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Defense
Start off by buying out Scuderi as should be a give in as it should be unacceptable for him to be on the team next year. It would be better to maybe trade him for a seventh round pick or something, but I bought him out here to show that it is more likely.

Rumor is Gonchar would welcome coming back to Pittsburgh and would sign for around $1 million. This is a no brainer even if he is old, he easily earns that money in just quarterbacking the power play, holding stars responsible, and lockerroom presence/leadership. He would also not block the youth movement as his contract isn't a huge cap hit/term like Scuderi's horrible contract was. We could scratch him and be fine only sitting $1 million in the press box while keeping him fresh and allowing the young guys to play, but he will be there as a veteran dman if our young guys struggle adjusting at first.

Dumoulin proved he is ready, and Cole should earn a contract of that money for around three years. I paired Maatta and Harrington together as they played together in juniors and were great and this will help Harrington rise to the NHL and spread the top four talent. I also couldn't help but place Pouliot next to Letang as the skating on that pair would be phenomenal. However, the defense can be shifted around as needed this is just showing the youth movement and saving money while getting younger and more talented.

Goalies
Greiss was good here but he needs a starting job elsewhere and we shouldn't stop him. Zatkoff is cheaper and although I think he's not that good, he had a decent record two seasons ago. Murray can't be the backup as he needs to develop and get more playing time in the NHL. Sidenote: I traded Kunitz for the first round pick but it's tantalizing to think of the return we could get for Murray with the season he posted.

Forwards
Despite reports of buyer's remorse on Perron, I don't see us moving him as he is young and talented and we have a lack of wingers. He proved he was an effective scoring winger early in his acquisition, but fell off supposedly due to an injury. Rutherford did also say he sees Perron playing here for 6-7 years longer. Besides these comments, no changes to the top line as those three meshed well. Let Perron play his natural left wing with Sid and Horny and they will click.

Plotnikov terminated his contract in the KHL and is reportedly looking to come over to the NHL. Playing with Malkin should be alluring for him, but for us he is exactly the kind of player we need and kind of reminds me of Neal.

Semin is the top six player we need. He will be easily acquired from CAR as they are looking to buy him out of his massive contract. However, they would save roughly $4 million by trading him and retaining half his salary rather than buying him out. He used to be a point producing machine with the Caps, but I believe the horrid situation in CAR makes him not want to play. His career would be revitalized playing alongside Geno.

Moving on to the third line, Dupuis will be moved down not to his lack of skill as he will still be able to bring it, but for the purpose of adding skill and grit to the bottom six. Richards was signed at a premium on a one year deal to get him away from the Blackhawks and get a replacement for Sutter who sucked. His age doesn't matter as it would be a one year deal and not meant to be a solution to our 3C but an upgrade over Sutter while we find a solution. He already exceled as 2C but I believe he would do even better with a lesser role. This goes to show we can spend around $4 million on our 3C and get a far better player than Sutter. You could replace Richards with Soderberg or Fehr but he is my preference to add scoring to our third line and a much needed scoring depth aspect to our team as we could mmove away from the archaic presumption you need a shutdown 3C.

On the fourth line we have Winnik who needs resigned even for the sheer fact you can't pay that price and let him walk as a free agent. He will be a solid 4LW while letting us see if Sundqvist can pan out. If he still needs to develop more in the AHL Winnik can move to 4C and we can bring up Sheary who is similar to Tyler Johnson and would add skill to a fourth line that has sucked for years. One the right side we got Eaves whose career has been constantly riddled with injuries, but he still projects to have a good season. He will basically be the new bargain player Comeau was, but Blake is due for a raise that we shouldn't give him. I resigned Bennett, but he was reported to likely start his season in the AHL, but he is shown here as possibly later in the season he could break back into the lineup especially if Sundqvist pans out then we won;t need Winnik as a safety blanket at 4C and can trade him for picks allowing a now more developed Bennett to come back to the big club.

