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Some unqualified RFA's to look at if Penguins aren't big game hunting

July 28, 2021, 8:52 AM ET [306 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
As we storm towards unrestricted free agency there are some players who were exptected to be tendered RFA’s but their teams decided not to qualify them. There are some interesting names. With the Penguins not likely making a big splash adding more depth players into the pool is a good thing. The more options the better as long as you know what you want and what you are looking for.

Here are some of those options:

Pius Suter

This one came as a surprise to many. The rookie scored 14 goals and 27 points last year in 55 games. Seems weird to not qualify a player like that, but let’s be honest Chicago isn’t exactly making great decisions on or off the ice. Here’s a look at Suter



Yes, I think the Penguins should be interested. Yes, I think many teams should be interested. These players are UFA now so all it takes is one team to buck up and give a little term and things can get pricier than the comfort zone.

Ondrej Kase

There’s risk here. Kase is often injured and it is the reason he was unqualified. Kase played in three games this year and only six games in the 2019-20 season. If he had been healthy it would have never gotten to this point. This is a great low risk high reward situation and one I think should interest the Penguins who need to build up their scoring depth on the wing. When he can play he’s been very good.



He will be 26 next season. There are worse bets to make.

Nick Ritchie

His underlying numbers look decent, but the overall consensus is they were juiced when he played with David Krejci. With Krejci he was a 56.98 xGF% player. With Charlie Coyle is dropped to 44.85%. He does play physical so this will interest Brian Burke. His skating isn’t the greatest. Out of the three options I like this one the least.



As for the bigger name free agents these players are likely off the board per the Bobfather





As for the goalie situations





The Penguins have been quiet as far as acquiring players go. There’s been a lot of action. Sitting on your hands isn’t going to do anything to turn this team into a contender and bad signings aren’t going to help, either. They are between a rock and a hard place due to previous decisions in previous years. This next stretch is going to be really important in how successful the Penguins can be this year. Brian Burke has a track record of being active, Ron Hextall not so much. How will the duo proceed?

Thanks for reading!
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