You know the offseason is near because the TSN Trade Bait board has been revived. There are 20 players listed and there are Penguins on there.

TRADE BAIT: Patrik Laine makes the first Trade Bait board of the fall as the Jets explore avenues to fill holes on their blueline and down the middle, @frank_seravalli
writes: https://t.co/Jdf8sL1DOY pic.twitter.com/b5ozthi5X6

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) September 1, 2020

Here is the first TSN Trade Bait board of the offseason, where the ranking always seeks to blend a player’s prominence with his likelihood of a trade:

The Penguins have three players on the board, two of which make sense. The first player is Matt Murray and he is the #1 player on the board. He gets top billing because it is obvious the Penguins want to deal him. Jared McCann is number 16 on the board. There have been recent reports of the Penguins shopping him.

The player who is #10 on the board is disheartening. It is Kris Letang. The value you get at 7.25M is superb. Finding top pairing defenseman who are right handed is extremely difficult. John Marino isn’t that guy and probably never will be. Marino will be/is a solid player. Not crowning him a top pairing player isn’t a criticism. Rutherford has spoken about Malkin and Letang being part of the core recently so hopefully he sticks to having that belief.

One thing lacking from the board are centers. There are none. Jared McCann is properly listed as a winger. Max Domi, also properly listed as a winger.

I’m not sure who needs to read this. Maybe a lot of people do.

Max Domi is a better winger than a center.

— Chad DeDominicis (@CMDeDominicis) September 2, 2020

Although, it might not stop the Penguins from trying to acquire him as a center. Back when Domi was initially traded to the Canadiens there were rumblings of the Penguins being interested. This was from the 31 thoughts podcast with Friedman in 2018

One of the things that I heard just around the Cup Final is that I think the Penguins have interest in him. There was a point last year where I thought he was going to get traded. His name was out there. I believe there are teams with interest, I believe Montreal for example had some interest in Max Domi. I think Pittsburgh is going through some changes, and Domi is one of the guys they’re really interested in.

If true, it would definitely increase the likelihood of the Penguins being interested now. When Rutherford is enamored with a player he will usually go out and get said player. Jason Zucker is the latest example of it. Friedman mentioned the Penguins and Domi again two weeks ago

Friedman: "Here's an early bet as to who could be a Penguin next year: Max Domi."

Marek mentions how the Domi family and Lemieux family are close, it kind of lines up, it makes sense, he would not be surprised by that at all.#GoHabsGo #LetsGoPens

— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) August 13, 2020

Given the history of the reporting, Lemieux’s friendship with Tie, and knowing Rutherford’s tendencies this has some legs in my opinion. Should we brace ourselves for Kris Letang being traded for Max Domi (pending RFA) and Jeff Petry (one year left on deal)? Does it matter if Domi can play center? It’s Rutherford so who knows!

Thanks for reading!

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