The important one is Smith vs Marino

There was no way in hell that Seattle was taking a washed up Carter over Tanev or McCann.

The funny thing is we could’ve still kept Jeff Carter as well. It would either have been McCann or Tanev to choose from or protect both of them over Carter and Kappy as Carter was going to be on a one year contract and 36 years old at the time I think and would probably have no interest in playing in Seattle. And Kappy would’ve been more cap reasons I feel like. It sucks as well cause that line of McCann-Carter-Freddy Gaudreau/Zucker were dominant together. And I’m not gonna lie I rather would’ve kept Gaudreau over ERod and McCann over Kappy. Because either way our top 6 would’ve been solid. At the end of the day the downfall should’ve been seen at the expansion draft and who Hextall chose to protect. I understand wanting to keep Carter and Kappy but I feel like Seattle would’ve taken someone else if Carter and Kappy were exposed.

I think people forget, this was the offseason after we aquired Carter. When we initially got him, he scored 9 goals in 14 games with us, and then 4 goals in 6 playoff games and was arguably the best Pens forward in that series against the Isles that still haunts me in my nightmares. Carter was not washed up at the time, and the rumor was that if he was not protected, he'd be the pick. Hextall didn't want to do that because he'd just aquired a player who at the time was a fantastic 3C. The problem was that Carter didn't stay good for as long as we hoped, and the extention was a bad idea.



Also worth remembering that that season was Kapanen's first in Pittsburgh, and also the best season of his career. He was 24, was at a 60 point pace, and looked like a future staple of our top 6. We can say with hindsight that protecting Kapanen and Carter was a bad idea, but we cannot blame management for those decisions when they were good at the time. As for protecting Gaudreau, his career in Pittsburgh is less than 20 games, and under 20 also described his career point total at the time of the expansion draft. I don't think he was gonna be taken. As a matter of fact, the only other player of any significant left unprotected was Zucker, and he was coming off of a nightmare season and was pretty safe. Hextall's choices made sense at the time.

I really think they would have taken ZAR before they took Carter. But even if they took Carter it's not the end of the world. A player that age could drop off at any point. We had options available to replace him in free agency. Having your top 3 centers around 35 years old just is not a good idea