Might be able to get a 2nd or a 4th and prospect for him. He has some positive value. I do agree he will end up being the odd man out. Jack Johnson contract would be very hard to move without giving up and major part of the penguins future. He’s also not playing to bad that. He seems to be the teams punching bag (from the media)

Spot on. Bjugstad could be used to get some more depth at defense now that gudbranson is gone. Can never have enough of that. Johnson is also the punching bag for every nitwit pens fan on this site.

Bjugstad and Hornqvist seem to be banged up a lot. Probably best to hold onto both of them in case of injuries. Both of them can really play anywhere among the lineup and booster whatever line they are playing on (obviously Hornqvist can't play center but you get my point). The young guys came in and played really well, but none of them can anchor a line the way these guys can. No moves is the best move, another injury will occur at some point, and don't mess with hot lines.

I don't think Hornqvist can anchor a line anymore, i haven't seen him do much of anything aside from PP time and time with Crosby

Johnson is the punching bag for good reason, while yes he hasn't been bad, he is still overpaid (see Ryan Suter, you can still be a good hockey player and be overpaid) and has more term than I'm comfortable with any bottom pairing d man at his age, and tbf he is our 7th best d man rn... Riikola-Marino was an absolutely amazing pairing vs Dallas, and they deserve a chance to stay together

I wouldn't say he is overpaid. Too long? Most likely. 3.25 a year for a veteran dman who is playing the way he is, that's the going rate.

I think you both are right. Jack Johnson is overpaid but it’s not by anything crazy. Ideally you would want to sign him for 2.5m (aav) for 3 years. 3.25 isn’t anything crazy but his term makes this contract ugly. AFOX I get why you are frustrated and see him being the punching bag as acceptable but when the penguins signed him Pettersson wasn’t on the team and nobody knew who Marino was. He’s blocking a spot that could be used for a younger player but at the time that player didn’t exists. He’s a slightly overpaid vet. But what would you rather have JJ overpaid 500-750k or a guy like karlsson whos overpaid to a larger extreme?

When they signed Johnson they only had 4 legitimate NHL dmen.

That was my major point. Now that deal looks really bad but at the time he was signed they needed some solid vet dman

Nobody gets that. They are so desperate for this signing to fail that even when he is playing well they refuse to acknowledge it.

Guddy is about 500000x better than JJ, only makes 750k more, and for a much shorter term, and his contract brought his value down quite a bit...

Horny has 4 even strength goals and 3 assists.
That's better than a lot of other teams 2nd line players.
I'm not going to go any further into that one. He always has a nose for the puck. People don't like his contract because of his age and it's length. But if you look at him as being the guy going to Seattle it's fine. I would trade him at the right price, I think he works for a few teams, namely Boston. He fits their style of play. But I wouldn't move him for nothing.


As for moving jugs. I like the idea of using him to retain salary on a JJ trade teal for a team like Ottawa who can afford it and is desperate for NHL level players. I don't even need a return if they retain 1M on JJ so he can be traded easier.
JJ has played much much much better this year. But IF I can find an upgrade, I'm moving him.
The problem is the "find an upgrade" part. Because if we are being honest about it, most teams 3rd pairing defense men aren't any better.

Are you denying that since Jack Johnson was moved to the left side where he should have been all along he has been quite serviceable?

I've been saying the same thing about JJ for a while.

No, just saying Guddy was better

Couldn't have said it better myself. I was expecting huge regression from Horny this year but he has proven the opposite. I think coaching needs to manage his minutes and he will be fine. Very much agree that Seattle will be eyeing him as a potential year leader in the locker room.

Can Edmonton afford Bjugstad's cap hit? You might need to retain or take some salary back.

Well it would require for Edmonton to trade to create the cap space if they dont, i just did this as a possible trade from the penguins side

Would you be willing to take a player back instead of the pick?

Unless its someone we can send to the minors, I dont think so. It defeats the purpose of trading Bjug. Hes not bad or anything, I would love to keep him but we have too many guys on the team that can play and he seems like the odd man out so we preferably just wanna trade him to clear up roster spots.