Galchenyuk < Kessel
Not sure how people are chalking this up as a win for Pitts. Coyotes did well here.
Look at how valuable cap space has become for teams this off-season. I think Pittsburgh got a pretty good return when you compare it to the Subban return for Nashville.
They get a guy that they can either re-sign to a cheaper deal than Phil if he works out or use that space to sign someone (they should be attractive as you get to play with Malkin) so they have a much better cap situation going forward than they would have with Phil.
Also, sure Phil was a PPG guy in Pittsburgh but with his age, body type, work ethic is it likely he was going to remain that way for much longer? I think it is worth it to move on from him sooner than later and it didn't seem like it was going to be easy to move him out.
I like the deal for both teams, Pittsburgh gets much better cap flexibility and a player that can replace Phil in the top 6 even if he doesn't replace his production. They also get a decent prospect which they are missing in their organization.
Its worth it for Arizona that Phil can keep up his production as they have a few good, not many great offensive guys on their team and he likely is more important to them than on the Pens who have Crosby and Malking stirring the drink offensively. Plus they don't have the salary cap concerns Pitt does so the 8 million doesn't hamstring them like it does the Pens.
