The Penguins, the Leafs, and Rumors

So, yesterday afternoon, I had a moment to relax, in between working for pay and volunteer hours. I chose to waste that moment on the hockey rumor mill of the internet.

Yes, yes, yes, I know, I often complain about the inanity of many to most of those rumors. So, why did I go down that rabbit hole?

Well, first of all, I was starting to bob and weave with the exhaustion of getting up at 3:30 every morning and the need to stay awake to fulfill the volunteer hours to come, without compromising my ability to fall asleep in time to start the cycle all over again. To that end I chose to try and find something silly enough to cause my blood pressure to go back up for a few more hours to get through the evening’s commitments.

I found an interesting rumor detailing the dissatisfaction in Toronto over their favorite hockey team’s plight. The Maple Leafs entered the season with high, high hopes and tons of talent but are currently wallowing below our Pittsburgh Penguins, 1 point below 0.500 and 2 points out of the final playoff spot but having played 1 – 3 games more than most teams around them, therefore their position could get worse.

The article/rumor spoke of a Coach who has 0.608 winning percentage (W%) in the regular season, has 1 Stanley Cup win and 3 Stanley Cup appearances but who has lost his locker room and suggested what some here in Pittsburgh consider sacrilege, fire the Coach rather than try and trade away the players. By the time I got home, Maple Leafs’ Coach Mike Babcock found himself out of a job. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.

The rumor also goes on to talk about some potential trades that our northern Neighbor may be considering, trades that would involve our Penguins. The rumor suggests that the Blue and White may be courting a trade involving swapping Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs) Tyson Barrie for Justin Schultz and even more so a push for one of our Goalies. The article I read suggested Toronto try and buy low for Casey DeSmith but ask about Tristan Jarry.

When I first read the story, I did find the whole story intriguing and began plotting the writing of my own thoughts about the story. As interesting as I found the Coaching similarity to a recent unpleasantness here in Pittsburgh, my thoughts were and are mainly focused on the idea of the trade(s) purportedly being considered by Toronto’s management.

In truth, I am not all that upset with the performance of most of the players on our team’s roster. Our Penguin’s struggles to stay in the playoff race could be more of a question of health rather than ability. However, as I have stated several times, everyone is tradable in my books, so I started thinking who would I want if I were the GM and Toronto approached me?

First and foremost, let me state once again that I am not saying I would actively want to trade, my little game here is a question of what would it take to get me to be willing to part with one of the players that the rumor suggests Toronto is interested in.

I like Schultz and it would be easier for Toronto to get Kris Letang off me than Schultz. However, the reality here is A) Schultz is UFA at the end of the year and there will be several UFA and Restricted Free Agents (RFA), there may not be enough money to go around and B) we all know that Letang is not going anywhere. Furthermore, John Marino looks like he is developing nicely and is finding a way to make Jack Johnson look good in a way similar to how Simon Despres was able to keep Rob Scuderi afloat.

As for the Goalie situation, going into next year, it is highly doubtful that from a business situation Jim Rutherford and Mike Sullivan will be able to keep status quo, 1 Goalie will have to be sacrificed. In an exchange of replies with our own Phil Krundle, I wrote that I would not be in favor of trading any Goalie until after the expansion draft and I still think that is a policy to be followed.

However, if Toronto is in a serious mind to trade, what would move my needle (your needle if you want to play too) off zero? Hmm

I would never trade Schultz for Barrie straight up, regardless of their UFA status; let’s put that out there right away. Furthermore, Toronto couldn’t take on Schultz’s salary, they have no Cap space. Even though Barrie’s base salary is higher than Schultz’s salary, the Colorado Avalanche retained a large portion of that salary, so Barrie is only a $2.75 million Cap hit while Schultz is a $5.5 Million hit.

To get me to consider this deal, first, we wait until Letang gets back before we pull the trigger on the deal. Furthermore, since I really don’t want Barrie, I need to find a possible replacement. Even though he is playing for the Red Wings‘ AHL affiliate the Grand Rapids Griffins right now, I ask Detroit about what it would take to get Oliwer Kaski (a Finnish Defenseman I first mentioned last summer as a player I wanted Rutherford to sign as a FA). I would try and direct their attention to Toronto’s roster as well as my own.

Next, if Rutherford isn’t going to try and resign Schultz then Toronto GM, Kyle Dubas, I want at least Kasperi Kapanen too as well as a draft pick or whoever Detroit may want for Kaski. I may settle for the 3rd round pick you have from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Now you get the defenseman you want, get rid of an unwanted defenseman, and I get a forward I want.

Let’s face it, even though the Penguins management may be committed to keeping Letang, even at the expense of Schultz, Letang is injury prone so even though Marino looks good so far, a plan “B” needs to be in place when (not if) Letang gets injured again.

As for the Goalie situation, I am at least as ill disposed to trade here as I am about giving up Schultz, but trying to think this through, what would my counteroffer be to Toronto if they approached me?

I can’t believe I am saying this, at the moment, Jarry would be off the table. As much as I like Matt Murray, with the early returns on how Jarry is playing and both Goalies are RFA this summer, I would let these 2 fight it out for the future of the team, possibly even let the pair push each other for a couple of seasons until their salaries prohibit the keeping of them both. Of course, that would mean the team get creative at expansion draft time but in the end it may be worth it.

Since I take Jarry off the table, Toronto, I want Ilya Mikheyev for Desmith and bump that 3rd round pick from Columbus up to your 2nd round pick in next year’s draft. Mikheyev is $0.925 million and DeSmith is $1.25 million. The $0.45 million the Leafs’ would save in trading Barrie and Kapanen for Schultz would give them a cushion to absorb the $0.3 million in taking on DeSmith for Mikheyev.

Like Kaski, Mikheyev is a player I mentioned in the off season as a European FA I would court. He is a left-handed Right Winger (RW) who has 4 Goals (G), 12 Points (Pnts) and is a +4. Left-Handed RWs tend to excel on Sidney Crosby’s starboard wing.

To get this trade done I would be willing to throw in Alex Galchenyuk and/or Dominik Simon and retain their salary for the rest of the season. Galchenyuk is not really fitting in here. He is taking up a roster spot and may not be getting the chance to succeed in the Black and Gold system.

As for Simon, his shooting is abysmal and even though his Corsi may look good on the surface, it is deceiving. When you weigh his Corsi against the Corsi  of the players that he tends to face while he is on the ice, it neutralizes to just about average.

I would much rather have both Kapanen and Mikheyev than Galchenyuk and Simon and if the rest of this rumor is true, then I would be able to get my wish. It would also give the team a host of assets at forward that they could use to find a Right-Handed Defenseman (RHD) should Kaski need a little more seasoning.

To sum it up, I would no be looking to trade anyone, but if I were asked about availability by a suitor this is where my thinking is right now. If they don’t like it, I don’t care, I don’t deal.

Tonight, 7 pm – revenge against the New York Islanders?

Go Pens!!