Crosby, Malkin, and Letang are obviously retiring which PIT, unless the specifically request a trade. This means, Pettersson, Jarry (maybe?), Rust, Karlsson (if he is still good on his last year of the deal), are the guys that need to be dealt, and at least 2 1sts need to be netted from these guys, but ideal 3 or 4

I think PIT is being tight lipped but quite obvious in their intentions. They want Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and company to ask for trades. Maybe I'm just a conspiracy theorist.

This site is hilarious.

Fans don’t know how hard a full rebuild is. To the players. To the management. To the ownership. To the market. It’s not as easy as people think. Especially when you have 3 legendary homegrown superstars , and one of the best offensive defenceman of this generation. Management owes it to their core to compete for as long as they can. Is that the right move? That’s always up for debate. But regardless you try to win as much as you can when you have superstars because you never know when you’ll get the chance to do it again..

Trade the core now and fully rebuild and you’re likely at least 10 years away from a contention window and that’s only if you get lucky along the way. Pittsburgh already almost moved once due to financial reasons, I wouldn’t be 100% sure they could survive a tear down and that’s something ownership wouldn’t want

Forgot the pick(s) coming to Chicago to take Bunting. 2x$4.5m isn't getting moved for free.

Trouble with the rebuilding thought, is that some players you may want to be traded have are aging, on expensive M NTC contracts. Top teams don't want them because of value of their cap, and rebuilding teams don't want them either. PS. I'm not including Malkin or Crosby.

If Pittsburgh is sending Bunting to Chicago for FC which ends up basically being nothing then I would probably accept. I hate the little s**t but he competes his a$$ off and has shown an ability to produced when paired with skilled players.

Again another player who if things go sideways again next season could be flipped for a decent return at the TDL.

How do you even rebuild though when you basically have one asset without an NMC that could command a good return?