Despite acquiring Riley Sheahan earlier in the season, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests in a reader chat that the Penguins are still likely to pursue another third line center. However, instead of looking towards the rental market, he notes that they would prefer a younger player that has years of team control left beyond this one. Mackey singles out Vegas as a team that GM Jim Rutherford could be intrigued by. They have several pivots (Cody Eakin, Erik Haula, and Oscar Lindberg) that are 26 and are signed for one more year beyond this one although Eakin’s $3.85MM cap hit is probably too much for them to take on.
More from Pittsburgh:
- In the same chat, Mackey reports that the Sabres were one of the teams to express interest last month in defenseman Ian Cole. Buffalo joins Vegas, Toronto, and Colorado as teams that have at least inquired about Cole’s availability. However, with blueliner Justin Schultz on the shelf for a little while, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Penguins aren’t as willing to deal him now as they were not too long ago.
- Winger Tom Kuhnhackl is dealing with an upper-body injury, the team announced via Twitter. He’ll be evaluated by team doctors before they give a timeline for how long he might be out. The injury was sustained on Thursday night in a collision with teammate Ryan Reaves in the third period and he did not return to the game afterwards.
- While he isn’t ready to return to the lineup just yet, goaltender Matt Murray has taken to the ice in full equipment and the next step for him is to return to practice with the team in the coming days, notes Jonathan Bombulie of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters that they are pleased with Murray’s progress as he recovers from his lower-body injury sustained back on November 23rd.