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Penguins Reportedly 'More Than Willing' to Trade Controversial Defenseman, Per Josh Yohe
Photo credit: Edit from Barrie Today
NHL insider Josh Yohe has revealed that the Penguins would be willing to listen to offers involving a trade of one of their controversial defensemen, Ryan Graves.
It's that time of the season again. The NHL summer is going to heat up, and with it, the excitement of player movement.
Free agency, trades, the draft, you can bet there's no shortage of activity on the horizon. While the NHL trade deadline is the one that makes news during the course of the season, of late, we've seen some very big deals consummated before July 1.
With the draft and free agency overlapping now, this is the true heart of offseason intrigue. If you love roster turmoil, this is your time.
Kyle Dubas is expected to be busier on the trade front than with free agents
Pittsburgh Penguins general manager and president Kyle Dubas has already made his intentions clear: no giant free-agent signings, but trades are on the horizon. So, who is going where?
One of the names that immediately comes to mind is defenseman Ryan Graves. A fresh coaching staff may be able to lead to greater things for him, but hopes are understandably low, per NHL insider Josh Yohe.
Graves has played abysmally and is all-around considered one of the worst free-agent signings in Penguins history. If Dubas could ship him out, he would, but there's not a lot of apparent market for him.
"Ryan Graves - I imagine the Penguins could see a slightly better version of Graves now that he's playing under a new coaching staff. Sometimes new eyeballs can help a struggling player.
That said, expectations will be disturbingly low. He's arguably the worst free-agent signing in franchise history and Dubas would be more than willing to trade him if there were any takers. There surely are not."
- Josh Yohe
That said, expectations will be disturbingly low. He's arguably the worst free-agent signing in franchise history and Dubas would be more than willing to trade him if there were any takers. There surely are not."
- Josh Yohe
However, Dubas has a surplus of draft picks and prospects to burn. It's not dumping futures for the sake of dumping futures, but rather cashing in quantity for quality.
Trimming a player like Graves with some of those assets might actually enable the Penguins to gain significant help and position themselves for optimal long-term success. Hold on to your seatbelts, it's going to get wild these next two weeks.
Previously on HockeyUnplugged
| POLL | ||
JUIN 17 | 166 ANSWERS Penguins Reportedly 'More Than Willing' to Trade Controversial Defenseman, Per Josh Yohe Will the Penguins end up trading Ryan Graves? | ||
| Yes | 121 | 72.9 % |
| No | 45 | 27.1 % |
| List of polls | ||