Overall really good but I think a second and fourth will go for Zucker and not a third.

Pens say yes without hesitation.

The fact they're willing to hand over a 4th for the rights to Jank makes it all worth it.

I think the desert would be a great location for dougie. However, we all know the yotes aren’t going to be a cap team moving forward.

Nor a destination for guys Hamilton, no offense. Hamilton is going to try and find that balance of team's with room for him vs. chances of getting in the playoffs. I wouldn't even be shocked to see him take in the mid to low $7M range with longer term on a contender.

I think overall Arizona is an attractive place for guys to go but I don't think I see Dougie going there. Arizona is in purgatory where they haven't been a playoff team but haven't been bad enough to get top tier talent (and lost their first this year). This contract will take Hamilton from 28 to potentially 35... through the remainder of his prime years. Real contenders will be throwing him decent offers and I see him going somewhere with at least having a chance of going on a deep playoff run in the next couple years.

I think this is probably the high end of what you would get for Zucker. Zucker still has top 6 potential but is coming off a down year with a hefty cap hit, Arizona taking the contract without sending back any cap hit alone is a big win for the Penguins.

Agreed on all accounts. I'm a fan of Zucker and it was just a weird year as it has been for a number of players. Geno having a bad start didn't help Zucker's bad start and he never really seemed to recover, but I thought he played better than his numbers indicated.

I don’t really think finding a contender is high on Hamilton’s list of priorities. Seems like the kind of guy that wants to be in a place where he can have a bit of anonymity

I think dougie would rather be on a non contender in a non hockey market than have say, Toronto’s media up his ass 24/7

Why trade for Turris?

I know as fans we try to gauge what's going on in a player's mind and the truth is we have no clue. Outside of public statements made by guys, i.e. Getzlaff, Lundqvist, etc..., the one best guess we can ever make about a player, especially a top player, is they want to win a cup.

Ya. But we have some circumstantial stuff here. I think we can all agree dougie doesn’t like the spotlight. Boston was a contending team and it seemed like he desperately wanted out. Then there was the stuff in Calgary where it sounded like he just didn’t want to hang out with the team. Carolina is such a perfect spot for him.

I wouldn't be surprised if he does just gauge market to make sure he's getting a fair deal and then stay. Agreed that Dougie doesn't seem to want to be in a place where he's in the spotlight. I just think there's probably a better situation where he gets the balance of anonymity, salary, and chance of winning. Anywhere really outside of Canada and the Northern US would be fine for that.

That's the thing. Carolina has the room to keep him. They'd probably have to spend an additional $2.5/$3M and as of right now, even with the other players they have to keep, they can find a way to keep him without having to clear much of anything. If we went by all this logic and Carolina is the perfect fit, so why does he not want to stay?

I think he should and i think he will. I think Carolina will overpay him and eventually buy him out.

I think they should keep him. Carolina is a team that IMO makes it to, if not wins a cup over the next four or five years if they address the very few weak spots they have. Also, I couldn't see them needing to buy him out. I'd imagine they'd be signing him for six to seven years and this team is just starting to contend. He just seems like one of those players who will be good until he hangs'em'up.

If he doesn't stay in CAR, I expect him to wind up on a team that's already at the very least a bubble a team, but likely a solid playoff team.

Unfortunately for dougie, i think he is one of the weaknesses of Carolina.

To me their weakness is goaltending and depth scoring. Not that they need a ton of depth scoring, but they could use one or two more bottom six guys who can contribute.

Seems like Carolina wants to stay lower on term (5-6 ideally) and below 8 AAV. He can probably fetch a longer deal and get slightly higher AAV but I agree as long as the offers out there aren’t absurd he probably comes back bc the fit is pretty perfect. I also think he loves playing with Slavin, kind of a perfect matchup there for him.

Canes have the room to go higher and match most teams but they have quite a few young guys that are going to get paid this year through the next few years so they’re being careful and smart with a long term view.

Disagree with you there. I think he ends up staying but that he’ll end up taking less than the top offer on the market to do so. Carolina seems content to let him go and find a replacement (I know there’s no replacing but you can find a good piece and use additional savings on their future contracts or add to the forward group in the short term) if needed.

Agree on depth scoring which is what they need to address this year by adding a top 6 winger which will allow somebody like Nino to go to third line.

Disagree on goaltending. Really since RBA took over the goaltending has been above average and especially this year they got great goaltending. Ned looks like the real deal as a number 1 but they will still need to shore up the backup spot as he’s young and hasn’t had a full regular season workload as a 1.

Jank is inconsistient. Getting a fourth for him would be fantastic

Inconsistent is a very kind word for what Jank is lol