PIT - DAL

[Dallas Stars GM]

to Pittsburgh Penguins: Nathan Horton (61), Conner Bleackley (66), Tomas Hertl (75), Ilya Korneev (79)

to Dallas Stars: Jonathan Tavares (81) + 1st round pick PIT 2018

A typical blockbuster deal and a type of deal I was looking to make for quite a time since I was able to acquire a lot of good two-way, talented players to improve the whole organization, the whole team, all through the line up. And by doing that, now I can pull the trigger on a deal like this, to acquire a superstar forward Jonathan Tavares who may become a new face of the franchise. 1st round pick PIT 18 will make it as a counterweight, to weight it just and fair for both sides. PIT are a strong team and look to stay strong for a while, but I still think that there will still be a bluechip prospect for the Dallas Stars from that pick. PIT is also saving a good amount of cap -space with this deal so that is an asset itself, too.

I'm no rookie and I know - I know exactly what I'm giving up and I know what I am going to get. I had Horton for a long time and I know what he can do and I drafted Bleackley myself and I am very proud of him (and of myself too for making such a smart decision to choose him on that spot) and it's always very tough decision to do something like this but for a longer time, I knew that if I want to make a serious run on the Stanley Cup, I had to make a deal like this. I had to make an upgrade over quantity. I was getting a lot of quantity (but still a good quality) in a lot of deals - (Hertl, Korneev - these two, unfortunately, did not make it to the main team through a tough competition within the organization of Dallas Stars, but they can do much better for the Pens) - I have made and now's the perfect time to make it all count.

Here and now.

It makes total sense for the Dallas Stars and after long talks, it sounds like it makes a great sense for the Pittsburgh too, but that's for the other GM to write. On my behalf, I feel that this trade will improve the team overall and improve the offense - significantly, and will open the needed slots for the future bluechip prospects - hit&grind players of the future (Bondra, Dergachyov, Guryanov, Warren), so it makes sense for the Dallas Stars for now as for the future as well.

Thanks PIT.

[Ness (PIT)]

Situation in our organization needed a change. We have to exchange quality for quantity. Tavares is the big star but his wage for too high. Horton is much cheaper and also one of the best, it is an ideal player for the hit line (With Kopitar and van Riemsdyk) and ALL players of that line have HIT 99 Bleackley will get a chance in his first line. He showed that he can score a lot and play good two-way hockey and is very young: Hertl and Korneev will add much needed depth and make team younger.I think that this is a fair fair offer for both sides.

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

Approved.