Pens interested in bringing Colby back?

TSN's Darren Dreger speculates...

With a clear disclaimer there are no guarantees any of these men will get moved, we present ten prominent players believed by NHL sources to be in the mix.

Atlanta's Colby Armstrong has attracted interest this season, including from Pittsburgh who would like to see him reunited with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

Armstrong has been one of few bright spots in Atlanta, scoring 13 goals (and 21 points) in 49 games so far this season...Last year in his time in Pittsburgh Colby scored just 9 goals (but had 24 total points) in 54 games before the trade. Army is also in Atlanta's alternate captain rotation and has been highlighted as an important piece of the Thrashers puzzle. Army's set to be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

It would be interesting to see what ATL would want in return. Could Ray Shero sell them Mark Eaton as a valuable defensemen (and have the T-bombs take Eaton's $2 million cap hit through next season)? That would be pretty big for the Penguins. Does Atlanta want a draft pick? Prospect(s)? That's the key, as well as any other contenders that might have more value for Atlanta.

It would be great to see Armstrong reunited; but then again he's been gone for 10 months and the world did not end. He's a popular teammate and among the fans but let's all remember he wasn't quite the answer as Sidney Crosby's winger last time, what would make this time any different?

Then Dreger noted:

Pittsburgh defenseman Ryan Whitney's name is making the rounds. Pens GM Ray Shero may use Whitney to lure a top line forward for a late-season charge.

Which wouldn't be surprising, either. Shero's got to make a move to snag a winger. With Whitney, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski the Penguins have a glut of puck moving defensemen, even before the anticipated return of Sergei Gonchar. Obviously the writing is on the wall that one of the aforementioned three young defenders is going to be moved. We don't think it's Letang; he's the youngest of the bunch and is a prized right handed shot. Whitney has the most value, but would also be the best player for Pittsburgh to retain. Goose has been stuck in healthy scratch hell, largely through no fault of his own.

As always, stay tuned...

Sydor requests trade

According to the Trib, Darryl Sydor has asked the Pens for a trade.

Not shocking, even with Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney out with injuries, Sydor couldn’t find his way into the lineup due mainly to rookie Alex Goligoski playing so well at the NHL level. Further, sooner or later Gonchar and Whitney will re-join the team and that’s just going to push Sydor even further down the depth chart, if not off the team entirely.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that Sydor has seen the writing on the wall and requested a change of venue. The bigger question is, at 36 years old, are there any takers for him? Surely the Penguins would be willing to shed Sydor (and his $2.5 million salary) for little more than a late draft pick or far-flung prospect.

Sydor hasn’t been ineffective when he has been in the lineup but it is clear time is starting to pass him by and he’s not the player he once was. Still, it’s hard not to think he could be a 5/6 defensemen on any number of NHL teams and as injuries mount up perhaps another team will be willing to get Sydor.

Could potential Meszaros offer-sheet impact Pens?

Ottawa's RFA defenseman Andrej Meszaros has supposedly signed an offer sheet with another team for $5 million a year, roughly $1.5 million more than the Sens were offering in the last negotiation.

Well the team isn't the Penguins so what's the impact in this corner of the world?...It could be Tampa Bay. Hey, they're crazy enough to do anything and even though Meszaros isn't a forward, he could be a useful player for them....So what's the catch?

The announcement of which team has signed Meszaros hasn't been made yet. If Ottawa chooses not to match the contract (which seems likely), the new team will forfeit their 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks in next season's draft as compensation.

Tampa Bay, the astute reader might remember, has already dealt their 3rd round pick to Pittsburgh in exchange for the early negotiating rights (and subsquent signing) of Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts....Could this Meszaros signing not have been announced because Tampa must wrangle and re-acquire the pick?

Maybe, maybe not. It'd sure be interesting though if Tampa wants Ray Shero to send back their 3rd rounder, that's a good bit of leverage for the Penguins. Maybe they could add one of Tampa's 20+ forwards (like Jussi Jokinen!) for a 3rd round pick.

