I see them as a team close to the cap who will likely want to have some cap flexibility.
They are a team I looked at and thought "this team will likely add at the tdl" or possibly a team that R.Nash would stay in the NHL to play for.
Either way they have Hagelin on their 4th line making 4 million as a cap team. His struggles last year make him a negative value player IMO (30 point oave over last two seasons) or maybe neutral.
Even if the trade is Leivo and a 4th for Hagelin and a 2nd I think it makes sense.
A. Cap flexibility is worth nothing if you can't add anyone with it. The Penguins aren't exactly overflowing with valuable trade assets, so having cap space just to have cap space is pretty worthless to them.
B. Hagelin isn't going to be playing on the Penguins 4th line, especially considering how weak they are on LW. He'll either be playing on their 2nd or 3rd line.
C. There's not a chance in hell he's a negative value player. You don't bring him in based on his offense, you bring him in based on his speed and defense. Even if you only value him based on his offense, $4 million for a 30 point player is about the going rate based on what GMs are paying players.
This is just not a thought out proposal for the Penguins. Why are they adding to get a worse player when they're a win now team? They'll stomach Hagelin's high cap hit and let him walk after next year, which isn't even a negative because Hagelin is a solid player who provides something they lack. I wouldn't do Hagelin for Leivo straight up, let alone adding to Hagelin to make that swap.
You're basically suggesting the Penguins dumping Hagelin in a negative value trade, when there are more Penguins fans who don't want to trade Hagelin at all. There are quite a few Penguins fans on HF that don't want to trade Hagelin at all, because of the special talents he brings.