These proposals also have the Kyle Dubas tax included on them, so they may seem odd targeting future picks and mediocre returns but that seems to be Dubas' strategy.
Trade 1:
Penguins trade Marcus Pettersson at 50%
Canucks trade Desharnais, Elias Pettersson (D-man) and a 2025 2nd
Pettersson immediately slides onto the 2nd pair to play with Myers, which makes the Canucks 3rd pair Soucy-Brannstrom. Elias is a good stylistic replacement for Marcus as a prospect and the 2025 2nd replaces the one they don't have. Desharnais is mostly included for cap, but he's a guy who can play regular minutes now and likely can bring back another mid round pick next year.
Trade 2:
Penguins trade O'Connor and Nedjelkovic
Avs trade a 2027 2nd and 2025 4th
Pretty simple one, Avs get some goaltending help and cheap forward depth and the Penguins get more futures. I think a 3rd for each of O'Connor and Nedjelkovic is fair, but since the Avs don't have any 3rds in the next 2 years, I made it a 2nd in 2 years the line and a 4th this year.
Note I'm not sure of the cap implications of this with Colorado, it's only them adding about $3 million but I don't know if they have the cap space to add $3 million right now. Since it seems like Landeskog is done, I think they may have the LTIR space for it though.
Trade 3:
Penguins trade Rakell
Kings trade Kaliyev and a 2026 2nd
Kings get a righty scoring winger that should be able to help out with their mediocre total scoring (15th) and PP% (24th). The Kings also have very few righty shots in their forward group, so I think adding Rakell gives them a bit more balance with that. Penguins get an interesting reclamation project in Kaliyev and another 2nd in 2026. I'd also be interested in Turcotte as that "interesting reclamation project" but I think there's no chance the Kings would go for that.
I think the cap could be complicated for the Kings trade as well, it largely depends on when Doughty is projected to be healthy.
Trade 4:
Penguins trade Letang
Predators trade Carrier and a 2025 3rd
Think this one may be too aggressive of an ask from the Predators, but Letang adds another legitimate OFD thread from their blueline behind Josi. Penguins get a worse but younger RD to replace Letang and more futures.
I think this one is a long-shot due to Nashville's struggles to start this year, but I doubt they'd just throw in the towel after signing Stamkos and Marchessault last year. They also have 3 1sts this year, so I could see them being willing to sacrifice some futures to get better now.