Pittsburgh Penguins: Three Realistic Third Line Trade Options
By John Druga
Ryan Spooner
The first name that comes to mind is Ryan Spooner. Spooner is coming off of two very productive seasons with the Boston Bruins. He net 24 goals and scoring 88 total points in that two year span. He was already playing in a third line roll with the Bruins playing behind Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, so he knows the roll well.
The area Spooner could use the most work on is the defensive side of the ice. He has a -15 career +/- rating. Head coach Mike Sullivan is big on his centers coming back and helping in their own zone. That is something Spooner will have to work on if he were to play for the Pens.
The biggest troubling thing about Spooner is his current contract. The Bruins avoided arbitration by signing Spooner to a one year, $2,850,000 deal this offseason. While that amount of money is what GM Jim Rutherford is looking for in a third line center, he was rumored wanting upwards of $4,000,000 from the Bruins.