Everything lately has been geared towards both the expansion and entry draft, but we are full speed ahead toward unrestricted free agency. The Penguins rationale for trading Jared McCann and exposing Brandon Tanev was to acquire cap space.
As of right now their projected cap space via Capfriendly is 7.4M. The only significant pending free agent is Zach Aston-Reese who might come in around the 2M range. Unless the team moves someone like Mike Matheson (would be good to try considering this past weekend!) or Marcus Pettersson they will be limited in their pursuit of free agents. Ron Hextall doesn’t sound like somebody ready to spend aggressively.
While I doubt Hextall is going to broadcast his intentions like the last person who had his job I also don’t think Hextall made a habit of spending big in free agency when he was with the Flyers. The lone exception was James van Riemsdyk who received a five-year 35M contract.
Could Brandon Saad be Hextall’s van Riemsdyk splurge in Pittsburgh?
SOME PREDICTIONS
Nothing like putting yourself out there to look stupid, but it’s been a long year so what the heck:
Free agency...
Dougie Hamilton: New Jersey
David Savard: Montreal
Gabriel Landeskog: not hugely confident in this prediction, but he and Colorado find a way
Blake Coleman: the prediction is, he gets 6x5
Jaden Schwartz: Seattle, basically done during the Kraken’s exclusive window
Brandon Saad: St. Louis, Islanders, Pittsburgh or Los Angeles
This is just speculation, but it is speculation from one of the most piped in people in the business. I like Brandon Saad and the Penguins certainly have some holes on the wing now. There should be a decent market for him so I doubt you’re looking at a “discount” for being from Pittsburgh. I said earlier in the month I think the only situation the Pittsburgh connection will help is if the Penguins are giving a similar offer as another team and a tie goes to the Pittsburgh connection.
Saad isn’t going to win a Selke anytime soon and that’s fine. His offensive contributions would definitely be welcomed
The only issue with Saad, if he does indeed sign in Pittsburgh, is you’re basically replacing McCann, but for more money so it is still a step backwards on a team that really couldn’t afford any steps backwards anymore.
We should start to hear more rumors in the near future as free agency ramps up.
Thanks for reading!
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