Nashville doesn’t need depth forwards or LHD

2 late round 1st aren't enough to get jake let along add in Smith.

We expect a A+ prospect coming back this way.
You don't really have the pieces for that.
I am however more than willing to send a retained Smith back to you for a 1st.

Um the reported price is a late 1st, a prospect, and an established nhl player…this return gets 2 late 1sts and 3 prospects…smith has been disappointing as a penguin and was initially traded to us for a 3rd he’s definitely not worth a 1st…your severely overestimating the value of Guentzel and smith on this trade market…unless a bidding war happens ofc. Your getting 1 more first, and 2 more ex first round prospects for trading smith and retaining a total of 7.5M over 2 years

NO that's just some repeated drivel you here every time a player is traded.

Yeah it's 2 late round 1st where we do expect atleast 1.
But your prospects are B class. Which we have no interest in.
We expect a return like Claud G.
A late first, an A+ prospect. We can take back an expiring roster player to make it work if need be. But that's the expectation.

As for Smith, he was traded to us for a 3rd because VGK had cap issues and needed to move cap out.
Not because that was the "value" of the player. Context matters.
If you want him back retained it costs you a 1st otherwise I'll keep him on an expiring deal where players play well in a contract year.

What’d I say that was repeated drivel? That smith has been disappointing? He hasn’t had any chemistry with our stars…I’m a pens fan 2 my guy… I watch all the games and just don’t think he’s been very good. I agree that’s the expectation but who is in the market for Guentzel that has one to give up? Best I can come up with is BOS with Lysell…cause most likely VAN is out

Playing well in a contract year is definitely not a guarentee…and we are in a bad cap situation and granted if we are selling and retaining that matters less but he is definitely not worth a 1st after his value lowered since leaving Vegas

Everytime a legit star player is traded the same drivel line comes out.... A 1st, a Prospect and a roster player.
Rinse repeate.
No one who says any of that has any real connection to any team, it's just some crap they throw out.

The penguins don't need a roster player back especially one the other team really doesn't want. Yes clearly a 1st is expected....it's the A+ prospect part you seem to miss.
You don't have one of those. Hence we are not interested.

As for as Smith, I'm not disappointed in Smith. Matter of fact I get why he's not engaged, completely.
But next year he will be for his own self interest. Just like Zucker, players play well in contract years. That's a solid player to move who will be going hard next year. If you want him 50% retained, it's a 1st.
Otherwise, I'd rather just keep him.

As far as who is in the market for Jake. BOS, VAN maybe, NYR, SEA. Are my 4 guess as to who can bring him in and have the pieces to make it work.
You seem to be hell bent on thinking they HAVE to trade Jake. They do not. He also knows he has it good in PIT and will get paid here. Crosby isn't slowing down and as long as Crosby is his Center he's got no hurry to go anywhere. It's more of a risk for him to leave than to stay on his numbers. He knows he can put numbers on the board here. The Pens can trade him anytime, need not be right this second.

The Pens Cap next year is fine.
I'm not worried about Smith's play next year. You act like there is anyone else out there they can replace him with. The FA market sucks, and the odds PIT can land a good FA right now are poor.

I just dont think selling is going to be as great for this team as people think. Sure a late 1st round pick is ok, but in most drafts a 1st round at 16th overall and later has like a 50% chance of making the nhl. As for a prospect, it would definitely be less risky of a player (more likely to make the nhl), but then that prospect most likely doesn’t fit the timeline of the rebuild, so theyd be selling him for more assets eventually. Think people need to accept the next 2-3 years it’s gonna be like it is now them fighting for a spot, and guentzel needs to be here for that. After the big 3 retire/regress heavily, you blow it up and go full rebuild like they should. Also failing to mention that if their power play clicks at 20-22% for the rest of the year (big ask i know) i can confidently say they will finish 3rd in the metro.

Smith cant go back for a year right per league rules?

You didn’t answer my question… who in the market has an A+ prospect they are willing to get rid of and who is it?




So he’s just more valuable cause you say so? I’ll stick with reporters insight… yet again, it’s not a guarantee a player plays well in a contract season.
the reason I want to trade Guentzel is that team depth is pretty much nonexistent, and signing Guentzel to a 6 year above 50M contract just means the team gets even more top heavy cap wise and can’t have any depth…also how is the cap situation good for the pens…without making any trades or FA signings, with Guentzel signed at 9M AAV they have -2M in cap space

That’s fair, I’d just rather have 1sts to possibly trade for other players/retool cause this iteration of the pens is not a Stanley cup contender like it fools itself into thinking

Not sure, I think it would trigger an investigation to ensure no cap circumventing occurred, and as long as that didn’t happen then it goes through?

