The Penguins have a weird break from games to start the week, so I figured this would be a good time to go over a few storylines surrounding the team. First up is the Penguins’ potential acquisition of Washington Capitals forward Ivan Miroshnichenko.
Over the weekend, the Capitals gave Miroshnichenko and his agent permission to pursue a trade, according to Elliotte Friedman. A lot of people, including Friedman, have likened this situation to Chinakhov’s last season. Now, I think it’s a touch different because Ivan is being squeezed out due to numbers, not because of the coaching staff’s frustration with the player. They’re similar in the fact that they’re very talented Russians who need (or needed) a new home.
For the Penguins, this is exactly the type of player they’re interested in acquiring. It’s a guy who has a high skill ceiling with draft pedigree to boot. The issue becomes the current roster construction. Washington isn’t likely to want players in return because their glut of forwards is why they’re in this predicament to begin with. The Penguins would almost certainly need to move players off the team to bring in yet another forward.
I think to acquire Miroshnichenko, the Penguins would need to make one or two other trades to supplement the deal. I think it’s totally within Dubas’ bag to move a Novak or Rakell for picks and then turn around and use those picks to get Miroshnichenko.
I’d lean more toward moving Novak in this situation because, while talented, Miroshnichenko is still rather unproven with only 55 games of NHL experience.
Acquiring another winger would likely push McGroarty down the depth chart, which would upset some fans, but I’d prefer my GM to keep trying to hit home runs with trades rather than hoping your in-house guys can just get on base.
Do you think the Penguins should go after Miroshnichenko?
