Why would the Pens trade one of their best dman when they just recently got hampered by injuries in the playoffs for a player they can sign next year if the cap space allows them to?

Because, in that case they would have to compete with other teams offers but if they have his rights, they could just work out a deal before July 1

Aston-Reese is not "highly touted". PIT fans don't understand this. Go ask any scout and they'll all say the same thing, "He's a 3rd line player at best. If a player doesn't get drafted there's a reason he wasn't." So unless ZAR is something rare, he won't be anything special. Sure you could put him next to Crosby and he can put up points but going to a meh teal like NYI he'll be a 3rd line player.

The only thing worth getting in this trade for the Isles is Sprong and the pick. They don't care about ZAR. ClockReads2113 is right, he's nothing more than a third liner. Who cares if it opens up a lot of cap? His contract expires after this season.

Then they can utilize that cap space to make trades for a variety of contracts, obviously you're only thinking of offseason signings though.


All college or university signings happen because they performed as good as if not better than people who were drafted from college or university. Tons of players have gone undrafted and have been good whether they were elite hall of famers or just first or second liners.

Not really from the NCAA. The best NCAA forward that was a free agent in the last10 years is Tyler Bozak and even then he isn't mind blowing. So unless ZAR is expected to be Bozak or more (he isn't), I wouldn't expect too much. But again, put him next to Crosby he can probably put up some nice numbers. It's like Sheary, he's a NCAA free agent that's a 3rd liner at best but put him with Crosby and he's great.

That's is a complete lie, jeez this just proves total 0 hockey knowledge... Did you just start watching hockey. Last 10 years too? NCAA, there have been tons and a lot better than Bozak too.

toews
Miller
Kesler
Keith
St. Louis
Gionta
Heatley
Paul Stasny
Tim Thomas
Parise
Kessel
Dan Boyle
Vanek
Stafford
Ryan Suter
Erik Cole
Pavelski
Kunitz
Backes
Cammalleri
Sharp
Van Riemsdyk
Jimmy Howard
Brendan Morrison
And I think Jack Eichel and so on

From an objective value, there is no way Pittsburgh even offers so little for Tavares. If the point is that NYI might be so awful this year that they consider trading him for picks and prospects, then there are still going to be twenty other teams offering their best picks and prospects to try to win a Cup.

But from a specific point of view of what NYI would want back from a team with back to back cup wins, offering absolutely zero players with any stanley cup rings is just ridiculous. If those prospects are so good, Pittsburgh won't have an problem keeping them and playing them, and instead, they should be able to offer a couple of Cup winning stars for the generational talent NYI already has. Trading Kessel, Sheary, and Hagelin, say, could open up enough cap space that Pittsburgh has a chance to re-sign Tavares, although it would still take a whole lot of draft picks to make that even.

If I were a Pens fan, one angle I'd be pushing is a deal for Sam Bennett
Recent 4th overall, C. Not there yet, but should be a solid 2C when Crosby/Malkin are declining.
For an eastern comparable, picture Kadri 5 years younger (still green at faceoffs and discipline) and with a higher ceiling.

Bennett is threatening to sit out with no contract at the moment. CGY has a good young team and a decent farm team. They're at the stage where they want to go upgrade from good to better, and they can adapt to make use of whatever PIT finds easiest to offer.

That's just a list of a bunch of guys that played NCAA hockey (and some that didn't lol). Aren't you talking about undrafted NCAA players that signed as free agents? Because I think your list becomes much shorter and less impressive, sans Marty St. Louis.

Current NHL players that went undrafted after playing NCAA hockey (*except MSL who had 1000+ pts so I wanted him on the list):
Martin St. Louis*
Tyler Bozak
Cam Talbot
Danny Dekeyser
Conor Sheary
Andrej Šustr
Trevor van Riemsdyk
Chris Tanev
Nate Schmidt
Nate Prosser

probably a few others I missed. Obligatory "did you just start watching hockey?"

Why don't you go back and read the comments because obviously you didn't. That list was for the guy who thinks Tyler Bozak is the best NCAA Player in the PAST 10 years. And all those players on my list played in the NCAA so "did you just start watching hockey?" And that list as well as even your list just proves that ZAR can be good. That other guy (same guy) thinks there's only one good NCAA graduate per 10 years and that a good player coming from there is a rarity and ZAR probably won't turn out because of that. But that's just simply not true. Just look out our two lists. Jimmy Vesey and Kevin Hayes were NCAA players too and they did great for the NYR last year as well. And by the way Marty St. Louis is the best NCAA player in the past 10 years not Bozak.