Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal
Sometimes it is the unheralded under the radar trades that make the biggest difference for a team. For all the attention that the Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow, and Doug Murray trades got it was the Jussi Jokinen trade that has been the best for the Penguins.
What kind of under the radar trades are available this year for the Penguins?
I think the answers could potentially come from South Florida.
The Panthers are the 2nd worst team in the Eastern Conference right now with the only team worse being the Buffalo Sabres. The Panthers seem like an ideal team to look at when trying to pry useful assets from.
I was listening to the Hockey Prospectus podcast with Mathew Coller from WGR in Buffalo and Adam Gretz and they brought up two interesting trade targets from the Panthers. And no, one of them is not Brad Boyes, Boyes is rumored to be re-signing in Florida. The players mentioned were Tomas Fleishmann and Marcel Goc.
Let’s look at the kind of roles each player has played with the Panthers this season to see if there is a fit with the Penguins:
I am going to start with Tomas Fleischmann. Tomas Fleischmann comes in at a 4.5M cap hit and he still has one year remaining on his contact. Ideally any trade with the Panthers for Fleishmann would come with the Panthers taking back at least part of his salary.
Fleischmann is playing two way minutes for the Panthers this season. He is getting favorable offensive zone starts, is playing against stiff competition, and has good possession numbers.
Fleischmann has shown in the past that he is very capable of putting up offensive numbers. After stalling out in Washington he scored 21 points in his first 22 games with the Avalanche after being traded, unfortunately it was short lived as he was diagnosed with pulmonary emboli and had to miss the remainder of the year.
He bounced back strong after his medical scare and had 27 goals and 61 points in his first year with Florida. Last season he had 35 points in 48 games. He has also been durable only missing 3 games in the past 3 seasons.
Fleischmann’s offensive numbers are down this year but I believe I have pinpointed one of the big reasons. His shooting percentage is a paltry 4.4% this year. His career average is 11.4%, it is only a matter of time before he starts to see that number jump back up again. Playing on the right side with Crosby would certainly assist that process.
As for Marcel Goc he is a very responsible 3rd line center who could provide some consistency in the possession department, something that the current Penguins bottom 6 severely lacks. Goc would be more of a plan B option, perhaps if a guy like Brandon Sutter was traded away.
With Florida Goc has played in a shutdown role and has positive possession. Goc is also on the cusp of setting a career high in goals scored. Currently Goc is sitting at 10 goals while his career high is 12, achieved in 2009-2010 with the Nashville Predators.
Goc is predominately a center and has not played much wing in the past.
If the Penguins were to make a big splash for Kesler, Goc could be the fall back option to replace Brandon Sutter on the 3rd line. Personally I think that is way too many moving parts but stranger things have happened before.
Another potential option would be to bump Sutter to the wing. I don’t know if that is something the Penguins would do or feel comfortable with. Beggers can’t be choosers when you are talking about the Penguins bottom 6 forward woes. They might have to think outside the box here.
Goc will be an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of this season and currently carries a cap hit of 1.7M.
The Panther recently acquired forward Brandon Pirri from the Chicago Blackhawks, are they planning for one of their current forwards to be dealt?
Tough to predict what Shero will do this deadline but those are two more names to chew on for now.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal