I'll never get tired of the "Smith is great, you'll have to pay us for him!" threads by guys actively trying to get rid of Smith.

3 guarantees in life.

Death.

Taxes.

CFACGM Pens fans trying to dump Rielly Smith on the Red Wings.

Rielly Smith is the next Jeff Carter. 🙄

I can't see anyone giving up a 2nd for a 33yr old Smith.

in a bad year he racked up the same amount of points as DeBrusk, who someone will sign to term.
Go figure.
Clearly he must be worthless piece to move.

the same people who are looking at DeBrusk are also looking at Smith. Who might cost a 3rd or something, but it's less risk and easier on their cap than DeBrusk with term.

Not to mention with retention it's a steal. Even if he only reaches 40 points again this year. a 40 pt winger at 2.5 as a rental is a steal.
It would be a different story if he had multiple years left, but he doesn't.

I really don't see why Utah wants to do that.

If there is one trade on here that is bad, it's that one.

Gee I wonder if the five year age gap has something to do with it…

gee I wonder if it only being 1 year makes that a really moot point, especially when you will have to sign DeBrusk to multiple years and get it on the back end.
I mean really. If you are going to try to make points, try to make better ones. There are plenty of 33 year old players in the NHL.
Taking one on with no term is no big deal. It's actually far less risk.

So a player who has a longer career ahead of him is worth more as a pending UFA than a guy in his mid 30s?!

Nah bro. Can’t be possible.

Reilly is so good PIT fans are incessantly trying to dump him lol

You realize DeBrusk's history in BOS right? Struggling inconsistant player who can't seem to put it together. Even this year was a disappointing year.
But go ahead and tell me how signing an inconsistant soon to be 28 year old player, is "having his career in front of him."
All NHL stats projections show he's peeked at his age.
But go ahead sign that long term, see how that works out. Just like a lot of other UFA out there that are 29-30 years old and want longer term deals like Domi, or Bertuzzi, or Mantha.

Fact is a 33 year old rental isn't a bad option in this FA class. It's much better than getting wrapped up in term on a lot of these guys. Who are all going to want signed to 35.
But hey, if 33 is bad what do contracts till 35 say?

I honestly don't care about "dumping" Smith. I'm ok if he finishes his contract in PIT. It's a 1 year deal. He's in a contract year so you'll know he'll play hard if he wants to be playing next year.
None of that is a bad bet for a team making a trade.

But keep thinking there are some great options out there. all your "career ahead of him" FA aren't that. and 33 isn't "mid 30s.
There are many guys still playing at 33 and playing fairly decently. Wheels don't really start coming off guys till 35.
That's when you see guys dropping out the league.
There are 41 players in the league at 33-34 years old
https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/active?stats-season=2024&limits=age-33-34

So lets not pretend teams aren't playing them or it's odd. Many of them still hold significant roles on their teams.

Taking on a 1 year guy at that age is no big deal, if you have a better fit for him.
But hey, a team that went out and signed a 35 year old Kane after hip surgery, clearly will be put off by a 33 year old age...... give me a break.

I’m sure you don’t mind let him riding out his last year, because he damn sure ain’t returning a 2nd lol.

you clearly can't read. I've clearly said a 3rd or something, hell maybe it's a 4th.
It doesn't really matter. Those picks have virtually no value the 15% chance a player in the 3rd round plays even 100 games in the NHL... whooopie......

Not that 2nd round picks have such greater odds, the whooping 25% chance. to hit 200 games.

I mean honestly a bit high and mighty on yourself there don't you think?

Got nothing to comment on the fact that I'm right about the whole FA class coming out. That teams don't really view 33 as some untouchable age.
Fact that teams out there are signing guys even older..... including after coming off surgery.

But you know.... Smith blah blah.... don't expect a 2nd........

pathetic.

Negative. I can read. I just chose not to read your multi paragraph dissertation of bull ****. 😂

oh yeah read. Just don't have anything of value to say but troll troll troll.

Nah, I’ve just realized who’s worth time here and who isn’t. You’re not.

and yet you keep proving you read but have nothing to say. bye bye troll

One sentence that takes five seconds? Sure.

Your lengthy pissy rants? Nahhhh.

I get what you are saying but Smith was on the 2nd line with Malkin through the first week of March. During that period Malkin was in on 14 of his 21 even strength points and Smith added another 8 points on the pp. After that Smith put up 10 points and 0 pp points. I noticed he missed 4 games directly in-between but I don't know why he wasn't on the injured list. But something happened that moved him off the 2nd line and cut his pp time. Without Malkin or a center of his skill I think he will be hard pressed put up 40 points. Especially if he's in the bottom 6 getting less than 16 min a game. Do you think Dubas retains 50% for less than a 2nd? Personally I don't see him retaining on Smith even for a 2nd.

For Detroit specifically, I don't see Yzerman bridging either Seider or Raymond so Detroit is going to have limited cap space to work with. I think resigning Perron makes a lot more sense than trading for Smith.

you are putting a lot of credit on a 37 year old Malkin.
Between the two of them if one has slowed down it's Malkin.

You could make the exact argument the other direction. That it's Malkin who slowed Smith down.

For the record, Smith was injured multiple times this year. He started off hot till he got hurt. He never came back the same. If he didn't get hurt there, who knows what those point totals would be.
As far as not being on the PP, it was an ineffective bottom of the league unity. Who were they going to move off it, Crosby? Malkin? Letang? EK? I mean there are only so many piece they can get away with moving to try to jump start it. Smith was one of them.

I don't see Dubas retaining on him at all to be honest. However, that's not guarantee that it doesn't happen. But lets be clear, the hold up with him getting trade last year to LA with no retention was term, as LA didn't have the cap going forward. There is no term involved this time.

It's not like teams aren't interested, they are. The Guentzel trade basically got in the way of everything else when it came to moving Smith last year. If not he may have been moved. But they weren't going to move Smith before due to leverage and that trade went to the wire.

I'm not going to claim that DET is the place Smith will go. That's really not the point I'm trying to make here. Just more the point that if people think Smith is some immovable piece they are far off course.
Anyone looking at bringing in DeBrusk probably has one eye on what it takes to get Smith. Because of that I don't think the cap is that big of an issue because they would have paid more for DeBrusk most likely. Smith comes with no real long term risk. The question is what is the value on the trade. I put it between a 3rd and a 4th. Which isn't all that much and basically what the penguins paid to get him. To think they will get more than what they paid for him, is really pushing your luck. He'd only be worth that with retention as teams would be paying the retention on top of the 3rd-4th value.