5 x 6 million for Korpisalo will age very poorly very fast. Also, Vilardi will make much much more than 2.75 million for 2 years.

Korpisalo sees that money, regardless of how the contract ages. And honestly, not sure there is a better tender on the market. Maybe Hill? But I have pointed out in other threads he has some injury issues.

As for Valardi...... he could see more, but this is his first year of being productive. Has struggled up to this point despite the pedigre. I wouldn't be going much more than this to see if he has it figured out. Perhaps a 1 year term works here, but would not be throwing the bank at him right now either.

The Chicago trade is fine, but Los Angeles declines the Pittsburgh offer.

I can't imagine how you came to the conclusion that "Pickering looks to be better than Spence" based upon Pickering's miniscule sample of 8 games in the AHL, where over the span of 102 games, Jordan Spence has tallied 87 points. (Spence outperformed Pickering their respective last two years in juniors, too, but that's not all that meaningful.) Spence has clearly shown that he's NHL-ready, whereas Pickering is quite a ways away from that yet. Which is not that surprising inasmuch as Spence is three years older, so I'm not going to say that Spence has a brighter future than Pickering, but I see no evidence for the contention that Pickering has a brighter future than Spence.

Iafallo is worth a late first or early second. (I'd like to know who on the Penguins current roster you think would play #2LW ahead of him and behind Jake Guentzel.) The problem is that Pittsburgh's first is too much for him and the second that would be proper value now belongs to Buffalo. The future late third is just an insult.

Hawks won't take Peterson for a single 2nd, even if his signing bonus is paid pre-trade. They don't actually need a G. This would be a move to add more picks or a pick and a prospect. Kings add another 2nd or 3rd or Grans to the deal.

I doubt he came to the conclusion "Pickering looks to be better than Spence" based on Pickering's AHL stint. Pickering looks to have the higher upside, I think that's what the point was.
Pickering was a 1st round pick, and from what I recall was mostly projected to be a 2nd pairing defenseman who could QB a power play. Spence was a 4th round pick, and at 22 is probably not going to get much better than he is now: development typically plateaus at 23.
And Pickering still has a lot going for him. He's still a bit of a raw prospect, yes, but there are a lot of positives. He was Swift Current's captain and a WHL All-Star. Every source I can find (EliteProspects, PensBurgh) praises his skating ability, something that isn't always a focus for someone 6'4" like he is. Strong skating ability is becoming more and more important. NHL hockey is getting faster and more talented.

I'm not sure whether or not the Pens would take this deal, but it's a bit presumptuous not to expect Pickering to have a brigher future. Nothing is guaranteed, but there's a pretty good chance Pickering reaches greater heights.

And I respectfully disagree, because Spence has actually performed well at every level, so at the very least, "pretty good chance" is going overboard. Besides, I don't think a defenseman maturing after Crosby's and Malkin's deals are up is what Pittsburgh's new management is looking for.

If the 3nd is an insult, that depends on what one sees as the difference between Spence and Pickering. Yes, Spence has performed well, but I simply see a higher ceiling with Pickering - and so would the Pens I have to think.

And Pickering has seen success at every level he's played significant time in. It sounded in your initial post that you judged him very harshly based on his 8 AHL games, which I don't think is fair. When the Broncos were eliminated from the playoffs, he was immediately thrust into a top 4 role on a bottom 5 AHL team in his first experience in a men's league. I don't expect a lot of players to exactly thrive under those circumstances.

I actually think that leads towards another point in Pickering's favor: teams Spence have been on have made the playoffs quite a bit. His junior teams made the playoffs 2 of his 3 seasons in the Q and one of them was a run to the finals. He's seen a few playoff games with both the Kings and the Reign. Pickering hasn't seen the postseason in Juniors yet. His juniors stats are a little worse than Spence's so far, but he's performed well with a much weaker team around him. Josh Filmon is probably fine as a leading scorer, but he's no Jakob Pelletier.

As for when he matures, you've got a point. However, we don't really know what the next management is going to be looking for. They'll definitely be looking to compete, but the Pens will still need young players when they no longer can. For all we know, Dubas (assuming he gets the job) and Co. could be more than willing to move him, or they could make him untouchable. No way of knowing yet.

On the contrary; I wasn't judging him at all. All I meant to do was point out that we have almost no basis on which to make projections about him at this early stage, particularly rosy projections.