Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal
I hope everyone had a great holiday season with their family and friends the past few days.
The NHL CBA prevents teams from practicing today so our focus will have to be shifted towards speculation and predictions and not actual news.
With Christmas behind us what do we use all of our new-found gift cards on?
Given that today is Boxing Day I thought it would be topical to think about the kind of players the Penguins could potentially pick up via trade this season.
The artificially lowered salary cap in 2013-2014 has caused all teams to have some kind of hole in their lineup. For the Penguins that hole has been bottom 6 players, specifically third line players. The injury bug has prevented the Penguins from testing out what could potentially be their 3rd line. Injuries to Beau Bennett, Jayson Megna, and now Pascal Dupuis make it tough to project what the Penguins will do if they are ever completely healthy.
One of the biggest reasons the Penguins were able to make back to back Stanley Cup Finals is because they used to be a matchup nightmare for opposing coaches. Having Jordan Staal with Cooke and Kennedy assured that the other team would never have the luxury of taking a shift off.
The Penguins current setup includes a pretty good third line center in Sutter, but not much else (especially in the present moment). If the Penguins are going to get back to the SCF again they will need to get Sutter some help. The third line will need to generate their own share of offense. Sutter certainly has enough offensive talent, the goal against the Rangers on the December 18th was proof of that.
So outside of good health what can the Penguins do to help Sutter out?
The Penguins could go one of two ways as they approach improving the roster. They could trade for a top 6 player which would allow a player like Jokinen, Bennett, or Dupuis to drop down. Players that could be considered rentals as top 6 players include (but not limited to) Thomas Vanek, Matt Moulson, Jaromir Jagr, Ales Hemsky, Mike Cammalleri, and Marian Gaborik.
These players would all be considered rentals as each of them are UFA’s at the end of the season. They are also on teams that are currently outside of the playoff picture. Acquiring any of these players would help forward depth but also come at a cost.
The other option the Penguins could go for is trading specifically for a third line player. Some 3rd line rental options include guys like Steve Ott and Marcel Goc.
As always you have to give to get when making hockey trades (unless it involves a Nieuwendyk led Stars team). What do the Penguins have to offer up to improve the roster?
The name that pops up right away is Matt Niskanen but he is not an option to be traded.
The reason is because of his contract status. Niskanen is a pending UFA at the end of the season. You have to ask yourself, why would a team trade for Matt Niskanen? The answer of course is to be a rental piece that helps put their team over the top. A team that would be looking for a guy like Niskanen isn’t going to trade away “rental… pieces that the Penguins would be looking for. They would be looking to keep those pieces. Trading rental players for rental players is a very rare and not probable outcome.
The time to trade Niskanen was at the very beginning of the season.
The reality of the situation is that the Penguins will have to dip into their valuable future assets if they want to improve their forward ranks. This could come in the form of a 1st or 2nd round draft pick or it will come from their deep and talented defense prospect pool.
Considering the Penguins did the rental thing last year I don’t expect Ray Shero to get too aggressive with his younger commodities this year.
I believe the Penguins will be banking on entering the playoffs with a healthy roster which will include Beau Bennett and Jayson Megna playing top 9 minutes.
I personally don’t expect the Penguins to be big players on the trade market, but Ray Shero has certainly pulled some dynamite trades out of nowhere in the past.
What do you think the Penguins should shop for this trade season?
****
Penguins prospect Derrick Pouliot had a solid start to his World Junior tournament as he register 2 assists in Team Canada’s 7-2 victory over Germany.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal