As a Penguins fan I would take this trade. But I don't see why carolina would make the trade.

My other idea was to trade Bjugstad for Staal so Carolina got a replacement at center in return but I just couldn’t pass up the fact that Hornqvist and Staal have similar contracts with the same term.

yeah, him and Neal as well which is why I think they get linked a lot.
But there has to be reason for carolina to make the trade. GIven Staal is a center he has higher value as well. He's a pretty solid faceoff guy. That counts for something.
I think the other issue is does he want to come back to the penguins to play a 3C role. He's a top 2 center in carolina, I don't think he's waiving a NTC to come block shots on a penalty kill. Not at 30 years old.

Not really

Hornqvist probably bounces back but Staal is worth way more

4th Rounder is nothing

I see what you mean...I just feel like the Penguins need an upgrade at 3C if they’re gonna have Kessel stick around.

if you were offered that for your 2nd line center would you say yes?

Definitely not and Carolina really wouldn’t have the cap space to find a replacement 2C in free agency because of Aho being an RFA. This was a really bad idea in hindsight.

my feeling is they don't want Kessel to stick around. Not because he's not a good player, but because it's a bad fit. They won't put him on the Crosby line. They can't put him on Malkin's like and that's where he wants to play. If he stays he needs to get use to playing on the 3rd line. That's all there is to it. He don't want to play there and it shows. I don't think Jugs is a bad 3C. But they could use an upgrade there. My honest opinion is that Blueger could hold that role if they gave him a shot at it. But they are so ass backwards they have a hard time giving him the 4C role.

Blueger as a 3C is a cap bargain that would really allow the team to surround Sid and Geno with more talent. It sounds like a great scenario even if Kessel was gone.

Kahun is not a 1st liner, however he's a heck of a middle 6 player on a great contract.

In a perfect world I’d have him on the third line with Kessel. We’ll see how things go though.

Not sure. Kahun may be smallerish but he's a two way winger. He's not going to be a dynamic winger. Kessel is a two way guy no?

I like Kahun on that third line because he’s shown he can play with talented guys like Toews and DeBrincat. That being said I think he can keep up with Phil on the offensive side of things while being defensively sound enough to allow him to take risks.

I think one of the real questions in the off season is if GMJR tries to resign Hags. Kahun or McCann would then go to RW. Hags could go down to 3rd line with Kessel. I don't know if that would happen though. I know there were reports they wanted to bring him back last year but fouled it up on the retention. I'm not sure how true that is though. But I think it's a cheap option at 2 million and would round out the forward group. Leaving Rust, Kahun/McCann/Kessel on the RW.
Hard to say. There needs to be something done either on the 3C or RW. They also need to move JJ. Let a player like Almari, RiIkola or Addison play.
The first wave of moves is gonna come faster now as the draft gets closer. I don't think they are done. JJ, Hornqvist, or Kessel will get moved. So will Jarry. Then after the draft things will get interesting in FA. There isn't a whole lot out there but depending who they move they might take a run at someone.

I feel like it’s almost a no brainer that Hagelin re-signs with WSH as that Gudas/Niskanen Trade gave them enough cap space to more than likely retain everyone. My dream is for them to trade Hornqvist for a 3C that is capable of playing with Kessel forcing Bjugstad to switch to RW moving forward. Another cheap speed option in FA would be someone like Brandon Pirri.

The penguins really like Hags. He liked playing in Pittsburgh. It's not out the realm of possibilities. Like I said there were reports of them wanting to bring him back at trade deadline but couldn't.
I'm not really keen on the idea, but knowing how GMJR is it's something he would do.
Horny is hard to trade due to his NMC. He has to go to a winning team for that to work. If it doesn't happen by July it's probably not happening. As I don't see him waiving while his kids are getting ready to return to school. Those kind of things really make a player refuse. I'd be ok with them trading Jugs as well, as long as they got a quality player back.

Been seeing a lot of Bjugstad for Wennberg trades in several other ACGM’s what’re your thoughts on that even though it’s a trade within the division?

I like Wennberg, I see him play a lot on CBJ. Part of me thinks his confidence got a little shot when he got demoted down from 1st line center due to PLD and then again for Duchene.
I can see him bouncing back. He's not a scorer but a playmaker. I don't think CBJ is ready to give up on him though. I think away from Torts he would start to take off again.