Mailbag time
Realistically, what can the Penguins do to salvage the next 2-3 years? Goaltending and FA availability is questionable. Which contracts do they need to shed/buy out?
— Matt (@matt02922) April 24, 2023
This was going to be a tough task for anybody sitting in the chair. Ron Hextall made it a lot more difficult with both his inaction and when he finally decided to do something and acquire the Mikael Granlund contract. The Granlund contract has to go. Three paths are trade, waivers, and buyout. Unfortunately, the third option is the most likely and it is one I would do. It would free up about 4M in cap space for next year and about 3M for the following four years. Ron Hextall’s self-own is going to hurt this team and created such an unnecessary hurdle to overcome. Complete buffoonery.
I would look to shed Jan Rutta’s contract via trade. I think it would be reasonable to find a buyer. His contract isn’t absurd. I don’t think he’s a liability. However, the Penguins already have Kris Letang and Jeff Petry. They also have Chad Ruhwedel and Mark Friedman. I’d rather cheap out on that roster spot and use the saved money to target more of an impact player than just another depth defenseman.
You can just let Brian Dumoulin and Dmitry Kulikov walk and there’s another 5.2M to spend.
Who would be your ideal hire for next penguins GM and why?
— Ryan Z (@LetsGoPens_67) April 24, 2023
The way I would approach this situation would be to hire a president of hockey operations to take care of the day to day administrative work of being a general manager. My general manager would be very on-ice focused and preferably one with a modernized view of the sport with a focus on skating and puck skills/movement. I know Kyle Dubas’ name has been thrown out there, but if they win round one and his big trade deadline acquisition (Ryan O’Reilly) leads the way I doubt his job security would be in danger like a first-round loss would.
I would look at a team like Carolina as an example. Don Waddell is the guy handling the day to day stuff as a GM while he has somebody like Eric Tulsky able to focus on the on-ice issues. Eric Tulsky would be one of my first choices to offer the GM position to. Sam Ventura is another one. Tampa Bay assistant GM and director of hockey ops Mathieu Darche is another candidate to consider poaching.
Hyperfocusing on goaltending: what do the Pens do? FA seems like a crapshoot. Try and throw everything against the wall for Saros?
— ellie (@frootylich) April 24, 2023
One thing we see on display in these playoffs is if you can get consistently good goaltending you have a leg up on most teams. I’m fine with the concept of targeting a goaltender like Juuse Saros. I have no idea what the appetite is for the Predators to make a move. Barry Trotz was just hired to take over for GM and he seems like a guy who prefer to have a stud goalie regardless of where the team is in their competitive arc.
I think Tristan Jarry’s open market value took a dive this year. I think a short-term deal at a reasonable cap hit might be one of the Penguins best options at this point. It isn’t my first choice and I know a lot of fans would be disappointed with him returning. The market is what it is, though. His risk reward value would still make sense. What you absolutely cannot do is bring back both Jarry and DeSmith. I would probably move on from DeSmith regardless of who the other goalie is in Pittsburgh.
It is a bad year to be shopping for goalies in unrestricted free agency. There are no difference makers to be had. Jarry, Freddie Andersen, Cam Talbot, Antti Raanta and Semyon Varlamov are probably the most notable of the UFA class.
RFA’s of note include Jeremy Swayman, Ilya Samsonov, and Filip Gustavsson.
Options are limited overall which is why I’m willing to entertain an all-in offer for someone like Juuse Saros. Something I normally wouldn’t want to do, but if you want to take a real run at things having the goaltending be very good can be a cheat code and the Penguins 100% need another cheat code.
Anyway of keeping Zucker and is he worth what his next deal will be?
— DerekJC (@DerekJCallow) April 24, 2023
Jason Zucker had the year the Penguins thought they would be getting throughout the course of his contract. It didn’t play out that way. He was superb in his role. Other teams definitely took notice. I adhere to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski’s thought that players would rather not move their stuff. So if the Penguins want to keep him for sure an offer in the 3 year 5M range would probably be suffice. Replacing Zucker’s production will not be an easy hole to fill. It wouldn’t be impossible, but creating holes to fix isn’t what I think the Penguins should be doing.
Does the 14th and a current player get you a player like Troy Terry? Also, what are your thoughts on signing Kirviranta and Comtois? Appreciate all the Pens coverage.
— Penguins8771 (@Penguins877117) April 24, 2023
I don’t have any interest in Joel Kirviranta. He’s got 16 goals and 28 points in 163 career games and is 27 years old. Penguins had a pretty big depth scoring problem. I’m not bringing in guys allergic to offense. Max Comtois has a better offensive profile and is only 24 years old so I would have to do more digging on him as a player to come to a final verdict. His underlying numbers weren’t terrific, but he also played on the Ducks. Comtois had 16 goals and 33 points in only 55 games back in 2020-21.
Troy Terry would be an interesting trade target and I’ll probably go into detail about him in the somewhat near future in a separate piece.
If you were GM, which realistic off-season moves would you make?
— Dave Cee (@DeeCee_09) April 24, 2023
I think the #14 overall pick has to be in play for a trade to better the current roster. You make that pick and you aren’t serious about milking the last years of Crosby, Malkin, and Letang. I think the #14 overall pick is good enough to get attention in a trade, but not usually good enough to become a solid contributor in the time frame the Penguins would need the player to. There is certainly NHL talent to be had at #14 they just don’t make the jump in time. Jaden Schwartz started to make an impact at 21, Kevin Shattenkirk at 22. There are players like Charlie McAvoy who did it at age 20 and Joel Farabee of the Flyers played 52 games as a 19 year old for Philadelphia. I’d rather take my chances with a known commodity at this time. For every success story you’ll have more Jeff Jillson’s or Zach Boychuk’s at #14 overall.
Any chance you & @walshy66 reunite for a playoff/GM search pod? Miss it!
— Jordan Falkner (@Jordan16Falkner) April 24, 2023
While I can’t speak for Cameron I can say it is one of those things that will always have the door creaked open. The main problem is the time zone issue. The time that works best is usually Friday early evening between 4-5PM EST. After you work all week talking in the classroom it was becoming tougher and tougher to do it, especially during COVID. Combine that with the kid’s soccer schedules and life in general and it becomes tough to fit things into a very specific spot in the week. Summer is a lot easier for me so while I can’t promise anything I can foresee something as we get into the draft and free agency. It is something we enjoyed doing so if things work out we’ll give it a go.
Thanks for reading!