My impression from reading that article is:
1. JR is going after a fast top-6 winger that plays a very north-south game, with him mentioning how both Crosby and Malkin prefer to play with those kind of players.
2. He's going to trade the 1st. In the past, he's been much more adamant about not trading the first. His response in that article was pretty much "I don't want to, but I'm going to".
3. Reading between the lines, I don't get the vibe that JR would be trying to acquire a top-6 forward had Guentzel not gotten hurt. I think he's perfectly fine with acquiring a rental because he may think the Penguins don't need a top-6 forward with Guentzel healthy.
I think they either get Kreider and let him walk after the year or they get Zucker and trade Kahun in the off-season.
Play the **** out of the top-4 and I'm completely happy with that defense. MP-Marino has been analytically stellar as a pair and Dumoulin-Letang is obviously one of the best top pairs in hockey. I'm perfectly fine with having a crappy bottom pair (mostly in terms of how the two players fit) with how good the top-4 has been.