Never understood the Oleksiak trade at all...

When a Pens fan and a Philly fan agree! The world is ending! I know the penguins back end would be slower with Oleksiak in the line-up, but I think they could've switched Pettersson and Maatta or trade for a more offensive/faster defence man to pair with Oleksiak... or just use the bottom pairing as a shutdown pair with Pettersson and Oleksiak. I'm also just an internet junky so maybe I don't know what's best for the team...

Yeah, GMJR has made a lot of panic moves lately, his moves usually work out, but I think they are coming back to get him, pens are going to have issues with the Salary Cap soon. The JJ deal is horrible and I know most pens fans feel the same way, and EG is like a rich mans jack johnson. It all could have been avoided if they did not trade Oleksiak, I just dont understand that.. Its funny when we agree haha

It’s because Sullivan loves the lefty righty matchup with dmen and we have dumo,maatta,petterson,Johnson, riikola and if we had oleksiak we would’ve pushed riikola back further and he needs to continue to develop.

My guess is internal matter.
They expected Oleksiak to be aggressive with a player like wilson who was targeting players. Instead he wasn't. When they did fight Oleksiak just let him jump him instead of going right after him. That was it. I think Oleksiak didn't want to be put in that situation to being with and that is where it ended. If you weren't going to be that guy, then there wasn't a place on the team for him.
Notice he was on the ice in the Stars vs Knights game and did nothing when Reaves was being a wrecking ball on Stars players. Hell Reaves even hit him in the head with a high stick. If you don't understand that is the exact reason why he was shipped out than you don't understand why he was brought in to begin with.

That's why I wish we had Reaves and Oleksiak still on the team. Reaves was the true enforcer. The reason I liked Oleksiak was because he could throw his weight around, and for a big guy he was quite mobile. I feel like he actually found his game under Sullivan. Sure he wasn't a true tough guy, but he still could fight when he wanted. Being aggressive as defensemen isn't the best thing anyway. I seen him as a poor man's Chara.

Riikola is already 25 years of age, while Oleksiak is 26. Sullivan doesn't even play Riikola anyway so. 35GP and 4pts for Riikola. I'd rather Oleksiak.

does knowing that you're **** make you more or less ****

Erik Gudbranson is a more expensive AND worse player than Oleksiak lol

The difference between him and Chara though is no one can doubt Chara was/is mean. Hell he put MP head into the side wall. That was no "accident" He laid Kane out and then pounded him into submission after Kane tried to jump him. The penguins can only hope to have a player like that. I agree on Reaves. Even if Reaves is a little on the small side. You have him on the ice with a player like Big rig and you have something. Because Reaves is mean.