Team: 2022-23 Pittsburgh Penguins

Initial Creation Date: May 26, 2022

Published: May 26, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Some of these deals/trades might get heat but its hard to judge some players worth.

- Letang is gonna walk, he wants big money and if PITT is smart, they'll let him go and sign a cheaper and more reliable RD in Manson. Letting Letang go will sting, but he's 35, just had a career year, and with Seth Jones just getting a 9.5mil contract, Letang is gonna want a raise after having a career high in points, let him go to Montreal or whoever wants to sign him for big money, because he will not repeat, not to mention he's a massive liability defensively and constantly turns the puck over. Manson is a great defensive defenceman which is something the pens need more of. With an already shaky defence, Manson would help clean up a bit and tighten things up on the back end. In my opinion, a 4x4 for him is more than fair as its just a touch down from his previous 4.1, which he was quite worth.

- Pens need to dump some cap and by flipping Matheson and Pettersson, it clears almost 9mil in cap and cleans up the shaky left side, I added Kapanen as a sweetener to Arizona for Crouse because of their reluctancy to trade him, on top of that, he's just not fitting right in PITT as much as I love the guy, Crouse would bring a physical body into the lineup who has shown last season that he can score.

- As for the Dunn trade, I genuinely don't know what the ask is, so I threw in a 2nd and a prospect, if it isn't quite enough PITT could attach another lesser prospect or replace with a better one for a young, solid LD in Dunn. Dunn just had a better season given good playtime, but played for a bad team and the lines constantly changed, which didn't allow for him to build any chemistry. Play him consistently on the first line with one of Marino or Manson to allow him to play more to his offensive abilities and let him QB the PP to give him more confidence, if he wants a raise next season after having a good season, it would be worth throwing the money at him to keep him around as he is young.

- In Fleury's case, I see him wanting to retire a Penguin and if he does, its more than likely he'd take a cheap one year deal to back up Jarry, he could also be a great mentor towards him as well. Fleury is on the down side of his career as his numbers this past season were a bit inconsistent, although you have to take into account his age and that he played for Chicago most of the season. Give him a chance to play and maybe get one last playoff attempt with some of the guys he grew up in the league with for a nice send off, should he choose to retire after this contract expires.

- I also thought against signing a cheap LD for the 3rd pair as POJ deserves to be played, he's young, coming off a good season down in WBS and deserves some time in the show. He's very offensively talented, and given play time with a guy like Manson to teach him and allow him to play more offensively would only benefit the young defence man as I see him being in PITT for a long time.

- Malkin has stated he's willing to take a pay cut to stay with PITT, and after rejecting the 5mil lowball, I feel a deal of 6.5-7mil for 3 years would go over better, Malkin is as dominant as he used to be and a 2.5-3mil pay cut is fair in my opinion. Rakell is gonna want a slight raise from his previous deal at just over 3mil, I believe 4.5 is a fair offer as its a pay raise but not an extreme one because of the small sample size with the team

- Heinen and ERod were both extremely important to PITT this season, especially early on with the countless injuries. Im aware ERod set multiple career high stats, but I think he gets a one year "prove it" contract to show that this year wasn't a one time thing, if he repeats or gets better, then you can look at signing him for more with some term. Heinen has shown to be good, 2.5 might be a bit of a low ball, but with this roster PITT has roughly 3mil in cap space, so you can add to a contract here or there to satisfy.

Assuming all these trades and signing did happen, the Pens would still maintain their notable prospects along with their first round picks which will be crucial in coming years with Crosby's retirement looming closer, if the Dunn/Crouse deals need to have more coming from PITT, you could probably work in the 22 first into one deal and change a prospect or add a mid-late round pick as a sweetener as well.

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