Initial Creation Date: Aug. 29, 2019

Published: Aug. 29, 2019

Team: 2019-20 Pittsburgh Penguins

Gudbranson: I liked his play at the end of last season but I truly fear he regresses a LOT. It would be the perfect time to sell high on him and move him to Anaheim who was in the market for a RD.

Frolik: I think Pens can finally move Johnson with retention to the Flames.
Moving Frolik allows the Flames to move out some cap, take in a D man with half the cap hit who they can utilize and waive/trade when he's not needed. The Flames can afford to take the hit as they have a great set of forwards.
They gain a 2nd for the extra term on Johnson's cap hit. Win-win for pretty much both parties
(Hell, change the 2nd for a 1st or add a B prospect if Calgary says no). Frolik would do wonders for the Pens.

Rust: Frolik is a very good player. Imo he is close/similar to Rust. This could allow the Pens to revisit edmonton trade and snag Puljujarvi to increase the young talent on this team.
Pens get cap space and a promising young forward who could recoup his game.
Edmonton gets a top 9 player that fills their needs right now.

Markov: At 38 years old, Markov put up 36 points and was quite solid defensively. He hasn't stopped playing and while even with a bit of regression, I think he shouldn't have a problem playing bottom pairing sheltered minutes with PP2 time. I don't think the Habs will sign him so Pittsburgh could be a viable option for him. Penguins thrive on transition hockey and even if this guy can't skate but makes good breakout passes, he is much much much more valuable to this team than Jack Johnson.

PTOs:
I think Pens should give a PTO to Michael Stone. He isn't as bad as people think. He is actually a lot better than Johnson and at worst provides Erik Gudbranson caliber play.
The upside to this you can sign him for dirt cheap and interchange him with Riikola, Ruhwedel and Trotman.

NOTE: This gives us almost 30m next season to sign everyone!

Lineups:
I read on Pensburgh that Pens might want to start Galchenyuk off with Crosby. This would push McCann down but he'd be a respectable 3C.
I think Bjugstad needs more offensive exposure so putting him on Genos wing for a while should see what he can do offensively.
McCann can obviously move up from game to game and these lines aren't fixed.

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