The NHL trade deadline is swiftly approaching. Teams around the league are going to need to make their final decisions on player values and what they are willing to give up for available players.
There is still time for the Pittsburgh Penguins to make more moves in an effort to improve their team for the short term, long term, both, or neither. Whatever Jim Rutherford’s plan is it seems like it will wait until Monday.
Penguins have no trades brewing tonight. GMJR is willing to talk deals tomorrow. Should be interesting.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) February 29, 2016
So what kind of deals are out there for Pittsburgh? What is probable?
Mega deals
Will the Penguins finally trade Malkin for depth players?
Remember that those people actually existed? Weird right?
Anyways there aren’t a ton of big fish out there but Jonathan Drouin is still available. Steve Yzerman looks like he is going to try and move Drouin before the deadline but I can’t see Pittsburgh getting in on that. Tampa seems to have its eye on a young NHL caliber right handed defenseman. Anaheim might not be willing to pay Sami Vatanen so that is something worth keeping an eye on.
It is tough to gauge the goaltending market and even tougher to gauge that market for players with such a limited NHL sample size, but if there was a deal to materialize for Matt Murray it would probably have to be a really big one. This isn’t likely to happen as teams have already approached the Penguins about Murray and have been told he isn’t on the market.
In all reality the Penguins are not equipped to be making any mega deals at this juncture. Their mega deal was the Kessel trade so they’ll have to chill for a bit on this front.
Hockey trade
Really the only player that fits into this grouping for Pittsburgh is Ian Cole. Pittsburgh is more than likely going to look to rid itself of the 2.1M annual cap hit they just signed him to. There is a chance that Pittsburgh could move Cole for a roster player in that same salary range.
Chris Kunitz is another player that could be moved in a hockey trade but the likelihood of that is so incredibly low I almost didn’t include it in the blog at all.
Minor deals
Sergei Plotnikov will not play another game for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team is trying to trade him and ultimately I think somebody will take Plotnikov off of Pittsburgh’s hands. The return isn’t going to be much. Plotnikov isn’t a difference maker but he could probably help another team’s bottom six. Potential destinations would probably include teams who value shot attempt based possession metrics.
Edit: Sergei Plotnikov was indeed traded to the Arizona Coyotes (Pittsburgh's opponent tonight). The Penguins get a conditional 2017 7th round draft pick and a minor league player in Matthias Plachta.
Ian Cole fits here too. Pittsburgh could move him for low end futures.
It’s not that I believe the team is looking to move any of the AHL guys who have recently contributed to the big club, but it is the trade deadline and none of those guys are untouchable (obviously).
Jeff Zatkoff doesn’t have a place on the NHL roster anymore and I’m sure the Penguins would like to move him for some low end futures but the market for goaltenders is very soft. James Reimer has played some of the best hockey at his position this year and he landed a fourth round pick.
To be honest Jim Rutherford is one of the biggest wildcard GM’s there are in the sport. Until the deadline officially comes and goes there is no telling what direction the Penguins go in.
Thanks for reading!