On The Forecheck: Penguins eye up Trading Blocks

Once again, we have a few struggling teams with struggling, or rejuvenated stars who now find themselves being tossed around all over trade websites. I mean, let's just put the Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge on Vinny Lecavalier and call him the Habs' new #1 Center already. Or at least, that's what the trade rumors cease to rotate around.

There's no doubt that a Penguins club with high expectations, struggling to win and score goals at home could use a little help. Some familiar names are being thrown around. Ilya Kovalchuk's name has come up more than once.

The Penguins need a solid top-line winger. After the questionable departure of Hossa to Detroit and the loss of Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi to Free Agency (aka the Tampa Bay Lightning list of potential busts), Ray Shero scrambled to find some players with soft hands and an eye for the net. One of the two big names he was able to land may still have soft hands, but they'll be mending for the remainder of the regular season after Ruslan Fedotenko was in an altercation with former Penguin, Colby Armostrong. Miroslav Satan has been hit or miss all season. He's been warm, he's been cold, he's been warm, he's been cold, he's been ice cold, and on and on. I love the guy, he did great things in Buffalo, but he has been showing his signs of aging. However, to his credit, not as clearly as Gary Roberts or John Leclaire had.

So the question to be asked is, who's the next man to dawn the black and gold and play with some of the league's greatest?

Atlanta GM Waddell still says Kovalchuk will not be traded. Scott Burnside of ESPN.com says Kovalchuk is out of Atlanta as surely as Friday follows Thursday. Could he land in Pittsburgh? That would be wonderful, of course. However, Kovalchuk demands a lot of money. $7.5 million, in fact. To clear the space for that, someone making $2M plus would have to move. Mark Eaton makes $2M, Phillipe Boucher makes $3.5M, and Miro Satan makes $3.5M. Penguins would have to move either one of them and someone (or something) of future (as in immediate-future) value. This leaves Tyler Kennedy as an option, as well as Janne Pesonen, or even Jeff Taffe. This still leaves little cap space for Shero to work with after Malkin's contract will jump from around $1M this season to $9M next year. To make room Satan, Sykora, and Fedotenko/Gill (if not already out of town), would have to find a new place to work in the 2009/10 season.

So really, I don't think this is realistic, though I do hope some sort of trade could be proposed without too much loss.

For a quick solution there is Steve Sullivan. The Nasvhille Predators winger is lightning quick and is a definite threat to score. He would be a great compliment to Crosby and Malkin's smooth passes, and at a realistic fee of $3.2M ( around $1M cap hit), he could light up the lamp all post-season. The only thing here is Sullivan would probably be strictly temporary. He is an Unrestricted Free Agent and would probably sign back with the Predators if he was offered a long-term deal.

This could be the best option for Shero if he is looking short-term. It would help Pittsburgh be a contender in the Atlantic, that's for sure.

The long-term solution comes with the name of Nathan Horton of Florida. Many Penguin fans have been buzzing around this sniper. Horton is not afraid to stick up for himself either. He's a great competitor with a wicked shot and a strong jaw. Horton has a contract until the 2012/13 season, making $5M during the latter parts of his contract. He is set to make $3.5M next season and $4M the next.

Horton could be a good fill in the Penguins line-up, but to be honest, I'm still not sure he could be the #1 winger the Penguins need. He would be great on the 2nd line with Sykora/Satan and Staal, but I don't know if he's seasoned enough to be prepared for playoff hockey on a 1st line.


For now, I would say our best bet would be Steve Sullivan, for a short-term, quick solution.

Let's go Pens!