It's just highly unlikely that the Pens move Jake. As far as Graves goes, despite how fans feel right now, Graves is a good dman who's simply struggling to adjust to his new team. My guess is Dubas is going to give him a full season before he considers moving him.

I do think it's a respectable offer. The only real issue is the retention here.

The retention on Jake or not retaining on Graves?
Retaining on Jake is simple because it's only for a couple weeks. Grave could be moved by TB after the season, especially if he has a good playoff with them. I agree that he's not that bad, just not adjusting well in Pittsburgh. The change of scenery might do him very well.

From the Pen's angle I'd do this in a heartbeat, but it does sort of sound like trading Jake isn't going to happen, unfortunately.

What is the point in retaining on guentzel if tampa has the cap space? Also tampa wouldnt have enough cap to give guentzel an extension and they arent paying that much for a rental. They also wont be able to afford graves past this year

The retention on Jake. I guess it's not a HUGE deal, but it depends on why Dubas is making these trades, you know what i mean? Realistically if we're moving Jake it's because things are BAD. Complete implosion. The Pens are trending towards being in the mix until the very end, so I don't think we'll see a Jake trade, but for arguments sake, let's say contract talks go sideways and there's bad blood, ok, then maybe they move Jake for that reason and still want to stay in the mix, so they need that cap space to replace him somehow.

If it's complete implosion? Then sure, the retention isn't an issue.

I get it. I was thinking the retention gets you a much better return than not retaining.