Thanks for reading,

Choino

Edit: One possible change I might make to this is replacing Richards with Fehr who we could sign to a multi-year contract and is a good shutdown 3C and great at faceoffs. He would be cheaper and allow the signing of a legit top four dman. I would go with Sekera for around five years $25 million and it would seem likely to be him if anyone because Rutherford worked with him before. This would give us a deeper defense considering the injury history of key players.

This was a funny read... you even make a near convincing comment trying to defend this lunacy.

It's convincing because it's realistic please explain how its crazy.

Reasons this is crazy:
1. Kunitz will not get a 1st round pick from any team.
2. Sutter for Semin straight up is terrible even with salary retention. Carolina would be happy if anyone was interested. Sutter is worth more.
3. Why is a 35 year old brad richards getting 4million which is double his salary this past season? For that matter why are the Pens signing another 35 yr old player in general?
4, Sergei Gonchar does not mesh well with the get younger and faster plan for the blueline. If they bring in a veteran it won't be one who is well past his his prime.
5. You say Semin is a top 6 forward we need when he was barely useful in Carolina
6. Brad richards has never been a shutdown center and is hardly an upgrade over Sutter in that role.

1. Has nothing to do with the roster presented
2. Fine, I would then use Sutter to trade for a young forward like Rychel (but he would be sent down to AHL at least to start anyways) and instead of trading Spaling for a pick I would use him to trade for Semin. Thus, again, this has no impact on the roster presented making your first two points moot and nonsensical toward calling this lunacy.
3. You either haven't seen Richards stats to know he's still good or didn't read my description. He would have to get paid to be lured away from the Blackhawks otherwise he would probably stay there cheap as to win another cup. His age wouldn't matter as it's just a one year deal, at 35 he's still doing good. Age only matters if we signed him to a contract with term. The $4 mil is also pointing out that we can sign a 3C for around that much money and have them be an upgrade over Sutter whether it's Soderberg, Fehr, etc.
4. I already explained this, learn to read.
5. He's barely useful in CAR? He had one bad season and they're looking to buy him out because of it. Semin is a high-quality player who exceled with Ovi and Backstrom, but he's an enigmatic Russian who isn't giving his all on a team he doesn't care about as they're going nowhere. Give him a change of scenery and a star center of the same nationality as we did with Perron and he will kill it. Also just look at his stats. Excellent possession player and has outperformed every role he's been put into.
6. Again, learn to read...I said Richards isn't a shutdown 3C and it would be alright to not have that and instead have a scoring 3C as to add scoring depth to our lineup. Having skill throughout your lineup is more important than sticking to the archaic mold that your 3C has to be a shutdown center just like adding skill and scoring to your fourth line is more important than sticking to keeping that line useless grinders who ddon't play minutes and don't let you cycxle through all four lines.

Why trade away Sutter at all if your replacing him with a 35 year old center who was only productive last season when he played with Patrick Kane. He doesn't have the ability to point produce without talent around him and fades during the season. He only had 9points after the allstar break last season. Sutter scored 21 goals while playing with lesser talent so i'm not sure why you believe he sucked or doesn't have any skill. He is younger, better at faceoffs, can play in any situation and won't wear out as the season goes on. Age may not matter from a contract point of view on a 1 year deal but it does matter as far as one ice productivity which richards has shown to be fading.

So Semin excelled with highly skilled players around him and needs to be with Russian linemates to get in the mood to compete. Right there are warning signs why we shouldn't get him. He is talented but lazy and has been called out for his laziness and poor work ethic more than just in Carolina.

With the frequent injuries on the blueline if the Pens bring in a veteran it shouldn't be someone they are comfortable just playing a part time role and being good in the locker room. It should be someone who can step in and play big minutes if injuries occur. Pouliot, Letang and Maatta can all man the powerplay without relying on part time veteran player. Just because he said he would come back cheap doesn't mean its a good idea. He probably said that because he thinks the Pens are the only team that would. He also has only 1ppg and no pp assists the past 2 seasons......