Probably won't tell you smth new but JJ, ZAR and Jarry are the ones could go first. ZAR can be replaced, Jarry is simply not needed anymore here. Jarry and ZAR could fetch a prospect/3rd if traded separately I suppose. But I wish GMJR could package them with JJ and avoid using a high pick.

I think Bjugstad and Gudbranson could be mentioned. ...and it's the lockout in 2020, and them both having 2y left on contract. So maybe they should trade them sooner rather than later and get a better value? But the org should first see that Blueger could become a 3C and replace Bjugstad. And Gudbranson played not so bad that season and I'd personally want him to stay.

That's a sure thing the competition in Metro has become even more tough you said it. I think they should balance the lines to cope with that. Make 4th stronger with Rust you did there and 2nd too maybe with moving McCann to Malkin. There are also guys with the expiring contracts so expect motivation I hope?

too many people think the metro got better.
I don't really see it.
NYR as still a dumpster fire.
Yeah that got Panarin and then what? Kaapo is nice but he's still a rookie. I wouldn't expect him to have a mattthews year this year. He's not on that level.
CBJ might have taken a step back as well, we'll see. I personally think they are still a really good team, good enough to make the playoffs. But that's because the rest of the East hasn't really improved.
NJ got Hughes, who I think is going to have a hard time adjusting to the NHL. He's on the smaller side and I think people are going to put a target on him. They got an over rated Pernell.
They got a little better, but I don't think they are to the point where they are going to make an instant jump.
I think there will be 5 teams out the metro again, mainly because the Atlantic doesn't have 4 teams than are better than the 5th best metro team.
So you see Carolina, Penguins, and Washington, with two of CBJ, NYI, NJ as the wild cards.
I don't see Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, MTL or FL being better than those 3.
Penguins make the playoffs. Question is can they win it. Right now, who knows. We won't know till we see home these pieces fit.
They needed to add speed. Did Kahun, Galchenyuk, and Tanev do that? Maybe. Their big issue last year was injury. They were cruising till injury hit. They need to get their healthy first.

NYR-added Kakko (who will be good this year, not Matthews level yes, but better than Hughes) added Panarin, added Trouba, added a year of experience for their young core
NJD- keep most of the relatively young core from their playoff run 2 years ago intact, added Hughes, added Subban, added Simmons
CBJ- will fall back (I have them in 8th I'm the division) but if Tex can step up and Vehv overpreforms they got Nyquist as well, they MIGHT not fall as hard
PHI- similar to NJD, they kept most of their playoff core from 2 years ago intact, and fixed their 2 biggest needs without giving up much else (and made some lateral moves on defense)
WSH-it's WSH, they're not suddenly going to collapse or anything
CAR-added to a team that made the conference finals, and added another year of experience for their young core
NYI-they still have Trotz

FLA-they added Bob and got more forward depth to add to their already very deep forward core, also tried to fix their defence with Stralman
BUF-added a ton of players without giving up much (did they give up anyone) off their roster
MTL-have insane forward depth, and Carey Price
DET and OTT-yeah they suck
PIT-has really only made lateral moves and got a worse version of Kessel, oh and they still need to trade away a player to get under the cap

I have already showed that the penguins don't need to trade anyone to "get under the cap" that's just a trolling myth.

Like I said, 3 teams coming out of the Atlantic this year. You can count it.
The Rangers are 2-3 years away from competing, it's not even worth arguing. There isn't enough there.
NJ is in the same boat. Hughes is nice, but I think the adjustment is going to be harder than people think. He'll look good while the games don't mean much, come middle of the year, they will get physical on him and take him out of games. Pernell is over rated. Simmons is old. He's gonna be 31 this year, and he's declining. Only reason they got him was to put a goon next to Hughes. But that's not going to work.
Philly is no better than they were last year. If anything they are worse.
Hart was almost a 500 goaltender last year. If he can't replicate that they are done. This team is still a middle of the pack team. Hayes isn't a fix to any problems. They still lack depth.
CBJ could take a step back, maybe not.
As I said, these are all wild card hopefuls.
Saying PIT has only mad "lateral moves" is just nonsense. Bringing in a player like Kahun wasn't a lateral move. The whole "got a worse version of kessel" we'll see. I like Kessel, but he's 32 this year.
AG is 25-26 this year. He's a faster player. Getting out of a player at the right time and bringing in a younger replacement is how teams stay on top. On top of it Blueger playing full time over Cullen is an improvement and having Schultz back for a full season instead of being injured in game 2 and missing the vast majority of the season and playing on a freshly healed broken leg will be a huge boost.

