Quoting: Hamburglar44
First off, Hagelin is not a "good" NHL player. He has speed, yes, but that will be going away soon. He's a good penalty killer, yes, but that will also not be for long due to him slowing down with age. Plus, you should never pay a player for special teams play imo. He is not top 6 forward. He generates scoring and points like a bottom 6 player. By no means is he worth the 4 million he makes per year. You say teams will overpay him. I would love for you to name a single NHL team that will pay him the same contract is he getting now or better yet, give him a raise.
Secondly, Oleksiak plays the left side. He was the bottom pairing left defenseman last season. Chad Ruhdweil (spelling) was the bottom pairing right defenseman. Most NHL teams play their defenseman based on the handedness.
Lastly, Maatta has terrible foot speed period. It's not even up for debate how slow he is. His foot speed translates to poor decisions with puck. He avoids contact at all costs. After all his medical issues his first 2 seasons, he has never recaptured his offensive abilities and imo, he has peaked. He doesn't fit into the style the Penguins play. He needs to get sheltered minutes and if Jack Johnson is as bad as people say, it doesn't make sense to have 7.5 million dollar 5th n 6th defenseman pairing. Take advantage of him being a former 1st round pick with youth and get something for him while you can. 4 million for Maatta is a lot if you compare him to similar skilled defenseman throughout the league.
Since you actually put effort in here, I'll dignify it with a response.
Hagelin is a good NHL player. Solid possession metrics, good forechecking, good penalty killing. Ideal on a third or fourth line. Is 4 million an overpay? yes. But if you think that he's going to go from that to making the veteran minimum (this is literally what you were saying), you are mistaken. Look at the contracts Vancouver and the Islanders gave to bottom six guys this offseason. Hagelin is more useful than most of them. A team like that would gladly pay him $3 million.
Oleksiak played the right side when paired with Ian Cole and Matt Hunwick. When paired with Ruhwedel, he played on the left. His best stretch of play came when playing on the right side.
Yes, we have established that Maatta is slow. Get over it. He's still an above average player at his position and making average money. Sure, trade him away? But what do you replace him with. Good young D don't hit free agency. Penguins don't have much in the way of prospects. He's also coming off his best season in 5 years and is healthy. Any trade pretty much makes the team worse right now because Oleksiak or Johnson would have to step into that role. Then you have Ruhwedel getting minutes. The team just doesn't have the assets to bring in more young D right now.