Just kicking around some crazy Penguin trade ideas

I was sitting around with a couple of my buddies talking, what else, Penguins hockey and what they might be doing in the coming months ahead.  We wondered what would happen if NHL general managers acted like fantasy hockey owners so we started throwing around some crazy trade ideas just to see which ones might actually be feasible in today’s NHL.

Here are some of the more outlandish ones we came up with.  Tell me which ones you like, how you might improve upon them or suggest your own.

 

Penguins trade Evgeni Malkin, Paul Martin and Marc-Andre Fleury to Vancouver for Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Corey Schneider

Our thoughts:  1.  It gets rid of not only Paul Martin but his contract as well.  2. The Penguins would free about $5 million in salary cap space although some of that would get eaten up as Schneider is a pending RFA.  The Penguins would acquire a Center capable of putting up Malkinesque numbers and a Winger who will put up 90 points.  Fleury is 27 and Schneider is 26 so, a wash there.  Vancouver gets the top player in the league, parts company with the Sedins who are quickly wearing out their welcome in Vancouver and a Stanley Cup winning goaltender.  Did I mention we get rid of Paul Martin?

 

Evgeni Malkin and Paul Martin to Los Angeles for Anze Kopitar and either Drew Doughty or Slava Voynov.

Our thoughts:  1. See above in regards to Paul Martin.  2. LA gets the top rated player in the NHL and rids themselves of Kopitar’s contract.  He is an unnecessary luxury now that they have Richards and Carter.  Penguins either make it an even salary swap by asking for Doughty who LA signed to a ridiculous contract or Slava Voynov, a superstar in the making who would give them lots of salary cap space.

 

Jordan Staal and Paul Martin to Nashville for Ryan Suter and Patrick Hornqvist.

Our thoughts:  Yes, I know Suter is a UFA, but before July 1, Nashville is allowed to resign him so why not sign him to a two-year $6 million deal and tell him he will be traded to Pittsburgh.  He gets two years to try to win a cup in Pittsburgh with a loaded team and then gets to become a UFA again.  Hornqvist put up 43 points on a Nashville team that had a lot of trouble even locating the net.  With Crosby or Malkin Centering him, I could see that going up to the 60’s.  Martin is still gone and the Pens have two of the top five defensemen in the league.  It works for Nashville because Suter can walk without  them getting anything in return.

Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury to Vancover for Corey Schneider and Ryan Kesler

Our thoughts:  See above for Schneider and Fleury info.  The Penguins swap one of the best two-way Centers in the league for one of the best two-way Centers in the league except for the fact that Kesler is signed through 15/16 for $5million per year giving the Penguins stability at that position knowing that Staal might ask for more than that.

 

Jordan Staal, Paul Martin and 1st Round pick to Edmonton for their 1st round pick and Magnus Paajarvi

Our thoughts:  Penguins free up a ton of salary cap space by trading Staal and Martin.  Paajarvi is an underused, up and coming winger who Edmonton is having a hard time getting ice time for with all of the young, stud top draft picks they’ve had recently.  Martin could be a veteran presence on a team filled with so many youngsters and a real lack of depth on defense.  The Penguins get to draft Nail Yakupov who is this year’s Crosby to Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan or Mario Lemieux to New Jersey’s Kirk Muller. (There is that big of a gap between him and whomever will be picked second)  The Penguins free up almost $9 million in salary cap space.

 

Those are our thoughts – Let’s hear some of yours