Their metrics minus the power play are pretty good, if they had a PP that was like 10-16th in the league they’d probably be fighting for 2nd and 1st in the metro with the canes and rangers. The only problem is there is no player you’re trading for that comes close to what guentzel brings, sure you can tighten the bottom 6 and 3rd pairing, but that’s gonna be minimal and wouldn’t replace what you lose with guentzel.

A. I just listed you 4 teams. I'm sure you can figure the prospect out. It's not about him being "more valuable because I say so" it's about comparable. Look at the return of Claud G. and you get it.

B. again, you aren't looking at the FA market, it sucks, who are you going to sign that is going to win you games? Can you even get them to come to a bottom team like PIT who just lost Jake?

C. top heavy is the trend across the whole NHL. There are reasons for that. It's not easy finding guys who can net 40 goals. Teams every year scrap together the bottom of the roster. You are just adverse to paying Jake.

As for your depth, they are better off playing youth at this point than over paying on mediocre FA. Just look at the history of returns on seeking out FA. It's not good and the market next year sucks. You take out Jake and you got Sam R. in FL, who is not coming to PIT. Then a whole bunch of not much. So you will over pay for players who aren't that good.
Smith is on an expiring deal next year. If it doesn't work out, oh well. It's easy to move him next year on an expiring deal in a hockey trade if they need to. But who are you going to bring in who can put up 20+ goals a year? All you will do is rope this team into a long term deal with an over paid player. Which is worse for the team. Keep Smith, play youth, to improve the bottom 6 and be done with it.

No I know, none of these guys replace Guentzel…but some of these assets you can use to trade for other guys to attempt to fill that production and get deeper, just “punt on this season to buy next offseason”

I think that was the issue we save in the offseason with TDA they had to wait for a certain day to do the trade so it would be a year

Then you have to look at whose available in a trade and how they fit into the roster, like if there’s no top 6 LWers available or the price is ridiculous then they’re in a terrible position, but not terrible enough for the 1st round pics the next 2 years to be good enough to realistically be stars in the nhl.

The problem with this hope and dream of improving the powerplay is the penguins don't have a coach capable of doing that.
1st step to this team winning is removing the coach who's lost the room long ago.

Lysell-sure
Podkolzin or hoglander-maybe, but they just traded their first so they are probably out of the market for Guentzel
Kakko-maybe, but NYR tend to not trade their rly high picks until it’s way too late
Wright-Seattle is definitely not giving up on him this early

What youth is there to play…Poulin has been alright, but that’s his MO…he shines a bit in the A then does nothing in the NHL. Yager and Pickering are too young for NHL ice time. I’d like to see smith get some, but the org seems to not like him. Puustinen seems alright, but needs top 6 time in order to produce, which the team seems to not wanna give him…kinda like McCann when he was here.

Also top heavy teams don’t win the cup…VGK won on organizational depth Colorado won on defensive depth, Tampa won on forward and defensive depth, and St Louis won on defensive depth.

You don’t need to acquire depth with overpaying FAs, you can use the picks acquired from these deals to trade for guys you value in very similar deals to the smith one where someone’s looking to shed cap…something you can’t do with Guentzel at 9M

Let me write it out for you.
Lysell
Wright...don't think they won't move him. If they thought he was a generational talent he'd be playing right now as they need help too. It shows what they think of him that's sitting at the same age as Matty B was already playing.
Lekkerimäki in VAN. Those other two aren't getting it done.
NYR is Othmann... Kakko doesn't move the needle.

So there you go, 4 teams with the assets of getting it done.

As for youth.
Poulin for starters.
Next year you can bring in Yager as well.
If they keep their pick this year, you are looking at Iginla. Who I would play right away as I think his game is already pro level.
You can also bring in Broz, if you can get him to sign.

Need to stop thinking this team doesn't have any youth. They sure as hell do and it's much better than people think.
There are at 2 players right now that could come in on the team next year and be better than anything else they are going to find in the over priced weak FA market.

spare me the organizational depth argument as well.
COL won a cup with Jack Johnson on their 3rd pairing.

Your such a Homer lol
You think the Steelers are gonna go to the bowl next season too? 🤣

can't stand the NFL.

I love how you think the pens players have no value. What you a caps fans trying to troll on here?

If youre referring to reirdan id agree, hope it happens. If you’re referring to sully then that’s a bit different, firstly the team outside the PP is good to great, and it seems sully has very little to do with the PP, yeah maybe he can step in, but idk how all that works with coaches. But its all for not, because no matter how much pens fans holler and scream for sully to get fired it wont happen, hes signed to a new deal and seems the ownership group (FSG) really likes him and dubas seems to as well, you can agree or disagree with that all you want but i dont see it happening at least before this season ends. I mean all you can really do is hope that the team and staff figures it out, but again trading guentzel doesn’t “kickstart” a rebuild like people think it will, the pens will still be semi competitive next year, too competitive to get a good draft pick. Not to mention you take away crosbys best winger of his career as he tries to finalize his legacy in the NHL. No thank you to that.