Soderberg is still a good player, but 50% retention is too much to eat for three years, especially since that drops the Pen's portion to less than 2.5m which is an absolute steal for a guy who should be good for 45-50 points on a high powered Pens offense. I'll take a shot at Pouliot while retaining enough to take it down below 4m for you, but if you want to reduce his cap hit by 50% more than a 4th has to come back. That's 7m in salary you're asking the Avs to pay out to watch him play somewhere else, that's worth way more than Pouliot and a 4th.
Oh, and we don't need to pay to dump his salary. We have no cap issues at all, and no major contracts to sign until the last year of his deal.
PIT can't afford him unless 40-50% is retained.
Neutral fan here. I think if you plan on acquiring Soderberg, then Kuhnackl would be more useful than Karlsson, so no need for this trade. As for the AVs trade, I think if you give up Pouliot, you can get more thant Soderberg, but you cold build around this base.
I don't know for the Avs fan, but maybe an all-in trade like Pouliot-Hagelin-high pick for Landeskog?
PIT has zero center depth even in their prospects. Blueger appears to be the best, and right now even him becoming a #3C is a longshot. Sodo has 3 years left on his deal, but that still isn't leaving us with anything, as it's unlikely anyone drafted in that span will be ready. Karlsson gives PIT some options - both for injuries and just in general over the next few seasons.
PS. There's no deal to be made around Hagelin and Pouliot for Landy.
If he can't break out in a sheltered role on the best team in the league he won't move the gauge ad a fringe bust prospect on the worst team in the league (give or take...no offense Aves fans trying to back up your perceived value here).
Two train's of thought here.
A) the fact that Pittsburgh is the best team in the league, and has/had one of the deepest bluelines in the league (our #9/10D to start the season averaged 18 minutes a night over 35 games). So the fact that he couldn't crack the lineup for any period of time doesn't mean all that much. It was a very deep lineup with our #6D (when healthy) playing within 3 minutes of our #2D (closest gap across the league) and as the best team in the league, we're not really able to cater to someone and allow them to grow into a role. As the defending champs, there isn't an easy game/night in the schedule, as we're a target for every team in the league - even more so going into next season as back to back champs.
B) The flip side of that is we had soooo many injuries (132 man games lost just to our blueliners), and while DP was part of that and missed 20 games, most of those missed games (to our other D) were lost at the end of the season when he was healthy. The fact that he didn't get games down the stretch when Ruhwedel was playing 19/21 minutes a night or in the playoffs, is a pretty good indication that he's been passed over.
So while sure he has "potential" as any young player does (he's only 23), and I think in general his "value" around the league is likely higher then what Pens fan's think it is... the odds are much better that he'll be a bust vs him being an NHL regular at this point.
