Bad Hab-its die hard

[Goffie]

After starting the season a miserable 2-8-4, The Pens know that their playoff hopes are already minimal.

There has been a constant retooling however nothing has worked.

After weeks of off and on discussions the Pens and Flyers struck a deal sending 3 NHL Habs to the Pens in exchange for some serious talent.

To Pittsburgh
Max Domi
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Josh Brook
2nd

To Philadelphia
Nik Ehlers
Andrei Svechnikov

We all know that it was only a matter of time before I broke down and acquired the Habs. Both Domi and Svechnikov have really impressed me. I know that Domi will level off and Ehlers will take off, but I feel that the addition of Brook who should be a fulltime NHLer next season and a 2nd helps lessen the blow. I know Svechnikov will be an elite scorer, but I can also tell by watching that Kotkaniemi is the real deal and will become a really good #1 centre.

Thanks to Jon for the talks, as always it is a lot of fun. Hopefully Ehlers takes the sim curse with him across state.

[JonDuke]

We like Domi and gave up Radulov and a 2nd to get him, but I'm an even bigger fan of Ehlers, so this was a move I was ok with making. Especially since he'll still have one more year on his ELC next season. For this season, he gives us a significant upgrade to Domi on the 3rd line and we're hoping he can mesh well alongside Duchene and Hayes, when he gets off the IR. If not, we'll swap him with Oshie and see if he can gel with Matthews. We're excited to see where he fits.

There was no secret that I've wanted Svechnikov and felt it was only a matter of time before the Kotkiniemi/Svechnikov swap was made, given Goffie's love for Habs. As someone who dislikes the Habs, I didn't like having Kotkaniemi on my roster, because I found myself watching more Habs games and rooting for him as a player. Now, I can go back to hoping they fail miserably.

Thanks Goff! This one was a fun one to toss back and forth.