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List of Penguins players I am looking to trade away for the 2020-21 season

June 14, 2021, 12:25 PM ET [270 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Things are moving along as I place players on the Penguins roster into different categories. So far I've covered the "untouchable" players and the players I think the Penguins should not be looking to trade... but if another team instigates a quality offer you shouldn't ignore it, either.

Today will be players who are candidates for being actively shopped. This could mean the player and the contract are bad or it could mean the player is fine and the contract is a potential road block to the team improving other more important areas of the roster. Given the Penguins don't have any sure fire prospects who will help the active roster and have minimal futures of value to be traded creating cap space is one of the best things they can do to try and revamp the current roster. It won't be easy to do, but it doesn't mean the team shouldn't try. After all, ditching "bad" contracts was one of Ron Hextall's specialties in Philadelphia.

Here are the list of players I would be actively trying to trade.

Tristan Jarry

I said it wouldn't be easy. Jarry is still an unknown at this point in time and will be 27 next year. The Penguins can't roll the dice on someone who literally cost them a first round series again. He makes 3.5M and they need to figure out a way to pawn it off on somebody else. They need to go in a different direction. They can't run back a Jarry/DeSmith goaltending duo and DeSmith isn't really the problem at the moment. All goaltending decisions are a roll of the dice, but this one seems unnecessary.

Jason Zucker

Personally, I don't think he's as bad of a player as he showed this past season. However, the team doesn't seem to be willing to put him back with Sidney Crosby where he found success when he first came over from Minnesota. If they aren't willing to be flexible about where he plays then I'm not sure there's a point in keeping him to the tune of 5.5M the next two seasons. His track record is good enough where I don't think he remaining term is toxic. There are probably fits around the league to move him to. If the team can't find a taker for Zucker it wouldn't be catastrophic, but they should be looking for someone to do business with.

Mike Matheson

Matheson came as advertised this season. The good was good and the bad was bad. I thought this was a best case scenario season for him. He wasn't awful. He isn't Jack Johnson. However, this contract is junk. When you already have Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph waiting for a roster spot this is an obvious contract you would like to move. The problem with the contracts you most want to move is you want to move them for a reason. It won't be easy to find somebody to take on the term with this one. Matheson would be the first defender I looked to move out. Good luck to Ron Hextall trying to find a buyer here.

Marcus Pettersson

He's a perfectly fine player, but the Penguins have way too much money tied up on the left side of their blue line. Pierre-Olivier Joseph has an ELC contract and is a very likely NHL caliber player. The Penguins need to utilize their cheap playable contracts and Joseph is one of the few that they have. As mentioned above I would try to deal Matheson first, but if they can't then something has to give and it might be Pettersson's mid-tier contract

Brandon Tanev

I thought Tanev had a really good year for the Penguins. He is a very competent and effective fourth line player. That's just it though, he's a fourth line player making 3.5M. It is a luxury on a team that now needs to find a new starting goalie and add more legit scoring depth. If you're going to get out of this contract before it turns south now is the time when Tanev is coming off of a decent season. Some people might think he can continue to contribute like he did this season, but I look at that shooting percentage of 16.3 last season and believe it to be closer to an anomaly than the reality moving forward. It would be nice if the Penguins roster was structured to where they had the luxury of keeping a 3.5M fourth line player, but I don't think it is. For the Penguins to make a go of things in the next two years they'll need to try and make some free agent acquisitions and they'll need cap space to do it. Tanev is a player who's contract doesn't maximize value and there's only so much money to go around. I would look to move on from him despite him not being a bad player. It's the same argument for moving Marcus Pettersson.

Juuso Riikola

Remember this guy? He is still signed for another year! He also makes 1.15M. Get rid of this contract. The most bizarre player situation I can remember. Nothing about his Penguins tenure makes sense and it would be doing both the team and player a favor by moving on.

Mark Jankowski

I guess you don't have to trade him he is a pending RFA, but you certainly don't have to qualify him. Adios, Mark, nice first shift with the team, the next 736 not so much (yes I did look up the number).

Thanks for reading!
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