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Penguins Have Leverage To Move Both Paul Martin And Brandon Sutter

July 2, 2014, 10:44 AM ET [569 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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Yesterday the Penguins made a ton of very nice value signings on a day where not everybody was lucky enough to say that.

Deryk Engellend for example is making 2.9M per year (!) When I first heard that deal I thought the 2.9M was for the entire contract. I thought giving 2.9M total for 3 years was a bad deal to give a fringe bottom pairing guy. Flames sure outdid themselves on that one.

But back to the current Penguins. They have done a nice job filling out depth, something that was incredibly lacking last year. There is however still the issue of cap space. The Penguins still have Sutter, Despres, and Spaling to re-sign, they are all RFA's, they have all been qualified. Qualifying a player doesn't mean that they will be signed, it just means that the team continues to hold their rights. Another team could always put an offer sheet in on that player. The Penguins would then be entitled to certain draft pick compensation depending on how much the player was offered.

The Penguins also have a hole in the top 6 at wing. The Penguins have 8.33M left in cap space, not too much at all.

Yesterday Rutherford mentioned using internal candidates like Beau Bennett and Pascal Dupuis to fill that top 6 role. Today he mentioned Kasperi Kapanen as potentially being ready for the NHL next year. Don't listen to Jim Rutherford during this time of the year. I'm not saying that those scenarios can't/won't happen, I'm just saying that Rutherford likes to talk and I'm not so sure there isn't a little bit of gamesmanship going on.

These comments are most likely being directed to specific targets. Saying he can fill his top 6 internally or buy bringing Kapanen over next year is a shot across the bow to any top 6 forward he has had contract discussions with IE: Kulemin.

Consistently talking about Spaling as a center and then re-signing Marcel Goc is a direct message to Brandon Sutter's camp.

When Rutherford speaks to the media it isn't your crazy Uncle on your Mom's side who's had a few too many to drink, it's a longtime NHL General Manager playing mind games.

So with all that in mind I think the two players to watch moving forward for the Penguins are Paul Martin and Brandon Sutter.

Rutherford has done a marvelous job giving himself options moving forward. If the Penguins don't want to lose Paul Martin for nothing in free agency, they have the option to trade him now with Ehrhoff on board. If Brandon Sutter wants to start asking for more money than he's worth, he is expendable now because of Goc and Spaling. The roster spot that is left behind by Sutter could be filled by Brian Gibbons. I still believe he is a terrific and cheap 4th line option.

Brandon Sutter is an average 3rd line player. Never fall in love with average 3rd line players. Marcel Goc is more than capable of playing in a 3rd line center role. Sure his offensive ceiling would appear to be lower than Sutter, but that doesn't matter. Goc can handle a shutdown role and do it well. He proved that with a bad Florida Panthers team. Spaling can slot down and play 4th line center at that point.

So now that Rutherford has covered himself with a few exit strategies what could the Penguins potentially do with Paul Martin and Brandon Sutter?






The defending Stanley Cup Champions are usually a good evaluator of talent, no surprise they would want a guy like Paul Martin.

Another team that I believe would be strongly interested in Paul Martin are the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings swung and missed on every big name defenseman that was available yesterday. They were in on Ehrhoff, kicked the tires on both Niskanen and Dan Boyle but came up empty. By the end of the day they were left re-signing Kyle Quincey to a 2 year deal worth 4.5M each year. Desperation is a stinky cologne.

Would the Red Wings be willing to deal pending RFA Tomas Tatar for Paul Martin? That is probably too rich for their blood, but it would be a nice building block to a potential deal and Tatar is the type of player the Penguins would be looking to get back in a deal.

Another option would be to package both Paul Martin and Brandon Sutter in the same deal. Paul Martin is just as good at playing defense as Patric Hornqvist is at playing forward. Brandon Sutter is better than Nick Spaling. The combination of Hornqvist and Spaling just got James Neal. Losing Martin and Sutter from the payroll gives the Penguins some much needed flexibility and it would more likely than not get them a solid NHL player in return. It is just some food for thought.

The Penguins are off to a great start this offseason. They have options and that is one of the best situations a GM can find himself in.




Don't just take into consideration July 1, include the draft and James Neal trade as well.

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Brand new Hockey Hurts podcast was recorded last night. We covered everything around the league from UFA day. There are some flaming hot hockey takes in this one, enjoy.


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