Offseason Needs
There's a new sheriff in town: Kyle Dubas. With the draft and then free agency less than a month away, Dubas will have to do a lot in only a little time. As of June 7th, this is what the roster looks like:
Guentzel - Crosby - Rakell
- Malkin - Rust
- Granlund - Nylander
- Carter -
- Letang
Pettersson - Petry
Joseph - Rutta
DeSmith
There's a lot of holes to fill, and only $20,208,158 to fill them with. So, let's go through the moves that need to be made.
First Order of Business: RFAs
The Pittsburgh Penguins have two restricted free agents that need to be re-signed: Ryan Poehling and Drew O'Connor. Last season, they were the few bright spots in an otherwise abysmal bottom six. Poehling, who was a big part of the penalty kill, had 14 points- seven goals and seven assists- in the 53 games he played, and three of those points came shorthanded. O'Connor played 46 games, scored five goals, and provided six assists.
Poehling and O'Connor are an example of when stats don't tell the whole story. Speed is the biggest thing that the Penguins do not have, and something that these two have in spades. Ryan Poehling reached the top maximum skating speed during the 2022-23 season at 24.32 MPH. Both President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas and Head Coach Mike Sullivan talked about getting back to a speed and skill based game, and re-signing Poehling and O'Connor would go a long way.
Other RFAs include: Ty Smith, Jonathan Gruden, Colin Swoyer, Valtteri Puustinen, Filip Lindberg, and Peter Deliberatore.
Unrestricted Free Agents: Is Anyone Worth Keeping?
The Pittsburgh Penguins have nine UFAs: Josh Archibald, Nick Bonino, Drake Caggiula, Brian Dumoulin, Danton Heinen, Tristan Jarry, Dmitry Kulikov, Dustin Tokarski, and Jason Zucker. Let's dive in.
Jason Zucker had a bounce-back year after his previous string of bad injury luck during his two years in Pittsburgh. He played 78 games on Evgeni Malkin's wing, scored 27 goals and provided 21 assists. Zucker is 31 with injury history, so Dubas might be hesitant to sign him. However, Zucker and Malkin had great chemistry, something Malkin hasn't had with a winger since James Neal's time in Pittsburgh. Depending on the price, signing him to a 1-2 year contract might be the best (and cheapest) way to fill that top six vacancy.
Josh Archibald was a pleasant surprise this year. He was signed to a one year, 900k contract, and provided some much-needed physicality. He was also a good addition to the penalty kill, and even added a little bit of fourth-line scoring depth. He would make a decent 13th forward, and Dubas should consider signing him again to a one year, similarly cheap deal.
Goaltending
Goaltender Tristan Jarry is also a UFA, but is keeping him the right move? Prior to his injury on January 2nd during the Winter Classic, he had a record of 15-5-4, a .917 SV%, and a 2.79 GAA. He spent the remainder of the year either injured, or reportedly playing through injury. In the back half of the year, Jarry started 22 games, and posted a 9-8-3 record, with a .898 SV% and a 2.77 GAA.
The Free Agency market for goaltenders is weak this year. Adin Hill is the best option, but after the playoff run he's had (13 games played, 9-3 record, 2.06 GAA and a .937 SV%) it's unlikely that Pittsburgh could afford him. Other goaltenders- like Laurent Brossoit, Semyon Varlamov, and Joonas Korpisalo- would make exceptional backups, but Pittsburgh still has Casey DeSmith locked up for another year at 1.8 million.
Realistically, Dubas will either re-sign Jarry, or look to acquire a different goaltender through trade. There's no shortage of goaltenders who are apparently being shopped by their clubs. John Gibson reportedly wants out of Anaheim. Connor Hellebuyck of Winnipeg has said that he doesn't want to stick around through a rebuild/retool. Nashville's Juuse Saros' name has been floated around, and Philadephia is apparently taking offers for Carter Hart.
The price for franchise goalies like Saros and Hellebuyck will likely be steep, and Pittsburgh has limited assets due to poor management by the prior regime. But an elite goaltender would go a long way to push the Penguins towards another cup run before the core retires.
Free Agency
There might not be many big names on the Free Agency market, but there are certainly players who Dubas should be interested in, like forwards Michael Bunting and JT Compher. Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and Ivan Barbashev would've been excellent additions, but have likely priced themselves outside of Pittsburgh's budget after their playoff production.
The top defensive pairing will probably be the hardest to fill. Ryan Graves or Matt Dumba would be the best options on the market.
Salary Cap Restrictions
Of course, all of this would be a lot easier with more cap space. Shedding Mikael Granlund's contract would save 5 million, but Dubas would likely have to attach a 1st round pick to move him. Dubas inherited Ron Hextall's dumpster fire, and all we can do is hope that he can work miracles.
