So here's the thing, the Penguins missed out on Ovechkin a few years back and had to settle for Malkin. Not a bad deal all around.
Then they won the lottery-of-God and landed Sidney Crosby first overall. He turned out to be pretty good all things considered.
Two franchise centre-men, and both of them entering their prime.
Oh the horror! You see, with the new NHL salary cap Penguins management only has to take a gander over at the miserable wreckage that is the Tampa Bay Lightning to see what happens if the team decides to invest too heavily in a few players at the expense of team depth and goaltending.
And there is the rub. Malkin is due a hefty pay raise - very, very hefty, and it goes even higher if he wins MVP and Art Ross honours as well.
Can the Pens afford to pay two pivots $8m+ each and still field a team that won't roll over like an attention starved puppy whenever one of them isn't on the ice?
A sportsnation blogger ponders the 'Trade Crosby' idea, and ESPN columnist John Buccigross gives his take first on Malkin;
"The Penguins have to at least consider and discuss trading Evgeni Malkin this summer if he is looking for an Alexander Ovechkin-type contract ($9-10 million per season. Term doesn't matter. You always will be able to trade a great player if he is healthy), and the team concludes that paying a combined $17 million for two players on their roster will greatly affect their Stanley Cup plans.
NHL teams will have to look at things as NFL teams do. You won't be able to fall in love with players, and you can't talk about being a contender for 10 seasons. You have to look through smaller windows. Otherwise, you could have a very good season, then be mediocre for the next five. You have to keep looking forward, keep building."
....and on dealing Crosby;"As far as trading Crosby, the Post-Gazette would have served its readers more aptly with a 10-part series on the career of former Steelers wideout Weegie Thompson. If I ever did make a trade, I wouldn't fall into these 37-for-1 trades you see involving big-name players. I would make it a simple 2-for-1 with a draft pick. I don't understand why GMs across all sports go for volume when they trade icons. Crosby to the Blackhawks? Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and a No. 1. Crosby to the Kings? Anze Kopitar, Jack Johnson and the Kings' No. 1 pick. Simple. Quality. Not a whole bunch of nothing."
Now, I'm personally tempted to agree that a Crosby deal will simply never, ever, ever happen for a couple of reasons;
A. From what we've seen so far, Crosby probably has a higher talent ceiling than Malkin at least as a play-maker, and in terms of his overall 'excitement factor'. Where Crosby zips and darts about, Malkin drives into defenders and slips by them. Crosby makes a great show of dropping to his knees to score, while Malkin unloads a bomb of a slapshot from difficult angles. Both are getting the job done, but it's always Crosby getting the points for artistic impression.
B. Even if 'A' turns out not to be true, Crosby definitely has a better marketing potential than Malkin. He's younger, speaks English (and French) and has the kind of good looks which will allow him to appear on GQ covers and leave a trail of inseminated super-models in his wake ala Tom Brady. Malkin on the other hand has a face that cries out for the nick-name 'Lurch'.
If the two were in a movie Crosby is the suave leading man and Malkin is the despicable villain who speaks with a lisp and has trouble with girls not bound in electrical tape.
So I just don't see anyone ever trading Crosby, if not because he is too good, because he is too good looking.
That all said, I'd be tempted to look at Malkin's cost in trade as similar to what Butch suggests the Pens would want for Crosby, 2 young studs and a 1st rnd pick.
Does such a deal exist? Yes, but not at the same level of interest as it would for Crosby. I can't see Chicago offering both Kane and Toews in a deal for Malkin, but the Kopitar/Jack Johnson offer would still make sense to both teams.
If you are the Coyotes would you move Mueller, Turris and 1st for Malkin? Maybe, but I'd be trying to take one of those guys out of the deal to include a winger like Wheeler instead.
Here's one to think about, would the Av's send Stastny and Shattenkirk to get Malkin? I suspect that the family ties with Stastny would blind them to it.
The team I think would want to make the play would be the Rangers. With Jagr hitting the age of retirement/sucking/going elsewhere as a free agent, a strapping mega-talent with wheels and offensive ability galore is just what the doctor ordered. Would the Pens take Cherepanov, Staal and a 1st?
Ultimately, the best fit is probably with the Blue Jackets. Columbus can send a package of Voracek and one of; Zherdev, Brassard, Brule, Mason or Leclaire to get Malkin. Nash would get himself a pivot who can make plays and Zherdev would be the speedy Kovalev type of compliment that would make them one of the scariest trios in the NHL. If Columbus wanted to break the trio up Nash would still have a guy like Brassard or Brule on the 2nd line. For the Pens, they get an offensive complimentary winger for Crosby/Hossa and either an up and coming goaltending stud (bye bye Mr Fleury), or an offensive pivot with speed (Brassard) or grit (Brule) to fill out the 2nd line with Staal. Everybody wins.
1 comment:
Ok, I've held off commenting on this becuase I've just been too damn busy at work but here goes.
Keep both - this is NOT the same as the Tampa Bay situation. Tampa Bay's problem was not that they tied up all their $ in three players but that they included a no movement clause on one of them (Martin St.Louis), have nobody coming up the pipeline of note and have been incapable of drafting/developing/trading for a capable goalie.
Pittsburg has the beginnings of a core of young talent beyond the Big 2 (Staal, Letang, Fleury). Will there need to be some juggling, yes, but I suspect that Malkin has more Ovechkin than Yashin in him and will prefer winning to losing in style. He'll leave $ on the table to have the chance to do that.
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