With one of the weakest defenses in the League, we won't be trading one of our two veterans for a more expensive veteran and cap dump.

You guys have Fowler and Drysdale, how do you guys have one of the weakest defense groups?

Drysdale hasn't matured into anything close to a defender yet, and I'm one of his biggest fans. He needs a minder at all times when he doesn't have the puck. But he's getting better.

Fowler's solid, Drysdale's going to be solid but after that the defense corp really shores up. I also don't see the Pens being interested in Shattenkirk, he's best suited on the power play (if anywhere), and Letang and Petry will likely take any and all power play assignments.

I get that he's far from a finished product, but doesn't he bill as a high end two way defender?

So Shattenkirk isn't a top 4 defender anymore? If that's the case, I don't see him returning more than the 3rd at next season's trade deadline

He's a 4th/5th D guy at this point, a late 2nd rounder from a contender at the deadline with salary retained is best case scenario IMO. He just seems a bit redundant in PIT's case

Nah, Shattenkirk ain't fetching a 2nd, it's already too late for that

No. Right now he's an offensive defenseman with a great upside, and I'm thrilled to have him, but we need Shattenkirk to play a steadying hand in front of John Gibson.

Wasn't Shattenkirk given similar projections to Drysdale back when he was an up and comer for Colorado? I guess he never quite panned out the way the Avs wanted

My thoughts were as follows: Anaheim has to make cap floor for next year, and you have an aging Shattenkirk who isn't going to be the guy to propel you into a playoff spot any time soon. You take on Zucker, who does have a decent potential upside if he can stay healthy. Pens get Shattenkirk to try and replicate the Justin Schultz effect and deploy him in specific situations would be a bonus. The real goal is to get that roughly 2 mil in cap space, as well as move Petterson to fill in their lower lines with guys who are low risk - high reward. Pens would only be paying for Shattenkirk for a year and if it doesn't work he can go to the market. Boyd is under 2 mil and if he just has to be average to add to the Pens lower lines. Picking up Sonny does about the same thing as Boyd, only with a much better upside. And if you really wanna get crazy with it, you can swap out Sonny Milano for Paul Statsny by offering him somewhere in the $3.25 mil range (which is an over-payment admittedly) for a guy who can provide center depth if needed. And all this adds to the biggest point - this is a team in win now mode. Next year, they potentially look at having $20 mil worth of space and with their main stars locked up. You can take the risk of bringing in the older guys like Shattenkirk, since their contract is on the way out. Anaheim and Arizona both get something they can use, a decent forward/defenseman and, more importantly, players who can get them to the cap floor while still being effective.

Also, I should say that this is by no means a perfect solution. But the biggest goal is getting Zucker and Petterson's contracts somewhere else without having to retain cap. That, to me, is the most important thing.

The ducks trade is awful. There’s too much debate here when that needs to be put more simply. Ducks have no reliable RD without Shatty (Drysdale still very much developing). Zucker will cost something to move on that contract, not net a return. This isn’t complicated

Your thinking here is completely Pittsburgh-oriented and Pittsburgh-favorable. "Aging Shattenkirk who isn't going to be the guy to propel you into a playoff spot any time soon. You take on Zucker, who does have a decent potential upside if he can stay healthy"?!?!? Shattenkirk played in 82 games last season -- exactly twice as many as Zucker. And he scored twice as many points, too. You think Zucker, with his one season left, is going to "propel Anaheim into the playoffs" any sooner? And your idea that Zucker is someone "we can use" is a little optimistic, inasmuch as we have three LWs, three centers and two RWs (where Zucker doesn't really belong) who are always going to get more playing time than he will. Yes, the bottom line is that "the biggest goal" of this trade is to get Zucker's contract off the books. So what are you going to give Anaheim for helping you do that? And no, the incentive isn't going to be trading away one of our two veteran defensemen; it's going to be something beneficial to US.

5 RHD is such a bad idea. Shattenkirk is awful. This literally destroys the retool Hextall finally did to the defenze after how bad it was against NYR.

What @OldNYIfan said, we will take Zucker off your books for you. It'll even make a nice homecoming story since he is from Orange County, but we need a hell of a sweetener to take that 5 million. A 2023 2nd will suffice.



He isn't aweful, on a 3.9 Mil AAV I think he is perfectly adequate. That said, no idea why OP wants to take on another defenseman, I heard you guys had 8 or 9 NHL level guys already.

