Deal

deal no take backs

no way penguins take Hayes, the blues can keep that.
Nor is there any point on retaining 2.5 mil on Smith just to replace him with 40 pt winger DeBrusk at 5 mil.
It's like swapping 40 point wingers and now paying 7.5 million. No thanks.

sure deal!

I feel like Hayes could be a great 3C. Really good in the dot and had 54 points just a season ago.
I get your point on Smith, but I feel like DeBrusk's playstyle, where he can add a little physicality, could be really good. If not him, I would take a chance on Joshua from VAN. Obviously, I would prefer to go all out and get a Guentzel, Reinhart or Stamkos, but dont think we would do that.

DeBrusk is no more physical than Smith. I mean that is basically Smiths game is to be that little bit of sandpaper gritty winger with a bit of skill.
As for Hayes, he'd just be another old player on an aging team.
On top of it, he's got a 47.8% career faceoff. This past year was his best year ever on the dot. 8 years of his career he's been under 50%. That isn't a guy who's good on the dot. His possession numbers aren't all that good either.
I just don't see the need to bring him in. This team gets tired and blows leads. They need younger players.
In an ideal world they would trade both Eller and Acciari out, along with Smith and Rakell and replace them with younger players. But that's easier said than done to move them out.

Fair point on Hayes. However, when it comes to the DeBrusk/Smith swap, it is not like I am giving anything up to go from Smith to DeBrusk. We get an asset for Smith and sign DeBrusk as an FA. We retain for one year, sure, but we have the cap.

Having money in your pocket burning a hole doesn't mean you should spend it.

The question here is what are you getting. DeBrusk is a 40pt guy, who is consistently inconsistent.
So you sign him to 5 years, which on the surface you have him on the 3rd line, why would you sign a 3rd liner to more than 2-3 years at start? Teams really try not to sign 3rd liner guys for more than that.
But you match him on the salary of Smith at 5 mil.
If the whole fan base is looking at 40pt Smith and saying... that's a bust we need to move him. We think his 5 mil isn't worth what we are getting.

Why would we do the same thing with a historic 40 pt inconsistent guy? It's just moving chairs on the deck of a sinking ship but getting wrapped up in term.

It would be one thing if it was like ok, DeBrusk, 3.5 mil x 3 years.
I would say ok, cool. That looks about right. Because if Smith wasn't good enough and a waste of cap space that should be moved. Why would I want to pay another 40 pt guy 5 mil?

I get people want to say, ok he'll be a better fit. But I mean, he got 40 points on a better BOS team.
I'm not inclined to say, he'll do better here. Nor am I inclined to say he's a shown himself to be a better player than Smith. If Smith couldn't do it, why do I think DeBrusk can?

What we'll probably end up with is ..... another 40 pt guy on a 5 mil deal, this time with 5 years of term.
I just don't get how that fixes anything or leaves us in a better situation. You are better off just keeping Smith at that rate.

DeBrusk is a guy who needs to come in on a 3.5-4 mil contract on a 2-3 year deal. Which makes sense for his point total this season and 3rd line expectation.
It's better for Smith to out play his deal than it is for a team to get stuck on that deal. That's why you'll see BOS let him go if the request is 5 mil per on a long term deal.
That should be a telling sign.

It's like the Graves deal. The penguins did not over pay on Graves. They brought him in on an average LD salary of 4.5.
If you look at DeBrusk he's a 3rd-2nd line tweener. The salary of which is in the 3.5-4.5 range.... somewhere in the middle of that is where he should probably fall. Given the 100k per point formula that many seem to fit.
So if you are retaining 2.5 mil on Smith you are paying 7.5 mil on a guy that should be coming in at 3.5-4 roughly. Who's going to give the same production most likely. Especially in a diminished 3rd line role, where in BOS he played a lot of 1st and 2nd line. Which is why DeBrusk himself came out and said he had a disappointing season. Which I agree with. As someone with his ice time should have produced more. In comparison. Smith played about 1 minute a less per game.
So if he drops from 17 minutes a night to a 3rd line role of 13-15 minutes a night. How's paying him the same as Smith going to really look?