Edmonton can't afford to pay Zucker next year.

No thanks. Koskinen is marginally better than DeSmith.

Would you rather have a trash can or a trash can with a lid?

Yes they can, Klefbom doesn't sound like he'll play again, frees up $4.167m plus the cap is to be raised by $1m next year giving you the amount needed to afford Zucker, if need be... Plus why wouldn't you do this deal, it's low risk high reward AND you get retention on Desmith w/o retaining on Koskinen, plus a higher pick in return.. Worst case ontario you can look to deal Zucker to a team in need of a top6/9 winger that needs to get to the cap floor.. It's worth a shot IMO, who knows Maybe Zucker becomes the player he was in Minny when he signed this deal to begin with..

But...they don't actually...

Currently, assuming no Klefbom, going into the offseason, Edmonton has:
-$71.92 mil invested in 16 players. Assuming the cap is $82.5, that leaves $10.58 mil in space.
-Remove Ryan and add Zucker, and you're at $76.17 mil...so $6.33 mil left, with 6 players to sign.
-One of those 6 is Puljujarvi-He's having a very solid season, so I guess it depends on whether you want to sign him longterm, or short...I'd imagine $3 mil is the absolute base, so let's just go with that for now...$3.33 mil left with 5 players to sign.
-I'm assuming Skinner plays in this scenario, so $2.58 mil left with 4 players to sign ($0.645 per player...well below the league minimum).
-A overpaid 3rd line winger isn't anywhere close to the biggest need in Edmonton...you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.

As for just dumping him on some other team? Why take that risk? Why don't the Pens just dump him? DeSmith isn't an upgrade on Koskinen, and Zucker absolutely handcuffs them at the deadline, which doesn't allow them to fill the actual holes.

Were you not listening yesterday?? Holland basically said this is the goalie tandem we are running with take it or leave it.. Desmith is far better than Koskinen is, plus this would give the Oilers flexibility this year to bring up Skinner to possibly play more as well.. Zucker would be a significant improvement to Yamamoto, analytics and possibly stats may not help the argument in a lot of ways, however, I could basing it off of watching almost every Oiler game and quite a few Pitts games, the cap hit wouldn't be ideal for next season I agree, but for the rest of this season, he makes the Top 6 better, sliding Yamo out of it, or possibly using him as trade bait to acquire the goalie need.. Having said that, I can see what you're saying about the potential cap issues, but how I would position things to Jesse P- sign another 2 year bridge for $3m per season, and when the Lucic/Sekera dead money comes off the books, look to use it to sign the long term deal then.. Also, you didn't include the $1m increase to your cap for next year, so w/o Klefbom you're actually looking at $11.43 for next season-$3m for Pupu, leaving you with $8.4 to sign Yamo, McLeod, Benson, Niemalainen, Lagesson.. Yamo if he was to stick around will likely get part 2 of a "Show me your worth" deal so unlikely he gets more than $1.5m(slightly higher than a QO raise).. McLeod, Benson and Niemalainen you can likley save $$ by giving them close to league min deals for 1 or 2 years as long as they are 1 ways, ultimately leaving you with I'd say roughly $3.5 m in space to get these deals done, again assuming they all come back and won't be apart of any trades or wouldn't receive any Qualifying Offers... So, you can make it work, I just understand where you're coming from with not wanting too, but, Zucker could also be dealt, should things not pan out, to a team in need to get to the floor(Arizona, Buffalo, etc..)

I'd rather have DeSmith. If you compare their stats, they're not far enough apart to warrant retention and a 3rd.

SV%: .906 to .897 - Advantage Koskinen.
GSAA% -4.33 to -6.24 - Advantage DeSmith.

They couldn't be more similar. This trade is terrible for the Pens. Zucker, while not scoring, is a good hockey player and worth more than Koskinen.