My question is why would the pens do this? They are in win now mode. Doumolin is their 2 D

Because they have a ton of guys that play the left side. While they are in win now mode, POJ is ready and really so is Smith. Smith can be sent down though. POJ can’t without going through waivers. It’s a matter of not wanting to lose POJ, getting younger, while upgrading the forwards. Paying from a strength to receive a weakness.

Still worried about the allegations surrounding Formenton and the World Juniors team. I also dont know if Ottawa make this deal.

I'm not against moving a LHD - but I am if it means Rutta playing 1st pair left side

Why not? He was Hedman’s partner in TB.

I doubt anyone's touching Formenton due to a very specific ongoing investigation...

Yeah it would have to be on the basis that he is cleared after the investigation.

Exactly for the reason you said. He played with Hedman - Rutta is a RHD.

And he was 5th on the team in TOI for defenseman. He only played like 16 minutes per game - his TOI is similar to Pettersson. So you would be asking a guy to not only increase his TOI against top competition but also do it while playing on his off hand that he isn't used to. Just seems like a recipe for disaster to me.

Rutta can play both sides. Just because he is paired with Letang doesn’t mean he’d get 25+ per night just like you said he didn’t when paired with Hedman. And since he played with Hedman in Tampa I’d say he’s used to playing against top competition 🤷‍♂️

"can play" is extremely generous. Anybody can technically play anywhere. Rutta has almost never played LHD. Every year he has played right side opposite a lefty. I'm not saying he has to play 25+minutes, but he'll need to be pushing 20. That's a big increase.

Sure he played against top competition with Hedman - with low minutes, playing on his correct side, and paired with arguably the best defenseman of the last decade.

I'm just saying - asking a guy to play his wrong side that he never plays, while increasing his TOI by 25% against top competition isn't something I would be happy doing.