|
Chance greater than Nils of a future trade |
|
|
|
|
|
Regardless of the wins and losses we see in the coming weeks I do not believe the big picture gameplan will be changing for the Penguins. They are going to be sellers of their veteran players and will be looking to add futures and/or players who are younger and NHL caliber. A recent rumor has the Penguins tied to one of their former GM’s players.
Written 32:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/32-thoughts-some-surprises-on-4-nations-face-off-rosters/
[image or embed]
— Elliotte Friedman (Bot) (@notfriedgehnic.bsky.social) December 6, 2024 at 5:07 PM
18. I think Pittsburgh has real interest in Nils Hoglander. Meanwhile, the Penguins have shoppers for Drew O’Connor.
Nils Hoglander is 23 years old and as you can see his card is mostly bluish which is what you like to see. His WAR is trending in the right direction. Hoglander is the type of NHL player I imagine Dubas is looking for (young, cost controlled, reasonable cost of acquisition, draft pedigree).
So while I don’t think Hoglander is necessarily a bad trade target there are some things worthy of pointing out. His 5v5 points per 60 is only 1.05 which puts him in the neighborhood of Sam Poulin for reference sake. He needs to turn some of these expected points into tangible 5v5 points. Overall, he only has two goals and five points in 26 games this season.
What I don’t want to see is Hoglander being a main piece of a potential Marcus Pettersson trade (you know Rutherford would love to have him again) like Michael Bunting was a main piece of the Guentzel trade. Pettersson will be a highly sought after piece in the open trading market. I would rather utilize that asset in a different way than tying it into a Hoglander deal where the other piece(s) would be diluted. Pettersson is one of the few assets the Penguins have that they are willing to trade and could fetch a decent return.
Furthermore, it sounds like the Canucks are fine moving on from Hoglander so no need to buck up with a Pettersson-like asset anyways. From Josh Yohe:
Höglander hasn’t just fallen out of favor with a coach. He’s fallen out of favor with Rick Tocchet.
People in the NHL talk. A lot. Tocchet and Mike Sullivan talk. A lot. I assure you they will discuss players if a trade is being considered, and I assure you they’re both straight shooters, especially with one another. If Höglander has fallen out of favor with Tocchet — and that seems to be the case — I would have to think the Penguins would have serious reservations about acquiring him. Sullivan trusts Tocchet’s opinion as much as anyone’s in hockey and, while Dubas has the ultimate say on his roster, it’s not like Sullivan has no say. Just something to keep in mind.
At the end of the day this is Kyle Dubas’ team and while Mike Sullivan may not be enamored with a player I don’t think it is an automatic road block for an acquisition. This does speak to the Canucks being open for business in regards to Hoglander. We’ll see what happens. I could see a trade to the Penguins within the realm of possibility.
I do want to touch on the Drew O’Connor nugget from Friedman’s piece. If teams are shopping for Drew O’Connor, I say sell him. He’s fine. I don’t think he’s a bad player. I also think he’s held in higher regard because he is one of the very very few players who were “home grown” and made their way up through WB/S to a full-time role on the big club in recent years. He isn’t a unique player and he’s been given some quality linemates over the past few years. Right now, his points per 60 at 5v5 is 1.11 which is really low. Finding the next Drew O’Connor isn’t an unsolvable task and if somebody wants to make a decent offer they should move him. If he stays it’s fine, if he’s traded it’s fine.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»