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Ron Hextall is living in 2017 |
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The Penguins earned a solid win in overtime over the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. They remain on pace to make the playoffs. Are their roster additions keeping pace with the quality necessary to actually compete in the playoffs? They would if it were 2017. After acquiring Mikael Granlund they have now traded for former Penguin and third line stalwart, Nick Bonino.
Bonino was a huge part of the Penguins successful Cup teams and was a breath of fresh air after having Brandon Sutter fill the role for the years prior. It may not feel like it, but 2017 is six years ago now. Bonino is now almost 35 years old. He doesn’t have the offensive pulse he used to. He is still solid defensively. He is a decent replacement for Teddy Blueger. I don’t think he has it in him to fix the third line center issue. I think it would be an unfair position to put him in. Here is the before and after look at him
This move is a nothing burger in the grand scheme of things. When you look at the other teams and how they are loading up the Penguins had to be very aggressive, they weren’t.
Jakub Vrana was one of my risk reward choices for an acquisition if the Penguins wanted to take a serious run. He went to the Blues this morning for a 7th round pick and a meh prospect. I’d much rather have his 5M than Granlund’s and it isn’t particularly close. But guess what it isn’t even for 5M. Detroit is retaining 50%. Idiotic to let an opportunity like this go by. This was a layup trade target for a team that is struggling with cap space and assets.
There’s a different timeline where the Penguins could have reasonably landed both Jakub’s (Chychrun and Vrana) for the prices they went for. Throw in someone like Max Domi and you’ve just revamped the roster without making it painful. Instead Mikael Granlund and Nick Bonino are tasked with getting this team over the hump. I really dislike this GM.
In other news the Penguins were in on JT Miller. We knew that. What we might not have known is how close it was to being a done deal. Vancouver liked the offer, but Rutherford didn’t want draft picks. He thinks the Canucks aren’t rebuilding… no for real
An interesting report from this morning: TSN’s Darren Dreger saying, on a radio hit, that the Canucks turned down a J.T. Miller offer from the Penguins because it was based around draft picks and Vancouver doesn’t think they’re rebuilding.
It is pretty crazy the Canucks got a redo to get out of Miller’s contract and said no thanks. Insane, one might argue.
I personally don’t think the Penguins have a big move in them at this point. They probably shouldn’t. The mantra for this Penguins team will be just get in the playoffs because you never know what can happen. They will try to play the Cinderella role. It is going to be either Carolina or Boston awaiting them. This is their new existence.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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