Penguins Rumors, Christian Dvorak, Zucker Trade & More

So the rumor mills are already a churning, what are the penguins up to, what will we get? I must admit I have fears that lord Hextall might do absolutely nothing and make only minor changes which is the opposite of what we need, we can see our shameful flaws for all to see in the last three playoff runs, terrible defensive play, weak goaltending and no size or grit. We also have another massive problem about to strike the Pittsburgh Penguins with all it’s might……father time, yes sadly our beloved Sidney Crosby is (33) though he seems like he will have a few good years left before any drop off, and then we have our favorite Russian Evgeni Malkin (34) who becomes more and more injury prone every year. 

So what is lord Hextall and the Penguins going to do? Well lets look at what’s buzzing around and I’ll throw in some speculation of my own, though that will probably go to waste because the Penguins like doing the opposite of my good ideas 😉

Christian Dvorak

So apparently the Penguins, and also a lot of other interested parties are taking a little look at Dvorak. Who would be an excellent add, if not a bit of a steal, Dvorak’s talent has been wasted away in the land where players with talent go to die, Arizona. Sad to say as I love Arizona and its Coyotes, but unfortunately nothing good is happening out in the desert. 

So what do we have here, and would Dvorak be good for the Penguins? In my opinion, Dvorak is a sleeping giant, with elite potential, in his OHL season in 15-16 our boy got 121 Points, (52G) (69A) in (59GP). Now I’m not going to lie, he had some help, as his line mates on the London Knights are players you may recognize, Mitch Marner & Matthew Tkachuk. Despite playing with two studs, you can’t take away his talent, Dvorak does two things really well, he’s in the right spots on the ice, and he’s got a wicked shot. Now he does play center, and what worries me is that the Penguins are thinking he’s going to be there 3rd line center, for gods sake no, please no. Dvorak has been averaging about 30 to 40 points a season, if we play him 3rd line center I believe we’ll never really get to see his true talent. What we should do is move Dvorak and his great shot to either Malkin or Crosby’s wing, in my opinion he needs to play with Crosby. Knowing the Pens, if we get him, we probably waste him, which would be unfortunate as I love this player. 

Jason Zucker

According to Josh Yohe over at the Athletic, the Penguins would be happy to move Jason Zucker and his $5,500,000. I would be too, since Sullivan won’t play him with Crosby, he’s going to waste and is just working against there cap. It’s clear the Penguins are looking to unload that cap or replace it with someone they think will work, as they left him unprotected in this expansion draft, but Seattle likes making smart choices so far and picked up a gritty player in Brandon Tanev, completely ignoring the bait that Hextall tried to dangle. So where can we trade him? To be honest we can’t do a straight up trade, we aren’t going to get a straight up equal player for him, at least most likely we won’t. This will be more of a “Hey here’s a player to help you get a playoff push, help us free up cap” and they will probably send us back maybe some draft picks and a prospect. I would prefer to try and make a deal with the Vegas Golden Knights, I see a lot of options we could trade for, and I believe that Zucker would fit in nicely in their line up. Getting young defensemen like Nicolas Hague or Zach Whitecloud would be nice. I also would think the Colorado Avalanche might have an interest in him. I just hope we can find a home for him and we get something at least decent in return, is that to much to ask? Probably. Unfortunately….

Depth from within?

Hextall looks like he is indeed going to call players up or at least sign players like Radim Zohorna. My worry is that he’s going to spend most of that newly free cap space to re-sign overrated bums likes Frederick Gaudreau, yea I said it. If we give anything more than $1.5 million for Gaudreau this will be a disastrous waste of cap. Even more worrying is what if they have the audacity to resign Mark Jankowski or Colton Sceviour, most likely they will not and most of those players are being left to walk. The biggest worry that I have, is that Radim Zohorna does not get signed, IT IS A REQUIREMENT as GM that you sign this kid to a deal, he’s an absolute must. Zohorna has proved he deserves a roster spot, he’s got great speed, good at skating, has size, bursts into the zone, and has a great shot to boot. Hextall will look like a complete and utter failure if this talent doesn’t get penned, you can bet that I will be the first one to write a ten page essay on what a failure that would be. 

Second worry, Nathan Legare does not make the main roster…again. For all that is holy, please, call this kid up to the main roster, okay you didn’t call him two years ago, you felt he wasn’t ready, okay well when is he? Do you really want to waste him for two more years down in the dumps while he pummels peasants? How is he going to get good doing that, the answer is, he’s not. So now is the time, he looks fantastic, he’s toasting the puck in the QMJHL, while he embarrasses players way below his skill level. The verdict is out, goalies in the QMJHL have sent the letters that they are tired of being dumpsterd on by Legare, they want him up to the NHL so he can start getting hat tricks against them instead. Alright, I’ve had my jokes, but in all seriousness, if Penguins management cannot see the talent they have in Zohorna & Legare then in all honesty they don’t deserve to have them in the first place….

Closing thoughts

The Penguins have an opportunity here to do a lot, to put a winning cup team on the ice, plenty of moves to make, plenty of young talent to work with, BUT we’re going to see if they are any good at asset management, and if they know what pieces to add, clearly over the past couple years they don’t, but hopefully lord Hextall is the change we need, or he’s more of the same.