Rob Rossi of The Athletic is reporting that the Pittsburgh Penguins and defensemen Marcus Pettersson have a mutual interest in signing a contract extension this summer. The 28-year-old Pettersson has one year left on his five-year contract at a cap hit of $4.025MM and was arguably the Penguins’ most steady defender last year, playing big minutes with both Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson and elevating both players.
The Penguins acquired Pettersson back in December 2018 for forward Daniel Sprong and the Skelleftea, Sweden native quickly became a regular on the Penguins’ back end. Pettersson has never been much of an offensive contributor but did post four goals and 26 assists in 82 games last season while playing 22:40 a game and providing terrific work on the penalty kill.
Pettersson’s next contract is tough to project, but given his contributions of late, it’s not unrealistic to expect his AAV to fall in the range of $5.5MM to $6MM per season on a long-term deal.
In other Penguins notes:
- Rob Rossi of The Athletic is reporting that Tristan Jarry can submit a new 12-team no-trade list to the Penguins on July 1st, which could complicate a potential trade if they don’t move him before that day. Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas would reportedly like to make a hockey trade for Jarry if he chooses to move him and wants to receive back a top-six winger or a top-four defenseman. According to Rossi, the Penguins aren’t in a rush to deal Jarry and are comfortable starting next season with him and recently re-signed Alex Nedeljkovic, as there is some debate about whether top goaltending prospect Joel Blomqvist is ready to take a role in the NHL next season.
- The Penguins are hesitant to bring forward Reilly Smith back for the final season of his contract (as per Rossi). Pittsburgh management doesn’t believe that Smith was unhappy to be a Penguin, but reportedly hoped he would have an easier transition to the team after he came over in a trade from the Vegas Golden Knights. Smith recently changed agents and is now represented by Pat Brisson, who also represents teammate Sidney Crosby. Rossi believes that the Penguins will work with Brisson to determine the best situation for Smith and the team and act accordingly. If that course of action is a trade, then the Penguins will look to move Smith to a destination that suits him. The Penguins offered Smith up at the trade deadline but couldn’t find a dance partner at that time. Smith has one year left on his contract at a $5MM cap hit.
I know Pettersson is an analytics darling, but Pittsburgh should be careful they don’t end up with another Ryan Graves contract on their hands. Fair warning.
Pettersson isn’t just an analytics darling. If you watch one period of a game your eyes tell you he’s an excellent defensive defensemen that is a good skater. This is confirmed by the fact that he can play with elite skaters like Letang and Karlsson and puts up good defensive numbers despite the fact both of his partners gamble a lot in the offensive zone and hang him out to dry.
The Graves contract was bad (although he’ll probably improve this season), but that shouldn’t deter Pettersson getting what he deserves because he’s the better player.
I like that attitude of only trading Jarry in a “hockey” trade and getting a good NHL player back in return. Jarry is statistically one of the 15 best starting goalies in hockey (top 10 in some years), but health is always a concern with him. I’m fine with him pairing with Ned next year, and also okay with a trade.
Best option for both the Pens and Smith is probably a trade to a better fit for a mid-round draft pick.
I’m just saying folks said all of that wonderful, glowing stuff about Ryan Graves too (“excellent defensive defenseman!”) And now the fans want him shipped out of town pronto, but he’s got 5 more years left on an albatross deal that won’t be going anywhere without considerable sweeteners.
Jarry top 10 -15 best goalies?
Bob, Swayman, Ullmark, Vesi, Shesterkin , Sorokin, Andersen, Markstrom, Ottenger, hellebuyck, hill, Thompson, Demko, Saros, Ingram, Bennington, Skinner, I’d take every one of these guys before Jarry, and that’s before you count in the Contract.
I probably missed a few even.
Things don’t work out going from team to team. Petersson is comfortable in this system and I agree with Buctober, he passed the eye test. The Graves contract is regrettable currently but things can’t get worse, so pray for a return to some norm when he was regarded as a solid young defensemen
Graves was never an “excellent defensive defenseman” and anyone that said as much is an idiot. He is a guy with the skills to be that, but he thinks he’s an offensive defensemen and can’t hit the net.
They are not the same player. Graves has never been the caliber that Pettersson is.
Jarry has better numbers than several on your list. The only caveat is his health.
So it’s exactly like I said, he’s a top 15 goalie when healthy (that’s what the numbers say). That’s not a controversial opinion and one that I think most would agree with.
Jarry is so inconsistent. He’ll look like the best goalie in the world one month and then can’t stop a beach ball for the next six weeks. Not sure there is anybody out there willing to give them a top six forward or a top four defensemen for Jarry at this point.
Considering Markstrom got a first round pick and a legitimate, young NHL defensemen as an add on, Jarry should be able to fetch that. Jarry has slightly better career numbers than Markstrom (about even boxcar stats and better analytically) and is 5 years younger.
If he doesn’t fetch what Dubas wants, he’ll just keep him and let him build more value (he always bounces back after a “down” year). Dubas holds the cards.
Difference between Graves and Petterson is that we have been watching Petterson excel defensively in the penguins system over the past 5+ seasons. He’s the rock of the D corps