So lets not sit here and say they made lateral moves or somehow got worse. They didn't. On top of it, they do have players who can be called up that can make an impact. So we'll see.
We all know they will probably make 2-3 trades in the year anyway.
The penguins already started with such a huge gap between them and these other teams. I don't see any of them closing the gap enough to make that jump, much like they didn't close the gap between those teams and washington. That's what it boils down to.

You just completely ignored most of NYR and said Kakko is overrated, the rest of their core is underrated, he's just 1 player, how can you say PHI and NJD are still years away from competing when 2 years ago (both with relatively young cores) they both made the playoffs and combined between the 2 of them lost MoJo and added Hart Subban (who yes is very overrated, but is still helpful) and yes Simmonds is good, but they didn't loose anything to get him, improvement or lateral move at worst, Galch is definitely worse than Kessel rn, idc about 2-3 years, that's not the point of this post, he scored 1/2 the points and was just as bad defensively in a defense heavy scheme, yes Kahun is an upgrade, Tanev is a lateral move to the bottom 6 bc we're either going to have to lose Desmith on waivers bc he WILL NOT clear, and/or bury JJ or trade out rust, yes Blueger is an upgrade but 4C is not a very important position that (along with the Kahun for Maata addition) it cancels out the loss of PHIL KESSEL and whoever else we'll have to lose, and this is also assuming GMJR doesn't go and make another boneheaded decision to go get more GRIT, and also assuming MP is willing to take a discount bc people are predicting (and I am to, 1.6-2mil/yr) and I could easily see him demanding 2.5-3, especially if PIT wants to lock him up for 4+ years, meaning there's another move we have to make, and iirc in you're "we don't have to make a trade to stay under cap post" we didn't have a full 23 man roster, and idk when the last time a team didn't have a full 23 man roster going into the season... Now if we can pull off a Hornqvist trade my vision for this team would completely change bc we'd actually have cap space to improve lol

you are just rambling

They don't need to make a trade. They can sign Petterson for 1.8 x 2 and ZAR for 1.2 or under x 2. And send JJ and DeSmith to WBS and you fit under the cap just fine. They are not stuck in a place where they are forced to trade. You are over here worried about losing DeSmith to waivers. How ridiculous is that. They guy is just good enough to lose by 1. No one is rushing out to sign him. For that price there are better people to sign like Campell for LAK. So lets just stop that nonsense and stop acting like losing DeSmith is some game changing thing. It's not.
You keep wanting to rant on the Kessel trade. There were issues there. Get over it. He's a good player, but he's 32 now. It was the right move to get out from under it. AG may or may not perform as well. But he is a faster player for a team that wants to play with more speed. Lets see how it plays out before you go declaring the sky is falling.
Not one team there has jumped over the penguins. Not one.

NYR are over rated. You got a 37 year old goalie who last year had a 907 save %.
I'm sorry, you aren't making the playoffs with that. They will be relying on Georgiev in net next year. He's not great. The team has all kinds of holes in front of him.
Kaapo is ok, but you expect way to much out of him. He's not a generational talent.
Panarin alone isn't going to make that team not be a bottom feeder. The backend is still a mess with turn over machine Shattenkirk and Brandon Smith.
They aren't as good as you think they are.
If PHI and NJD "young core" are so good, then where were they last year? Over rated. Hart is OK as a goalie. He had one decent year. His save % was only a .917. and he was a 500 goalie last year. That's not going to propel you to the playoffs. If it was they would have made it last year. But they couldn't seal the deal. There is no real improvement there.

You just want to ignore reality. and troll away.
This isn't a team that was marginally better than the competition last year. You are going to have to really step up the game on a lot of these teams to stop them from entering the playoffs.
They were easily a 100 point + team last year if Schultz doesn't break his leg and they play with 1 RHD on the team. You fail to realize that.
None of these other teams have made a jump large enough to change that.