I imagine, Phil isn't making it easy for Rutherford to move him neither. Which is his right if he would prefer to stay outright with Pitt. I don't blame him. He can still put up good numbers in Pitt if he stays.

Yeah exactly. He loves Pittsburgh and doesn’t wanna leave. Idk why Rutherford is so eager to trading one of their best wingers while they’re still contending. Unless they get a young stud back, I don’t want it. That Zucker Trade was bad. Back when pens won their 2016 cup, they had 3 legitimate forward weapons. Now with Guzental’s emergence, they have 4. Rutherford has to do a better job at filling in the surrounding depth

it's because the Pens have no cap room and no quality prospects since they haven't had a 1st round pick since 2012 I think. So they can't get better with no money and no one to trade. So the only way out of some of these really bad contracts is trading away one of your best assets. Might explain why Malkin's in the rumors. The only way the Pens can dump JJ or Gudbranson is to add a significant piece like Kessel or Malkin.

I'd sign on to most of this. My only major criticism is I think Jordie Benn will sign for 3-4 years and for ~$3.5M.

I've liked the idea of trading Hornqvist to Carolina for a while. If not for his NTC, I think you could do Hornqvist+ for Faulk or maybe even Hamilton. And then shop Schultz. Always a market for RD.

I'd like to see Gudbranson gone but I've just accepted that GMJR feels like he needs someone to fight Tom Wilson on this team.

I'm open to keeping Maatta but adding Lehkonen and then signing Benn would be an overall upgrade. I feel like the Pens should be able to get more than Lehkonen.

I don't really see the purpose in trading Bjugstad for Wennberg. Bjugstad showed a lot of promise. I'm actually pretty excited to see his first full season as a Penguin.

Overall, some really interesting ideas. Good job!

I agree pens drafting has been brutal in the Crosby/Malkin era. Only one first round draft pick since 2005 is still on Pittsburgh (maatta). However, in our 2016 and 2017 cup runs, underrated young players like dumo, sheary, rust, Murray, Guzental, etc... all came up big on ELC contracts. None of them were pegged as high NHL talent as they were all drafted in the later rounds (or undrafted). I’m fine with trading kessel for good young talent like I mentioned, but not simply for the point of trading him like the Zucker downgrade. Pens can definitely dump Gubranson without moving kessel or malkin though. He was very solid in pit and isn’t old. Teams will take a gamble on him. He’s just overpaid as a bottom pair D for us

You think Benn signs for that much? Maybe Faulk for hornqvist+ could work but certainly not Hamilton. Look what Carolina paid to acquire him.

You’re right on GMJR not trading Gubranson, he’ll probably stay. I just want him moved as 4 million isn’t great value for a bottom pairing guy. I wish Van retained.

Lehkonen reminds me of a younger hagalin. A speedy, defensive winger. I think he’d fit well on a line with kessel and Malkin.

I just traded Jugs for wennberg as a gamble. Wennberg showed promise of becoming a 1C earlier in his career then fizzled out. Pittsburgh has taken on reclamation projects before and they’ve been successful.

I'm more going off of Evolve Wild's salary projections (twitter.com/evolvingwild)

I don't think Carolina would deal Hamilton but, for some reason, he always seems to be rumoured. They'd be dumb to move him. Faulk would be a nice upgrade on Schultz.

My thing about Bjugstad is he's one season off of putting up 41 5v5 Pts (that's tied with the likes of Kessel, Wheeler and Tarasenko). Now he was riding shotgun with Barkov & Dadonov and I don't see him getting that kind of deployment again but I could see him putting up 15-20 goals while being a guy who seemingly gets his stick on a high share of loose pucks on the forecheck. Wennberg for $800K more for 2 seasons more had 2 goals in 75 games last year... That makes me nervous while I'm actually encouraged by what I've seen in Bjugstad's small Pens sample. Plus I like saying "Bjug Nick Energy".

Title should read. Phil Kessel saves JR from another off season blunder.

All praise be to Phil. A true hero to the Penguins fan base.

The penguins will be fine if they trade Maatta, hopefully they trade JJ. Then they let Riikkola or Almari play or bring in a 3rd pairing guy.

Hörnqvist should be traded. He doesn't fit what they are trying to do. One of the big issues for this team is finding an identity. They have players who want to play a speed game, and other that are grinders. The speed at this point overwhelms the grinders. Crosby can play either game, Jake, McCann, Malkin, Kessel, Rust. They can all play up temp games. Then you got players like Hörnqvist and Jugs who are more grinding type players. It's ok if you are talking about a 4th line role. You can put in a ZAR down there who is a middle 6 guy talent wise. But putting Hörnqvist down there is a waste of cap space. Even Blueger has some jump to his game. They keep trying to put square pegs into round holes. That's what it really boils down too. I'd say if they can dump Maatta, JJ, Jugs, and Hörnqvist and replace both Jugs and Hörnqvist with faster speed players then they are right in there. They don't even need to worry about replacing Maatta or JJ that much. Let Pettersson play the 2LHD and a younger player play the 3LHD.

I really like this breakdown. You nailed it. Pens have a mixed Identity. They gotta get back to the high, up tempo game that won them back to back cups.