I think there's a few scenarios that could play out...

Scenario 1:
Smith sent down along with either POJ or Ruhwedel. Smith would be sent down until the Pens make a move to call him back up.

Scenario 2:
The Pens send both POJ and Ruhwedel down, risk losing both for nothing.

Kinda hard to get a fair trade when every team knows you have to make a move. I think sending down Smith for at least the first week or two until the market changes is an option they should explore. You never know a team might have an injury the first week and then need a guy like Joseph or Ruhwedel but losing them for nothing just isn't an option

My wishful thinking scenario would be to send Smith and McGinn down (cause no one would claim McGinn) and hope someone immediately bites on a POJ trade. Or to just trade Kappy. One of the two

Edit: didn’t realize Friedman wasn’t sent down already.
So they will send Friedman down and Smith down and that gives them 83k cap space and hopefully they can find a trade for someone. They don’t have to even send McGinn, Ruh, or POJ down. Since Friedman is already on waivers.
Also if pens claim Zohorna back they will be able to send him down to the Ahl without waivers this time so they can get their forward depth back.

Other teams might have injuries once the season starts so it would be harder to pass POJ and Ruhwedel through waivers in a few weeks than today when the waiver market will be flooded and teams have to be careful with their roster and cap limits for opening night.

Friedman was waived yesterday. Find out in 2 hours if someone claimed him

Friedman already got waived so Pens would be cap compliant by just sending one of POJ/Ruhwedel/Smith down.

Yeah, I posted this before that happened. I was surprised Friedman was the one.

I'm not as quick to move McGinn anymore. It would have made more sense to free up space and sign someone else in the off-season, but he's a good player and at this point moving him just to free up the space makes less sense. This lineup is worse without him.

I know. No one claimed him.