Grading the Trade Deadline.

Once again Ray Shero did a great job of upgrading the Penguins lineup without giving up to much to do so. I was a strong believer that Gogo was going to be traded to get the Penguins a scoring winger. But Shero managed to bring in Poni while only giving up Luca Caputi, who in my opinion is a very over rated prospect.

Shero also picked up defense man Jordan Leopold for a second round draft pick. This pick up is a little curious to me. I believed the Penguins biggest need at the trade deadline was a physical shut down defense man, instead Shero picked up a puck moving defense man that is an upgrade over what we have defensively but not exactly what i would call a shut down defense man. For the short run i would have rather seen Shero trade for Sutton who also went for a second round pick, but I believe Shero was looking beyond this season when he made this trade. It is now public knowledge that contract talks with Gonchar have broken down, which probally means he will not be back next season. Leopold will not only be upgrading our defense this year, but he will be auditioning to fill Gonchar's spot next season. Sure he is a drop off in talent compared to Gonchar, but Shero will be able to sign both him and Letang for what he would have to pay Gonchar. This should leave the Penguins with enough cap space to sign Poni or another scoring winger that will command between 3 to 4 million dollars.

So my overall grade for Shero at this years deadline is an A-, he could only have done better by bringing in a shut down defense man. I believe this years moves took the Penguins from a contender for the cup, to the favorites to win the cup.