I have nothing to base this on, but I could see Hayes being shipped out this summer. Obviously, it would require a sweetener for someone to take him, but I could see the Pens packaging a 4th round pick in 2027 to get him off the roster and open up some cap room. He's not getting paid that much, with the current retention, and only has a year left. That would open a legit spot for someone like Ponomarev, etc. or a cheaper free agent forward, or even Heinen—should he remain, which I'm not totally against.FLPensFan wrote: Thu Apr 03, 2025 12:55 pmSo, maybe we've been looking at the draft all wrong. I've mentioned before I would have loved to have been aggressive in offer sheeting Wyatt Johnston...then the cap went up dramatically....then he signed a long term deal. I'd go back and see what it would take to get Mason MacTavish out of Anaheim. Would they take the Rangers 1st (this year), a 3rd, and maybe someone like Ponomarev?DeHaven162 wrote: Thu Apr 03, 2025 9:59 amI would agree with KD on the center position. Don't really know what we have with Novak, unfortunate injury timing. And Malkin at 2C is one of the main issues on this team, and no one is willing to admit that. I've said before, he'll still get some points due to natural talent, and he shows some legs for random three game stretches, but other than that, he's a black hole at such an important spot on the depth chart.KG wrote: Thu Apr 03, 2025 9:24 amKD was on a John Shannon podcast. He was asked what positions need the most upgrades on the NHL roster.
KD said centers and left hand d men. Wonder if they plan on moving Geno to wing next season? I like the idea of Novak as 3C because that will allow them to hopefully get back to 3 scoring lines.
I know that we need top 6 centers in the near future but I wouldn’t have put center as a big need for next season.
MacTavish just turned 22 years old. He has three 40+ point seasons, including 20 goals, 28 assists this year in 68 NHL games. A little low for 2nd line center, but he's quite young and still has some potential upside. There was some potential friction with the coach when Cronin described him as “Mac is a third-line guy that has offensive ability,” to reporters. He'd step in and play NEXT SEASON, whereas a Desnoyers, Frondell, etc, may be 2-4 years away from sniffing NHL ice.
If we use some draft capital on MacTavish, then with our earlier pick, we take an Eklund, Martone, Mrtka, Smith, etc.
The part about needing LD is true, but also a bit scary. Someone asked Taylor Haase which defensemen likely won't be on the team next year. Her response...Grzelcyk and Kolyachonok. That's shocking on a couple different levels to me (Taylor is anti-Kolyachonok....did a great job of point out how his analytics sunk, but of course, never showed how they were team best for his first 4-5 games). The thing is, no mention of Letang or Karlsson being gone this summer. She also said in another reply that she expects Dubas to be very aggressive this summer.
Imagine:
Malkin-Crosby-Rust
Rakell-MacTavish-Koivunen
McGroarty-Novak-Tomasino
Hayes-Lizotte-Acciari
Not thrilled about that 4th line because as a unit, they haven't been incredibly great together. But getting to that type of top 9 would be a big step forward in the path to return to the playoffs. Maybe MacTavish doesn't end up being the guy, but hopefully, there is a younger, under 24 aged center out there that a team is willing to move away from for whatever reason. We missed one opportunity with Dylan Cozens, though I doubt we had the assets to even be in on it. But, this is they type of big move Dubas needs to be looking at.
This seems like an easier route than eating salary/years to get rid of Graves or Jarry.