Time will tell but it does seem unusual that the supposed news of Meszaros' offer sheet signing was over 24 hours ago and the team who made the signing hasn't be identified yet.


UPDATE!!!

Craig Custance says you can eliminate Atlanta, Columbus and Phoenix, three teams with the need (and cap room) to potentially go for this kind of bold move.

So, that would leave just a handful of teams (Vancouver, LA, Minnesota, New York Islanders) that would have the cap-room, need and balls to grab Meszaros. And, of course, you gotta have Tampa in the conversation..

Columbus not the spot for Malone?

Apologies for TST turning into the "All Taters All the time" network, but there really isn't that much going on in Penguin land at the moment.

Kuklaskorner quoted an interview on Canadian radio with hockey "expert" Nick Kypreos:

Nick Kypreos was just on Fan590 in Toronto and stated Ryan Malone has been telling people that Columbus, along with Toronto is one of the teams he does not
want to play for. Nick feels Columbus is just trying to show an effort to sign a player.

This would make sense. If the Penguins do feel they will lose Malone (and it seems they will) then why not try to trade his rights to another team for draft compensation. Malone though holds a lot of cards, after all he only needs to wait two more weeks and then he can field offers from all 30 teams. A destination like Columbus, who's been one of the league's worst teams (and never qualified for the playoffs) since their inception in 2000 is not the most promising of markets.

As for the Toronto jab, we buy that too. Bugsy is a pretty laid back guy, and there are stretches of the season when he doesn't always produce goals and assists. He'll be one of the most sought after UFA's, but that doesn't mean he's necessarily got the pure skill of some of the other UFA forwards. Why subject yourself to a hockey hotbed like Toronto that demands results every night under an intense media and fan microscope?

We don't doubt that Pittsburgh and Columbus have had talks about exchanging the rights of impending free agents for draft picks, but obviously without the willingness to sign a deal on the part of the player, the incentive for a team like the Blue Jackets to trade is shot.

Even if the BJ's would offer Malone a very reasonable salary (rumored to be $4.5-$5.5 million annually for 4-5 years) it stands to reason other GMs could bump the price up just as high and Malone could play in a more favorable hockey environment like Vancouver, Minnesota or Boston. If we were a player or an agent in Malone's position that's this close to testing the open market, why negotiate with just one team when there's multiple suitors about to fall over each other offering perhaps just as much if not more money.

Wait and see Pens fans, but at this point we're skeptical that any deal goes down. News of Malone to Columbus was broken by the Ohio reporters seven days ago....If a serious storm was brewing, it stands to reason that the teams and players would have an agreement in place by now. With the clock ticking quickly towards the approaching draft (and free agency) it seems the Pens getting "something for nothing" by dealing a guy like Malone or Brooks Orpik is shrinking every minute.

Malone to Columbus Today...Or Wednesday...Or Thursday

More rumblings from Columbus with a now inexact time-table of when the Penguins may trade Ryan Malone's negotiating rights to the Blue Jackets...

A trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the negotiating rights to winger Ryan Malone could be struck today or, more likely, Wednesday, NHL sources told The Dispatch.

later in the article...

They would have to do [the trade] by Wednesday, or possibly Thursday, so a contract for Malone could be hammered out and sent to the NHL for approval before the draft.

So there you have it. Ryan Malone to the Blue Jackets today....Or more likely tomorrow. But it'll have to be done by Thursday. Unless the negotiations are a cinch and the BJ's can trade for him on Friday. Unless they want to gamble and trade for him Saturday the day of the draft.....Or maybe Sunday....

(Stick tap to kuklaskorner for the link)

Hold your sides, it's time to laugh

Malkin Rumours [sic] continue to surface as talk is that he is looking for a HUGE deal in the area of 10 years 100 million. I would be careful to buy into these rumours [sic]...but I do know that every team out there would put a bid in on a player who may be the best in the world someday. I don't see him be moved by the draft. One rumour has him going to the LA Kings for a MAJOR package of players. Another has him going to Toronto. A third, going to Dallas. While I hate to dismiss rumours [sic] ever, I think we need to see where this is going first with his contract.

