• Please clear your private messages. Your inbox is close to being full.

Pens trade Hornqvist

Djfan

Well-known member
Contributor
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
9,450
Reaction score
12,854
Points
113
Maybe. Looks to be on his shoulders at this time.

Don't like this trade. Bad money in a few years. Not much savings now. The other guy hasn't performed.

https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/pittsburgh-penguins-trade-patric-hornqvist-florida-panthers-mike-matheson/

PENGUINSPENGUINS TRADE LIMBO: Hornqvist to FLA for Matheson, Waiting…Published 9 hours ago on September 23, 2020By Dan Kingerski
As of 1:30 p.m., the Pittsburgh Penguins trade with the Florida Panthers is still on hold. Wednesday morning, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford completed the latest Penguins trade when he agreed to ship the two-time Stanley Cup winner, RW Patric Hornqvist to the Florida Panthers for left-side defenseman Mike Matheson.

UPDATE: According to a team source, the trade has been held up as the Penguins have been unable to reach Hornqvist to affirm the trade. Hornqvist has a full no-trade clause. Later, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported the deal was delayed due to insurance holdups. And, finally, the Penguins source confirmed to PHN the insurance issue and the lack of contact were connected.

On the surface, it may be a perplexing deal that doesn’t create salary-cap space for the Pittsburgh Penguins. If the trade goes through, Matheson, 26, will become the fifth left-handed defenseman on the Penguins NHL roster. His contract extends for six more seasons at an AAV of $4.825 million.

Hornqvist, 33, has three more seasons remaining at $5.3 million. So, the Penguins trade would save the team less than $500,000 per year.

Matheson has a modified eight-team no-trade-clause, but it will not kick in until the next offseason, according to CapFriendly.com.

Hornqvist has been a staple in front of the opponent’s net since the Penguins acquired him for popular winger James Neal in the summer of 2014. It was Rutherford’s first trade as GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins. This season, Hornqvist scored 16 goals in 52 games.

Matheson is a mobile, puck-moving left-handed defenseman who can run a power play. He scored 20 points (8g, 12a) in 59 games this season and averaged just over 18 minutes per game.

The Point-Claire, QC native, was Florida’s first-round pick in 2012 (23rd overall) and played one season in the USHL and three seasons at Boston College.

In recent seasons, Florida Hockey Now reports Matheson has been hampered by confidence issues that have submarined his effectiveness. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound defenseman is an offensive D-man but has struggled to defend, especially in recent seasons. He was a healthy scratch for Games 3 and 4 of the Florida Qualifying Round loss to the New York Islanders.

“Some Florida Panthers fans might simply refer to him as a disaster,” National Hockey Now reporter Rob Simpson wrote from the Toronto bubble in August.

Matheson’s contract is also backloaded, which would fall on the Penguins. He has been paid only $7 million of his $39 million contract. His actual salary will balloon to $6.5 million in the final three seasons of the deal, including three consecutive $2.5 million bonuses.

In four-plus NHL seasons, Matheson has played 299 games, scored 91 points (33g, 58a), and is a combined minus-30. In 2018-19, Matheson committed an ungodly 135 turnovers but limited that number to only 54 this season. Observers around the Panthers and inside the organization still have a lot of hope for him to resurrect his career.

Hornqvist famously scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in Game 6 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final.

The move would seem to open the Penguins to additional action, as the team now has a glut of left-side defensemen. Brian Dumoulin, Marcus-Pettersson, Jack Johnson, and Juusso Riikola are currently on the NHL roster, and top prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph is close to being NHL-ready.

PHN will have more analysis shortly and when the news becomes official.
 

Sarge

Well-known member
Contributor
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
11,029
Reaction score
16,338
Points
113
Yeah, I don’t like this trade at all. Sure, Hornqvist’s best years are behind him, but Matheson is no upgrade in any regard. Seems like another whiff for GMJR.
 

jitter77

Owes Jimmy $50
Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2014
Messages
8,920
Reaction score
4,663
Points
113
Why can we not get true defenseman? Every guy we get is "a great passer and puck mover". IMO we need guys who are more worried about hitting the other team and shutting them down. Guys like Letang serve a purpose, but your whole defense cant be built with them.
 

Sarge

Well-known member
Contributor
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
11,029
Reaction score
16,338
Points
113
Pens also picked up F Colton Sceviour in that trade, so they actually took on more salary than they shed. WTF is Rutherford doing? He seems to think that as long as he has Crosby and Malkin he can pretty much just throw a team together around them. Apparently he hasn’t noticed but those two aren’t doing much lately either.
 

Djfan

Well-known member
Contributor
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
9,450
Reaction score
12,854
Points
113
Why can we not get true defenseman? Every guy we get is "a great passer and puck mover". IMO we need guys who are more worried about hitting the other team and shutting them down. Guys like Letang serve a purpose, but your whole defense cant be built with them.

Like it or not, the closest thing we have to that right now is Johnson.
 

JMM

Gone Fishin'
Member
Forefather
Joined
Nov 4, 2014
Messages
13,595
Reaction score
15,482
Points
113
Location
I'm right here. Can't you understand plain English
That sucks. I really appreciated how he played the game and will miss seeing him giving opposing players the business and getting under their skin. He would have been one of the last players I would have traded off a team that is in desperate need of grit and heart transplants..
 

SteelerFan448

Well-known member
Member
Forefather
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
14,849
Reaction score
16,536
Points
113
It was probably time for Hornqvist to go. It's better to get rid of a guy a year too early rather than a year too late. They'll miss his net-front presence, but his style of play could lead to a steep decline and there's always potential to miss games.

I like that they added a younger player, but that contract they picked up is ridiculous for a guy who needs a lot of work to justify his deal. I think Rutherford throws a bunch of crap against the wall to see what sticks and I've wanted him gone for several years now.
 

topseed

Well-known member
Contributor
Joined
Jul 10, 2014
Messages
4,059
Reaction score
4,082
Points
113
Location
Eastern PA
Another left-handed defenseman when the Penguins need right-handers. Couldn't even get on the ice his last two games for the Florida Panthers as a healthy scratch. Has a ridiculous backloaded contract.

Sweet.
 
Top