So, Fleury ($3.5Mx2), Zacha, for McCann, DeSmith, Sceviour, Riikola, 2nd?

How'bout no?

Zacha is not that great of a C. Good defensively, but HORRIBLE at faceoff and not physical. Also, DeSmith might be better on the ice vs Fleury. There is zero reason for Pittsburgh to include McCann.

Fleury ($3.5Mx2), Zacha, for DeSmith, Sceviour, Riikola

The other teams would not agree to give Pitt Fleury, No. 6 overall pick Zacha and cap space for Desmith, Sceviour and Riikola. Other teams would easily beat that offer. Zacha is a great player who has not came close to reaching his potential. Not many young players are good at faceoffs. Lets say he gets marginally better. Great. You aren`t getting Zacha to win faceoffs. You have Sidney Crosby and Teddy Blueger/Jankowski for that. Pens need a defensively reliable 3rd line center with scoring punch to provide depth scoring. Pens are successful when they have a good 3rd line that can score. Pens are not successful when their bottom two lines are offensive blackholes. Pens have enough defensive minded/physical forwards (Tanev, Jankowski, Aston-Reese, Rust, Blueger).

I would rather have Granlund than McCann.

No, Desmith is not even close to Fleury, even at 36. That`s absurd. Plus Fleury`s impact on teammates alone provides value. Great mentor for Jarry too.

In a real world scenario this is what the trade would have to look like in order to make sense for everyone.

Pens perspective: Solid 1B goalie. Huge boost to team experience, morale and overall team culture. Cap space to sign Granlund, Haula, Chara, Kovalchuk, Perry etc...2nd round pick given up means nothing as they are all in this year and next.

Vegas: Clears cap space without moving one of top players. Gets decent backup. Loses 1st rounder but this team is a contender so they are willing to do so. Gets good center/wing to compliment middle 6.

Devils: Cap space not an issue. Fleury contract will expire as Jack Hughes contract does. In return they get two depth pieces and a 1st and 2nd rounder. They give up Zacha, although a very good player who has yet to reach his potential he is somewhat expendable because NJD have a lot of centers.

This deal works. Could there be small tweaks in order to get it done? Yes but the overall framework makes sense and the value to each team is about on par. You have to consider that the deal also involves Granlund (or whoever else they decide to sign). So giving up the amount that Pitt did in these deals doesn`t matter nearly as much as if they weren`t able to sign anyone. The only team I see saying no to this is NJD because they may want to try and sign someone and they may want to hold on to Zacha.

The other teams would not agree to give Pitt Fleury, No. 6 overall pick Zacha and cap space for Desmith, Sceviour and Riikola. Other teams would easily beat that offer. Zacha is a great player who has not came close to reaching his potential. Not many young players are good at faceoffs. Lets say he gets marginally better. Great. You aren`t getting Zacha to win faceoffs. You have Sidney Crosby and Teddy Blueger/Jankowski for that. Pens need a defensively reliable 3rd line center with scoring punch to provide depth scoring. Pens are successful when they have a good 3rd line that can score. Pens are not successful when their bottom two lines are offensive blackholes. Pens have enough defensive minded/physical forwards (Tanev, Jankowski, Aston-Reese, Rust, Blueger).

I would rather have Granlund than McCann.

No, Desmith is not even close to Fleury, even at 36. That`s absurd. Plus Fleury`s impact on teammates alone provides value. Great mentor for Jarry too.

In a real world scenario this is what the trade would have to look like in order to make sense for everyone.

Pens perspective: Solid 1B goalie. Huge boost to team experience, morale and overall team culture. Cap space to sign Granlund, Haula, Chara, Kovalchuk, Perry etc...2nd round pick given up means nothing as they are all in this year and next.

Vegas: Clears cap space without moving one of top players. Gets decent backup. Loses 1st rounder but this team is a contender so they are willing to do so. Gets good center/wing to compliment middle 6.

Devils: Cap space not an issue. Fleury contract will expire as Jack Hughes contract does. In return they get two depth pieces and a 1st and 2nd rounder. They give up Zacha, although a very good player who has yet to reach his potential he is somewhat expendable because NJD have a lot of centers.

This deal works. Could there be small tweaks in order to get it done? Yes but the overall framework makes sense and the value to each team is about on par. You have to consider that the deal also involves Granlund (or whoever else they decide to sign). So giving up the amount that Pitt did in these deals doesn`t matter nearly as much as if they weren`t able to sign anyone.

Saying Fleury is still a 1B is just flat out homerism looking back on him cracking jokes and smiling.

Adding McCann to this trade has literally ZERO to do with getting Granlund.

"Zacha is a great player who has not came close to reaching his potential" um... yep. Being a top 6 pick is irrelevant when you don't live up to it.

The deal that I suggested is still overpay by the Pens, done solely for homers that want Fleury back, at three times the cap hit of DeSmith.

Fleury is most definitely a solid 1B. Perhaps the best 1B in the league. There is not a single person in the Pens organization who wouldn`t want to bring Fleury back in that role if the deal made sense. Jarry is still largely unproven. The Pens need to have a backup plan. Casey Desmith is not that plan. You can`t seriously argue that bringing Fleury in for 2 years in a backup/1B role would not be beneficial for this team.

Yes it does. Moving McCanns cap hit allows the Penguins to sign Granlund. Simple addition and subtraction my guy.

Zacha "not living up to his potential" is a little extreme. He has not been put in a position to succeed in Jersey. How many times has this happened to players like him? High draft pick with loads of potential gets a new home and BOOM all of a sudden he is a star. He is a great player. No way around it. Also, Pens don`t need him to score 40 goals. They have plenty of players for that. They need speed and offensive contribution from the 3rd line. He is more than capable of doing that. His 6 3 200+ frame isn`t bad either. He doesn`t use it as much as he should, but again that could change in Pitt under Sullivan.