Should the Pittsburgh Penguins buy or sell at the Trade Deadline?
The Pittsburgh Penguins were embarrassed on their home ice by the Edmonton Oilers. A 7-2 loss punctuated a week in which the team lost four straight games and fell outside of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The inaction of Penguins general manager Ron Hextall to fix glaring holes in this team over the past two months has put the team in a corner with only one week until the NHL Trade Deadline. So should they buy or sell ahead of March 3rd?
The answer, unfortunately, is not a simple one. The team on the ice is still in contention for a playoff spot and will need some reinforcements to get there. However, with the Eastern Conference loading up with talent, the odds are stacked against the Penguins to make it out of their side of the bracket in April.
While the players on the ice will remain focused on the current playoff push, the from office should be doing everything in their power to get in the best position possible to build a contender next season.
That includes selling pieces with heavier cap hits and term remaining on their contracts, like Kasperi Kapanen, Brock McGinn, Jeff Carter, and Jan Rutta. While the return for these players may not be very much or very helpful to this iteration of the Penguins, the cap space that would free up for this summer will go a long way toward building a better team next season.
Selling pieces like Jason Zucker or Tristan Jarry will do little to help the team at the NHL level over the next two seasons, not to mention completely forfeiting any chance of a playoff berth this year.
If they look to buy pieces, the Penguins should be on the market for players with term that provide upgrades to the players mentioned above for next season. It's a fine line to walk, but a line created by Hextall's inaction throughout the season.
The road ahead is murky, but it doesn't mean the end of the Crosby and Malkin era.
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