Congrats to the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, as well as the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins. Both teams were terrific and displayed the fine sport of hockey at its highest level. Amazing drama.
Congrats are also due for USA Hockey. Patrick Kane makes this the third consecutive year in which an American born player has won the Conn Smythe Trophy (Thomas, Quick).
Only 1 Canadian in the past 6 years has won the Conn Smythe (Toews). Zetterberg (SWE), Malkin (RUS), and the three Americans were the other 5 winners during that time period.
While it clearly isn’t as exciting as what happened in Boston on Monday night, the Penguins were busy making some roster decisions.
It has been reported by Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that the Penguins will qualify all of their pending RFA’s: Kennedy, Bortuzzo, Jeffrey, and newly acquired Zolnierczyk
"I don't see us not qualifying anybody, at this point," Shero said Monday.
The minimum qualifying offers for the players in question would be: Kennedy, $2 million; Jeffrey, $687,500; Zolnierczyk, $660,000; and Bortuzzo, $577,500.
When a team gives a qualifying offer to a restricted free agent, it is up to the player to either accept that offer and remain with the team, or they can refuse that qualifying offer and explore signing offer sheets with other teams. If the player accepts the offer sheet, the contract is binding and the player can choose if it will be for 1 or 2 years. If the player signs an offer sheet the original team that holds that player’s rights can match or allow that player to leave. The team that gave out the offer sheet would then be subject to compensating the original team. Compensation is based on the dollar amount of the new contract.
One other option for RFA’s would be to file for salary arbitration.
It is a little bit surprising to see Ray Shero qualify Tyler Kennedy for a 2M cap hit. He is clearly comfortable with Kennedy accepting that offer or he would not have qualified him. Most people, including myself thought that the Penguins would walk away from Kennedy, or at the very least not qualify him. Shero did not qualify Kennedy the last time his contract was up and that seemed like it would be the case this time around.
Kennedy’s level of play in 2012-2013 was not where it was in previous years, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad player. Kennedy takes a lot of flak from the Penguin faithful but he is a simple player who tries to make simple plays, something that has been lost on quite a number of Penguins in recent memory. If the Penguins are looking to make some changes on how they approach the game, Kennedy might not be the problem, but part of the solution (a small part).
As I mentioned yesterday the Penguins were at their best during their 2008 and 2009 playoff runs. Much of their success was because of their ability to possess the puck, specifically while cycling it down low in the opponent’s zone. Kennedy’s best asset is his ability to play along the wall and contribute to that cycling style hockey. The current transition offense the Penguins love to utilize is great when other teams don’t feel like committing to defense. The Penguins certainly have enough talent to turn a broken play up ice and make the opposition pay, but that shouldn’t be the go to offensive strategy.
As the years have gone on since winning the Cup the Penguins have gotten away from that simple, hard working approach that made them the best in the East. Tyler Kennedy is certainly not going to be a game changer by any means but if Pittsburgh is looking to find their good habits again, Kennedy is more than capable of playing that style of game. Kennedy also has speed which is the skill at a premium right now in the NHL. The Penguins got older and slower at the deadline and could not break through the Bruins terrific neutral zone.
It should be interesting to watch the Kennedy situation unfold, many possibilities still on the table and it is not set in stone that he will remain with the Penguins.
One other side note: Ray Shero had contact with Kris Letang’s agent on Monday (per Pierre LeBrun). There is no progress to report at this time, but the sides will meet again this week.
Thanks for reading!
You can find my non-Penguin related articles over at
HockeyHurts.com
Follow me on twitter
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»