I can give you your answer, it is Andre Burakovsky, all though he'll cost a few bucks more than 4.67

How about experimenting Sammy Pou?

That would require trading zucker away, and resigning Danton Heinen or Evan Rodrigues in his place.

Anything besides the obvious (his shot) that makes you think Bura would fit in well? With either crosby or Malkin? What would your ideal top 6 lines be with him? It does worry me a bit that he was healthy scratched at times during the playoffs

I don’t think this team is in a place where it can “experiment”. Maybe bring Poulin in to play the third line, and sign somebody like Marchment to play the second line so that they could switch of Poulin shows chemistry with Malkin. But having Poulin at 2nd line as you’d plan A would be a mistake

Mikheyev first choice. Solid plus Geno hasn't had anyone to talk to in Russian since Gonchar. Second choice Marchment. Optimal choice, both and let Kap walk.

I’m assuming Mikheyev is in Russia currently. Does that affect your decision after the whole fedotov fiasco

Burakovsky honestly is who I want them to get but there’s probably a bunch of guys that’ll fit here

How would you organize Bura, guenz, cros, rust, Geno, and rakell?

Well damn, didn't think to factor in world affairs lol. I would hope any Russian players who hope to continue their NHL careers stayed in NA(besides Ovechkin of course). With the financial sanctions, I don't see the KHL continuing to hand out $10 million contracts like Halloween candy, so the guaranteed money for them is here. If he did go home, then yes he moves down the list unfortunately.

Sad world we live in

Fit is with Malkin to me. He's shot over 17% over the last three years with Colorado, which is an insane number for a three year sample size. He's been one of the best finishers in the game for the past three years, and if you give him top minutes with a player like Malkin he's an easy ~35 goal scorer- 40+ with power play minutes. Malkin is still an elite offensive chance creator, only problem is no one he's played with lately can finish chances, this fixes that. Could honestly see Malkin breaking 100 again in a full season with burakovsky and Rakell. If you miss out on Bura, Nino Niederreiter is a really underrated option. Great play driver and good finisher, with second line minutes and playing with Malkin would be an easy 30 goal scorer, better all around player with a less lethal shot, and would likely cost less. Also I'd favour keeping Petterson over Dumoulin, better trajectory and saves a few bucks, as well as Heinen over Kapenen anyways.

Geno doesn't need a multitalented winger. He needs who does one thing freakishly well and keeps doing that one thing over and over. He's better if he already knows what is going to happen. Like with Kunitz he knew when he dumped the puck Kuni would retrieve it in the corner, make room and feed it to Malkin in the slot. It would be Jake, but he and Sid have that telepathy thing locked down.

What do you think is the reason that burakovskys last three goal totals (over an 82 game pace) are 28, 29, and 20? Lack of opportunity, particularly on the PP (haven’t watched a ton of Avs games)? You think he would get PP time in Pitt? What does his contract look like?

I kept Dumo over pettersson because I feel like it could be big in keeping Letang, he probably wouldn’t like his long time d partner being shipped off. I kept Kapanen over Heinen due to his higher upside in his speed game, if we are going to be able to beat the avalanche we need to have players that can skate like Kappy. Remember he is just one year removed from a 62 point (82 game pace) season. But I didn’t think too hard over either of those moves as it wasn’t the point of this exercise - I have made the opposite decision many times and often flip flop

Hear me out. How about they test out Alex Nylander in that slot and see if he gels with Malkin. If he doesn't, play Rakell and Rust with Malkin and try him with Crosby and Guentzel. If he doesn't work with them, play him on the bottom six for the season and try to trade for someone who will. Maybe a Comtois or Gurianov.

I like it

Played third line, didn't get much opportunity to play with Kadri or Mack, also I don't believe he got first unit PP time with Colorado. With Kap/Heinen I get it, but I feel like while Kapenen has upsides, you'll get much better results from Heinen for a middle six role. On Dumo/Letang. I don't think you need to cave to letang's wishes to keep him when your already paying him that money and term. TBH I'm not sold on keeping Letang at this point, his underlying numbers have been on significant decline even though he's still getting the points, I see the contract he eventually signs aging like milk

Guentzel - Crosby - Rakell
Burakovsky - Geno - Rust