Maybe this makes the Pens better in 2017/18, but honestly I have my doubts. And I think it becomes negative value going forward.

Green is probably going to be better than Maatta this year, but how much is debatable. Two years ago Maatta was pretty good (and his rookie year he was really good), considering he just turned 23 yesterday, I don't think it's unrealistic to think he can bounce back from a bad year and become a force again. So in the end it might be just a very minor upgrade for one year.

Zetterberg will outproduce Rust and Hagelin offensively, though Rust has shown some nice offensive promise and Hagelin is a key defender. So it shrinks the value of Zetterberg as he is replacing all they do.

Where this hurts the Pens is going forward, Maatta has four more years of control after Green becomes a UFA this offseason (and the Pens won't be able to re-sign him since he'll want more than what Maatta was making). Zetterberg figures to retire after this year or next at the latest, so the Pens would be giving up on the potential to sign Rust long term (Hagelin is likely to walk).

How does this help PIT at all. Maatta has had injury issues, but when healthy has been a pretty good D man, and he is under team control for 5 more years at a reasonable cost. Rust is fast, clutch, cheap and under team control. Hagelin had a bad year with injuries, but if he returns to 2016 form he'll be worth keeping. Green will walk after this year, and Zetterberg will retire soon and become a cap casualty.

agreed

This is a horrible for the Pens. They give up so much youth and potential for a powerplay specialist dman when we have letang and schultz and an over the hill zetterberg making over 6 mil.
This doesn't even make the Pens better short term.