i dont think Nashville sends Johansen and a 1st

This would be a ridiculous move. I'm missing the logic there. Why the hell would Seattle do this? ... Even if they received the 1st and Johansen from NSH, then they would just lose their mind and retained money for 4 years and trade Johansen for a player they could get for free.

You forgot the H 😡

They are paying 8 mil a year for a guy who was on pace for 43 points last year and 32 this year.
I'm not sure they want to keep him around. That's a lot to pay for that level of production. I know he'll only be 29 but that's a steep 2 year decline. I'm not sure they keep that contract this offseason. They might be better off going after another target with that 8 million and try to be competitive. I don't imagine they want a full rebuild at this point, just a retool.



there could be a sweetener here like a 2nd or something but this is about use of cap.

RyJo has really declined the past 2 years. You either keep 8 mil in cap for a guy who has really declined, or you retain half of it and get a guy who's playing well and still useful at his cap hit.
You have to understand the context of it. 8 mil for a guy on a 32 point pace is ugly. You don't take that on for 4 years unless you can move a large part of it. The 1st is basically the pay for the retention. Matheson becomes the guy added in to make the cap hit work, and gives Seattle a decent defenseman at a decent cap hit. Which is better than carrying the other 4 million of a player who appears to be dropping off the cliff. It's basically saying, 4 mil of something useful vs 4 mil of something not useful. The penguins wouldn't give Matheson away for nothing, that's just delusional. He's a much better player than that.
From the penguins perspective it's a gamble but they need a 3C and at this point they need to play the risk reward game as they aren't going to find one in the offseason. You hope he can rebound in a smaller role so you aren't stuck with a 4x4 cap hit on a declined player.

so it's not "losing" their mind. It's capinomics. Using their cap space to take a cap dump for a 1st, and then flipping him for a useful player.
Because I don't see Seattle taking on an 8 mil cap hit for a guy playing at a 32 point pace. Even with a 1st. I do see them retaining 4 mil on a guy for a 1st. Could be NSH retains a little here too. Who knows.
But it seems like a win for all 3 teams to work something of this nature out. As NSH is probably looking at that cap hit and cringing at this point. Seattle could use the 1st, and the penguins are in dire need for a 3C.

I don`t see why any of the teams would do this

1. if they take matheson it'll be because the penguins paid them to.
2. blueger and aston reese gonna make more than that.
3. why the hell do you want johansen on this team?

in conclusion: all of this suuuuucks.

I don't think ZAR or Blueger is going to make more than that. ZAR is injured all the time. He has to stay healthy for a team to really pay him. That is what it is. Blueger is gonna have the same issue if he's out longer term. Don't get me wrong, I like both players, but they are RFAs they can't hit the open market, and the injuries and low production levels from prior years will hold those contracts back.
As it stands right now, he's got 4 goals and 15 points. You don't pay that kind of production more than that. Given last year was only 22 points, it is what it is. It doesn't show a history of being paid more than that.
ZAR isn't much better. Yeah he's got 6 goals this year, but he's also got 7 total points. You aren't getting paid like that, especially given his injury history.

These are also reasons why Matheson will be the pick. Because if you are taking the best player, right now he's it. 20+ minute a night defensemen who is playing well and that doesn't grow on trees.
I don't know how you pass up on that for such low production on guys who have injury history or are coming off injuries. It's not like Seattle doesn't have the cap. They can snap up a lot of defense and then trade it out for picks and prospects. There simply isn't enough in the league and they can have a monopoly on it.

As for Johansen, they need a 3C. That's all there is to it. There aren't great options for finding one. Maybe you hope he rebounds. Just trying to be creative to solve the problem.

I'm not saying that we should get rid of Matheson. I actually like him, and I hate all of those posts of dumping him out of town. I am not sure whom you want to protect, but either way Pettersson or Matheson is exposed. So the sweetener would be absolutely necessary, cause for 16mil. Seattle surely will be able to sign someone interesting from FA market.

The sweetener you are looking for isn't coming from the penguins. You just don't realize that. Seattle is swapping cap with the penguins here.
I don't think you get that. The question isn't what is the retention worth, it's would you rather play RyJo or Matheson 4 million per.
One is a 2LD playing well, the other is a guy who's been struggling for 2 years.
You keep thinking that somehow the penguins are paying for that retention. They aren't. Seattle is retaining to get more value out of what they are paying.

I understand what you are saying, but I look at it as two steps. The first is the exchange of Matheson for Johansen. It's just a basic trade that has nothing to do with the expansion draft. The second is about what /who else they get from us, because you don't mention that.

that's because there is nothing to mention.
I'm not looking at this that deeply. Nor am I overly concerned with what NSH gives up for Seattle to take on that contract. Which I think is a move NSH might want to do, as 8 million per for a guy on a 32 point pace is a disaster and it's not like his play last year was any better.
I'm trying to show a broad idea of how they can try to fill their 3C role. The exact notions of this is neither here nor there. A. They can't fit him under the cap without moving cap out, B. they aren't going to take that contract on hoping for a rebound giving up any kind of major asset. Lets be clear on this, as is RyJo looks like a cap dump and is one here. You are basically looking at a contract swap, where the more productive player goes to Seattle but the other player coming back hopefully rebounds to fill a need. That isn't something anyone "adds" for. To say that is the assumption that RyJo still holds value. I am clearly stating I don't think that is the case, hence why NSH dumps him to begin with. But I am also stating that NSH and PIT would never do this without a 3rd party, NSH doesn't need LD, and they probably wouldn't retain on RyJo for 4 years. Hence the 3rd party.
But Seattle may, as they may need help getting to cap floor and they get a 1st out of it. While only holding 50% of the contract and getting a useful player back.
Now does it cost more for NSH to move that contract. Maybe, I'm not overly worried about that. That's their end of the deal and frankly isn't the point.

More importantly, it's not another Haula trade.....
This is a kind of move you don't see on here. But yet could be a viable option for them.

Now we're clear. I'm glad to see another way of thinking here. I'm grateful for it, but I saw some flaws there, but the idea seemed promising to me, so I was curious.