Who would like some rumors to start draft day off? The Penguins and Sharks are repordately talking about a trade which would free up a sizeable chunk of cap space and net the Penguins a new goaltender.
Big day. Lots percolating. Here's the latest: #GoHabsGo weighing as many as five offers for No. 5 overall pick.#pens Petry, #LGRW Zadina, #SeaKraken Geekie, #GoBolts Bogosian and #TimeToHunt Duclair all added to the board.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 28, 2023
Top Trade Targets 🎯:https://t.co/1xaVbEHjbq
The Penguins were working on Tuesday to find a new home for Petry, who was acquired by then-GM Ron Hextall last July. The goal for GM Kyle Dubas is to try to lower the Pens’ average age a touch. The view around the league is Petry has slowed down a bit and is no longer playing at a level commensurate to his cap hit. The term on his deal also makes him a little more difficult to move. It’s believed San Jose is a potential landing spot for Petry, while the Pens are also among the teams believed to be interested in Kaapo Kahkonen.
I very much like the idea of moving on from Petry’s 6M cap hit and the Sharks are the kind of team looking to do business taking on cap hits at the moment. I thought Petry was a little better than the overall perception of him in his inaugural season as a Penguin. He was fine, but fine isn’t great for 6M on a team looking to max out value. It makes sense to attempt to move on from him.
On a quick glance you might think Kaapo Kahkonen is the borderline bust forward from the New York Rangers. He is in fact goaltender. A position of need for the Penguins. At a first glance, it doesn’t look too promising
He has one year left on a 2.8M deal. Taking on a contract like this is the cost of unloading a contract like Jeff Petry.
Moving Petry would gain more cap space to help Dubas’ plan of poaching players from other teams in cap trouble and getting them for much less than what their actual worth is. We’ve seen examples of Taylor Hall and Tyler Toffoli recently. There are more trades like those to be had.
We should finally start to see some movement from the front office outside of making draft selections in the near future. This here might be the start of it.
Thanks for reading!