The last few days have had a similar theme on the waiver wire and it was former Penguins players that were productive players in Pittsburgh. Paul Martin ended up clearing waivers today which makes sense. Nobody was going to do the Sharks a favor and just take on his contract. The next step here will be a trade where the San Jose Sharks need to eat some of the cap hit.
The only way Pittsburgh could find themselves looking into a Paul Martin reunion is if the following things happen and even then…
1. Trade Ian Cole
2. Trade Matt Hunwick
3. Sharks retain the max allowed
I’d rather have the Martin contract at 50% than the Hunwick one if I’m being honest. I still don’t think this will materialize.
Seeing Paul Martin’s name back in the news did give an opportunity to reflect on what a nice job he did with the Penguins. I also remember a popular trope that tried to suggest that Paul Martin “struggled” his first couple of years in Pittsburgh. It was in fact the opposite.
Paul Martin was excellent. He had a Brooks Orpik problem for two years, but he never struggled. If anything, the narrative about his struggles were struggling to come up with any evidence to support it. I think part of the issue with Martin’s perception early on was that he signed an identical contract to the one Sergei Gonchar had and people perhaps had an expectation for a player like Gonchar and that was never going to happen.
Another former Penguins was put on waivers today and that player is Jussi Jokinen. Jokinen can play wing or center and makes 1.1M (same price as another Penguins 4th liner). I would be interested in him predominately for the fourth line and his ability to move around the lineup in an emergency. His offense has dried up, but he is still a positive possession player which is more than you can say for either Penguins 4th liner.
Between Edmonton and Los Angeles here is how Jokinen has fared this year
Here are Tom Kuhnhack’s contributions this year
Teams should always be looking to get better and I see a better player on the waiver wire that can potentially be acquired for no cost other than the cap hit which is definitely manageable.
For those worried about Tom Kuhnhack’s penalty killing role, don’t be. He isn’t very good at that either. He’s 87th out of 137 forwards who have played 50 4v5 minutes in CA/60. Even if you believe in penalty killing specialists there is nothing to suggest Kuhnhackl is particularly gifted in this area.
Here’s an opportunity to further improve the fourth line and regain some of the characteristics of the 2015-16 team.
Thanks for reading!
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