Shattenkirk is awful?
Petry: 6 goals, 21 assists = 27 points
Pettersson: 2 goals, 17 assists = 19 points
Dumoulin: 3 goals, 15 assists = 18 points
Shattenkirk: 8 goals, 27 assists = 35 points
So we know at least 3 areas in which Shattenkirk is better than any Penguin defenseman not named Letang: scoring goals, adding assists, and recording points
And you might want to look at his power-play record, too.

Yeah, I'll admit I'm not thrilled about adding another right-handed defenseman, but I felt like Shattenkirk for Zucker was a decently fair trade compared to what they could get from the Ducks (I didn't bother with picks on either trade just because, but looking back I could definitely see the argument in sending a 3rd or 4th round pick to Anaheim). I'll be honest that the original version of this deal I toyed with was Petterson and Zucker for Silverberg and Danny O'Reagan. But swapping Silverberg and Zucker doesn't make a lick of sense contract wise, as they're basically they same. And while Anaheim is not in a win now mode, I don't think they're completely rinsed in this trade. Zucker, when healthy, is a fast and dependable winger. If it weren't for the fact that the Pens have some weird curse for them and wingers who should be decent (Brassard and Perron come to mind), I would actually say they should hang onto Zucker and see what happens. But this is the third time that a winger who is a perfect fit for them ends up being something of a bust. And honestly, nothing else really seemed to make sense in a lot of ways. I guess you could do a swap for Derek Grant, but as I found out this would be his second stint with the Penguins, and considering I had to stumble upon that to remember that, I don't think he'll be a good fit or worth it for Zucker.

For Anaheim, you get one year of Zucker at 5.5 mil. He is basically playing for a contract for the year after. He does well? Great! You renegotiate him for a cheaper deal and can have him stick around. He doesn't work out? He's only on the books for a year for a team that has some great young talent. And looking at your defensive core, you have a super young group who can easily step up and grow into that role, OR you can make a nice signing with the plethora of available defensemen for a cheaper deal. Pittsburgh gets the benefit of another puck moving defenseman who can score goals, which is what they need badly. You have Teddy Blueger who is one of the best defensive forwards in the game at the moment, as well as two great defensive players in Danton Heinen and Brock McGinn. I'm admittedly not super familiar with Boyd, and really he just seemed to fit the bill of a a lower line player who can add to the depth.

So in theory here's how this trade made sense to me:

- Pittsburgh dumps two bad contracts to teams that need to make cap floor.

- Anaheim gets Jason Zucker for a year. On top of that, he's a pure winger, which Anaheim needs badly, and if you can keep him healthy, he could easily get back up to being close to a 20 goal scorer.

- Pittsburgh gets another puck moving defenseman with a shot for a powerplay that, frankly, was either red hot or ice cold. Sullivan has a knack of being able to deploy offensive defenseman in lower pairings and make them look like all stars (you're welcome Justin Schultz). This plays nicely into Pittsburgh's style of play on the lower lines, especially with the fourth line, which can generate some buzz in the corners and dig the puck out back up to the blue line for some shots on net.

- Arizona gets Marcus Petterson who is a solid defensive defenseman, a little on the younger side, and while he is over-paid I do think he brings more good than bad to the table. As with the Zucker trade, you could make the argument of adding a pick going from Pittsburgh (nothing higher than like a 5th though) and I could get behind the justification.

- Pittsburgh, now with their available cap, goes out and gets Sonny Milano for about $2 mil (given that Evolving Wild is estimating he'll get a contract in the $1.05 mil range, I over shot just to be safe). If you miss out on him, I think Paul Statsny is a valid option after. Basically you see if you can get him to be Jeff Carter 2.0, and if Crosby or Malkin both are out (please for the love of god, just let both of them be healthy for a year) then you have someone who can step into that center role, and basically help carry the load that Jeff Carter and 1st line center Evan Rodriguez had to carry for a while. Again, Sonny is the better option, but I do like Statsny in that role as well.

Petry was awful last year until MSTL became head coach. 2 of those defenseman you named are strictly defensive and of course Shattenkirk is going to have those points. He’s on the Ducks. The Penguins are bringing in a player they don’t need to play on the bottom pair making that much money when they’re over the cap already and still possibly need a forward. The only change they make to the defense is left side if they move someone. Right side is set with Letang, Petry, and Rutta. Even based on points everyone is gonna take Petry over Shattenkirk anyways because everyone knows Shattenkirk is terrible now

Rutta plays either side and you're making it sound like we can only have one of Petry or Shattenkirk . . . which doesn't make sense?