As many Pens fans know, General Manager Ray Shero has a knack for acquiring talent on the weeks leading up to the trade deadline and the day of the deadline itself.
He has picked up veterans such as Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis in 2008, Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin in 2009, Alexei Ponikarovsky in 2010, Alexei Kovalev and James Neal in 2011, surprisingly no moves in 2012, and who can forget last year when Shero traded for Douglas Murray, Brenden Morrow, Jussi Jokinen and Jerome Iginla.
With only 10 days between the unfreezing of the rosters following the Olympics and the trade deadline, Shero will not have the jump on other General Managers that has given him the huge advantage he has had in previous years and brought players to the team for a reasonable price.
However, there are still some players who could end up in black and gold in the coming week. With Dupuis missing the next 6-8 months following ACL surgery, the question is who will play alongside Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz?
With the salary cap down 6 million, Shero only has about $1.2 million to work with. There’s not enough to bring in someone like Calgary’s Mike Camalleri or Buffalo’s Matt Moulson, but with a $1 million cap hit, there is a realistic possibility of Shero acquiring Florida’s Brad Boyes.
He is a former 40 goal scorer and would add much needed scoring depth. He is also a better choice to put on Crosby’s line rather than Beau Bennett.
But with such little cap space to work with, it is unlikely that Shero will make any trades during the days leading up to and on the day of the trade deadline.