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louieleftwing

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Forum: NHL Trades27 sept. 2020 à 12 h 2
Sujet: (PIT/FLA) - Hörnqvist for Matheson, Sceviour
I'll mark this as a FAIR trade and explain why I'm optimistic as a Pens fan.

1 - There's no denying Matheson is a "bad" contract, but so was Hornqvist for the Pens at this point. I like Horny and know he's an effective hockey player. But the Pens want to get younger and faster. Horny is older, slower, expensive, becoming more and more injury prone, and doesn't fit the roster. He's not cracking the top-6 anymore in Pittsburgh, and they want to get faster/younger/cheaper in the bottom six.

2 - It's HARD to trade "bad" contracts without taking bad contracts back. The Pens were going to get a bottom-six forward or a bottom pair D for Horny. On a bad contract. And probably someone who had likewise lost his way on his team as well. If you think GMJR didn't "shop around" enough you're simply delusional.

3 - The LENGTH of Matheson's deal is worse than the $$. That's less concerning for the Pens. Their "window" is likely the three years left on Horny's contract anyway. In four years, they'll likely be rebuilding AND still need to ice a team. Thus, the worst feature of Matheson's contract isn't so bad to the Pens and their situation.

4 - The most befuddling thing about the deal is that Matheson is left-shooting. The Pens are loaded there. BUT, POJ isn't ready, Riikola is not favored in the top six, and JMFJ they'd rather NOT have. So, in that sense, Dumoulin, Peterson, Matheson is the left side. JMFJ may be bought out, may be added in a Murray trade, or may be "hidden" on the right side of the bottom pair. He's played RD before and sucks, but he sucks everywhere. IF they can't move JMFJ, I'd bet you'd see a lot of Matheson with Marino. And sometimes Pettersson. And sometimes Pettersson with Letang. In other words I expect a "top five" getting a lot of ice and not equal pairs. Assuming a game tonight, I predict you'd see Dumoulin-Letang, Matheson-Marino, Pettersson-JMFJ with JMFJ being "sheltered" five-on-five and PKing. Letang and Marino getting extra shifts five-on-five.

5 - With that in mind, the Pens feel they picked-up a POSSIBLE top-four D who is 26 and can retrieve pucks in their own zone and move the puck up ice with elite skating. PERIOD. Maybe they're wrong. But Reirden's work with Letang and Niskanen, plus the turn-arounds of Daley and Schultz, have taught the Pens to be fearless making these moves.

So I don't think GMJR is senile. I hope others can see the rationale.