Pittsburgh certainly has the pieces. I think BA would love to add Pickering (doubt they’d move this one), Poulin, or Blomqvist. And, of course, the 1st is usually in play with Pittsburgh (though maybe not with Hextall). I also seem to recall hearing Pittsburgh would love to get out of that Marcus Pettersson contract. We could certainly help with that, too.
So my question would be if we even need to involve LA?
You're right about the pieces, and I think Blomqvist is the secret weapon. The Penguins are higher on him than Clang, which is why they were willing to let the latter go in the Rakell deal. He's got legit starter potential, but if the Pens extend Jarry who's contract is up next summer, and if they're sufficiently high on Filip Lindberg and Taylor Gauthier, would they be willing to part with Blomqvist? I don't know. He may not be an impact G during the next 3-4 years that will be the end of the Crosby/Letang/Malkin core. Not sure if you saw the recent article on him here:
Blomqvist striving to be starting goalie for Penguins
Same idea with Pickering. He's got top 2/top 4 potential but, like Blomqvist, is he going to make an impact during the next 3-4 years? Probably not, but Chychrun certainly would.
As far as Dumoulin: the reason why I include him is because he has positive value (especially if retained 50%). He could be next season's David Savard or Ben Chiarot as a deadline acquisition type. But he doesn't have positive value for the Coyotes since they're not contending, so his value would be based on AZ being able to flip him to another team. That's why I was asking about the Kings or other potential suitors, because the positive value he *might* be able to bring back for AZ would be an important part of how he's valued in a package for Chychrun.
As far as Pettersson: Yes, the Pens would have liked to move him over Matheson, but given Dumoulin's age and being much easier to trade, and while Pettersson's game has had ups & downs, I think that given the term he has left on his contract, he may have negative value and the Pens shouldn't pay to "dump" him IMO. Instead, I think they should keep the younger Pettersson, who still has more upside I believe, over re-signing an older Dumoulin next summer when he's a UFA.
The player I would like to include to shed some salary is Brock McGinn. He's a very good 3rd line winger, but the Pens could certainly replace him with a UFA or younger prospect who can be effective at a much lower cap hit. With Carter + Kapanen both making $3.2M, the Pens have too much tied up in their bottom 6 in the flat cap world, so McGinn is the guy I would look to include as the cap dump.
And if McGinn was included, the Pens could afford to retain ~$1M if necessary on Dumoulin, if that's helpful for AZ to more easily flip him to a 3rd team by bringing down his AAV.
So if I was the GM, that would be my mindset and a package could be something like:
- Dumoulin (possibly $1M retained, and would be trade bait for AZ)
- McGinn
- Pickering
- Blomqvist
- 2023 1st
My hope in the above scenario would be Dumoulin's positive value in a trade to a 3rd team (2 2nds or a 2nd + 3rd) could offset the negative value or "cap dump cost" to include McGinn. So it's essentially 2023 1st + Pickering + Blomqvist for Chychrun, and then Dumoulin for McGinn in a sense.
When we do trade Chychrun it will probably be a team out of left field.
