by pcm on Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:57 pm
Anaheim has contacted Shero about acquiring a dman. I assume that they were looking at Niskanen, given his reported availability. Who would I want in return? Patrick Maroon. He's a hulking winger, who's getting [showcased] alongside Perry and Getzlaf while Penner and Silfverburg are out with injuries. He's only 25 and certainly hasn't proven he can score consistently in the NHL. But he'd be the type of guy that I think the Pens could take a chance on for an asset like Niskanen. At the very least he'll be a solid banging bottom 6'er.
Another option, if he heals okay from his concussion, would be Penner himself. I've honestly never really liked his game (too inconsistent, soft for his size), and I'd much rather go for the younger player, but if all he needs to do is stand in front of the net and take up space, he could potentially work really well on a line with Malkin and Neal. The salary evens out for both cap-strapped teams in a Niskanen-Penner swap.
The point of my above post though was not to say we absolutely should trade Niskanen (he's been our best dman up till now), but that we have incredible depth on D, and could still make a move there without losing much, despite Scuderi's injuries.