I don’t know, I’m not trying to pile onto Florida. But, if they strike out on Panarin and only get Bob how dumb does this move look?
It's fine, Panarin wasn't counted on in my scenario of pushing Bjug down to the 4th line. If they strike out on Panarin, they can invest that money in the defense which is a bigger need imo. So depending on who they'd get on D, I could be quite happy with the end result even without Panarin.
Does it make sense to trade Bjugstad and McCann for picks? What is the chances that a late 2nd round pick, 3rd round pick (from trading Brassard), and two 4th round picks that any of them will even produce one player as good as Bjugstad 26 or McCann 22 let alone both. McCann only being 22 is the kind of guy you hope a pick will produce and you are looking 5 years down the road to even have a shot at a guy that good. Bjugstad’s contract is not bad at all for a guy coming off a 49 point season. In today’s NHL it is what you have to pay. Do you think the Panthers will be able to get better bargains in the UFA market? Not likely because UFA’s almost always get overpaid.
Bjugstad seems like a great fit so far for our 3rd line Center and McCann looks like another Rust or better which is a great add for the Pens.
Bjugstad is coming a 49 points season where he got them on the first line. Without him on there, our first line has 74-77-54 (or 61 since Hoffman spends quite a bit of time on there). And I defended Bjugstad on the first line last season quite a bit but with his slow start at 1RW, the addition of Hoffman, and how well Barkov clicked with Vatrano...he became the 3RW and expendable. Bjugstad has never clicked with Trocheck, so he can't be on the 2RW. Very few wingers work well with Trocheck if we are being honest, so I can't fault Bjug for that. Then he was playing with McCann (or Borgstrom) on the 3RW and he was solid defensively, but he wasn't doing much offensively. 12 points in 32 games isn't good and it's even worse if you take away what he got from the first line and the PP time he got at the beginning of the season (being replaced on those by more productive players). You end up with something closer to 4 points in 16 games or so. That's also the rate he was scoring last season before being bumped to the first line.
So, one of the benefits of keeping your picks is that you don't have to overpay in UFA for 3rd liners that produce at a 30 points clip. Guys like Hawryluk, Tippett, Hunt, Malgin, Heponiemi are going to come in and give you similar production at a lower cost. Or you can always flip those 3rd and 2nd for other players like Hoffman or Vatrano. So having picks and not having Bjugstad's contract offer flexibility for the Panthers. Drafting is a numbers game, the more picks you have, the more chances you have of hitting on them and I quite like the picks the new staff has come up with the last few seasons. Heponiemi, Noel, and Gildon are coming along nicely for 2nd and 3rd round picks.
McCann was the price to pay for a 2nd rounder and to get rid of Bjugstad. I would have like to keep him but the team only played him at center and Barkov, Trocheck and Borgstrom were in his way. McCann being the 4C is a waste of talent imo. So I'm glad he got his opportunity elsewhere. The Panthers could have tried him on Barkov's wing, but Vatrano was tried before McCann got his chance there and Vatrano hit it out of the park. So I guess they viewed the deal to be better than what he was giving the team by being 4C or 3LW.
Whatever helps you sleep at night.
The only way the Panthers win this trade is if the cap space opened up allows them to snag Panarin and Bobrovsky, and even then it’s just a win-win. Bjugstad has been really good, a puck magnet who tires out opponents and is good defending in all areas of the ice. Simon-Bjugstad-Hornqvist has been really good of late, while Bjugstad hasn’t had a single bad game. It’s too early to know either way with McCann, but he’s looking like “Sid and the twins” might be our first line for the next decade. He’s making great steps every game, has shown a fantastic attitude, and is exactly the kind of player to shoulder a lot of the puck retrieval work that will be key to allowing Crosby to be an offensive dynamo into his late 30s and 40s, if he chooses to play that long. Both are under team control and young.
For all that, the Penguins gave up two older UFAs-to-be playing at an AHL level, and a handful of later picks who won’t make an impact for three to four years at minimum.
The Cap flexibility and the picks are already a win for the Panthers even without landing any UFAs and if the deal is a win for the Pens as well, good for them. It doesn't affect the Panthers in the slightest though.
Good for Bjugstad, but the Panthers already have players that do a similar job and for less money. After he was moved, the third line production and zone control didn't falter but improved. Heck, McGinn showed up and has been out playing him. The Panthers have good depth at forward and Bjugstad isn't needed on the third line for the Panthers.
I'm not surprised that McCann is playing well with Crosby and I'm really glad he got a shot at playing with an elite guy. But he wouldn't have gotten the same shot here since Huberdeau and Vatrano are in the way at LW.
