ZAR/Hornqvist> Smith/Ennis and a 6th. These feel like downgrades to me.

no its okay well take him

Ottawa accepts, thought ZAR was worth more but I'll take it

Wings decline you can keep Murray and JJ, we aren't giving you picks for this

If you sign Murray to a 2/3 year deal you could still easily flip him for more than what you got Murray for to begin with.

No thanks, have no interest in him at all, especially with having to take JJ. You can get another team

Ennis is a much better offensive player than ZAR. Zach Aston Reese is an above average defensive player, and Ennis is about average. McCann is a good defensive center but needs to be surrounded by goal scorers. Comparing just raw point totals, Ennis had 70GP-16G-21A and ZAR had 57-6-7. Hornqvist is still good, but his cap hit is too high to allow us to truly upgrade the defense and 3rd line both. Smith is a slightly worse version of Hornqvist, but he also shoots the puck a lot more and controls the shot share more than Hornqvist when he is on the ice. Smith would even be a good option for the top 6 if Kapanen flames out in that role. Over the last 2 seasons Smith had 145 GP-39G-30A and Hornqvist 121GP-35G-34A.

I could buy the concept of this if McCann were being relied on for scoring. If he does end up at 3C next season, the onus won't be on that line for scoring like it will be for the top two and PP. I can't see throwing away a really solid young defensive forward for a pick. You could convince me to trade away Hornqvist; I think he's declining quickly, but not ZAR. He's worth way more in Pittsburgh than any low round pick could offer.

The concept is to put competent scorers and creators around McCann to help him score. He put up 35 points in 66 games last year and that was with Simon/Marleau/Hornqvist as his main wingers. We've seen in the last 2 or 3 playoffs that we need more than 2 lines that can score. We simply can't have a whole bottom 6 that cannot produce goals. The 4th line is already the designated shutdown line with Tanev and Blueger. You could really easily keep ZAR and put him over Lafferty, but that leaves you very tight to the cap, especially since Simon is injured to start the year. ZAR is also 26 and been in the NHL for awhile. He will likely continue to be what he is now, a good defensive forward who is pretty much offensively inept. He has no real capability of sliding up the lineup and giving you quality minutes in a scoring role. I also think the Penguins would be better off shuffling between some guys like Miletic, Lafferty, or maybe Poulin or someone in the lineup over ZAR and seeing what they have to offer.