With the Penguins re-signing center Zach Aston-Reese earlier this week, they’re down to just one remaining restricted free agent in defenseman Marcus Pettersson. However, it doesn’t appear as if a contract will be getting done for him anytime soon. His agent, Peter Wallen, told Dave Molinari of DK Pittsburgh Sports that they are waiting for the team to make a move to free up salary cap space before agreeing to a new deal.
As things stand, Pittsburgh is basically right against the $81.5MM Upper Limit depending on who fills the final few spots on their roster. GM Jim Rutherford has indicated that he doesn’t believe he needs to make a move to add cap room and that they’re content running with a roster size below the maximum of 23 in order to make that happen.
However, it’s hard to argue that Pettersson doesn’t deserve a raise on his base salary of $832.5K from last season. After being acquired from Anaheim, the 23-year-old played a regular role for them, logging nearly 18 minutes a night in 57 games while chipping in with a respectable 19 points as well. While he didn’t have salary arbitration eligibility, he has done well enough to surpass the $1MM mark on his next deal, a price tag that the team probably can’t afford at this moment.
While Wallen indicated that Pettersson wants to be signed well before training camp gets underway in order to get a work visa in place so that he doesn’t miss any time, he also stated that the blueliner is willing to be patient:
There’s no rush. We have good conversations with management. We’re not in a fight or anything. The communication is good. We know where they are. We know what they want to do.
As teams have made their final settlements with their arbitration-eligible players, there are a few teams around the league that are going to be dealing with a cap crunch. Pittsburgh appears to be one of those squads as they look to get Pettersson signed in the weeks to come.
Good for him holding out. He’s gonna get paid by someone
Did you even read the article? He’s not going anywhere.
LOL he would have been paid by someone by now
I question if you read the article as well. It says Rutherford does not intend on freeing up any cap space, yet Pettersson is waiting for cap space to be freed up. This indicated that there definitely is a possibility of Pettersson being moved if he is determined to get a raise.
The Pens can’t afford to move Pettersson. The D has questions right now and trading him would be disaster. JR is a fool if he thinks he doesn’t need to make a move. The cap space is a mess because of him. The Johnson and Tanev contracts are garbage. He will have to move Rust to make Petterson fit. Pittsburgh is in a serious mess next year with the cap.
Certainly worth an offer sheet of say $1.9M. Would put pressure on Pens and would have minimal cost for player with some upside. Surprised it hasn’t happened.