In today’s mailbag, Josh Yohe of The Athletic took one major question regarding the possibility of the Pittsburgh Penguins taking a run at Mitch Marner should the winger hit unrestricted free agency this summer.
Yohe gave a two-pronged response to the question, illustrating the pros and cons of attempting to sign Marner. The Penguins are expected to have approximately $25MM in cap space for free agency, Marner has a previous relationship with general manager Kyle Dubas, and Marner worked well on a line with Sidney Crosby during the 4 Nations Faceoff. Still, given the Penguins’ trade activity throughout this season, Yohe doesn’t believe Dubas has indicated he’ll be aggressive in making a major addition this summer.
Pittsburgh having an interest in Marner makes sense on some levels. He’s having a career year with 21 goals and 80 points in 63 games and would give the Penguins an easier transition out of the Crosby era. However, given that he has yet to play meaningful hockey beyond Round Two of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Marner likely won’t be interested in joining a team that hasn’t reached the postseason in a few years.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Outside of netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Tampa Bay Lightning are without their top player tonight. Gabby Shirley of FanDuel Sports Network reported earlier that former-MVP Nikita Kucherov had been deemed at game-time decision while battling an illness. Shortly before game time, it was confirmed that Kucherov wouldn’t be available for tonight’s contest. Nick Paul is filling in for Kucherov on the team’s first line and has one shot with a -1 rating at the time of writing.
- According to head coach Rod Brind’Amour, and passed along by Ryan Henkel of The Hockey News, the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t expecting Andrei Svechnikov back tomorrow night against the Detroit Red Wings. Svechnikov missed Carolina’s recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning due to an undisclosed injury, making tomorrow his second missed contest in a row. Brind’Amour shared he doesn’t expect the injury to keep Svechnikov out long-term.
I like Jarry rebuilding his career…but I don’t need him to become Hasek in the middle of our tank job.
We need to give him the “Stu Barnes” treatment. 50 bonus points for anyone who gets that reference.
We are going to “tank” our way to the 8th seed at this rate.
Ya 25 million in cap space but need 2/3rds of a team
Marner is not going anywhere and if by chance he does, it’s probably Carolina since they have a Rantanen size hole in their roster waiting for him.
Also, I want the Pens to do a mini-tank now and come back with a half hearted (no trading picks, no long term deals, no big money deals…just the best UFA’s on 1…maybe 2…year deals you can find) attempt at contention next year and if that doesn’t work, go full Kyle Davidson rebuild. BUT…
IF they were going to trade to do a quick retool on the fly, probably the ONLY way they could do that successfully would be to sign someone like Marner (plus hope Jarry is back for real and a bunch of other things) for no assets but cap space.
I don’t think the idea of the Pens landing him is that crazy, though. How many teams have the cap space to pay him huge money? The “good” teams already have good players making big money. It could end up being a free agency trip like Johnny Gaudreau had, where the teams expected to land him couldn’t quite give him the money and he went to CBJ.
Getting Marner is not entirely stupid: he’s only 27 now.
But it’s stupid for the future of the team. Why retool just to chase an 8th seed and a quick first round exit? The Penguins avoided the issue for too many years as it was, and guaranteed that Sid will finish his career on a loser. They avoided going scorched earth in 2022. They need to go scorched earth now. Sure, keep Sid, Geno, Kris, they deserve to retire in black and gold. Anyone else over the age of 28 or thereabouts, unload. Maybe they didn’t get a good enough price for Rakell, but mmm … I wonder if what they were offered will be bettered in the summer?
And ultimately, Dubas should be shot if he signs a free agent older than 25.
majority of free agents are older than 25, bruh
Gosh, ya think? Let me break this down for you. Pittsburgh has a *minimum* of a three year scorched earth rebuild ahead … and I say “minimum” because there are lots of teams out there where the “rebuild” has stretched out season after season. (Penguins fans, how many of you would lay down money that Dubas gets it RIGHT in just three years flat?)
The reason Marner is a bad idea is that he’s going to want max term/max money and a NMC, and that ties up a vast sum betting he’s going to keep on being a superstar deep into his thirties, which we’ve seen is a sucker’s bet more often than otherwise. He’s also — if he plays to his standard — going to get them more wins the next few years, which they decidedly don’t want.
But ultimately, athletic prime peaks around 27-28. Get someone AT that age, and by the time the rebuild is over, the guy’s already in decline. Why would a team want that?
Marner signs in Boston….
Ontario declares war on the US first!