Love the TVR acquisition, really think he could solidify that third pair, besides that I personally think that trading away Maatta, who's improving on a controlled contract for a back-up goalie making over 3.5m is a huge over-payment, and an unnecessary one given that Jarry could serve as an adequate back-up for around 1m. A couple more things, that Maroon contract is not worth it for the team, especially one looking to get faster, Maroon doesn't really fit the bill, other guys at that price might be more useful, like Grabner who could replace Hagelin (who you've traded away) in most areas. And finally, just on the Rust contract, don't mind the term, but he'll likely get around 2.5-3 as an RFA so that might make a few of your other moves more difficult.

I'm so glad I could be your 6th ever post. Maatta is too slow n makes bad decisions with the puck when pressured so he got traded. His speed is a real issue. Rust hasn't played a full season yet so I don't think he will make more than 2mil. If speed is the issue with any signing, then Thornton should have been the one to single out but I forgot about Grabner and he absolutely would be better fit than Maroon. Guess they couldn't rely on Jarry in the playoffs and with Markstroms decent stats on a terrible team, he might just be worth having around as an insurance policy and could net a better return than was given if they decide to move him in the future for when Jarry is capable of actually being a fulltime NHLer.

As someone who's watched the Canucks and penguins for many years, don't take Markstrom. He lets in such dumb goals and he costs way more than your average back up. Love the Florida trade though, I've done something similar in some of my threads. The Arizona one is good too. As for the Carolina one..I don't know, I haven't seen enough of TVR. I do watch VAN and the PIT though so in my opinion I'd secretly love to see Stecher play in PIT. He is so solid defensively, he skates really well so it makes up for when he's defending against opponents faster than him in his division like McDavid and Mackinnon. He can also produce a decent amount. I think he's lowkey the best defender in VAN. For some reason he started the year getting top 4 D minutes and it was for most of the year. You see since this team doesn't have a clear best defenseman, their minutes are almost equal because they try and play them evenly. But eventually Stecher got top line minutes at the end of the season and if you noticed, this is when VAN went on a tear and Markstroms stats started looking better.
I say this because as a Pens fan, they need someone like this who can defend really well and put up some offence because all we really need is a bottom paring guy. VAN has a lot of defence coming in, LHD are Edler, Del Zotto and possibly Juolevi while their RHD include Tanev, Gudbranson and Biega. Pouliot can play either side and he looks great in VAN, which sucks as a Pen fan to see him do well there when we basically got nothing for him and we're now looking for defence. And then VAN has their own "Hunwick" to get rid of in Ben Hutton who's a LHD. So with all that D, they can afford to lose Stecher (whispers** only if it's to PIT though, he's lowkey too good). I'd actually be okay with it if he went to Vegas with Fleury or Florida with Luongo or even Minnesota though.

Haha! You're welcome, it's an exclusive club. But yeah, I understand where you're coming from, he tends to make glaring mistakes at just the wrong time, the thing I like about him is that he's still very young and has the potential to improve over the next few years and his contract could end up being a bargain, especially since he's just come off a few terrible injuries, I think he's worth the investment in the long run. You might be right about Rust though, not only that but his boxcar numbers don't jump out like Sheary's did last year and he got 3m.

That's why I think GMs need to be careful when handing out contracts after ELCs. Too many times, players get paid based on small sample sizes. Sheary is the perfect example. He had 2 assists in 12 playoff games. That just doesn't cut in terms of pay for production. At 3mil, he need to produce substantially in my opinion. I do like Maatta but his foot speed issue is to alarming to ignore. I don't think at this point in his career, he can be taught quickness. If you look at some elite players with poor skating, they at least have the fast mind to make quick, intelligent decisions with the puck and Maatta doesn't possess that fast mind either. He would probably excel on a team that isn't based on fast play and/or a team that plays team defense.