Penguins looking for a winger to compliment Crosby
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been actively shopping for a winger to compliment Sid the Kid.
And wouldn’t you know our old trade-rumor friend Phil Kessel would be one of those targets.
For the rest of the league, Kessel landing in Pittsburgh could be very scary.
But, as the TribLive shares, this is not an easy trade unless Toronto absorbs a significant part of P-Kes’ salary:
Multiple sources confirmed to Trib Total Media on Thursday that the Penguins are among the teams interested in Maple Leafs winger Phil Kessel, who previously listed them as one of eight organizations to which he would accept a trade.
The level of the Penguins’ interest remains unknown, but Kessel fits the profile of the player that Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford is seeking: a talented winger capable of scoring goals in bunches.
Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan told reporters in Fort Lauderdale attending Friday’s NHL Draft that Kessel has garnered more attention in trade talks than any other Toronto player.
Kessel, 27, has seven years remaining on a contract that carries a cap hit of $8 million per season.
Given the Penguins allocate more than $30 million in cap space to Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury, adding Kessel’s contract would not be easy.
A few years ago, Carolina left winger Jeff Skinner was one of the NHL’s great young talents.
A series of concussions later, he might be among the game’s biggest question marks.
Nonetheless, he is on the list of candidates the Penguins might try to acquire to play on one of their top two lines.
Skinner would not come cheap — not in terms of what Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis would seek in a trade and not with a $5,725,000 salary-cap hit through the 2018-19 season — but, if he can stay healthy, could be a difference-maker for quite a few years.
Skinner, who turned 23 May 16, was a first-round draft choice in 2010, when Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford filled that role in Carolina.
He put up 63 points (31 goals, 32 assists) as a rookie in 2010-11, when he won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best first-year player, and posted a career-high 33 goals in 2013-14, despite appearing in just 71 games.
Skinner had a decidedly down season in 2014-15, recording 18 goals, 13 assists in 77 games, after at least three concussions in three years.
Image courtesy of Teka England.
