On the heels of Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola joining Mike Matheson on injured reserve, the Penguins are suddenly looking thin on the back end. Accordingly, TSN’s Darren Dreger notes on the latest Insider Trading segment (video link) that GM Jim Rutherford is now calling around to try to add some help on the back end.
One of the big challenges that Rutherford will face is fitting one under the cap. The team has roughly $1.9MM in cap room at the moment per CapFriendly but that will drop once they recall at least one blueliner from the taxi squad (either Pierre-Olivier Joseph or Kevin Czuczman) to get to six healthy options on the roster. At this point in the season, cap space hasn’t been able to bank so they will be limited in what they can go after. While Dreger notes that they’re looking for the best blueliner available, that cap situation will likely force them to look for a third-pairing option, one that they can afford.
While Pettersson and his $4.025MM AAV could be placed on LTIR, they’d need to get back into cap compliance before they could activate him which means they can’t really use that option aside from having a cheaper depth player up in his roster spot. It also likely puts their other talks on the back burner for now; last weekend, Pittsburgh was linked to Winnipeg restricted free agent winger Jack Roslovic but they’ll now need to re-prioritize and look for help on the back end first.
We did see one defensive trade earlier this week when Minnesota brought in Ian Cole from Colorado for Greg Pateryn. If Rutherford has his way, he’ll be adding a blueliner of his own before too long.
Matheson is gonna end up on LTIR freeing up about 4.5 million in cap space
Olli maata? I’m sure kings wouldn’t mind shipping him back for a 1st or 2nd
We won’t get a 1st or 2nd for maata lol
I disagree, 2 years left at an affordable rate and was removed just 1 year from almost 30 points while playing solid +/- hockey with penguins more likely a second than a first though
Olli Maatta was traded this off-season for brad Morrison, that’s right brad Morrison, brad Morrison scored 10 goals in the echl last year and the Blackhawks had to retain Maatta salary, but yeah he will net a first round pick after 4 games on the worst team in the league…
Maybe you should pay attention to why he was traded for so little, Blackhawks were cutting salary, they didn’t ask for anything of value in return. Try to keep up simp
I find it so funny when someone with a stupid opinion doesn’t know that they have a stupid opinion and immediately gets defensive and attacks anyone who questions said opinion by insulting their intelligence.
Ironic because they are far to moronic themselves to realize that their opinion is stupid, so of course when they justify their opinion in response they won’t realize that their reasoning is even stupider than the original opinion in the first place.
And this opinion is stupid. Olli Maatta is NOT, EVER getting a first or second round pick in a trade. Go back and look at the defensemen who fetched that price (and there’s a HUGE difference in value between a first and second round pick).
Then your cost cutting reason being that they didn’t ask for anything of value in return is just ridiculous.
Guess what that’s called?
A salary dump.
Guess which kinds of players are involved in salary dumps?
Players like Olli who have little to no value around the league.
Guess which players AREN’T involved in salary dumps?
Those who actually have first round value.
So even if trying to cut salary (true) that doesn’t mean that was the reason your GM “didn’t ask for anything of value in return” (false) because any GM that doesn’t squeeze out the best possible deal available (even in salary dumps) would never have been a GM. And if the GM didn’t realize that his asset had anywhere in the realm nearing first round value and “did’t ask for anything of value” the same principal applies.
But the REAL stupidity your opinion shows is in not realizing the obvious. As in if this was done solely to cut costs, and if Maatta is worth a first or second round pick then why didn’t he get exactly that? A draft pick coming back for Maatta would have cost zero dollars for Chicago which is ideal.
Also if Maatta has value (especially as high as a first round pick) then there would have been far better offers than what they got. Offers that if Maatta was worth such value, would still have cost Chicago nothing on the cap because they were the ones setting the price for an asset with high value.
All those reasons and more are enough to show how moronic your opinion is. They didn’t receive Brad Morrison (who played in the ECHL half of last season) because they didn’t ask for anything of value. They received him because that was around the value of what they could get.
Finally to put the exclamation point on your lack of logic your first post says that you’ll trade Maatta for a first or second round pick ….FROM THE PENGUINS! With your whole “thy didn’t ask for anything of value” cost cutting excuse how stupid is it to expect Pitt to take on a 4+ million dollar contract themselves while sending out a first round pick?
I mean dude, the article goes into great detail about the cap situation in Pitt, noting the 1.9 million in cap space they have and you think they’ll give you a draft pick…let alone a 1st/2nd for a 4+ million dollar Maatta? A player who they traded away in A SALARY DUMP (and who they got a far better return for) only a little over a year ago? I mean why would Pittsburgh dump him off to cut costs on a player who was nowhere near worth the salary he was making only to bring him back when that salary restraint is even worse now???
And then you expect Pittsburgh to actually give you a first or a second round pickon top of that??
Geez you are a moron!
You mean the 29 points he got in 17-18? Maybe you should pay attention to your facts, simp. lol
Honka is a right handed shot, just cleared waivers and is young. There’s your D-man, Rutherford.
does make some sense
Don Sweeney will probably give Rutherford a 3rd just to take John Moore. Rutherford just needs to send some Primanti Bros.
@Puckhead83 – Primanti Bros. is WAY better than what I had to eat tonight! Damn!
I’m sure he can have DeAngelo right about now.
Islanders would take a late pick for Hickey I’m sure
Montreal’s elite sniper Victor Mete ?
How about Coburn or Gudbranson or the offensive weapon which is Nikita Zaitsev?