Team: 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 28, 2022

Published: Jul. 28, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Saw someone else propose a Chychrun trade but they also included a ton of other moves that I didn't think were necessary, so I wanted to see if I could make it work without.

As far as the trade goes - if we're in win-now mode, then losing Poulin is irrelevant. Frankly, there's no one in the Pens system right now that feels like they put this roster over the top, so to me they're all expendable as trade pieces.

Someone's going to be the odd man out on that fourth line, and it's starting to feel like Blueger is going to be the guy. For whatever reason, the Pens like Archibald. I have a feeling he wasn't signed to be an AHL guy. Right or wrong, he's in the lineup. The addition of Poehling makes Blueger expendable. You can argue whether or not that's a downgrade but Blueger has a little more trade value than the rest of the bottom 6 right now.

It's clear that the Pens need to do something about their defense. If they haven't moved Pettersson by now, I don't think it's happening. Dumo is more of a cap dump here but with 1 year left on his contract and declining play, I don't think losing him kills us, especially when replacing him with Chychrun. Arizona shouldn't have a problem taking on Dumo but if you have to throw in a small sweetener, whatever. Left POJ and Smith battle it out for 3rd LD in camp.

I highly doubt the Pens will move Zucker and frankly, I don't think they should. He's always injured, I get that, but he brought a ton of energy in the playoffs this year and I think he played the exact style that Hextall and Burke want to see. On the 3rd line, he'll bring some energy and hopefully some scoring if he can stay healthy.

Finally, move either Ruhwedel or Friedman for whatever you can get for them. I think Friedman plays the more physical game, which again is what Hextall and Burke prefer, so he's more likely to stay. But for a 7th D man, you move either one for whatever gets you the best return.

That leaves the Pens with a little over $1 mil in cap space going into the season. According to Rob Rossi (so take it with a grain of salt, lol) Hextall likes having about $2 mil in cap space, but with the flat cap that's not likely going to be possible. Still, $1 mil is a decent cushion for in-season moves if necessary.

No idea if the trade value makes sense or not, I'm sure I'll get roasted in the comments by both sides, but it'd definitely be an interesting move that doesn't require a ton of subsequent moves to make work - and I think it makes this team much better moving forward.

*****EDIT*****
Based on the feedback, I added POJ to the trade. Seems weird since POJ was initially acquired as part of the Kessel trade, but maybe Arizona wants him back now. Josh Yohe has commented in the past that the current Pens management isn't as high on POJ as the previous regime was, so it makes sense that he might be dangled as trade bait, especially with the addition of Smith this off season.

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