Winnipeg declines

If he hints he's above $6m...Winnipeg certainly wouldn't want him either!

How dare this man, to ask for a raise?
No way, that kind of behavior is not tolerated.

If the Pens are still in the race come the deadline there's no way they're moving Rust. If it looks like they're out and it's believed the Pens won't be able to keep him I can see him being moved.

WPG is in equally a bad situation cap-wise that we are. There would be no shortage of other teams interested.

Well you sure add a lot to discussions.

I'm just saying that you don't have to boot the man if he asks for a decent contract after getting underpaid for his prime years. If you want some honest feedback on the trade, a Copp swap doesn't make much sense for WPG and a Rust trade would work better at the deadline for a mix of futures and depth. He plays at his best with Crosby though, so he's more valuable to the Pens than he would be to other teams.

It's just a financial issue for the Pens, not that Rust has the audacity to ask for more money. The Pens just probably can't make it work if it's over $6M and maybe not even at $6M.

I do agree he makes more sense in a trade for futures although if WPG had the space, a Rust/Copp swap would be a good move.

I understand, I just think the financial issues could be worked out in better ways than letting Rust go. Malkin and Letang are likely getting paid less next year, Carter may be retiring, and the only other player I can see getting a significant pay raise is Kapanen (maybe). It would probably be better to try and move one of the Matheson, Pettersson, or Zucker contracts if things get tough.

Yeah, I agree for the most part. I hope the Pens find a way to keep Rust. Word is Malkin will take a discount, but Letang will look to get his market value, so there will be some interesting decisions moving forward for the Pens. Kapanen can probably also get like $5M. Hextall likes Matheson, so I don't see him going anywhere, but I'm sure they will try to move Pettersson again, as well as Zucker depending if he rebounds or not.

SHarks easily decline..LD is already a logjam and Labanc is better.

Seen this exact trade previously and it's just as bad now as it was before.