There's a reason no self-respecting blog ever mentions the name of Eklund, but this is just too good to pass up. (Quoted emphasis ours).

Point one: We can at least kind of see the logic in "Whoa there" Pierre McGuire spouting off talking about Malkin getting traded to the Kings. At least with young players like Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Alex Frolov and Jack Johnson (plus the second pick in the draft) the Kings could--if they wanted to--throw enough talent in the direction of the Pens to draw interest. But hockey is a team sport. Say Malkin got a high ankle sprain like Sidney Crosby did this season...They'd be screwed.

But Dallas or Toronto? Toronto? What in the world would they have to offer? Nothing. Absolutely nothing of interest (no offense, Dallas).

Point two: As the terms of the collective bargaining agreement go, Pittsburgh is not even allowed to talk extension with Malkin (or Jordan Staal) until July 1. Rumors of Malkin already wanting out are putting the horse way before the buggy.

Point three: No one--aside of Malkin and his agent-- knows what he wants. Malkin said, on record, that he liked the money per year Alex Ovechkin got (and who wouldn't) but that Gino didn't like the length. And there's nothing to fault in that...If the salary cap continues to rise, as it has every year, AO left a lot of money on the table compared to what he could have received. Not that there's anything wrong with what he signed, after all the man is guaranteed $124 million over the next 13 years and that's more than anyone else in the sport of hockey (or 99.9% of the general population) can hang their hat on.

Who's to say Malkin wouldn't extend for $8 million, $8.7 million, $9 million or $10 million? And would he sign on for 3, 4, 5 or 6 more years? The point is, no one really knows right now. If Malkin wanted $24 for three, he'd get it. If he wanted $34 for four, he'd probably get it. If he wanted $45 for five, he'd probably get it. The elite stars of this league basically write their own contracts. It's what Ovechkin did by adding on the final seven or eight year on a whim at the las minute and it's what Crosby did by getting his average up to $8.7 million per year. That's the way it works.

And, even if Malkin signed 10 years, $100 million and the Pens wanted/needed to trade him (or he requested it) in three or four years, would that dissuade a suitor from getting a guy who's still very young and would be arguably the best offensive player in the game? Doubt it. But then again it's doubtful this situation ever makes it out of hypothetical.

Of course, if Calgary calls up and offers Dion Phaneuf, Jarome Iginla and a host of first round picks, we'd help Malkin pack his bags for the Northwest. No one is untouchable, to be sure. But why in the world would Calgary (or anyone else with the value to pull the trigger) make such the disproportionate deal in favor of the Pens to make it happen?

In conclusion, Eklund is an idiot and anyone who thinks that Malkin is interested in playing away from Pittsburgh, his buddy Sergei Gonchar and even further outside of his North American comfort zone next year and the years to come is probably smoking something you'd get in trouble for selling on the streets.

Pens looking to get something from nothing?

Interesting whispers have come out of Columbus, namely the Columbus Dispatch writer Aaron Portzline's blog:

The two clubs have had preliminary trade talks, the Dispatch has learned. The discussions have involved Pittsburgh trading the rights to one or two of their pending unrestricted free agents -- players the Penguins have decided they can't keep because of the salary cap -- to the Blue Jackets for draft pick or player
compensation.

It's unclear who the players are, but Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik seem like logical choices. Hey, why not Marian Hossa?

My guess is the Blue Jackets will be giving up draft picks. I don't think anything is imminent. Right now, Penguins GM Ray Shero has to be sweating it out deciding
who he's going to keep or let go...When he figures out how he's going to build the roster, the trading could commence.

The conventional wisdom each summer is that talks won't get serious until the draft gets underway on on June 20. But that's not true anymore.

