Pittsburgh looking like a serious contender for Pacioretty:
"Last Wednesday, the Penguins’ General Manager told the
Cook and Poni radio show on 93.7 The Fan the Penguins are considering abandoning their chase of a third-line center in favor of middle depth. After seven months, and after couple deals which fell apart in the final minutes, the Penguins are looking at other ways “to do this.”
“This” of course means to build a Stanley Cup-worthy team around Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
However, the initial stated premise by Rutherford, that scoring has been spread out across several lines, is a mirage. The Penguins are not a four-line team. They are a two-center team.
The third line produces points when Sidney Crosby is the center between Jake Guentzel andPhil Kessel. The fourth line produces when Crosby or Malkin pivot between Tom Kuhnhackland Bryan Rust. ... The Penguins are winning, their best players are producing, and their secondary players are often spectators who drive Crosby’s ice time to its highest level in four years.
Load up the top six?
If the Penguins cannot find or acquire the proper pivot,
the “other way” is old school Penguins thinking: Load up the top six.
If you can’t roll four good lines, roll two great ones. Everything which is old becomes new again.
The Penguins scouts have attended Buffalo Sabres games and Montreal Canadiens games. Both the Sabres and Canadiens have coveted left wingers who would be a significant upgrade over
Dominik Simon on the Penguins top line.
...
The other brand name left wing supposedly on the market is the Canadiens’ Max Pacioretty. The Montreal captain has not sunk with the ship. Pacioretty, 29, has 13 points (8g, 5a) in his last 14 games.
Last weekend, Sportsnet’s
Nick Kypreos asserted it would take four pieces to get Pacioretty, or a solid NHL player and a piece in return. Pacioretty is owed almost $1.5 million this season and has a cap friendly $4.5 million hit next season.
...
Injuries Make Prices Go Up
The Penguins biggest problem is again injuries. Wingers
Patric Hornqvist and
Conor Sheary are out for a few more weeks. Kuhnhackl and Rowney could be out, as well.
Perhaps it was a coincidence the L.A. Kings and Winnipeg Jets immediately stopped scouting the Penguins following Sheary’s injury (stick tap to Twitter follower
Tom McCarthy for pointing that out).
If opposing GMs were trying to hold Rutherford to a higher standard before, now their ask will feel like armed robbery.
The league knows the Penguins are simultaneously chasing history and have only a few more chances at a Stanley Cup. The championship window is wide open but closing.
The Penguins need for reinforcements could be urgent by tomorrow, which only makes the prices higher.
Get ready for an overpayment for depth replacements or a big splash. Daniel Sprong, a first-round pick, and Sheary are fair game. Do not exclude Guentzel from the list of potential trade chips, either. That’s the cost of doing business this season.
For the Penguins to win another Stanley Cup, they will have to lose a trade. Or two. There just isn’t another way to win, this season.
Plan B may be to add big name talent for the top six. But Plan A, a solid third-line center, would still be the shortest route to sustainability."
What Exactly is Jim Rutherford’s Trade Deadline Plan B?
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This piece is stating that Pacioretty could be part of a Pittsburgh Plan B, with Plan A revolving around landing a third line center. However, there is more than enough reason to believe the Pens are leaning toward a solution that involves loading their top two lines and that would mean providing Crosby with a first line LW like Pacioretty.
Do the Pens have what it takes to get it done?
