Sheary (2.50) - Crosby (8.70) - Hornqvist (4.25)
Guentzel (.925) - Malkin (9.50) - Sprong (.925)
Rust (.640) - XXXX - Kessel (6.80)
Wilson (.625) - Sundqvist (.925) - Kuhnhackl (.625)
Dumo (3.25) - Letang (7.25)
XXXX - Schultz (5.00)
Maatta (4.08) - XXXX
Murray (3.75)
XXXX
That's the foundation I'd go with moving forward. It leaves a ton of work to be done, but not all of the moves need to be made at once.
I'd be fine parting ways with Hagelin as we have Rust who essentially does the same thing but for a fraction of the price. I think that'd be much more apparent this season if Rust hadn't gotten injured. I love Hagelin, but not at $4M/yr.
Bonino's hat trick tonight doesn't outweigh his first 60ish terrible games this season. I'll wait to see what he does come playoff time, but I think what we're seeing is a lot closer to what Bonino is as opposed to what we saw down the stretch last season and through the playoffs.
I'm ready to move on from Maatta. I'm not saying I'd dump him for peanuts, but if we can use him in a 1-for-1 or as part of a significant package to land a guy that helps this team now and moving forward, I'd go for it. His skating is just something I can't get past, especially on this team which is built entirely on speed and transition. The NHL is a copycat league so I'd expect more teams to shift to a more speed oriented game, and that doesn't bode well for Maatta's chances at regaining the level of play we saw from him for the first half of his rookie season. I know his advanced stats aren't bad, but I think this is one of those situations where you have to take that stuff with a grain of salt.
Daley overachieved like crazy after being traded here, but the honeymoon is over. Time to move on.
Cole is a pretty bad defenseman and it's apparent that the success of the Cole-Schultz pairing was squarely on the shoulders of the latter player.
Sheary (2.50) - Crosby (8.70) - Hornqvist (4.25)
Guentzel (.925) - Malkin (9.50) - Sprong (.925)
Rust (.640) - XXXX - Kessel (6.80)
Wilson (.625) - Sundqvist (.925) - Kuhnhackl (.625)
Dumo (3.25) - Letang (7.25)
Alzner (5.25) - Schultz (5.00)
Maatta (4.08) - Kulikov (3.00)
Murray (3.75)
XXXX
I'd like to see us go after Alzner (I think he'd be great alongside Schultz) and Kulikov (we have a knack for rebuilding underachieving blueliners' careers). Could also put Alzner with Letang and put Dumo with Schultz. Solid balance on the blueline there, and a top-4 I really like a lot (assuming Dumo can right the ship, which I think he will). Move Hagelin and Cole, let Bonino/Kunitz/Daley walk.
That's $67.995M, with a 3C and backup to sign. Assuming the cap goes up to something like $73M, that's a ton of room. Could even slide Sundqvist up (assuming he impresses in camp/pre-season) and put someone like Rowney at 4C.
I would love a guy like Duchene here, but I think the blueline's a much, much more glaring need. That's tough to type out...
I would love to see Duchene on Sid's wing, and I think they'd be absolutely incredible together.