Lines would be

Heinen Carter Rust
Guentzel Strome Kapanen
Zucker Blueger McGinn
OConnor Boyle Rodrigues

Heinen and carter have been together and when healthy he will become McCann replacement

chicago doesn’t rly need a strome replacement because he’s basically a healthy scratch. i feel like this is more than fair

This post wasn't about the line construction. I didn't really move anything around.

I don't see why Chicago does this?

That's what I'm trying to gauge. Some insight would be nice. ZAR would definitely be a good get for any team, but I'm trying to figure out you dman situation on the left side.

McCabe, DeHaan, Stillman, Caleb Jones, Kalynuk, Beaudin, Vlasic (in another year to two). Clearly given that, we have plenty of bottom 4 left handers, we really need a top line guy.

You're assuming you're getting Vlasic?

We already own Vlassic, he plays in college at Boston

There's a lot that goes into this. It's not that I dislike MP...it's just that he's redundant, relatively expensive, and has term. That combination isn't a good thing for the Hawks. Seth Jones mega deal kicks in next year. It's an entirely separate discussion on whether he's worth it or not, but it's real and there. DeHaan on a 1 year deal actually help the Hawks. From an organizaitonal point of view DeHaan's value > MP's value.

If I were the Hawks GM, I'd want Blomqvist and a 2nd. Even though Commesso is the Hawks apparent heir to the net...Bolmqvist can be sheltered in Europe for a while without risk of losing him. It's either him or Poulin, BUT if I were PIT...I wouldn't do that. It's between a rock and a hard place for these two teams to make it happen.

And while if I were Alex Vlasic...I'd certainly spend the extra year in college to choose my own destiny...it doesn't happen nearly as often as I feel it should.

He could be 4 and out. It's actually what I would do if I were him, BUT that doesn't happen as often as people think. Kinda like Offersheets.

Ohhh, I thought you meant SJ's Vlasic LOL

The only thing I'm going to push back on here is that you're not really in a position to wait things out on some of younger players. With Toews and Kane, you want to remain competitive NOW rather than later. Pettersson is a good 2nd pairing dman and given your current situation, McCabe/Pettersson/Stillman down the left side would be pretty solid, but I'm not really familiar with Jones, so I can't really opine on that.

I'd offer ZAR straight up for Strome, but financially it doesn't work for the Pens.

Fair. I appreciate the insight and I can see why Pettersson may not make sense there financially. The 2nd won't happen just because Hextall has made our 1st and 2nds off limits, but I'd be fine to swap out Hallander for Blomqvist.

What do you think of this...

TO PIT: Strome (50% retention)
TO CHI: ZAR + Blomqvist + 3rd?

I think this is one of the better offers I've seen on here. But that's just me. Strome is a REALLY hard value to gauge on both sides. My hope (realistic or not) is that one team gets a little desperate an offers the 1st round pick.

Yeah, CHI doesn't appear to be in any rush and Strome being an RFA should inflate his value a bit. I don't know that a 1st happens even to a desperate team, but I can see a 2nd straight up happening.

Stan will have to be selling for sure.. I don't think PIT is the best team for Strome...they play a fast pace game and I'm not sure he'll do well under Sully. MIN and Vegas though...he'd be perfect imo. Strome's best attributes are vision and passing. He'll dramatically improve each of those sub par PP units. He plays down low behind the net SO well.

The Pens don't always go after speed. Hextall values players who can play both W and C, so I think Strome would be a target if the Pens had a realistic way of making it happen.

I would say drop ZAR and make the 3rd a 2nd and the hawks probably do it

Vlassic is from Chicago and know his parents. It's been his dream to play for the Hawks so not sure why he'd wait. He has the luxury of developing in college, playing a year in the AHL, and entering the league when he's ready and that's not a luxury often afforded to the best prospects let alone a bottom line prospect. Further, the reason players don't do this very often is it paints them into a corner of being selfish (right or wrong) and ends up costing the player money and term int he long run not to mention many teams and orgs don't want that kind of player on the team.

Well Stillman, Caleb, Kalynuk are all NHL ready. MP from a contract perspective and on ice I'd argue is going backwards over De Haan especially when you have 3 players that are NHL ready behind that 2nd line not to mention Vlassic and Beaudin close behind. If PIT retained on MP I'd be more interested as right now he's between a #4 and #5 on good teams and expensive as such.

The issues here is the Pens need to move salary to make that happen, so ZAR is in-part a salary move and Hextall has been vocal about the fact the Pens are no longer moving their 1st or 2nd rounders. Otherwise I totally would do that deal.

You guys don't have 1.5 mil in cap space to take on Strome at 50%?

Nope. We have like $121K free. We are in cap hell.