Team: 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: Jan. 17, 2023

Published: Jan. 17, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Penguins options are super limited, but I think everyone agrees that they need to do something. In my opinion, Marcus Pettersson is their best trade chip right now. He's playing fairly well this season, the emergence of POJ and Smith as serviceable LD makes moving Pettersson easier to stomach, and I think most importantly, Pettersson has a NTC that kicks in next season. I don't necessarily want to move him but now is the time. Gotta give up something to get something - and really what we're getting with this trade is cap relief moving forward.

With that said, I'd take a flier on Puljujarvi. He's basically a rental although he's an RFA so there's some contract control there. I'm not super in tune with what's going on in Edmonton, but from what I hear EDM is ready to move on from him and they are also looking for some defensive help. Not sure how true that is just what I'm seeing on Twitter haha...

Maybe JP can turn things around in Pittsburgh, maybe not. If he flops in PIT, at the very least the Pens moved $4 mil that can help with signing some of the pending UFAs (Blueger, Jarry, extension for Guentzel, etc) and maybe also give them a chance to make a splash in the FA market this off season.