Whats next for the Pens

Okay so we are now Malkin-less for the season so we have $8.5 million (including the space we already had) to bring in someone else for the rest of the season. Sid will be out for a while so the question is where do our prorities lie?

We can get a centre rental...okay Richards and Stamkos would be nice but that isnt going to happen. There are a few other guys who could do a decent job until the end of the season. However even without Geno we still have a very good crop of Centres, if plans had gone the way they should then he would have been a Winger to Sid or Staal anyway. If we run with Crosby (providing that he is back soon), Staal, Talbot and Adams and Letestu to come in we would have a great base for our offence. I am not one of these people who jumps on the "We need a winger for Sid" bandwagon however in this case I think that would be a good place to concentrate our efforts. Jerome Iginla would be ideal, the Flames want rid of him and I would love to re-unite him and Sid after the Olympics, I am also a fan of Hagman who the flames would also be looking to get rid off. I would have loved to have bought in Wolski before he went to the Rangers as i think he is the kind of player that would be a perfect fit. Lets say we bought in "Iggy" the main question would be who would go the other way. Shero has always used draft picks to his advantage I could see someone like Dupuis going the other way, he is a good player don't get me wrong but we wouldn't fall apart without him in the team he is an average sniper. We could include one of our top end AHL guys, who is because of our system isnt getting the ice time they would elsewhere. Someone like Sterling, Vitale, Johnson, or maybe even Chris Connor, We also have Mike Comrie and Aaron Asham who could be avaliable.

Lets say, hypothetically the Pens bring in Iginla for Dupuis, Nick Johnson and a 3rd round pick (which according to Empty Netter is the going rate). Our group of forwards would look something like this:

Kunitz -- Crosby -- Iginla
Cooke -- Staal -- Kennedy
Talbot -- Letestu -- Tangradi
Rupp -- Adams -- Asham

Now the way Fleury is playing and with Letang getting points and the Z becoming a shot blocking machine, it would be a pretty good play off line up.

Issues with your rosterbation:

1. Iginla nets the Flames AT LEAST a 1st rounder + decent prospect + replacement top 9 winger - that's even assuming the Flames move him of course.

2. Crosby just isn't coming back any time soon. That's becoming clearer by the day.

3. Matt Cooke, top 6 winger? You can't win another Cup with such a shallow forward core.

Your Iginla trade would likely be:

Jarome Iginla = Pens 1st rounder 2011 + Pens 2nd rounder 2011 + Eric Tangradi + Pascal Dupuis

Remember that the Kings have been linked with him forever and a day, and can include stud D prospects such as Teubert.

As much as I love the idea of having iginla, the price for a rental is just too much! The name hemsky has been floated around and I think this would work! I don't think its worth doing a burke and trading away the future for a few months!

Regarding sid, it is scary times! If he is still out by the trade deadline I fear for his season. I was really impressed with the pens against the kings. Considering only 2 of the forwards were arguably top 6 guys they did good! But they can't keep it up!

I bet you didn't think it would be going 4-0 down to the Isles after one...

Were apparentley looking at Grabner too