Pittsburgh Penguins: Top 5 players to target via trade in 2020

This offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins is going to be crucial due to cap space. However, a few key trades could shake up things for the better going into next year.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a total of 11 contracts to work out this summer, 11! With those contracts come impending cap space issues and question marks surrounding specific trades. This article isn’t to start trade rumors or speculation, just to play GM for a day.

With that, let’s put on our best Jim Rutherford hat, grab our Fiji water, and open up the trading block. To not make a huge splash and completely rearrange the Penguins roster, we are going to look at three potential players that the Penguins should trade out. From those three players, we look at five potential incoming players to either fill the void or stack up another needed position.

Our three suitors to get the boot out this summer are Nick Bjugstad, Justin Schultz, and Matt Murray. For Bjugstad, his inability to ever really get going or stay healthy in Pittsburgh. As for Schultz, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze anymore as he’s been passed over by Marino and Pettersson.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Top 5 players to target via trade in 2020

Moving on to Murray, it’s a tough call, even playing a fake General Manager. This call will be difficult for Rutherford and Sullivan to make as either he or Tristan Jarry depart. It’s not smart money to keep both, so with Murray being worth more, you trade him.

Murray and Jarry are the same players in between the pipes, but Jarry is younger and cheaper. With all 3 of these guys come cities that they could go to, but for who or what in return? 2 out of 3 of these trades would be considered blockbuster deals, so let’s start with the milder or the three businesses and work our way up.

Two things stick out with this possible trade. For starters, Nick Bjugstad cannot seem to stay healthy. Which team in there right mind will want a third-line center that always is catching the injury bug? Additionally, he just hasn’t been that good since coming over from Florida back in February of 2019. If he does get traded, they will need, at a minimum, a solid left-winger.

For everything wrong, there typically is something right. For Bjugstad, it’s his size and his handedness. He’s the tallest guy on the Penguins roster and their only right-handed center. That size and uniqueness about him will open suitors, but where? Home for him is Minnesota, and they just happen to need more depth at the center position.

Don’t worry; you won’t find anywhere in this trade conversation the idea of Alex Galchenyuk coming back to Pittsburgh. What you will find, however, is a size for size comparison. On the second line, the Wild have a 6-foot 6-inch winger with upside in defensive prowess. The 23-year-old Jordan Greenway is currently on the Wild’s most defensive line, and he has a way with passing.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Top 5 players to target via trade in 2020

Greenway won’t blow you away with his offense tactics, but neither has Bjugstad. What you mostly get out of Jordan Greenway besides defense is enforcement. His eight goals and 20 assists aren’t your average 2nd line numbers, but he has time and time again finished the right results. The Penguins have potential on the blue line, but a defending forward could be just the ticket.

The only question mark that comes with Greenway is that he is slated to be an RFA this offseason. He is currently making just over $900,000 a year, but with a new contract in mind, he will undoubtedly be looking for more. Moneywise, this trade would just about even out both sides making it a smart move for the Penguins. They could also take the newly acquired winger and sign him longterm.

The saga between Justin Schultz and the Pittsburgh Penguins has reached its tipping point. If you think that’s intense, just ask a group of Penguins fans what should happen to Schultz. It’s a bit like dropping a stink bomb in a room and walking away. The truth is, Justin Schultz is no longer the defender he once was, but that doesn’t make him invaluable.

As previously mentioned, this post isn’t intended to start rumors, but they’re out there. It is rumored that the Detriot Red Wings are interested, but also a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs should be involved in Schultz’s services and for a good reason. Schultz, however, is too right to just give up for a few draft picks. No, the Pens will need some real compensation back.

Starting with the Red Wings, their defense is atrocious. The need for a solid defender there should be the first order of business. If a defender like Schultz will be a top priority, then the Penguins should look to get Anthony Mantha back in return. Mantha contributed 38 points last season and is projected to be on the Wings top two lines. It’s a long shot, but worth a chance.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Top 5 players to target via trade in 2020

As much as the Penguins probably need to sell him, they just can’t let him go. With that in mind, if the Mantha trade falls through, or isn’t as productive, look elsewhere. That elsewhere is in Toronto. The Leafs have what the Pens need, offense, and loads of it. I think you already know where I’m going with this one, but its time to bring back a Penguin that never really got going.

That player is Kasperi Kapanen, K Kap racked up 36 points before the March layoff and was well on his way to reaching his career-high. He was part of the original trade bait to get Phil Kessel over Pittsburgh, and now he could be the main dish in a trade brining him back to Pittsburgh. Mantha would be our first choice, but if the Pens can’t get that going, bring the Kapanen family home.