Last week I identified pending unrestricted free agent Cody Franson as a potential target for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they will be likely looking to replace both Paul Martin and Christian Ehrhoff at the defense position.
Today I will focus on another pending unrestricted free agent, Montreal Canadiens Jeff Petry.
Petry has been a player who has been lost in the shuffle for quite some time due to playing in Edmonton on below average teams. While Petry is definitely not a number one defensemen he was the Oilers best guy for the past couple of years.
He is another candidate much like Franson who will be in that contract range of ~5 years and ~25-30M for his next deal. Would that kind of investment make sense for Pittsburgh to pursue? Let’s take a look:
Context is important here. Playing on horrendous possession teams has had an impact. Shot generation hasn’t been great and the other metrics have him outside of the top pairing level. Playing on a better team will probably boost those numbers but will they get enough of a boost to justify the contract given to him?
To try and make sense on how Petry was doing with the roles he was given we will look at his past history of dCorsi:
For the most part he has outperformed the roles he has been given in Edmonton. This can help us look past some of the lower numbers on the HERO chart. However, since being traded to Montreal he has underperformed in the role Michael Therrien has given him albeit in a small sample size.
That role has been very low offensive zone starts (42.7%) and also a low quality of teammate. He is getting tough minutes
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I believe that Petry is one of the better free agent options for teams looking to shop at that position. However, if you are going to invest sizeable money into a UFA defenseman I think Cody Franson would be the better value.
The longer the Canadiens stay alive in the playoffs the larger the recency bias will be with Jeff Petry. As a result this will drive up his price. It is a blessing in disguise that the Predators underutilized Franson and that they were eliminated from the playoffs in Round one.
Pittsburgh may not go for a veteran UFA defensemen but they should do their due diligence on whether or not it makes sense to do so.
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Oscar Sundqvist appears very close to making his North American professional debut with the WB/S Penguins. That debut could happen as early as this Wednesday. Judging by who he is skating with at practice I would be willing to say that he will indeed make his debut Wednesday.
The 6-foot-3, 209-pound 21-year-old third-round draft pick from Sweden has been working in more and more prominent roles in practice. On Sunday, he skated for a time with center Jayson Megna and 18-year-old winger Kasperi Kapanen.
In the perception is everything department:
The Chicago Blackhawks: What happens when you surround your two franchise players with a lot of really good hockey players.
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) May 4, 2015
Kane has 101 points in 101 playoff games - Amazing! So clutch!
Crosby has 118 in 100 playoff games - Can't win! Trade him!
— Matthew Coller (@MatthewWGR) May 4, 2015
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