From Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch:
The two clubs have had preliminary trade talks, the Dispatch has learned. The discussions have involved Pittsburgh trading the rights to one or two of their pending unrestricted free agents — players the Penguins have decided they can’t keep because of the salary cap — to the Blue Jackets for draft pick or player compensation.
It’s unclear who the players are, but Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik seem like logical choices. Hey, why not Marian Hossa?
My guess is the Blue Jackets will be giving up draft picks.
Read the entire entry from Puck-rakers here.
This is a similar scenario to the one we saw last season that saw the Flyers trade for Scott Hartnell before he was set to become an unrestricted free agent. As Portzline mentions later on in his entry, the deal will only work if the Jackets are able to sign the players that are pending UFAs. Otherwise, it makes no sense to give up draft picks for a player you can sign for free as of July 1st.
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