We agree that if anything would happen, it's probably going to be more towards the draft day, and the return for Pittsburgh almost certainly will be draft picks. The Penguins gave up their first three picks to acquire roster players (1st for Hossa, 2nd for Hal Gill and the 3rd to get Georges Laraque last year).

At this point, the key word in the quoted artice is "preliminary". We wouldn't imagine anything is imminent, Shero's probably looking at all possibilities open to him. There is a history to this, right before the "silly season" of free agent signing in 2002 a couple of deals were made. The only one we can remember off the top of our head is Toronto sending UFA to be Tie Domi to Nashville for an 8th round pick. The rationale was a loop-hole in the old CBA that a low budget team like Nashville would get a compensatory pick for losing Domi (who ended up going back to Toronto) and Toronto got a little extra. Toronto, we believe, wouldn't have stood to gain a compensatory pick had they lost Domi because they spent too much money on salary and weren't eligible for the pick under the terms of the previous CBA.

Back to present day, this makes sense for the Pens. If initial talks with Malone or Orpik showed the players were asking for more money than Pittsburgh could budget, or if the players were interested in seeing just how much they could get when 30 teams bid on their services, Pittsburgh doesn't get much when they walk. At least by trading the short-term rights to a UFA to be, they could receive a needed draft pick in two weeks.

By that same token, if the player really wanted to test the open market, what good would it do to trade his rights for conditional draft picks that likely won't come to pass. And while the article specifically mentions Malone, Orpik and Hossa, the Penguins have a host of other impending free agents (Laraque, Adam Hall, Pascal Dupuis, Jarkko Ruutu and Ty Conklin, among others). Perhaps Columbus specifically contacted Pittsburgh about getting a leg up on everyone else when it comes to getting a chance to negotiate with a lesser light. It's pure speculation on our end, of course, but right now no one seems to know much of anything.

We're not sure how the NHL would respond to a conditional trade like this--they weren't happy about the Toronto/Nashville shenanigans back in 2002-- but something would be better than nothing. Plus the last CBA was hundreds and hundreds of pages of legal mumbo-jumbo that dozens and dozens of lawyers wrote, proofread and tweaked. With examples like the 2002 loophole still a little fresh on their minds, we think if they wanted to close it, it would have been done. But then again compared to the major issues of that document (salary cap, defining revenues to be shared, etc) this couldn't have been too prominent on the radar.

And say, who was the assistant GM back in Nashville that would have knowledge of this practice to be keyed in? The very same Shero. This will be an interesting development to watch unfold.

Also last season it might be relevant to point out that the Preds dealt to UFA to bes (Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell) for a first round pick last summer, so it seems recent precedent would be in favor of this deal to happen.

Where there's smoke there's not always fire, but since this is coming from a non-rumormongering source that's actually based in the other city, we won't flat out dismiss it as trash.

Eyes and ears open Pens fans, business is most assuredly about to pick up.

Shero was in Toronto so he must be after Sundin

Ray Shero took in last night’s Florida blowout of Toronto. Which, less than three weeks before the trade deadline leads to the obvious speculation that he was there for more than just a routine visit.

This article, as you’d expect from one written in Toronto, suggests Shero could be targeting Leafs’ captain Mats Sundin or Florida captain Olli Jokinen. Hey, go big or go home, right?

Aside from the obvious, which apparently isn’t obvious to those north of the border writers, here’s why it won’t happen.

Jokinen won’t be a Penguin because:

• They’re 1 point out of the division lead. The Southeast has devolved into a 4 team slugfest, at this point looking like only the winner will be in the playoffs. A team doesn’t trade their captain and best offensive player when they’re so close to the playoffs.
  He has 3 more years on his contract, and it’s pretty favorable for the Panthers. They’re not going to trade him and downgrade their chances just because he has supposedly has heat with management. It is true that winning cures all, and if they do that, obviously everyone’s happy.
• Even if Florida was interested in a trade, the cost would be far too high. Playing devil’s advocate, if we’re the Florida GM the first thing we’d ask for is someone the Pens aren’t going to deal (Jordan Staal). But if Pittsburgh wants to acquire a top flight player, they’re going to have to pay a king’s ransom, something for the Pens to consider. Simply Erik Christensen and a draft pick is not going to be enough.

