Hey a Johnson trade that makes sense. Kudos.

That would be a pretty team friendly signing by Schultz. I can honestly see him signing that. He was basically a nobody came to Pittsburgh and they saved his career. I also agree with the person above. Well done on the jack Johnson trade.

... for 6.25 mil in dead cap (if buried) split over THREE years you want the pens to give up their best prospect, (of similar value to a late first, not quite bc 2020 draft is stacked, but close enough, if we're going off the Marleau dump) AND a second for a contract that isn't nearly as bad bc it's a similar amount of dead cap, but split over three years, so it's much more manageable, and the cap will be close to 10 million more than it was at the time of the Marleau dump, for the last 2 years, and it's only 1/3 the cost, so the total cap% (combined) will be much much lower, and you want us to give up significantly more...?!?!?!?!!?!?!!?

It's not super team friendly, didn't Faulk get 6.5 as well, or did he get 7.5, now yes the term is more favorable for Schultz in this scenario, but Faulk is probably slightly better (much better on the PP, a bit worse defensively and at 5 on 5 though) and younger, and got overpaid according to most people (though that was somewhat bc the term) and as you mentioned, Schultz seems to love it in PIT, and they did basically save his career

I think that this is a really well-thought-out and reasonable scenario, with one hiccup.

I think that you've used figures for the free agents at the high end to show what can be budgeted for the entire team. Other than Murray (and perhaps Schultz), any one of the new signings might be less than you have shown.

I'm with @AFOX10900 that the Johnson trade is not the right value; in fact, I think it is entirely unnecessary. Over the summer I posted many constructions trading Johnson away for similar packages, but those were based upon the premise that Pittsburgh absolutely HAD to dump this contract, and preferably before the start of the season. Now that Gudbranson (already traded) and Bjugstad (you're trading) are gone, that premise evaporates. Johnson can be bought out for half of the cap space you have, and I think that next year's cap is going to be half a mill more than you project.

Dumping Johnson's contract shouldn't cost more than a third-round pick. In particular, it might actually be a benefit to Ottawa in order to reach the cap floor next summer.

Yep. That's what's it going to cost to move that crap contract.

I didn’t say it was a super team friendly deal? I just think he’s leaving money on the table by signing that deal with the penguins. I imagine a team would offer him 7.5-8.5m on a 7 year deal. I could be wrong but I didn’t say this is underpaying him but in a league where players tend to get overpaid this would be a pretty team friendly deal. Pittsburgh made him look great it would suck to lose him

I meant it more of a proof of concept than something with precise figures and trades. Just the general idea that it's possible to sign Schultz and RFAs.

Yes, this is eminently feasible. I did a couple of constructions around the mirror-image premise, i.e., re-signing Galchenyuk and letting Schultz walk, and they came out the same. And if you let both of them walk, you have the space to sign Hall for $78MM. But that puts a lot of strain on the RD.

Hallander is far from the team's top prospect. And a presumably late 2nd in 2021 is not in the "staked" 2020 draft. Marleau's dump was for one season and not that much in terms of real money (something like half a million and just using one year of cap space). Even If Johnson were to be bought out, he would be owned at minimum of 5.5 million dollars in real money. It's also a multi-year commitment. People are really underestimating how bad Johnson is and how much it takes to get rid of a bad contract.

They would have to be pretty certain about Marino being ready to be the second pairing guy moving forward and have a belief that Addison will be ready sooner rather than later.

Yes, that's the drawback of the Hall scenario -- Addison or Ruhwedel at #3 RD. Unless the putative Bjugstad trade could bring back someone to fill that slot.

Talking purely cap hit%, JJ with 3 years left if buried will cost around 6.5% of the cap, and Marleau cost close to 8 iirc, and yes, before he got hurt this year, I (and quite a few other people) said Hallander was one of if not our best prospect, now he's probably been passed by Poulin, Addison and maybe Legare, but I'm really not impressed with Legare and Poulin as much as others and it'll be closer to a mid second than a late one, this team isn't making a deep playoff run anytime soon, it'll be around 50

I don't think the question has ever been, is it possible to resign Schultz.
The question is, why would they?

They are grooming Marino to take his place. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind about that.
They are looking a Addison coming in next year, who they are extremely high on. I'm not even saying he's ready, but they are high on him.
They won't put 6+ million into Schultz knowing Marino can fill that role. Especially when the Schultz Pettersson pairing has been the weakest pairing on the penguins.
Schultz is really good offensively, there is no doubt about that. Someone will pay to have him come and be their PP point.
But the penguins don't need that. What they will be looking for instead is to stabilize the back end. Which means a stronger defensive player with offensive upside in Marino taking the 2LD role.
They will then find a reasonable cost 3RD, if not play Addison.
I really think the penguins will be busy picking into the NCAA FA market this year. There are a handful of players there that can help on the back end and they DO have openings to test them out.
If anything, this team will be shopping for an offensive threat who is decent on defense to pair with Malkin. That's the teams primary offseason shopping list.

Schultz isn't worth the $5.5 he's making now, He'll ask for $7 plus. They'll let him walk. Marino is who they want to take his place. They also have Addison and Joseph waiting. Plus the money you save you can go FA shopping.

I like the Johnson deal, but truthfully, I don't think you'd even need to throw in Hallander.

Yeah, the shot share metrics, eye test, etc, dispute the second pairing has been a weak link. It's been very good, particularly in the last several games. Yeah, it's overpaying him. But the goal is to win in the next 2-3 years. Marino is still developing. Can't take a break to wait for Addison and Marino to be ready. Well, you can, but there would be some pretty significant growing pains.

The pens just aren’t going to budge and pay to rid themselves of JJ. If they were going to, they’d have done it by now. They stayed patient with Guddy and it paid off. They’ll do the same with JJ. Bjugs will go for sure cause I don’t see them wanting to sit Kahun since he has been great lately and bjugs just doesn’t fit as well. They don’t need to sign Schultz either. Marino and Addison are shaping up to take over as the 2nd and 3rd pair RD’s. They’d much rather find someone on a reasonable 1-2 year deal to fill the gap in case Addison isn’t ready next year.
I could see them re-signing Galchenyuk before Schultz (if they can get him on a reasonable deal) as a prove it type deal cause he hasn’t impressed to command a significant raise.
For anyone that thinks the pens will have to pay more than Toronto did for Marleau are just wrong. Toronto was desperate for the cap space. That’s why it cost them so much. The pens aren’t. Marleau also had a NMC and couldn’t be buried. JJ can be.

I have a hard time being them singing Galchenyuk. Either he kinda sucks and they don't want to or he performs to expectation or better and prices himself out. The organization is very deep at wing now.