Tuesday, December 25th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Penguin rumor time
It’s the holidays and Ray Shero is reportedly trying to find a gift for the city of Pittsburgh. 
Rumors have been running around the Penguins for a few weeks now, with the team reportedly looking for a goalie (Andrew Raycroft? Curtis Joseph? or just Ty Conklin?) in case Dany Sabourin proves to be an unsuitable replacement for Marc-Andre Fleury. Now, however, the rumors appear to be focused on finding a wingman for Sidney Crosby, with the Toronto Sun running a story yesterday with multiple Penguin-related rumors.
Perhaps the most interesting of these is that Shero has called the Atlanta Thrashers about winger Marian Hossa. Hossa is one of hockey’s true superstars (he has scored 39 and 43 goals in the last two seasons and has 13 this year) and is used to playing with a superstar, due to his experience with Ilya Kovalchuk. His speed and scoring touch would make him ideal to work with Crosby, but trading for Hossa would be difficult for two reasons.
First, and most obviously, is what the Thrashers would ask for in return. Anytime a star is traded, the return must be fair. The Penguins would be looking at giving up some more of their young talent for the star player, leading to the second problem. Hossa is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, meaning that the Penguins would likely need to resign him before any large-scale trade would occur and that the return would have to be someone who the Penguins expect to cost a pretty high sum (Jordan Staal, maybe?).
Hossa is only 28, has shown a ton of durability (since the 2000-01 season, he has played in at least 80 games every season) and clearly has skills that the Penguins desperately need. If Shero is willing to take a risk in giving up young players and the Thrashers are willing to surrender Hossa, this is a trade that would prove to be very interesting for both teams.
More realistic, however, is the acquisition of J.P. Dumont, playing for the Nashville 
Predators, Shero’s former employers. Dumont is a speedy player with a knack for scoring. To this point in his career, he has played with three teams (Chicago, Buffalo and Nashville) and averaged 19 goals a season. He has ten goals through 34 games so far this season, but would be the type of player who would excel playing next to Crosby. He is also young enough (29) and affordable (signed only through the end of this season). Dumont does come with a potential slacker label, however, but his strength in front of the net and goal scoring ability still make him a very valuable asset. He is essentially a better version of Ryan Malone, which would suit Sir Sidney very well.
Dumont is the ideal rent-a-player type of guy, able to boost his future salary by playing well with a contending team. Also, he would likely come on the cheap due to his pending UFA status as well as the relationship between Shero and the Predators. This would be a good acquisition by the Penguins.
The final potentially legitimate rumor involves Ottawa winger/center Antoine Vermette, 
who, if traded for, would definitely play the wing in a Penguin sweater. Vermette appears to be a slightly larger, slightly better scoring version of Max Talbot, as he is a tough player who has a knack for finding the net. At this point, however, Vermette, 25, is struggling to find his role in the league and to learn how to use his size. In parts of four NHL seasons, Vermette has scored a total of 53 goals, demonstrating the ability to become a top six forward, but not necessarily to become a star.
He would be a very interesting pickup (and the Pens reportedly had interest earlier in the season), with more upside than Dumont, but he could also become a burden if the Penguins end up with him, as he may stop developing at some point.
Ray Shero is in a position where his team would definitely be better with some type of a pickup, but does not need to make a move. It is a semi-enviable one, as he can pull off a move to help his team or simply choose to trust them to get the job done and has a very good chance of being correct either way.
1 Comment
February 26th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
[...] just want to end this article by saying that the rumors about Marian Hossa were reported here first and were later mocked by the Tribune-Review. I think that all of the [...]
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