Nope. Keep Matheson as far away from us as possible!

That was WAYYYY too much for Greenway. Rust by himself should get a 1st.

Trouble with unloading salary, other teams don't want your load....for cap reasons and and on ice value.

I understand the salary unload is typically unwanted. I thought a "sweetener" of Rust would get it done.

Rust would get more if he were in the trade alone. His value is diminished in this trade by Matheson's salary.

Right, so you don't move a top line winger on a $3.5M salary just to unload a dman who wasn't that bad for the Pens. Yeah, his contract stinks, but he's proven he's not a bad player.

That's fair, but I think it depends what you are able to get as a result. In exchange for unloading Matheson's salary (albeit at the expense of Rust), I was able to sign Hyman who I believe would be exactly the type of player Hextall, Burke, and Pittsburgh would love.

I think the Oilers would be hesitant to take Zucker without retainment or sending something back. He's coming of a down year at the age where players slow down. Would be willing to take the risk if he had 1 year left but the 2nd year at $5.5 has a ton of risk to it if he doesn't bounce back. Some retaining or taking a Kassian/Koskinen back and using picks to even up value sounds more realistic.

Personally, I have no interest in Kassian. I know some other Pens fans feel differently, though. If Edmonton wasn't interested in this trade, I would see what other teams may have interest. Yes, Zucker had a little bit of an off year but was fighting through injuries. He still, as always, had positive relative possession metrics. His oiGF/60 was much lower than normal this year but not his G/60 really. His assists took the biggest hit which, to me, speaks more toward a bad fit than a diminishing player.

It's just taking market conditions into account. With the flat cap, Tampa will have to dump contracts with Killorn and Palat on the market. Killorn had similar production to Zucker and makes less money, Palat makes similar money and has better production. Zucker at full salary would be a Plan C for teams navigating the cap with 2 years on his contract to bet that it was just a bad fit.