This team is far worse than last season

Kings pass. There are better options for them out there

I think it would be better suited for the pens to either trade Zucker to a team like AZ or Buffalo for purpose of buyout and then re-sign him to a much cheaper contract since they like him. They can add Kapanen to the deal so they get a young forward to actually add to their team and pens get like a 5th round pick back. Or they trade Zucker with a bit of retention like here, add Kapanen for like a 3rd round pick, and that crappy team trades Zucker with 2 million more retained to a contender for a 2nd rounder and maybe a prospect. I wouldn’t want to take Girgensons back since the pens could use that money to re-sign a better Heinen.

I really like this Zucker idea -- not sure I've seen it mentioned elsewhere.

Don't see why Buffalo would trade one of their alternate captains and best defensive players for a pens cap dump who is arguably worse.

Zucker isn’t worse than Girgenson’s. Girgenson’s is an overpaid fringe fourth liner. He’s only an alternate on Buffalo because Buffalo is terrible lol

Hmm so let's see. Zuckers scoring the past 3 seasons has been similar to Girgensons. The past 2 seasons he's played 3rd or 4th line minutes. He plays 5 on 5 and sparingly on the powerplay with primarily offensive zone deployments. All that for the low low cost of 5.5 million. Zucker is garbage and saying he's better than Girgensons is comical and does nothing but prove how little you know about Girgensons.

Zucker plays on a loaded pens team. Girgensons plays on a terrible Buffalo team. Zucker instantly gets top 6 minutes on Buffalo and 1st pp. Zucker has the same offensive stats as Girgensons playing the same minutes per game. The only issue with that is those stats are a full season for Girgensons vs half seasons for Zucker lol. Zuckers analytics are way better, and Zucker is a locker room leader. Sorry but Girgensons is the garbage cap dump 🤷‍♂️

2019-20 Buffalo Sabres NHL 69 12 7 19
2021-22 Buffalo Sabres NHL 56 10 8 18 81 hits, 38.4 OZ%, 1:27 PK/GM, 1:00 PP/GM, 14:47 TOI/GM
Over 52% of the time he was on the ice with Eakin, Hinostroza, Caggiula, Bjork, Hayden or Jankowski

2020-21 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 38 9 9 18
2021-22 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 41 8 9 17 66 hits, 47.9 OZ%, 0:01 PK/GM, 1:31 PP/GM 14:49 TOI/GM
Over 54% of the time he was on the ice with either Carter or Malkin.

Girgensons hits, and PK more, has a lower OZ% essentially the same TOI, vastly inferior line mates, has more goals over the past two seasons is paid less than half of Zucker, but somehow a one for one trade favors the Sabres and "Girgensons is the garbage cap dump"?
"Zucker has the same offensive stats as Girgensons" playing with MUCH BETTER LINE MATES. Zemgus plays with scrubs, Jason plays with All Stars.
"Zucker is a locker room leader" does he wear an "A" on his uniform, so Zemgus does, is recognized as a locker room leader by management.
I think if we could speak with GM's around the league and ask who would receive the larger return in a trade, it would be nearly unanimous that Zemgus has more trade value right now, considering production, cap hit, style of play and off ice contributions, .

I have provided the stats to support the POV that Girgensons

I’ll try to break down this load of nonsense point by point.

19-20 Girgenson’s has only 1 more point in 31 more games than Zucker in 20-21 playing, as you say, essentially the same TOI. That doesn’t help Girgenson’s case.

21-22 again Girgenson’s has only 1 more point in 16 more games than Zucker playing, as you say, essentially the same TOI. That doesn’t help Girgenson’s case.

Kessel played better with Bonino and Hagelin than he did playing with Malkin or Crosby. It doesn’t matter who they play with. But if Girgenson’s played here, he wouldn’t play with either Crosby or Malkin. He’d likely play with Blueger.

Girgenson’s hits…ok so does Zucker. The 21-22 stats you shared for both players actually shows Zucker hits more than Girgenson’s as Girgenson’s only has 15 more hits in 16 more games. Zucker has over 1 hit per game in your stats so if they had played the same number of games, the hits would be in Zuckers favor. So that doesn’t help Girgenson’s case.

Girgenson’s pk’s more? Ok what’s your point? The pens pk is pretty set at forward. They have Carter, Rust, Blueger, McGinn, etc. That doesn’t really help Girgenson’s case.

Girgenson’s has a lower OZ%…by a whopping 9%. That’s not really much of difference lol. But keep reaching.

Girgenson’s has more goals the last two years…6 more goals in 47 more games. That doesn’t help Girgenson’s case at all lol.

Girgenson’s is paid less than half of Zuckers cap hit…yeah cause he is garbage lol. That doesn’t help his case.

I’d hardly consider ERod, Carter, Kapanen, Heinen, etc as all stars. The only All stars on the team are Crosby, Letang, Guentzel, Rust, and Malkin. He doesn’t play much with most of those players lol. And Girgenson’s is a scrub himself.

You don’t have to wear a letter to be a locker room leader. The gm, coach, teammates all say he is and I’ll take their words for it over some rando on cap friendly.

I guarantee you are wrong that gm’s would say Girgenson’s has more value than Zucker 😂. But that is rich lmao.

Your stats show Zucker is the far superior player. Anyone who can read and understand stats can see that lol