the Avs will totally give the Pens a top 4 DFD that may be injury-prone, but not as much as Letang.
The Avs will definitely take Letang, who is a year older that EJ, has 1.25M more on his contract, and can’t keep the puck out of his net, but hey, he can play on the PP, right?

Your anti-Penguin whining is boring.

From a Pens perspective, I wouldn't do this. You aren't saving much on the cap, and Letang is an all around better player than Johnson. Both have had injury issues, so it's not like moving Letang in this deal would solve that.

Johnson >>> Letang.

That being said, I think Colorado would prefer the more defensive minded Johnson, and Pittsburgh likes the offensively gifted Letang. I don't see either side being particularly happy with this deal.

As and AVS fan i would decline this. In my opinion the 2nd and 3rd round picks are more valuable than the addition of Letang. Plus in Colorado the blue line belongs to EJ. He is considered our leader of that group and getting rid of him would be a mistake even though in the long run the contract is going to come back and bit us. Barrie is more likely to be moved with Makar in one/two more years.

We will gladly give you Soderberg though.