Banned
Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 19,215
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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.