The Penguins have made a signing. Kris Leta... nope sorry not that one. Casey DeSmith is back! This isn’t a very exciting signing. Some folks are probably not very happy about this meaning the Penguins are going to run back the same goalie tandem for the third year. Some really aren’t going to be happy about the 1.8M cap hit he now has the next two years. Some say he’s even from the wrong Rochester.

I tend to agree with the above. This isn’t a perfect scenario or a perfect signing. I would have liked the team to explore other options, but this team doesn’t have extra money to be spending at the goaltender position. The 1.8M cap hit seems steep, but DeSmith is an NHL caliber backup. The goalie market isn’t terrific at the moment. Marc-Andre Fleury probably wasn’t going to sign for peanuts to back up Tristan Jarry and while I think that would have been the best case scenario I also think having fans chanting “Fleury” after every so so goal allowed by Jarry would have its own set of issues.

Here’s what DeSmith looks like



He has a career save percentage of .915 in 96 career games. He’s a pretty pedestrian backup goaltender even with the .915 save percentage because he is lights out in low-danger saves while below average in high-danger, and very poor on the PK. The high-danger and PK are more indicative of skill. That said, I fully believe the Penguins get through the Rangers if he remains healthy. He is way better than Louis Domingue.

As far as the big picture the Penguins have 5.3M tied up in their goaltending. Given all their other needs keeping money low at this position has its advantages... only if you take advantage of them. Without trading away poor value mid-tier contracts the Penguins are not in a position to take advantage of their low combined goaltender cap hits. They have paths forward to improve this team.

The draft is tomorrow and if I had to bet I’d say Hextall is going to use the selection on a player who won’t be able to help this team in the next three years. The draft should be a great time to wheel and deal for help now. I don’t think Ron Hextall is interested in moving the underperformers on the team and I don't think he has interest in using the first round pick to help now. This is unfortunate if it comes to fruition because it looks like the Penguins will try to run things back, except potentially without Evgeni Malkin. Can’t say I like it.

If the Casey DeSmith signing is the worst thing to happen this offseason it will have been a successful offseason, but I don’t think it will be.

Thanks for reading!

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