Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Thoughts on the Penguins / Blackhawks trade?

June 16, 2019, 10:44 AM ET [9 Comments]
HockeyBuzz Hotstove
RSSArchiveCONTACT
Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell

In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on the trade between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks.

Todd Cordell

Olli Maatta is a serviceable player but he's not a plus-skater, he doesn't drive play, he doesn't produce much offense, and I wouldn't call him a high-end defender. He is kind of just OK across the board. To me, that's not worth $4.08M annually.

Dominik Kahun is a versatile even-strength scorer who will surely fit in nicely with the collection of high-end forwards on the roster. That Pittsburgh also saved more than $3 million in cap space is a really nice bonus for them.

Though I understand why each team felt comfortable making this deal, I prefer the Penguins' side of it.

James Tanner

This seems like a very smart trade for the Penguins. They get the younger player, the player with more upside, the cheaper player and a draft pick.

Olli Maata is expensive at $4 million + and is OK not great. He won't be getting any better, and if anything he will get worse because he is slow.

Maata is OK but in a salary cap world teams should be looking for cheap players and reserve the cap hits for players who make significant impacts.

Replacing Maata with any random player and having that $3 million to spend + a winger who is by all accounts halfway decent is a very solid move.

Adam French

I guess this is a fair deal? I'm much more interested in what this will mean for the Penguins in Free Agency than the actual deal itself. Kahun had a solid rookie season, but I don't really think there is much beyond his initial output...weirdly enough much like Määttä himself. Kahun can find a place on the Pens third line for cheap and allow them to be more flexible in free agency.

Määttä, though slow, probably enters in as Chicago's number 3 at this point. Anybody thinking Boqvist would waltz onto the team this season is out to lunch. If you watched any Knights games, you'd know he's 2 years away at least, unless they are willing to let him run wild.

Interesting move and quite strange...but hey! That's life right?

Peter Tessier

I'm not sure. On one hand I think the tenure of Maatta was sort of done but is that because Rutherford is doubling down on Gudbrandson and Johnson or for other reasons?

I don't think it's a bad deal for either side it's just an odd one and it seems that Bowman may have at least bought himself some time by adding Matta. Time to figure out how he can really improve the defense and get it younger.

For Pittsburgh it's a move, shed some salary but I don't know if this makes them any better as a team as it's way to early to tell what and how Kahun will develop into.

Recent posts

W​hich under the radar forwards should teams target in free agency​?

Thoughts on Jeff Skinner's lucrative extension with the Buffalo Sabres?

Which defenders should teams avoid in free agency?

Which forwards should teams avoid in free agency?

Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko?

Thoughts on Brock Nelson's long-term deal with the Islanders?

How much is Mitch Marner worth?
Join the Discussion: » 9 Comments » Post New Comment
More from HockeyBuzz Hotstove
» Thoughts On The Matthews Extension
» Predicting Points For Connor Bedard
» Will McDavid and Draisaitl Stay in Edmonton?
» Thoughts On The Karlsson Trade
» Thoughts on the Tom Wilson Contract Extension