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What does a successful trade deadline day look like for the Penguins? |
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Today is deadline day and the Penguins find themselves fighting for a playoff spot with their top pairing’s health up in the air. Not where you want to be in your ultimate win-now window. What would make today a good day for the Penguins? There are things they could do which would provide value. There are things that would be subtraction by addition. Here are some guidelines I have for today to make it a “win” for the Penguins
Moving Tanner Pearson’s contract
Maybe he snaps out of this offensive funk he’s been in forever, but I’m not willing to be the team to find out. You can’t whiff on multiple contracts in the ~3-5M range. Johnson’s contract is an overpay. Olli Maatta’s contract is iffy most of the time. Patric Hornqvist is a physical aging player on the wrong side of 30. Pittsburgh can’t afford to eat up cap space on maybes like Pearson. If they can get any kind of draft pick for a team to take him off their hands it would be a success.
Avoiding bad defenseman
Trading for players like Cody Ceci or Adam McQuaid aren’t going to make the Penguins any better. How many bottom pairing defenseman does a team need? Chad Ruhwedel isn’t the best option in the world, but he’s cheap and doesn’t cost any assets to give you replacement level performance. Trading for another bad defenseman will just add to the list of failed acquisitions Rutherford has made the last few years at the position. Justin Schultz was a clear example of situation/usage dragging a player down which is why it has worked out. Ceci may look like he fits that description this year, but his sample is large enough in the past and none of it points to a Schultz like rebound. He’s a bad player. Adam McQuaid would be the result of having a grit boner.
Keeping first round draft pick
Not for the reason you think. A mid to late first round pick doesn’t really help the Penguins in their Stanley Cup quest during the twilight of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin’s twilight years. Even if they make a good selection the odds of that player being a difference maker within the next two seasons is slim. Keeping the first round pick would have a bigger benefit for a draft day trade packaged with another player (Maatta, Hornqvist). The Penguins don’t have any meaningful draft picks this year so finding a blockbuster at the draft is really the only way the Penguins can have an impact on the now
Trading the first round draft pick
Yep, there are situations in which trading the first round pick during the deadline make sense. Finding a useful RFA with a little bit of term like the Sabres did with Brandon Montour would be good use of the pick. I am open to the idea of a player like Jeff Carter whose age aligns with the window the Penguins are in. I trust Travis Yost’s opinion on hockey matters as much as anybody out there
You would be buying low on Carter who has been a very consistent offensive player throughout his career. His pedigree is way higher than Pearson and he is way likelier to see a return to form.
I don't have a handle on what the Minnesota Wild are doing. The Niederreiter trade made no sense. Maybe they'll move Eric Staal for a first. That would be a great get. However, not as likely
Kevin Hayes is another really good player that would turn the Penguins third line into an effective scoring unit. I've been a fan of Hayes for a while.
Trading the pick now or at the draft seems like the best idea rather than using the pick and waiting until Crosby is 34 until that player makes their NHL debut.
Avoiding grit
We’ve been down this road before. The team doesn’t need to get tougher. It needs to get better. If the player you acquire is good at even-strength and happens to be physical that is OK. Grit absent skill is useless and would be a waste of assets and time.
Trading Jack Johnson
Duh!
Thanks for reading!
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