Sundin won’t be a Penguin because:

• The most obvious reason is he holds the cards. Sundin has a no trade clause and doesn’t have to go anywhere. In fact, all his public comments to this point have said he doesn’t intend to leave Toronto; neither now nor this summer when he could be a UFA. Players have waived NTCs (Gary Roberts, Georges Laraque) to join the Pens as a contender but they don’t necessarily have to.

• Again the return is going to be too high. Shero has said his philosophy is to build through the draft and not trade high picks. Toronto will surely want a young player in the organization (like maybe EC or Alex Goligoski), an impressive prospect (like Angelo Esposito) and definitely the Pens 1st round pick this season. That’s too much a price to rent Mats Sundin for a couple months, especially given the Pens depth at center when Crosby returns.

So throw the big guns out of your mind…Think of what Michel Therrien said the Penguins need; a touch defenseman. Since we’ve ruled Florida out as sellers, someone sticks out in Toronto’s lineup….Which is easy to do, because he’s 6’7”.

We’re talking Hal Gill. For his mis-comings (not pretty skating at times) he’s earned a bad rap to the average fan. But consider some of his finer attributes:
--102 blocked shots, 82 hits this season. That would rank him 1st and 2nd in those respective categories among Penguins.

--A manageable salary of just over $2 million (which mean it would cost about an additional $600,000 to add him for the remainder of this year) plus next year he makes $2.1 million.
At 32 years old, he’s not over the hill like some other defenseman that could be on the trade block.

--Despite averaging over 21 minutes of ice-time a night for one of the league’s sloppiest and worst teams, Gill’s +/- is a respectable -3.

--Unlike current Penguins defensive defenseman, Gill can actually do something with the puck, as evidenced by his output of 2 goals and 17 assists. Even those modest stats are better than Rob Scuderi, Brooks Orpik and Darryl Sydor….Combined. Plus Gill has more assists than Ryan Whitney. Just sayin’.

We’re not saying the Pens will 100% certainly bring Hal Gill in. But given his skill-set, salary situation and place on the team, it seems a lot more realistic to see Shero rather than try to acquire Gill than look seriously into the Sundin Sweepstakes (too expensive) or the Jokinen Jackpot (which probably doesn’t exist).

Christensen to Columbus?

The NHL might still be on All-Star break today, but there's never a break in the rumors..TSN is reporting

Further to last week's Backchecking note that the Blue Jackets are interested in Penguins C Erik Christensen, the Toronto Sun says that Columbus would offer D Duvie Westcott in a swap. The Columbus Dispatch thinks it might be Ole-Kristian Tollefsen going for Christensen.

Years of following this type of thing has taught us: don't trust a newspaper from a town that's not even involved in the deal (in this case the Toronto Sun). Westcott is not a very good swap for the Penguins perspective..

Tollefsen, on the other hand (from his TSN player profile)..

Assets: Loves to lay on the body and displays a wealth of toughness and aggression along the blueline. Has the makings of a sound defensive defenseman.

Flaws: Needs to improve his all-around skills, since he's below average with the puck. Just learn when to pick his spots in the hitting department.

Career potential: Defensive defenseman

Tollefsen is younger and bigger than Westcott and seems to be more in-line with the Pens needs. We use "seems" because not that much Columbus hockey is known to us, so no bold proclimations.

It'll be interesting to see if this trade goes down. It'd be hard to imagine the Pens making a move on dealing a forward for a defenseman while so key forwards are injured, but perhaps it could happen. The Pens recalled Wilkes-Barre captain Nathan Smith today so there are now (Kris Beech included) 13 healthy forwards on the roster.

Something to keep an eye on..