The Pittsburgh Penguins to this point have done exactly what they needed to do to remain relevant and give them, at least a chance, at making a playoff run. All the hard to get pieces are still there. They head into this season with one more valid top six winger than they did last season. Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell are all coming back. They all have manageable AAV’s. While I think waiting until the last minute with both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang’s contract was insane. They avoided a terrible situation and got those contracts done.
So, now what?
They can still add to this team and not hurt the on-ice product. The first step is to cut some salary. They have dead weight on the roster. Their perception of the dead weight likely varies from what myself and others think.
Brian Dumoulin is Brooks Orpik 2.0. Get something now because riding things out or giving another contract isn’t going to make you a better team to try and win a Stanley Cup. Dumoulin had a great run as a complementary player to Kris Letang. He’s had a lot of injuries. His foot speed isn’t what it was and that foot speed is what allowed him to do the things he is good at like facilitating breakouts and gap control. I think he is the candidate to move and I also think he would be the easiest to move. Two-time Cup champion with only one year remaining on his deal. Somebody will take that on. You don’t need to get greedy with what is coming back. Just free up the space. The other option is to call the Oilers who just lost their Cup winning over the hill defenseman in Duncan Keith. Perhaps they want a replacement. Perhaps Jesse Puljujarvi can be a part of this trade. Scoff at the suggestion all you want, but they are still run by Ken Holland and the chances are greater than zero.
Marcus Pettersson is another option. I don’t think they’ll have as many bites on him, which is weird because he is actually the solid player these days. Perhaps the 4M cap hit is a bit much, but not by a lot. I don’t actually like the idea of moving Pettersson. I think there would be a worse fallout than people think. It would be putting a lot of Pierre-Olivier Joseph’s plate. There’s no guarantee he is an NHL player at this point. Certainly, no guarantee of being a top four player. What if Pettersson goes and Dumoulin flounders? I wouldn’t want to be in that position.
Brock McGinn’s contract stinks. Wouldn’t be an easy thing to get rid of it, but sweeten the pot. You don’t need 4th liners making 2.75M. It was crazy to go from Tanev’s 3.5M to McGinn’s 2.75M.
Waiting until the last minute for Letang and Malkin may have gotten in the way of focusing on clearing some cap space in time. We’ll have to see.
By chance, if the team is able to free up some space here. They have an opportunity to really shape shift their forward group and minimize Jeff Carter’s impact on the roster. The two players I would be focusing on today would be Dylan Strome and Sonny Milano. This isn’t possible without a trade to free up some money. If they do, it is very feasible. Dylan Strome is going to be the cheaper center option when compared to Vincent Trocheck. He’s also pretty even with Trocheck in effectiveness.
These cards are up to date as of yesterday
Strome played on a bad Blackhawks team, albeit with some talent, while Trocheck played on a well-balanced Hurricanes team. One is going to cost probably millions more per year than the other. I very much like the idea of recreating a third line who are able to score. I think Dylan Strome can be a part of it.
As for Sonny Milano I think this is a Danton Heinen opportunity. He will cost a little more than Heinen came in last year, but that’s why you cut the salary to make this an option.
And hey would you look at that. Milano and Rakell played 305 minutes together last year
CF% 56.38
xGF% 59.70
I wonder what that might look like with Evgeni Malkin as a center. It sure would be an interesting proposition.
There are other options available. I think these two would give you the most bang for the buck while giving the forward group a much needed offensive infusion while also giving Mike Sullivan some flexibility.
A likelier option? Oskar Lindblom, who was just recently bought out by the Flyers, and is a player Ron Hextall drafted.
Thanks for reading!