What makes you think the sabres want Johnson?

Florida says no. Look at it this way, you're trading a superstar in his mid 30's for his replacement in his mid 20's. Why would Florida bother getting 10 years older? Trocheck is on a steal of a contract and they aren't moving him.

1. you are immensely undervaluing Maatta. He is worth a second on his own.
2. You are overblowing the Gudbranson contract, they don't need to do a terrible trade like that. He actually played well after they traded for him. They aren't gonna give up assets to get rid of him, and they sure as heck aren't gonna retain on it.
3. Im not in favor of trading kessel or geno, but IF it were to happen, Arizona would be a reasonable destination for Phil. Florida doesn't make as much sense however, if they want to sign both Panarin and Bob, and take on a net of 5million in acquiring malkin, they would have to unload several other pieces to get under the cap.
3a. As for the fairness of the deals. I think you need to get a bit more for Kessel although that's in the relative ballpark.
3b. While I like Trocheck you need to get more in any deal that moves malkin away.

Agreed 100%
The only thing I’ll say is that Florida might want malkin to try and entice Bob and Panarin to sign. With that being said, that means they’d have to offload more salary. So probably either add Huberdeau to the deal (if they want to get out of the vatrano contract. Or swap Vatrano with Huberdeau. They are gonna have to unload salary regardless to get both. But Malkin might entice them to sign there. And it’s would definitely be a smart move for the pens to do if they could get both Trochek and Huberdeau while getting a 1st outta them.

1. Maatta's value isn't that high according to Elliotte Freidman, the Pens have tried to move him before and nothing has materialized, I really doubt Montreal even thinks about something like this even though it addresses a need for them.
2. Gudbranson played well down the stretch, yes, but that was a very small sample size, there's a very low chance he plays like that for an extended amount of time, it comes down to moving money at that point
3. In this scenario, Malkin is traded to Florida under the assumption they miss out on Panarin and Bobrovsky. He would give them arguably the best top 6 in the league
3a. It will be hard to get more than that for Kessel, even though his cap hit and production are attractive, his age is a big detractor
3b. Similar case to Kessel. Name is a selling point, but age is a risk. This deal is about what the Pens should expect in any potential deal, a replacement, another roster player a 1st and another piece

Buffalo is where under-performing Penguins go to Die, have you not been watching?

There's no way the Pens are getting both Trocheck and Huberdeau and more for Malkin.

Huberdeau is coming off a career year and is signed to a steal of a contract, they won't move him. They have other contracts they can move like Reimer, Sceviour, and Pysyk

Doesn't have to be them, just an example

It makes them better right now. Malkin-Barkov down the middle with a collection of Dadonov, Huberdeau, Hoffman and maybe Panarin would be unstoppable

It also acts a potential bargaining chip to entice Panarin

I don't think Malkin is much of an upgrade over Trocheck... but that's just my unbiased opinion.

For this season, he absolutely is.

Trocheck is a bit of a risk coming off that horrendous injury. Malkin has had health issues too, but he can still produce.

Agree. Rutherford moved two bad contracts of Hunwick and Sheary for a conditional 4th/3rd. Sheary stunk, as expected, so it ended up being a 4th. Moving the likes of Gudbranson isn't going to "cost".

Outside of this AGM... There have been a lot of bad "we to to over add in order to dump these guys" on here the last week or so. Gudbranson could easily be moved for a 4th, if not a 3rd (no retention, nothing else going out). Hornqvist would need to waive but could get okay return. Maatta would get solid return with need to "pay". Johnson is the only one that might require some lube but at most it would be something like Johnson and a 2nd for a 3rd, or Johnson and Jarry for a 4th as done in this AGM. But if you go back and look at the last 20 or so AGMs there are just a lot of bad trades being done.

Then I doubt we trade malkin for that. The pens don’t need to trade malkin. The only purpose in trading Malkin would be to get younger and deeper. Not taking less in talent back just to get younger.

1. Im highly skeptical of that. They should easily be able trade him for at minimum a third but likely more. While he is most likely to be traded they don't necessarily need to trade him.

2. That is a terrible argument smh. So he played well but better dump him fast is your logic? If they just wanted to move him for the sake of moving him they could get a draft pick for him WITHOUT ANY retention. If you really wanted to move money retention would be a nonstarter. Take out the pick sending out and taking out the retention, so its just gudbranson for a mid/late round pick then it would be more reasonable. They don't need to add any sweeteners into the deal.

3. Ok In that case If they do miss out in free agency I could see them highly interested in Malkin. But that means any possible trade likely wouldn't be til after the draft. Which means picks couldn't be 2019 ones.
3a and 3b any team that wants to win right now really doesn't care that much about age although it is one factor. The penguins don't really need to trade either one so if they don't get a better package than these they should simply say no. If the Arizona pick was a top 5 or 6 pick I would be fine with that deal. But it will only be a handful in front of the penguins own pick so they should need to add. Floridas pick also isn't that high(plus as established above, if they miss out on free agency the trade would be involving 2020 picks, and their pick is likely to be even worse if they add big to their current roster) and while Trocheck is a very good player, Malkin is a generational type player. These trades are a good start but would need to both add a bit. These are closer than most of the trades on here at least.